Some call D-70 as D-50's bigger brother, which is
actually quite wrong. This is no Linear Arithmetic synth as D-50 is.
Instead it uses the PCM sample playback only (no analog modeling
section). In fact, it is no secret that a unit was originally a part of
Roland's U series and was planned to be model U-50, however, due to
popularity of D-50, Roland changed its name into D-70. As a result,
first units had the U-50 label printed on PCB boards inside. Given its
sound there was realy no reason for this bungle with neames. So what is
D-70 in the end, you might ask.
Well D-70 is a truly magnificent sounding digital synth for pads -
that's for sure,
but also one of the most forgotten ones. It is Roland's first digital
synthesizer that incorporated resonant filter (12dB slope). In fact,
not only it is
resonant, but it is multimode, and features Low Pass, Band Pass and
High Pass and sounds different from its successor JV-80. I know that
tastes differ but D-70's filter surely sounds more analog (therefore
better sounding for those who prefer analog sound).
This synth doesn’t have much waveforms, but those that are
in, are the classic Roland orchestral and synth waves - unbeatable for
years, and still great sounding today. The only bad thing about this
synth is sound editing. It is was unnecessary complicated. There are no
classic patches (as on JV), but first you need to build individual tone
and save it. Then you go into a Patch to combine 4 different tones. Now
you need to save the patch. Effects and controllers are stored in
Performance, so if you want these to be individual, you need to save a
Performance too. Then you can play your sound. Later in JV and Super JV
series you could do all this
within a Patch. So in case you automatically save a patch but forget
to save individual tones - it is gone forever.
One interesting feature of this synth (but not too useful) is the DLM
- differential loop modulation. It is good for creating noises (for
industrial / techno), but it can't loop large portions of samples, so
output results are more or less similar on most waveforms.
As mentioned before, this synth is best for pads. Here is a small demo
of 5 patches played and merged one after another (to reduce total demo
time and file size). No layering or overdub.
D-70: Pads Demo
- 03:03 - custom programmed patches by Don Solaris
D-70: Pads Demo - 03:03 - custom programmed patches by Don Solaris
