There's got to be an "Escape from LA Synthesis" joke in here somewhere. Another banger my friend. I always want to go on a crap gear spending spree after watching these.
I used to know a guy that told me he would read the manual cover to cover before he ever turned a new synth on. Then he only used them for general midi sounds to recreate tunes. Creativity was not on his radar.
I owned a D-110 twice (once 30 years ago, and once 1 year ago) and built the D-110 patch editor for Edisyn. And it is my opinion that the D-110 has the single most convoluted and poorly-designed parameter architecture of any synthesizer in history, with its insane combination of patches, tones, timbres, and parts. One fun fact: TIMBRES have no real function in the synth at all, and the whole concept exists in order to maintain some "conceptual" backward-compatibility with the D-10, where timbres actually do something. The D-110's awful approach to single patches -- where you must place a single patch inside a multimode patch in order to even play it -- was repeated a few times, notionally in the Yamaha FB-01, Yamaha FS1R, and Waldorf Kyra. But thankfully not in later Roland synths, as Roland tried to pay penance for their awful design when they built the JV series.
@@AudioPilz I noted that you might do a later show on the D110+editor. Edisyn's patch editors seem to have a high overlap with the machines you've featured so far. Let me know if you try Edisyn out and get stuck (my email address is on the first page of the manual)
@@jukkauh oh shit, hey Sean. You helped me understand the Sysex system of the Proteus a year ago. I contacted you thru the GS forums. I was so grateful that I sent you some pocket change through PayPal. I was about to hound you again for help with my D110 but I found the bulk mappings for my MIDI controller and was able to figure it out. You're one smart dude. I'm gonna make a donation the app you wrote Edisyn, thanks again so much.
My band mate used this for “everything else” when building arrangements back in the late 80’s. I’d do synth things and drum programming, but he did make some cool 303 type synth sounds - and without an editor! He is very smart though - he went to Oxford and it wouldn’t surprise me if he submitted just a single D110 patch and they just let him choose or teach the course of his choosing! To be fair, it inspired me to do the same later, on a Korg 05/RW - future Bad Gear choice maybe? Much better than it seemed on the surface as a GM module. Great track (again) BTW, but also, the D110 really works well in your theme tune.
For anyone interested in better patches than the stock ones, I suggest checking out ruclips.net/video/u3oQoMtZeTI/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/ImBxFRDDpC0/видео.html because to me, there are some real gems in there.
I genuinely love this channel and the hilarious but informative content. Your personality shines through the well executed jokes and awesome meme/camera effects. These videos are one of the only actual notifications I get really excited to see! Thank you for putting out awesome and entertaining content!
The D110 changed my life. It was my first proper synth. It is very powerful. I managed to write Goa trance , coaxed all sorts of decent sounds out it. I remember spending months trying to make 303 sounds with it!
I think these demos show that it's also quite capable of modern sounds, just like you wrote: ruclips.net/video/u3oQoMtZeTI/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/ImBxFRDDpC0/видео.html
Roland D50 is the very first synth I touched in my life. I was 8 then and was stunned by its cosmo-like sound. Still remmber its iconic patach, Fantasia.
@@rorz999 it is just playschool of the kaosspad world. It was a very interesting idea when it came out. I found it unique and that's why I bought mine.
Shoutout to R appreceated! (: Btw: Rolands current engines show the relation. mc707's zen engine has 5 partials and a vast spreadsheet full of paramaters. Sure capable, but ridiculously opaque as well. I wonder what other old rackmounts are worth a look...
That's actually one of the cooler benefits of Roland gear, if you know one, chances are the architecture is similar on another, and understanding their way is not that hard. It's made me a fan by accident, got way too many of em now.
Roland M-vs1 is very cheap..... a jv880 engine with the vintage card sounds in a box.....another nightmare to program though..... midi is all NRPRs so even using a controller is a pain
Listening the background demo songs like "Macho Memory" or "My Brother" still makes me getting sentimental... the D-10 was my first synthesizer, bought used for way too much troublesomely saved up money from a rip-off music store that denied warranty although the synth had a serious mainboard failure. And the button pressure success rate was awful 😄
"My brother" ... aah! And "Dinner Set" og "Mergatroid". :) My old D-20 still plays those demo tunes. Just the mention of the titles and you hear the songs in your head ...
2046 parameters. They only asked if they could, but never if they should. A friend of mine loves the Roland D series. For me it always sounded like a big fat "meh".
Admits to having Click Bait title for video. This guy is hilarious - love it! I had a Roland D-20 as a teenager in the 90's and could never figure out how to really use it. But I LOVED those sounds!
Conflicted. I have a 1u rack space crying out to be filled, and this thing does sound pretty awesome. Though the whole complexity of menu diving puts me off. But maybe.... maybe....?!
The D110 is a fantastic and timeless synthesizer, which can be used for anything. The best editor is running on Atari, the reason why I have that sitting in the corner of my studio. I use the D110 for live, sequenced by the Alesis MMT8 for atonal soundscapes as a base for improvising with my modular synth and/or heavily effected fretless guitar stuff. I program it to produce 'out of tune' sounds with the keytracking set on different values. It is a very versatile synthesizer, locked up in a black box.
Jeeeebus, I’m now having dreams about this channel. Last night I dreamt you posted a video saying it was the end of bad gear, and I felt properly disappointed 🤦♂️
@@AudioPilz indeed, however… i must confess, i just recently went back to the LA synthesis keyboards, only this time, i bought the boutique d05 which is the mini d50 After fiddling around with the synthesis, i found that the keyboard is much more easier to edit sounds on the keyboard than the sound module
The sequencer on the D-20 was pretty much useless, something it had in common with the Korg M1. Both were marketed as "workstations", but the sequencers in both were little more than an afterthought.
@@chriswareham i never got to use a D-20, but one day I was hanging out at my local music shop and a guy game in with a disc of his rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” that they played for everyone using the D-20 floor model and it sounded great. I couple years later, I bought a W-30. The sequencer was OK. I preferred using the MMT-8 then later getting Cakewalk 3.0 for DOS to use on a 286 laptop.
@@zibbybone The W-30 was my main machine from roughly 2002 until 2016. I loved the sequencer in that thing, since it was so fast to use and the editing was quite powerful. The D-20 sequencer had virtually no editing in comparison. I now mostly use a Yamaha QX3 for sequencing, again because of the speed of use with slightly better step entry than Roland's approach.
I had the JV-880. Same style case as the D-110, but I love the sleek look of Roland gear from that era. I tried to get into the manual but never got very far. Great job on the video!
LA synthesis is so incredibly amazing, and not at all "behind" Yamaha's FM synthesis; just different. The DX7 was really "phase modulation" synthesis anyway, which gave way to the Casio CZ series' "phase distortion" synthesis. The true power of this synthesis paradigm was not really realized until the FS1R.
I had one in the late 90's got some great sounds out of it (editing parmeters, as a slave to an Amiga ). Then somebody 'borrowed" it . So I bought another one this year. I can not remember how to use it at all!!
I found your channel thanks to the Alex Ball crossover and I've been loving every video you put out! Personally I've only ever been able to play with softsynths and trackers (chiptunes are my wheelhouse) so it's always a pleasure to see obscure bits of gear shown off and demonstrated in such an entertaining way. Keep it up, dude! :)
Fixing the buttons is super easy! I fixed them on my D-20 by resoldering the few defective microswitches. Took less than 30min for a bunch and the parts cost next to nothing. Doesn't make it a better synth tho...
I mean. The joy of this channel is not the gear at all. It’s learning how gear is almost nothing without creativity and nuance in sequencing and songwriting
Audiopilz, your videos just get better and better. I absolutely adore all the work you put into your videos and the gear you showcase. Thank you so much.
lol i bought one because Drexciya used it and even though I have a JV-1080 it took me ages to workout how to program and even save a sound, I now use Midiquest to program it
Just found this channel today, really enjoying it so far. I don't have a D-110, I have a GR-50 which is a D-110 modified to be played from a guitar. This means the GR-50 has all of the parameters of a D-110 and then some more parameters for the guitar controller.
@@AudioPilz Find an online picture of the front panel of a Roland GR-50 and compare that to the front panel of a D-110. They're almost identical except for a few extra buttons on the GR-50 and a front panel socket for the guitar to plug into. The preset sounds in the GR-50 are mostly presets from the D series too. I've watched review vids of the D-50 and heard sounds in the reviews that are also factory presets on the GR-50.
I picked up a GR-50 off Reverb recently and yeah, the user interface is clear as mud, even with a user manual. At least I got the GK tweaked to where it tracks properly now. If only I could penetrate the opacity sufficiently to have an external sequencer triggering one sound while I'm playing another on the guitar, which of course was the whole point of buying the thing in the first place. :)
@@mrz80 The GR-50 can play it's internal sounds from an external MIDI source, look at page 16, pages 41 - 43 and pages 107 - 109 of the GR-50 owners manual. The owner's manual indicates that the GR-50 is limited to three internal "parts" that can be played from an external MIDI source, and one of those three parts is limited to rhythm (drum/percussion) sounds, so the GR-50 is limited to two synth sounds plus drums/percussion being controlled by an external MIDI source. It might be possible to create splits in the two synth parts so you could potentially have four or more synth sounds available at the same time from the two synth parts, but that's a trick I've never tried because the I have other gear that''s easier to set up for handling backing sounds, and the GR-50 is a pain to edit from it's front panel (there's a serious lack of editor apps for the GR-50). One final detail about using the GR-50's internal sounds with MIDI at the same time as playing it with a guitar. The GR-50 has a limit of 32 voices, but complex sounds can use up to 4 voices for 1 note, so you need to pay attention to how many voices will be used by the backing sounds. You might hit the 32 voice limit with multiple backing chords playing at the same time. When you use too many voices for backing sounds while playing the GR-50 with a guitar, the GR-50 will give priority to the sound being played from the guitar and drop notes from the backing sounds to make sure the sound from the guitar has enough voices to play properly.
God, Programming the LA synth engine with THAT LCD screen? Must be hell to do any complex sounds with it. Especially with barely functional buttons. Software editor makes programming the D-110 (or any Roland LA sound modules) stupidly easy. Also, I've heard that Patch Base has a D-110 Editor, although its for iPad and Macs so i haven't tried it. And if you happen to get a copy of SynthWorks for the ST and not a real ST, you could use Steem (Which has support for MIDI in and out).
"'Ive heard that Patch Base has a D-110 Editor, although its for iPad and Macs so i haven't tried it" I have Patchbase and use it often for the D110, its brilliant.
Can we get a "Great Gear" or something on the RE-201? The Space Echo is by far my favorite piece of gear ever released. Incredible versatility for a fairly straightfoward delay/reverb
@@AudioPilz I know I’m late here but I’d love to see the lexicon vortex on “rad gear.” I have one and it sounds amazing but it’s supposed to have some weird “morph” feature everybody raves about where it modulates from one effect to another with a footswitch but I haven’t seen it demo’d anywhere.
I have D-10 and editing for me is logical and easy. It.'s not D-50, but D-10 have more dirty sound. Sometimes i use it to brass, FX sounds or percussions
Gotcha Florian! Leaping into a river naked can cause hypothermia aka 'blue Danube.' but diving into D-110 menus causes major headaches. Entertaining as ever.
I still have my MT-32 stowed away, haven't used it in years. You have to use an editor, I had the Dr. T. I remember paying for third party sounds from adds in the back of synth mags back in the 80s.
Just picked up a D10. The difference between fully dry and the synth demo at 6:49 is absolutely MASSIVE! I don't know what kinda black magic you've used, but it was definitely worth it 👌👍.
Amateurs !! Try a GR50 to really scramble your head... a 1U rack that is (at the same time) a GM70 for guitar-to-MIDI conversion, a guitar controlled LA-synthesiser *and* a three part multitmbral D110. What larks as you record your guitar-MIDI output into a sequencer then play it back and wonder why an acoustic piano and double bass are playing back what you played with the RubberLead patch... The PG10 “works” with it too, but with some gotchas... Frustrating machines because you know there are good sounds to be had in there but Roland seemed determined to put you off finding/programming them...
Um, putting that through a space echo is like getting your Fiat a $5K paint job and detailing. I can polish it up too, but in the end starting from something more modern and with better usability will probably get you going faster and better.
Got to chime in here as my first proper synth was the D110 hooked up to an Amiga running OctaMED (step programming only). The D110 has one great feature that never gets mentioned - the multi-timbral channel program changes were almost instant and didn't cut off the previous sound. This let you change program on every step on the channel without a glitch so if you want to drop a spot sound in somewhere, just find a slot on any track and dump it in. This was superb flexibility.
The Roland D-10 (keyboard version of this) is the only hardware synth I own. Had a lot of fun with it. And yes, I did use the manual a lot. It's actually a whole DAW crammed into this two line LED display.
Man, I love your videos. Your knowledge and jokes about these synths are always entertaining. I can only dream of you making a super in depth video series on popular synths like a Roland Jupiter-8 broken into parts, would love to hear your explanation of their features and shortcomings. You are a masochist for reading the manuals and guides for the D-110 lol
GREAT nostalgia! I can soooo relate to this, had a D110 for a short time and got rid of it because of the horrific UI. It must have taken crazy amounts of dedication and patience to make this vid! I also had the rompler sibling, the U-110. That one seem to have been completely forgotten by history, while as the D-110 sold as cupcakes.
Good video! I own a D110. I bought it (inoperative) for $40 US. I then changed out the display (it now sports a sharp OLED), replaced some dodgy electrolytic caps, replaced the internal battery, cleaned the button contacts with De-Oxit and brought it back to life. However, after all that effort and even locating the same user manual you showed in your video, programming it has been a test of patience. When I stumble onto an interesting patch it usually sounds good, very much a stuck in the '80's good, but nice if I'm feeling nostalgic.
@@AudioPilz Thanks. I had to troubleshoot it first, which took an afternoon, then once I had all the needed parts it took another afternoon to install the fixes. I bought the display from this cat in England who sold them on eBay. It was hit or miss as far as stock because he works these up based on which models he gets requests for, but I managed to grab the one that fit D110. This was about 4~5 years ago, but I think this guy still has an eBay store. All-in I spent around around $60 in parts (including the display and caps) and counted my labor as "free". Would I do it again? No. However, it was a good learning experience.
Yes! Thank you for covering the budget side of the D-series! I think you did a great job of making it sound good despite the difficulties of the input panel, far better than I could ever do! I think you also did a good job of highlighting the character of the LA Synthesis sound. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with a software editor! I suppose the PG-10 programmer would be useful for tweaking parameters live, I'm not really sure, but I've always felt like one of the major problems with the D-series was the tiny LCD screen that tried to juggle too many parameters on screen at once, and while I've never used one, I always felt like the PG-10 would still have that same problem. I'm also not particularly fond of how all the parameters are represented as numerical values, so I benefit greatly from the visual representation of the software editor. It's much easier for me to wrap my head around what the numerical values mean when I can actually see the shape of the envelope, for instance! At it's heart, I don't think the D-series are bad synths. I've always defended the D-20, even from D-50 lovers, saying that despite the low-quality PCM samples, the LA Synthesis engine can sound great (while some of the stock patches are fine, when creating my own I tend to ignore the samples completely). It's just a shame, because it really is a deep, complex engine, and it's totally hampered by that absolutely awful interface, which I can only assume was a combination of cost-saving and "modern digital synth!" technology powered exclusively by rows of buttons... ugh.
Thanks! I assume back in the day, people were spending years on trying to master one synthesizer and manufacturers knew (maybe it helped that there was still more money in the music production game;)
I just bought a D550 and also D05 boutique. Ive always been really into it's sound, for reasons that I cant explain, that breathyness tho..also get a programmer for that thing!
I used to work with a D20 back then. These are very capable synth. By then, I had plenty of time to sit with the manual and editing, not today. I think I can give it a try with and external controller to make it shine a lot faster. Thanks for this review
words cant express how much i love this show
Thank you, it means a lot to me!
Me2
@@christiantorma2440 Me 3
Yes. Me too. But maybe dx7 can 😂
These videos are so good that I wait for the ads to play all the way through.
There's got to be an "Escape from LA Synthesis" joke in here somewhere.
Another banger my friend. I always want to go on a crap gear spending spree after watching these.
Thank you so much. Maybe on Synth Memes?;)
Haha I love it
You are a legend.
Snake Plisken! I thought you were working for Behringer!
"Have you ever filled out your tax forms on mushrooms? Well neither have I..."
Feel like there's a story behind that
Drugs are bad, m'kay!?!
@@AudioPilz That southpark reference though
“Not all drugs are good. Some of them are great!” ~Bill Hicks
@@EnviroDouglas Gods little accelerator pad for our evolution.
I used to know a guy that told me he would read the manual cover to cover before he ever turned a new synth on. Then he only used them for general midi sounds to recreate tunes. Creativity was not on his radar.
My school had a D10 back in the day. It sounded ancient in 2005 and had crappy buttons. Now it is a Vaporwave gold mine.
So great for that genre!
"Regan-era style crime" legitimately made me chuckle, never miss those orchestra hits
Thanks! This one is REALLY bad ;)
Hey, if orchestral hits were good enough for Neil Peart's drum solos... :P
Reagan not Regan.
I owned a D-110 twice (once 30 years ago, and once 1 year ago) and built the D-110 patch editor for Edisyn. And it is my opinion that the D-110 has the single most convoluted and poorly-designed parameter architecture of any synthesizer in history, with its insane combination of patches, tones, timbres, and parts. One fun fact: TIMBRES have no real function in the synth at all, and the whole concept exists in order to maintain some "conceptual" backward-compatibility with the D-10, where timbres actually do something. The D-110's awful approach to single patches -- where you must place a single patch inside a multimode patch in order to even play it -- was repeated a few times, notionally in the Yamaha FB-01, Yamaha FS1R, and Waldorf Kyra. But thankfully not in later Roland synths, as Roland tried to pay penance for their awful design when they built the JV series.
The awkwardness of the structure totally blew me away. What a maze!
@@AudioPilz I noted that you might do a later show on the D110+editor. Edisyn's patch editors seem to have a high overlap with the machines you've featured so far. Let me know if you try Edisyn out and get stuck (my email address is on the first page of the manual)
@@jukkauh oh shit, hey Sean. You helped me understand the Sysex system of the Proteus a year ago. I contacted you thru the GS forums. I was so grateful that I sent you some pocket change through PayPal.
I was about to hound you again for help with my D110 but I found the bulk mappings for my MIDI controller and was able to figure it out. You're one smart dude. I'm gonna make a donation the app you wrote Edisyn, thanks again so much.
Aren’t they doing it again in the Jupiter-X? 😬
Not the JV but the JD800 which was as if some slider potentiometer company had a closedown sale and only Roland knew about it
I never thought of a D110 to be a piece of bad gear. When it came out, this synth and an Atari running Pro24 was a powerhouse.
Agreed, total gamechanger. A PITA to operate nonetheless (now and back then)
Just gotta say this is probably the best gear related channel to come out these last few years. Really great to see it grow
Thank you so much. Nice to have you around!
i'm a simple man. i see a roland rack unit, i click like.
So many of them out there. Thanks for liking!
I just realized that Ableton has a crash report on screen in *every* episode… 😆
Because it crashes EVERY DAY 😂
@@AudioPilz Yeah mine has gotten worse lately and crashes after a few hours of it being open when I'm not touching it.
@@AudioPilz it's a DAW but holy hell it likes to crash for no reason
The fact that its paid as well
What a scam.
My band mate used this for “everything else” when building arrangements back in the late 80’s. I’d do synth things and drum programming, but he did make some cool 303 type synth sounds - and without an editor! He is very smart though - he went to Oxford and it wouldn’t surprise me if he submitted just a single D110 patch and they just let him choose or teach the course of his choosing! To be fair, it inspired me to do the same later, on a Korg 05/RW - future Bad Gear choice maybe? Much better than it seemed on the surface as a GM module.
Great track (again) BTW, but also, the D110 really works well in your theme tune.
Thanks! Korg rack/half-rack synths are a great idea!
05R/W has better sounds and much better interface
@@AudioPilz +1 on the X3R / X5R. Maybe.. you should even consider the E-Mu Orbit. That would be controversial and fun.
I had a faulty 05/RW so never really enjoyed it.
@@_DRMR_ in fairness, I had a perfectly functional 05/RW and never really enjoyed it either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
its insane how you can create such informative and detailed videos, while still being funny and entertaining. Amazing as always!
Happy to hear that. Thanks for watching!
This is your best demo track yet. ROADROCK SLEASEWAVE is a great band name.
6/8 dance music is so underrated.
Thank you so much!
I have had my D-110 for multiple decades and never got it to sound that good. Additionally, your videos are super entertaining and fun. Thanks!
Thank you so much!
For anyone interested in better patches than the stock ones, I suggest checking out ruclips.net/video/u3oQoMtZeTI/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/ImBxFRDDpC0/видео.html because to me, there are some real gems in there.
I genuinely love this channel and the hilarious but informative content. Your personality shines through the well executed jokes and awesome meme/camera effects.
These videos are one of the only actual notifications I get really excited to see! Thank you for putting out awesome and entertaining content!
Thank you so much!
The D110 changed my life. It was my first proper synth. It is very powerful. I managed to write Goa trance , coaxed all sorts of decent sounds out it. I remember spending months trying to make 303 sounds with it!
Respect for getting Psytrance out of that one!
I think these demos show that it's also quite capable of modern sounds, just like you wrote: ruclips.net/video/u3oQoMtZeTI/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/ImBxFRDDpC0/видео.html
Roland D50 is the very first synth I touched in my life. I was 8 then and was stunned by its cosmo-like sound. Still remmber its iconic patach, Fantasia.
It's on the other Rolands of that time, too. Magic!
"The Water Level of the Danube" - a valid and correct metric to consider since Tiberius failed to do so and regretted it for 2000 years after
Varus, Varus,...
This show is the only reason I get to fridays, I love it.
THX! Happy to hear that. Stick around!
My mom got a d-10 when I was about 8, was around forever, these sounds bring me back
These are quite a challenge for an 8 year old;)
Today I re-watched old videos of yours and I'm really happy to watch a new one ! Thank you so much for beeing so generous, your videos are awesome
Thanks for watching!
@@AudioPilz do you have a mail adress to share in case someone want to give away gear for you ? I'm thinking about it
This has quickly become my favorite RUclips show. Always great to see a notification for a new episode!
Thanks! Happy to hear that!
Man I'm 100% sure you're the first and only person to ever use the D-110 with a space echo.
Both were in so many 80s and 90s studios, I'm sure someone tried that before ;)
Do the original Kaoss Pad, next! (I have one, it’s terrible. Let me know if you want me to mail it to you).
It's on top of my list! Thanks for the input!
I really want to hear that!
And the kaossilator! I hate that thing!
I have one as well...
@@rorz999 it is just playschool of the kaosspad world. It was a very interesting idea when it came out. I found it unique and that's why I bought mine.
Shoutout to R appreceated! (:
Btw: Rolands current engines show the relation. mc707's zen engine has 5 partials and a vast spreadsheet full of paramaters. Sure capable, but ridiculously opaque as well.
I wonder what other old rackmounts are worth a look...
R8-m is great! Currently looking for a U-110
That's actually one of the cooler benefits of Roland gear, if you know one, chances are the architecture is similar on another, and understanding their way is not that hard.
It's made me a fan by accident, got way too many of em now.
Roland M-vs1 is very cheap..... a jv880 engine with the vintage card sounds in a box.....another nightmare to program though..... midi is all NRPRs so even using a controller is a pain
Listening the background demo songs like "Macho Memory" or "My Brother" still makes me getting sentimental... the D-10 was my first synthesizer, bought used for way too much troublesomely saved up money from a rip-off music store that denied warranty although the synth had a serious mainboard failure. And the button pressure success rate was awful 😄
I wanted to include the Reggea demo in the video but received a copyright claim. Mysterious...
"My brother" ... aah! And "Dinner Set" og "Mergatroid". :) My old D-20 still plays those demo tunes. Just the mention of the titles and you hear the songs in your head ...
2046 parameters. They only asked if they could, but never if they should.
A friend of mine loves the Roland D series. For me it always sounded like a big fat "meh".
With great amount of parameters comes great responsibility
Admits to having Click Bait title for video. This guy is hilarious - love it! I had a Roland D-20 as a teenager in the 90's and could never figure out how to really use it. But I LOVED those sounds!
Thanks! We all know the drill ;)
Oh hey I actually have this thing.
It kinda sucks and I love it.
Great 80s toolkit!
Conflicted. I have a 1u rack space crying out to be filled, and this thing does sound pretty awesome. Though the whole complexity of menu diving puts me off. But maybe.... maybe....?!
Oh damn I bought one.
Cool, did you already figure out how to use it as a simple subtractive synth?;)
@@AudioPilz ha I'll report back when it arrives. This is your fault.
I like seeing this play out from across the pond. You both inspire me, trite as that may seem.
The D110 is a fantastic and timeless synthesizer, which can be used for anything. The best editor is running on Atari, the reason why I have that sitting in the corner of my studio. I use the D110 for live, sequenced by the Alesis MMT8 for atonal soundscapes as a base for improvising with my modular synth and/or heavily effected fretless guitar stuff. I program it to produce 'out of tune' sounds with the keytracking set on different values.
It is a very versatile synthesizer, locked up in a black box.
True! I have to dig a little deeper into the keytracking settings
Jeeeebus, I’m now having dreams about this channel. Last night I dreamt you posted a video saying it was the end of bad gear, and I felt properly disappointed 🤦♂️
Don't worry, there's no limit to Bad Gear ;)
I used to own a d-110, it was an experience to play
I eventually sold it, along with ALL of my roland gear to buy the juno ds
The D110 is quite a challenge;)
@@AudioPilz indeed, however… i must confess, i just recently went back to the LA synthesis keyboards, only this time, i bought the boutique d05 which is the mini d50
After fiddling around with the synthesis, i found that the keyboard is much more easier to edit sounds on the keyboard than the sound module
I wanted a D-20 badly in the late 80s. Fortunately, I grew out of that.
The "road wave" tune was slammin!
Thank you !
The sequencer on the D-20 was pretty much useless, something it had in common with the Korg M1. Both were marketed as "workstations", but the sequencers in both were little more than an afterthought.
@@chriswareham i never got to use a D-20, but one day I was hanging out at my local music shop and a guy game in with a disc of his rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” that they played for everyone using the D-20 floor model and it sounded great.
I couple years later, I bought a W-30. The sequencer was OK. I preferred using the MMT-8 then later getting Cakewalk 3.0 for DOS to use on a 286 laptop.
@@zibbybone The W-30 was my main machine from roughly 2002 until 2016. I loved the sequencer in that thing, since it was so fast to use and the editing was quite powerful. The D-20 sequencer had virtually no editing in comparison. I now mostly use a Yamaha QX3 for sequencing, again because of the speed of use with slightly better step entry than Roland's approach.
Bravo! Seems like the Roland rack-mounts are an almost endless gold-mine of memes & content; a meme-mine!
Total meme-mine! Thanks!
Just starting out making electronic music. Thinking of combining one of these with a Cheatah ms-800
Oh, the hard way...
Godspeed.
I had the JV-880. Same style case as the D-110, but I love the sleek look of Roland gear from that era. I tried to get into the manual but never got very far. Great job on the video!
Thanks!
LA synthesis is so incredibly amazing, and not at all "behind" Yamaha's FM synthesis; just different. The DX7 was really "phase modulation" synthesis anyway, which gave way to the Casio CZ series' "phase distortion" synthesis. The true power of this synthesis paradigm was not really realized until the FS1R.
FS1R is such a fascinating instrument!
@@AudioPilz I had one - it was fun transferring samples into fs1r synthesis but otherwise a bastard to program...
such an underrated series. keep it banging, lad.
Thanks! Working on it!
This video gave me a perm.
Pics or didn't happen!😅😉😂
Each episode just keeps getting better!!
Thank you so much!
I had one in the late 90's got some great sounds out of it (editing parmeters, as a slave to an Amiga ). Then somebody 'borrowed" it . So I bought another one this year. I can not remember how to use it at all!!
I IMMEDIATELY forget every programming step of the unit. A nightmare😅
The Presets, the Presets! This was a flash from the past for me as I owned Roland D10 way back. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Okay, I think it's time for some "high-end" bad gear. Someone lend this guy a Hartmann Neuron!
Damn, that thing REALLY turned some heads back then ;)
I found your channel thanks to the Alex Ball crossover and I've been loving every video you put out! Personally I've only ever been able to play with softsynths and trackers (chiptunes are my wheelhouse) so it's always a pleasure to see obscure bits of gear shown off and demonstrated in such an entertaining way. Keep it up, dude! :)
Thanks for watching, stick around!
We should make a techno-tune together called "Einen Absturtz Melden"
Ja!
Warum war das auch das erste was mit an der stelle aufgefallen ist? :D
(also ausser weils der grösste und prominenteste text auf dem bildschirm ist)
rofl - that track would have to be extremely SCHRUTZELIG, though! :D
Brilliant! Laughed so hard I cried. Can't wait to hear what you can do with an editor.
Thanks!
Fixing the buttons is super easy! I fixed them on my D-20 by resoldering the few defective microswitches. Took less than 30min for a bunch and the parts cost next to nothing. Doesn't make it a better synth tho...
Good to know! Thanks for posting!
I mean. The joy of this channel is not the gear at all. It’s learning how gear is almost nothing without creativity and nuance in sequencing and songwriting
Thank you so much!!!
Man you have the best positive likes ratio i've ever seen here on synthtubers lol Hail to the bad gear guru!!! lol
Thanks!
@@AudioPilz thank YOUUU
I always look forward to these, I just know something I own will pop up one day!
It eventually will ;)
A bad Roland manual? It can't be :) U can make a whole channel just on bad Roland manuals
Welcome to Bad Manuals, the show about Rolands in-house library
@@AudioPilz Roland and Yamaha fighting for a podium, as well as manuals as UI.
Audiopilz, your videos just get better and better. I absolutely adore all the work you put into your videos and the gear you showcase. Thank you so much.
If you can borrow a Jupiter 80 from someone, I highly recommend you do a bad gear episode on it.
Thanks for watching! It means a lot to me!
lol i bought one because Drexciya used it and even though I have a JV-1080 it took me ages to workout how to program and even save a sound, I now use Midiquest to program it
Yeah, saving a sound can be quite a challenge;)
This was my main module when I signed my first record deal! ❤️💯
Nice! Lots of power under the hood
"Linear Arithmetic" is also what I had to use while following your parameter menu charts 😬
That's how they do synthesis in Business School ;)
Just found this channel today, really enjoying it so far.
I don't have a D-110, I have a GR-50 which is a D-110 modified to be played from a guitar. This means the GR-50 has all of the parameters of a D-110 and then some more parameters for the guitar controller.
Wow, didn't know about that one. Stick around!
@@AudioPilz Find an online picture of the front panel of a Roland GR-50 and compare that to the front panel of a D-110. They're almost identical except for a few extra buttons on the GR-50 and a front panel socket for the guitar to plug into. The preset sounds in the GR-50 are mostly presets from the D series too. I've watched review vids of the D-50 and heard sounds in the reviews that are also factory presets on the GR-50.
I picked up a GR-50 off Reverb recently and yeah, the user interface is clear as mud, even with a user manual. At least I got the GK tweaked to where it tracks properly now. If only I could penetrate the opacity sufficiently to have an external sequencer triggering one sound while I'm playing another on the guitar, which of course was the whole point of buying the thing in the first place. :)
@@AudioPilz Oh YES! Get your six string mojo on and do a piece on the GR-50. Puhleeeeze!??!@?!?
@@mrz80 The GR-50 can play it's internal sounds from an external MIDI source, look at page 16, pages 41 - 43 and pages 107 - 109 of the GR-50 owners manual. The owner's manual indicates that the GR-50 is limited to three internal "parts" that can be played from an external MIDI source, and one of those three parts is limited to rhythm (drum/percussion) sounds, so the GR-50 is limited to two synth sounds plus drums/percussion being controlled by an external MIDI source.
It might be possible to create splits in the two synth parts so you could potentially have four or more synth sounds available at the same time from the two synth parts, but that's a trick I've never tried because the I have other gear that''s easier to set up for handling backing sounds, and the GR-50 is a pain to edit from it's front panel (there's a serious lack of editor apps for the GR-50).
One final detail about using the GR-50's internal sounds with MIDI at the same time as playing it with a guitar. The GR-50 has a limit of 32 voices, but complex sounds can use up to 4 voices for 1 note, so you need to pay attention to how many voices will be used by the backing sounds. You might hit the 32 voice limit with multiple backing chords playing at the same time. When you use too many voices for backing sounds while playing the GR-50 with a guitar, the GR-50 will give priority to the sound being played from the guitar and drop notes from the backing sounds to make sure the sound from the guitar has enough voices to play properly.
God, Programming the LA synth engine with THAT LCD screen? Must be hell to do any complex sounds with it. Especially with barely functional buttons.
Software editor makes programming the D-110 (or any Roland LA sound modules) stupidly easy.
Also, I've heard that Patch Base has a D-110 Editor, although its for iPad and Macs so i haven't tried it.
And if you happen to get a copy of SynthWorks for the ST and not a real ST, you could use Steem (Which has support for MIDI in and out).
Love the idea using Steem!
"'Ive heard that Patch Base has a D-110 Editor, although its for iPad and Macs so i haven't tried it"
I have Patchbase and use it often for the D110, its brilliant.
I burned through all your episodes last week, so I'm super hyped for this and whatever comes next on this great channel. Cheers!
Thank you so much!
More 90's rack gear, more, moar!!!!!!!!
Working on it!
My week-end begins well, thanks for the video!
Thanks for watching!
Can we get a "Great Gear" or something on the RE-201? The Space Echo is by far my favorite piece of gear ever released. Incredible versatility for a fairly straightfoward delay/reverb
"Rad Gear" is in its final planning stage!
@@AudioPilz I know I’m late here but I’d love to see the lexicon vortex on “rad gear.” I have one and it sounds amazing but it’s supposed to have some weird “morph” feature everybody raves about where it modulates from one effect to another with a footswitch but I haven’t seen it demo’d anywhere.
@@SkylerAcord damn, I had a Vortex and LOVED the morph but sold it some years ago. Hard to find now🥺
@@AudioPilz bummer!! I’d let you borrow mine if I were local lol. Cheers man love your vids
I love your channel. This is the best episode yet.
Thanks!
I have D-10 and editing for me is logical and easy. It.'s not D-50, but D-10 have more dirty sound. Sometimes i use it to brass, FX sounds or percussions
It certainly is logical, I wouldn't call it easy;)
@@AudioPilz Hm, maybe i think so because i spend many hours witch my D-10. But that doesyn't change that editing of D-50 is better and more enjoyable.
This is the d-110, not d-10
@@AboveEmAllProduction they have the same system ;)
Gotcha Florian! Leaping into a river naked can cause hypothermia aka 'blue Danube.' but diving into D-110 menus causes major headaches. Entertaining as ever.
Thanks! The danube is quite peaceful around here
U-110 has such "lovely" constant noise. The MT-32 is probably even a step worse on the "suck level meter".
U110 is on top of my list, MT-32 has become highly sought after as a lot of DOS gamers like it
I still have my MT-32 stowed away, haven't used it in years. You have to use an editor, I had the Dr. T. I remember paying for third party sounds from adds in the back of synth mags back in the 80s.
Just picked up a D10. The difference between fully dry and the synth demo at 6:49 is absolutely MASSIVE! I don't know what kinda black magic you've used, but it was definitely worth it 👌👍.
Thanks!!! Just a bit of mixing;)
How about the DJX keyboard? How about the Yamaha SHS-10R Keytar!!!
There's a video about the DJX-2b on the channel. Currently trying to get an OG DJX. Thanks for the input, that keytar is the pinnacle of 80s madness
@@AudioPilz you want one? i can u give one
The OG DJX is very well done. Hard to pitch it as bad gear. Maybe a better gear sequel to the djx2!
AudioPilz just casually flexing a Space Echo.
Great video as always!
It's the family Space Echo. I hold it in high regards!
Amateurs !! Try a GR50 to really scramble your head... a 1U rack that is (at the same time) a GM70 for guitar-to-MIDI conversion, a guitar controlled LA-synthesiser *and* a three part multitmbral D110. What larks as you record your guitar-MIDI output into a sequencer then play it back and wonder why an acoustic piano and double bass are playing back what you played with the RubberLead patch... The PG10 “works” with it too, but with some gotchas... Frustrating machines because you know there are good sounds to be had in there but Roland seemed determined to put you off finding/programming them...
Great idea! Didn't think of that one!
Exactly! It's like they wanted to make it even scarier because there's a guitar involved. :D
I would LOVE a episode about old studio monitors and or interfaces!
Interesting! Any suggestions?
127 velocity piano, is 100% of British music in the early 90's 😂🤣😂🤣
They made the best out of it
Loved the cheeky outrun car, perfectly fitting for the genre .
Two generations of outrun cars ;)
Um, putting that through a space echo is like getting your Fiat a $5K paint job and detailing. I can polish it up too, but in the end starting from something more modern and with better usability will probably get you going faster and better.
The beauty of the RE-201 - you can send EVERYTHING through it and it will sound somewhat nice
i see a really promising vapor wave career in your future. graphics and audio on point and just enough
Thank you so much! Synthwave EP coming up!
Really good video, as always. Thanks for all the work you put into this.
Thanks for watching!
Got to chime in here as my first proper synth was the D110 hooked up to an Amiga running OctaMED (step programming only). The D110 has one great feature that never gets mentioned - the multi-timbral channel program changes were almost instant and didn't cut off the previous sound. This let you change program on every step on the channel without a glitch so if you want to drop a spot sound in somewhere, just find a slot on any track and dump it in. This was superb flexibility.
Classic setup!!!
awesome video as always - keep up the great work!
Thanks!
The Roland D-10 (keyboard version of this) is the only hardware synth I own. Had a lot of fun with it. And yes, I did use the manual a lot. It's actually a whole DAW crammed into this two line LED display.
Agreed! So powerful!
Thank you for the vaporwave clip at the end.
Always a pleasure! Thanks for watching!
Your videos are so good I had to watch both ads.
Very kind of you, thanks!
Man, I love your videos. Your knowledge and jokes about these synths are always entertaining. I can only dream of you making a super in depth video series on popular synths like a Roland Jupiter-8 broken into parts, would love to hear your explanation of their features and shortcomings. You are a masochist for reading the manuals and guides for the D-110 lol
Thanks! Well, those manuals are not worse than the stuff they give you to read at a Business School;)
Nice to hear the internal demo song Flight of the Bumblebee being used here! The Nutcracker demo is good too, especially the clarinet sound.
Thanks!!! Agreed!!!
Korg N1R. I have one without ever getting anything decent out of it. Great channel BTW, very creative and well done!
Wow, never heard of that one! Thanks for posting!
Ah! Flo, as always you’re a breathe of wonderfully funny fresh air!
Thank you!
@@AudioPilz ❤️🤘🏽
In every of your videos, I like your songwriting skills .
Thank you so much!
Oh dear, I went from a yammy FB01 to the D110, now have to subscribe to see what other ‘bad gear’ has passed through my hands across the years :)
Those are probably the most 80s instruments after Steinberger headless basses;)
GREAT nostalgia! I can soooo relate to this, had a D110 for a short time and got rid of it because of the horrific UI. It must have taken crazy amounts of dedication and patience to make this vid! I also had the rompler sibling, the U-110. That one seem to have been completely forgotten by history, while as the D-110 sold as cupcakes.
Thanks! Many U-110 around here!
Good video! I own a D110. I bought it (inoperative) for $40 US. I then changed out the display (it now sports a sharp OLED), replaced some dodgy electrolytic caps, replaced the internal battery, cleaned the button contacts with De-Oxit and brought it back to life. However, after all that effort and even locating the same user manual you showed in your video, programming it has been a test of patience. When I stumble onto an interesting patch it usually sounds good, very much a stuck in the '80's good, but nice if I'm feeling nostalgic.
Cool! How long did the repair take you (and which displays to use9?
@@AudioPilz Thanks. I had to troubleshoot it first, which took an afternoon, then once I had all the needed parts it took another afternoon to install the fixes. I bought the display from this cat in England who sold them on eBay. It was hit or miss as far as stock because he works these up based on which models he gets requests for, but I managed to grab the one that fit D110. This was about 4~5 years ago, but I think this guy still has an eBay store. All-in I spent around around $60 in parts (including the display and caps) and counted my labor as "free". Would I do it again? No. However, it was a good learning experience.
You always brighten my day mate, love these videos.
Thanks for watching!
I love the D110. I used to use mine as a makeshift expander for my D50 (more layers)!
Great for that application!
Love your channel. Nice demo man.
Thank you so much!
I soooooo wanted one of these when they came out...... seemed an amazing machine..... I'm kind of glad I couldn't afford one then!
They actually ARE amazing but equally mind boggling
Yes! Thank you for covering the budget side of the D-series! I think you did a great job of making it sound good despite the difficulties of the input panel, far better than I could ever do! I think you also did a good job of highlighting the character of the LA Synthesis sound. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with a software editor!
I suppose the PG-10 programmer would be useful for tweaking parameters live, I'm not really sure, but I've always felt like one of the major problems with the D-series was the tiny LCD screen that tried to juggle too many parameters on screen at once, and while I've never used one, I always felt like the PG-10 would still have that same problem. I'm also not particularly fond of how all the parameters are represented as numerical values, so I benefit greatly from the visual representation of the software editor. It's much easier for me to wrap my head around what the numerical values mean when I can actually see the shape of the envelope, for instance!
At it's heart, I don't think the D-series are bad synths. I've always defended the D-20, even from D-50 lovers, saying that despite the low-quality PCM samples, the LA Synthesis engine can sound great (while some of the stock patches are fine, when creating my own I tend to ignore the samples completely). It's just a shame, because it really is a deep, complex engine, and it's totally hampered by that absolutely awful interface, which I can only assume was a combination of cost-saving and "modern digital synth!" technology powered exclusively by rows of buttons... ugh.
Thanks! I assume back in the day, people were spending years on trying to master one synthesizer and manufacturers knew (maybe it helped that there was still more money in the music production game;)
I'm always looking forward to my saturday morning dose of Bad Gear.
Thanks for watching!
This channel is an oasis.Great vid man once again
Thank you! It's not a Fata Morgana (or maybe it is...;)
I really like the way it sounds but all of the menus and submenus scare me a little. Btw. I love your videos, the editing and humor is just spot on :D
Thanks! The UI is quite a PITA
I just bought a D550 and also D05 boutique. Ive always been really into it's sound, for reasons that I cant explain, that breathyness tho..also get a programmer for that thing!
There will be a programmer episode for sure
I used to work with a D20 back then. These are very capable synth. By then, I had plenty of time to sit with the manual and editing, not today. I think I can give it a try with and external controller to make it shine a lot faster. Thanks for this review
Thanks for watching!
Oh my goodness, I had one of these when they came out. The multitimbrality was good for the day.
I think multitimbrality was the main reason people were getting them in the first place ;)