The RS-505 Paraphonic Strings replaced the classic RS-202 and combined strings, a basic polysynth section and a bass section. The keyboard was shortened to 49 keys and is split down the middle to assign different sounds to the left and right sides of the keyboard.

The Synth section has four waveforms (selected by the large white buttons) and its own VCF with cutoff and resonance sliders, VCA ADSR sliders and LFO features. The Bass section has three preset bass sound types to choose via the big red buttons. It has its own VCA Attack and Release sliders and Vibrato controls. The String section has two String preset sounds - selectable via the big green buttons - and other features borrowed from the RS-202.

Sounds from the three tone sections can be blended for interesting results and the built-in Ensemble chorusing effect really warms, thickens and lushes up the sounds! The Paraphonic 505 also features an external audio input (mono) so you could run another synth through the quadruple-BBD Ensemble chorus. A new little performance control section to the left of the keyboard provides convenient volume, tune, glide and pitch bender controls. Similar to the ARP Omni, the Paraphonic 505 is considered one of Roland's finest string synths of its era.

dave stein

May 17, 2011 @ 2:48 pm

anyone have any parts for a RS505??
THANKS....DAVE

bhrama

January 17, 2011 @ 9:49 am

The most surprising and wonderful part of this beauty is the Bass section, simply amazing. Strings are better than the more famous brother, VP-330 and the synth section is an added bonus. Simple structure actually adds to the accessability of this synth, don't sleep on the external souce ensemble and the individual outs for Bass/String sections.

MJK

January 12, 2011 @ 6:57 pm

I found this synth VERY hard to place in any mixes. To over powering, not in a good way.
I am a big fan of 70s string machines but this did not make one record for me in 2 years of having it in the studio.
Good for sparse moody film sequences maybe.

gu7

August 21, 2010 @ 12:41 pm

better than rs-202 probably, but not as good as the vp-330.

arturia

August 17, 2010 @ 2:12 pm

The sound of this is so lush and spacious that calling it a string machine doesn't do it justice. With the synth section employed, the sound ( and internal workings) also has a lot in common with the Jupiter 4, which was produced concurrently.

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