Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 I'm a guitar player and have recently gotten interested in synths. My music tastes are mostly classic rock (Eagles, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Doobie Bros), blues (SRV, Alman Bros)...but I also love 80's pop like Journey, VH, Rush...I'm in my late 30's and this was the music me and my friends were listening to. So I made a purchase on Ebay for a Roland D-50, $400.00. Haven't received it yet but it should be here late this week. Anyway, I have a SWR Stawberry Blonde acoustic amp that I was thinking of playing it through. I'm not in a band so I will not be gigging or needing alot of power. I just want to learn how to play it and get some good sound at bedroom levels. I would like to hear your expert opinions on: 1. Using this amp for noodling around versus getting something else.2. Learning some music theory...nescessary? (I can make simple cords on the piano but I don't know the keys).3. What to tell my wife when she comes home to find yet another piece of music gear in a room already full of guitars, amps, cables, gismos...you get the idea. I've been thinking I could convince her that this will be good for our 4 1/2 year old daughter to learn on/spark interest or something...but I may be in trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TDman Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Straight to the doghouse.... Just curious, what made you get a D-50? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_resonator Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Dear 70's guitar guy: i feel you. -reso ps- i recommend the following arguments for use in persuading the woman: 1. what? that? that was already there! I've had that for like 10 years..see? it's old! I just had it in the closet/attic/garage/parents house 2. music, especially learning to apreciate it at an early age has been proven to foster physical cerebral development, which has been shown to increase cognitive skills. so, it's good for our children 3. look! it's cool! just look at it! (this one not a lot of help with the blah d-50) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Originally posted by TDman Straight to the doghouse.... Just curious, what made you get a D-50? After reading up on HC reviews it seemed like a good sounding synth. Also seemed very reliable. It has those 80's sounds nailed which also appealed to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keybunk Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Congrats on the D50.... hope you have tons of fun with it. Please just don't make the same mistake that lots of people do with the D50 - don't ever expect it to sound like a piano, ever. Otherwise, it is a very unique, timeless and wonderful synth... with a great feeling keybed too. Give us a picture of your synth when you get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fear My Potato Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 You should have no problems playing a synth through an acoustic amp, I've done it before. Guitar amps will always color the tone to some degree, which can be a mixed bag. If you are looking for a unique sound from an electric piano or organ or synth, a guitar amp can be a cool thing. If you're trying to play piano patches or basically anything that sounds like something that actually exists, guitar amps are a pain the ass and you may have to EQ on the amp and the synth combined to get it to sound right. For household levels you should be fine but I would strongly recommend you be very cautious with volume. A synth has a much broader dynamic range than an acoustic guitar, and as a result you could very easily blow the speaker without going near where you would be using a guitar with it. Other than that, yes it's fine. I'd compare using a guitar amp to using a pair of headphones as far as sound accuracy goes. Some basic theory and practicing never hurts. It's not as much fun as putting in a CD and jamming along, but it's what gets you there. There's a lot of learning resources out there, what kind of technical stuff do you want to learn and what are you willing to practice? Tell your wife it's an old keyboard, nothing to worry about. Don't lie...that's bad karma...just be very vague. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Analog Kid Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 not a bad synth, if i do say so myself... not easy for beginners though you'll probably want to look at this http://sysexd50.xsl.nl/ sysex D-50 can be used for free, or you can pay a small fee. It will let you load all those patches out there for the D-50 (something like 10,000 of them) and it helps with programming it, since you can use it to see all the parameters on you computer screen and control them from there. If only i had as much when i was starting on this synth, the first thing i did was accidentely wipe the patches (the battery was old when i got it)... for six months i didnt even have a patch loader or editor.. all i had was the joystick and the small lcd... not easy considering the Linear synth is VERY DIFFERENT from most synths with thier more common, and simplistic, oscillators and envelopes. unfortunately, pretty much all the external midi control has to be through sysex (sysex is a hexidecimal interface for midi programming) and there are a couple issues using a synth from 87 that you wouldnt have to deal with on a modern synth. I've got good patches too. A couple other things you might want to check out The PG-1000 programmer is every D-50 owners best friend and Musitronics makes a most excellent expanion card for the synth, which is just crazy... it gives you two extra memory banks, multitibral capability, and much more... check it out- http://www.musitronics.de/indexe.html "The M.EX (pronounced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Analog Kid Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 damn, i need to shrink that picture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 As far as the D-50 goes, I'm aware that it's not the easiest thing out there to program, but I'm not into that anyway. I'll probably be content with the presets for a little while. I'm also aware that the acoustic piano sound sux, but I like synth sounds better anyway. But I'm sure I'll start trying to dail in a sound I like on it before too long and I guess I'll need one of those ROM cards to store it on. This seems like a downside to the D-50 but I know that it is a board made back in the 80's and memory was extremely expensive then. The D-50 seems like it has a cult following out there and that just made me want one even more. I stopped in a local music store and tinkered with a V-Synth and was overwhelmed with the controls. It had this wierd bullseye pad at the top left hand corner (not sure what it's for) and what looked like a scatching type thing that a DJ might use along with the big LCD display. The price on that sucker was over 2k! Anyway, I've never been impressed with the synths that you can dial up a drum beat and a melody and its like...look yall...I'm playing this all by myself!! I want to have to learn to play the thing, not have it play itself...to me thats not getting me anywhere musically. I think the D-50 will take me where I want to go. If not, I get rid of it and get something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 By the way...what do you play your board thru...stereo amp with some monitors...PA system...something else?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Analog Kid Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 memory is not so much a problem if you do like i do and just keep it hooked up to the computer so you have thousands of patches on tap. After all there's only one edit buffer in the machine so its true patch memory is 1. you might not know it, but there is a card that turns the V-Synth into a D-50! litterally turns it into the exact same synth, and you can even use the PG-1000 and the software editors of the D-50. Like i said, i would download the SysexD-50 program right away, it is single most important thing you need right now, and it's free to use. you can get a midi cable for your PC's joystick port for $10. D-50 is most Superb for Pads Synths PPG'ish sounds Organ Some string and brass sounds Bells and experimental industrial type stuff BTW, the D-50 has the most Superb, Awesome, Terrific grand piano sounds, much better than the P-120 and that's a fact, IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 AK...you better watch out!!! That p120 remark can start some serious flame throwin from a certain *dUde*... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 AK...thanx for the info on the Syssex D-50! I wasn't even aware it existed. I just tried the link but got the "no response" page on the browser...guess I'll try again later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Analog Kid Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 PM me your email and ill send it to you... its only 1mb. their hosting is sometimes iffy, it was up earlier today I'll send you a few thousand patches too, if you'd like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJDM Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 I have a D-50 and it ruleZ! Actually they are a bit dated sounding but it can be used to create nice pads. Plus I really like the feel of the keyboard and still use it as a controller for my soft-synths.Best of luck with the new purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fear My Potato Posted July 14, 2004 Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Originally posted by DodgingRain Tell her it's an investment that should increase in value. Make sure you use the word 'should', otherwise you get into that bad karma area. I like your thinking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lkeithf Posted July 14, 2004 Author Members Share Posted July 14, 2004 Ahh yes...the wife thing. For your information-she's latin. Meaning no amount of reasoning, logic, common sense is going to make a rats ass of difference with her. She will be turned off by it because "it's another thing in the way...cluttering the room". But - I'll find a nitch, something to persuade her that everything will be okay...you know...JEWELRY!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AfroRouge Posted July 15, 2004 Members Share Posted July 15, 2004 Originally posted by lkeithf ...a certain *dUde*... **pours liquor onto sidewalk** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cybermooks Posted July 15, 2004 Members Share Posted July 15, 2004 I always bring stuff in when my wife isn't around. That thing on the upper left of the V-Synth is called a Time Trip Pad. It can speed up, slow down, freeze a sound or play in reverse, and can also work as an X-Y controller. Very cool. Now that I have one I'm wondering why I bought a Kaoss Pad. Has anyone by chance tried the Roland D-50 card (a complete D-50 on a card) that plugs into the V-Synth? If its on the mark I might sell my D550s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fear My Potato Posted July 15, 2004 Members Share Posted July 15, 2004 Now I want a D-50 after this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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