Roland D-50

Forum to discuss all aspects of Roland's Cloud
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Roland D-50

Post by mimoid »

In case you have missed it, the new Roland D-50 is now available for download as a VST from Roland Cloud. It is unfortunately not a plugout, so it will require a DAW to run. Also, the programming interface resembles the PG-1000 programmer with dozens of sliders, so I don't see how this would work as a plugout.

It will require you to download the Roland Cloud Manager, which will run as a resident service on your computer and allow you to install your soft synths.

I have spent a couple of hours playing with the new D-50 for some time now and I am amazed. I used to have the original hardware some 35 years ago, and because of the gruesome interface (without the PG-1000), I never really got beyond the presets. However in the VST, programming is quite simple because of the brilliant fold-out programmer interface. If you just forget about those awfully dated 80's PCM snippets and replace the low-budget sounding onboard effects with something more appropriate, I find this to be a magnificent synthesizer, capable of some truly amazing and perfectly contemporary sounds.

The GUI is now fully rescalable, so it looks pretty even on a large screen. I can just hope that Roland will revisit the previous plugouts too and give them the same eye-candy treatment. One negative observation, even though there is a MIDI learn function, it is per one slider per partial only, so tweaking a full sound on the fly is a bit tricky and will require you to do some clever copying and pasting of CC events in the DAW.

Another thing that surprised me is that quick render (render-in-place) does not seems to work. It will just jumble up the sounds from the partials. You will need to print the audio in real-time, just like with physical hardware, I suppose it is because the code that runs is actually the same code as the real hardware used to run.

I encountered a few audio glitches, like when moving some sliders from the zero point to a value point, and also some random bugs like not all values having names (like the reverb effects), but apart from these minor nuisaces, it seems to be an exact replica of the original.
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland D-50

Post by Skijumptoes »

Ah, so the Roland Cloud Manager is something new too, right? I didn't see that during my trial.

How does the cloud manager seem, ok?

Also is the D-50 CPU heavy like the Juno etc?
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland D-50

Post by mimoid »

Skijumptoes wrote:Ah, so the Roland Cloud Manager is something new too, right? I didn't see that during my trial.

How does the cloud manager seem, ok?

Also is the D-50 CPU heavy like the Juno etc?
The Cloud Manager seems quite unobtrusive and keeps track of your downloads, kind of like Arturia Software Center or NI Service Center.

The D-50 is far from as processor heavy as the previous ACB emulations, but I just noticed that if you try to do a "render in place" in your DAW (kind of fast audio rendering), it will result in a completely jumbled performance where the partials are not synchronized with each other. It needs to be handled as real hardware and the audio file should be rendered in real time. Presumably because the code is the same as the original D-50.
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland D-50

Post by Skijumptoes »

The legendary instruments are true recreations, Anthology series are the sample based versions - The D-50 now has both options.

So you have the D-50 (Legendary) version, or a sample based version, The 1987 (Anthology series).
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland D-50

Post by mimoid »

timbo4000 wrote:Was wondering, is just a sample based vst or is it a full D50 with all wave forms so Any sound / patch the original D50 could make this could. if so is it sysex compatible so to load previous patch banks etc, say Jean Michel Jarre sounds??
The Legendary D-50 is a fully programmable digital synthesizer. It is pretty much the same code that used to run inside the original synth, except it is now inside a wrapper code to be able to run as a VST. You can change every parameter in the brilliant PG-1000-like foldout interface.

(By the way, the JMJ sounds are just some standard factory presets. They are included in the D-50.)
Skijumptoes
Posts: 681
Joined: 11:08, 21 June 2010

Re: Roland D-50

Post by Skijumptoes »

Further to this, if there's any Logic users here there's a guy on the Logic Pro Help forums who has taken the additional step of saving this sysex collection as .aupresets for the audio unit version of the plugin:-

https://www.logicprohelp.com/forum/view ... 20#p674246

Link should take you directly to their post.
skinmechanic
Posts: 205
Joined: 13:39, 14 June 2004
Location: UK, Leeds
Contact:

Re: Roland D-50

Post by skinmechanic »

I never had the original but I've done recently an A/B test of the Cloud Plugin as part of my 30 days trial with the D50 that is available with the V-Synth XT. Most of the patches sound the same, there is some difference in Effects that are noticeable she of the patches in the Plugin seem to be richer in sound but this is down to the effects as when you listen to them RAW they are identical so I' not sure what Roland did with the plugin version or what's different to this and the V-Synth version. It's not enough to subscribe though, as I'm not interested in many of the other plugins to warrant £20 a month for the rest of my life.
thartnett
Posts: 65
Joined: 19:12, 7 September 2017

Re: Roland D-50

Post by thartnett »

Regarding sysex import/export of D-50 patches--there's a free third-party utility that does that:

http://www.difficultaudio.com
iixorb
Posts: 138
Joined: 15:57, 1 December 2015

Re: Roland D-50

Post by iixorb »

Good to see the latest D-50 update is more stable when selecting new patches.
They didn't always load fully before but this seems to be resolved, resulting in a more authentic experience.

No SYS-EX patch loading yet, but the steps mentioned in posts above mine do seem to work.

Seems the dropbox link further up is incomplete.
Try this for that massive selection of compatible patches:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/owdr8l3ulp0s3 ... n.zip?dl=1
afewster
Posts: 24
Joined: 07:41, 22 May 2015
Location: California via the UK

Re: Roland D-50

Post by afewster »

So the D50 plugin does import sysex (I signed up for the trial last night, so I've no idea if this is a new feature). Click "Patch > Load" and select the sysex file you want to import. Works great. I loaded up the Jarre sounds last night and sounds perfect.
jerry_merry
Posts: 90
Joined: 16:31, 8 March 2016

Re: Roland D-50

Post by jerry_merry »

Yes this was the last update to the D-50 to allow for this. On a similar subject. I asked Roland Cloud why they did not bother with release notes, when they release new versions. They stated a new Cloud website will be available later this year (not long left) that will include release notes (quite handy - and standard in software delivery).

I also asked them if they would make a JX-8P for the system 8. They said they would add it to the list.
I also asked them if they would make an Alpha Juno for the system 8. They ignored this post.

SO to me the cloud still seems very hit and miss. I guess it depends on which way the wind is blowing.
iixorb
Posts: 138
Joined: 15:57, 1 December 2015

Re: Roland D-50

Post by iixorb »

Great to hear about sysex capabilities being introduced to the D-50 vst. Will try later.

Regarding a JX8P vst - do you know about Martin Luder's PG8X vst? This is excellent and currently free / donations welcome. I own a JX8P and PG8X is really authentic.
jerry_merry
Posts: 90
Joined: 16:31, 8 March 2016

Re: Roland D-50

Post by jerry_merry »

iixorb wrote:Great to hear about sysex capabilities being introduced to the D-50 vst. Will try later.

Regarding a JX8P vst - do you know about Martin Luder's PG8X vst? This is excellent and currently free / donations welcome. I own a JX8P and PG8X is really authentic.

Yes I do - but sadly its very unstable on my Mac/Logic Prod combo.......(I used to own 2 JX-8P's then an MKS-70.......Miss them)
mimoid
Posts: 151
Joined: 19:20, 3 January 2016

Re: Roland D-50

Post by mimoid »

I would like to update this post - I spent a few days comparing a friend's original D-50 with the Roland Cloud version and here are my findings.

There is absolutely no difference. None. Whatsoever.

Or, actually... one thing. With the hardware, I could detect an ever so slight medium-pitched background hiss, which is lacking from the software. I believe this to be caused by the D/A circuit or the audio cables from the original synth into the DAW. This noise is slightly audible when the synth is not playing, but is masked as soon as there is an actual audio signal present.

Next I added a noise gate to both the hardware and the software track in my DAW, and from there on, neither me, nor my friend were able tell which track is which. They sound 100% identical. Both using studio monitors and pro grade headphones.

I would go that far as to state that apart from the gear collector urge, there is absolutely no reason to hold on to the original hardware. Of course if you for some reason don't want to be tethered to a computer, you may still want to use the hardware, but for any other usage in the studio, the software can do everything the original D-50 can, without any sacrifices.

I am truly impressed by this software and after this comparison, I won't believe anybody stating that they can hear a difference in "punch", "warmth" or "smoothness". It is nothing but placebo.
iixorb
Posts: 138
Joined: 15:57, 1 December 2015

Re: Roland D-50

Post by iixorb »

It is indeed a truly excellent reproduction of the original D-50, and without doubt it will be the first one I select to 'keep' under Roland's 'yours' scheme.

There is however a tiny difference which becomes apparent when listening to the reverb on some patches:

I loaned one of my two D-50's to Andertons music store, and they compared it against the D-05 Boutique (the guy who reviewed it makes reference to it being a second hand D-50 brought into the store, but he probably didn't know I loaned it to them).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dD_3_AeOTY

At 11:15 in the video, the reviewer notices that the D-05 reverb 'oscillates' slightly compared against the D-50. You would probably only notice this through headphones, or a good monitor system (and certainly not in a mix) but that same oscillation effect is also apparent on the Cloud D-50 VST - and not on the hardware D-50.

That said, it's a tiny, tiny minor little thing and overall the job that Roland have done is fantastic.
Looking forward to more DCB releases on the Roland Cloud !!
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