The 'D-05 Midi Editor' is the controller for the Roland Boutique Synth 'D-05' and the legendary Roland 'D-50' Synth. - It is perfect to integrate the ' D-05' + 'D-50' into your DAW. - It makes the sound design easier, because you have direct access to all parameters. Voice editor for the Roland D50. Editor holds 7 layers and have dedicated buttons to switch between each layer. Parameters are color coded just like the Roland PG1000. Common Layer Upper/Lower is blue. Patch Layer is red. Partials 1-4 is grey. Save edited voice/patch from editor is planned for later, only saving at hardware side for now.

New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details. Country/Region of Manufacture: United States Suited For: Music creating Brand: SoundLoad Bundle Listing: Yes Platform: BSD, Linux, Mac, Solaris, Universal, UNIX, Windows UPC: Does not apply.

If you produce electronic dance music, does the incorporation of vintage gear actually make a difference? This article explores the vintage Roland D-50 and whether its worth using to produce House Music nowadays.

The D-50 was first produced in 1987 by of Japan. For starters if you have any Roland equipment you can visit BossArea.com’s.

Just type in your serial number to determine exactly when your Roland instruments were made. My D-50 was probably one of the first productions, made in August of 1987. The D-50 was manufactured until 1989. It was was known for being a moderately priced yet widely popular synthesizer used in numerous hit records of the time. I think this is still one of the most musical instruments I have ever used. The weight of the keys, the velocity response, the pitch bend, and modulation on it feel just right.

This is especially a good synthesizer to control your software synths. The D-550 is Roland’s rack mount version of the D-50. For an instrument from the 80’s, the D-50 stills dominates 90% of the new synthesizers sold at Guitar Center. However, there are several drawbacks.

You need serious patience if you want to program original sounds, the memory cards do not hold a lot of patches, and it is not an analog synthesizer. On the plus side, you can overcome any programming difficulties and the limited storage space by attaching the D-50 to your Mac or PC with midi cables.

Most importantly you should be able to purchase a D-50 in excellent condition for less than $400 USD on E-Bay or Craigslist. From time to time you can find one for $150 USD. PROGRAMMING THE D-50 Good luck using the LED display and parameters buttons to create unique sounds. If you choose that route you are a masochist or a sincere enthusiast. Hopefully you are the latter because this synthesizer is still impressive. And if you were alive and making beats in the 80’s this will certainly bring you right back to the infancy of electronic music.

The LED screen is comparable to just about any digital synthesizer from the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s. Roland obviously knew the user interface for the D-50 was complicated so they created the PG-1000, an external controller that makes programming the D-50 simple. In 2014 the PG-1000 can be found for less than $300 USD. The PG-1000 has faders that control every parameter so you can tweak out each variable without having to tap buttons and shift through the D-50’s menus. Even better than purchasing a PG-1000, you can simply use a program such as if you use Mac OSX.

If you are a PC owner, I feel bad for you. Not really though because you are in luck. There are lots of shareware programs available for PCs that can emulate the PG-1000 for free.

You just need to hook your computer up via midi in/out and run any of this software and you are ready to create original patches with your D-50. MEMORY AND PATCHES The D-50 has a slot allowing you to insert an old school Roland Memory card. In the 80’s and 90’s various producers made patches that you could purchase on a memory card. These older cards can be purchased for approximately $30 USD in 2014. Purchasing memory cards is not an efficient way to find great patches. Most cards can only hold 64 patches.

The best thing about this instrument is you do not need to purchase cards whatsoever. Alt key for excel opens ribbon for mac. You can download almost all of them on the Internet for free (discussed later in this article). Nowadays the only purpose of having a memory card is if you are a collector or need to save your important patches if you are gigging out in a Phil Collins Cover Band with the D-50. The internal memory holds 64 patches (8 patches in 8 separate banks). Despite the difficult to use LED menus, calling up patches stored in memory only requires that you press two buttons: select bank button 1-8 then click patch button 1-8. When the D-50 is turned off, the memory is saved by an internal battery.