roland d-50 as a midi controller

i need a keyboard and i d rather buy one that has some patch in it, a friend of

mine has a d-50 in excellent shape i would like to get it to be my keyboard for

all . if i need something else i will just buy rack module , my question is the

d-50 would be a good midi controller? i know it might die anytime.

Sure, it can make a good MIDI controller as well as being a classic synth -

I would definitely check all the buttons and keys to make sure they work though - and especially the Aftertouch.

i just read that the midi from m-audio the uno usb doesnt work with the d-50

http://www.synthmania.com/d-50.htm at bottom of the page . that s what i have.

I'm breaking in a Quadrasynth to do the same thing. I still have my D-70 which has been my MIDI master keyboard of choice for almost 11 years now (I've owned 4 in total in that time - mostly replacing broken parts). The D-70 was a fantastic board, and the D-50 is great as well but the Quadrasynth so far has much more versatility and ultimately cost me a lot less.

If your setup is going to be really small then a D-50 might do the job but as you say its life is probably limited, and if you anticipate having 4 or more sound modules like I do then I'd suggest a bigger keybed and a board that can split more than once.

If you must have a board with an internal sound source the X-Station is always close to the top of the list. I was also looking at JV-80's and K2000's before settling on the Alesis. If you are willing to work with a pure controller board (no internal sound) then the A-50 is good too although most of these are quite old now. The new MIDI controller keyboards are really nice and fairly well priced (Remote SL61 for example) but most are heavily slanted toward softsynth control.

Yup. Quadrasynth makes a good controller. Another good choice from that sane time period would be the JV-90.