The Roland D-50 - A Late 80's Love Story
Johnny Morgan Synth Dreams
108,558 views
A documentary short on the Roland D-50 - A classic synthesizer from the late 80's which helped define the future of digital synthesizers for years afterwards.
20 Comments
@marsupialmicron 3 years ago
Yes, those were the times. My father gave me a D-10 when it was release. I was so enchanted by it. The he gave me a Korg SQ-1 sequencer. How I miss my dad
@michaelmitchell8218 4 years ago
Funny when you look back how exciting the 80s was, I remember getting my DX7 back then and carrying it all the way home on a train then walking miles with it in a big box lol. Lots of good synths came out in the 80s.
@LuiWallentinGttler 4 years ago
I remember the D50 from my school in around '89 - '91. And although I was a drummer, I just remember all the beautiful sounds this thing could produce, when I fiddled around with it. Knowing very little about chords or musical structure, you could feel like Jean Michel Jarre by pressing a few buttons. So for the folks who actually used this, it must have been such a huge enrichment of their musical palette of sounds and creativity.
@thoang101 4 years ago
My wife forced me to sell it. I regret ever since. I was so in love with the sound it made.
@bluediamond-k1 3 years ago
I remember getting my D50 in 92. Paired it with a Korg M1. Best combo EVER. 30 years later in 22, they have been replaced with their soft synths. It's still the best combo EVER. 😊
@NikKershaw1984 4 years ago
Roland D-50, without doubt one of the best synthesizer ever made. It can produce such wonderfull sounds.
@stevefranklin5714 4 years ago
I too was a teen in the 80s
The D-50 was my second synth
My first synthesizer was a Roland Juno 2
But the D-50 was special. It's the first keyboard I used in a band environment
Thank you for your videos
The D-50 was my second synth
My first synthesizer was a Roland Juno 2
But the D-50 was special. It's the first keyboard I used in a band environment
Thank you for your videos
@twiff3rino28 4 years ago (edited)
1987 was more 90s than 80s in all regards, and the fact the Japanese guy at Roland designed this thing in a few months is crazy. DSP chips were not around in 1986.
@Lux-Voltaire 4 years ago
The ‘spacious sweep’ patch also happens to be the foundation for most of my D550 patches too. such an incredible sound that always make me think of Prophet 5 sync sweeps.
@RoyMaya 3 years ago
My father purchased a D-50 when it came out. And I too was floored when I heard the Digital Native Dance preset. It was so new and fresh. 80's and 90's were exciting times for us keyboard players.
@zmix 4 years ago
The D-50 was everywhere in the late 80s.. I recorded them on tons of records.. Really excellent video, Johnny..!
@Mladen-Basic 4 years ago
great stuff! keep doing this type of video. I really appreciate the amount of work you put in.
@chrisnightingale5529 4 years ago
I might add that Jean Michel Jarre’s 80 album “Revolutions” is an absolutely fantastic example of what this synth can do as it managed to avoid a lot of the 80 sound cliques while utilising some fantastic presets. Even the opening loop of “The overture” is just a gritty 8-bit loop from the D50
@sclwbz 4 years ago
I bought one of these in 1987 (yes, I still have it)....I remember checking it out at EU Wurlitzer in Boston and noticing how "small" it was in comparison to the Jupiter-8s and Chromas they were still selling at the time! The effects may be grainy by today's standards and its noise floor was more the ceiling but OMG it was fun to play. Still is. Far from "perfect" but it captured a moment in time and I'll never get rid of it.
The Roland D-50 - A Late 80's Love Story
Johnny Morgan Synth Dreams
108,558 views
A documentary short on the Roland D-50 - A classic synthesizer from the late 80's which helped define the future of digital synthesizers for years afterwards.