A Better Acoustic Piano for the Roland D-10/D-20

[@GL-GildedLining]

Genuinely impressed. And I can actually see why you're having trouble improving on that patch; it sounds about as good as I could imagine the Roland D-10 series sounding!

[@CorbenEdward]

I was at a music shop and saw one in near mint condition on a shelf unpriced. I asked to try it, staff plugged it in, I fell in love with the vibe. "HEY! I like this! How much?" - "uhhh, $40 good?" - "SWEET". Great board had fun using midi quest 12 to make a few presets too.

[@jonclyne2918]

Very interesting for a D20 owner. Thanks for sharing.

[@redeemer665]

I think these sounds are pretty cool and inspiring! And I just realized very clearly what's the only problem here: the default presets all have "wrong" names given to them! ❤ Aside from that, thanks for showing your sound design, you've achieved a very good patch there. The timbre reminds me of the CP-70 and the similars.

[@L15U5]

when I bought the d10 the processor chip was coming off. that is, the synthesizer sometimes froze .. I took the chip out of the panel and expanded the contacts ... after that everything was fine ... I also know that you can reflash the sampler part of the synthesis and upload a new drum kit there, for example

[@bestrickie2]

Hey, a good old synth, the sounds are not bad at all and you play nicely. I understand this instrument is using the linear arithmetic sound chip/engine. I’ve salvaged a stunning Roland E 30 arranger keyboard which is absolutely fantastic and I will certainly not be passing with it as it has got a lot of fantastic sound so extremely date and has real character to it this wonderful keyboard. I owned one of those years ago and regretted selling it so I got as I say another E 30 which I will be keeping for good.

[@L15U5]

definitely d10 has character... thanks for keeping it alive... synthesis control is made inconvenient but there are programmers, both hardware and software

[@midinotes]

I think back in the 90s this was the reason I bought the Kawai K1 instead of the Roland D5. Now hearing how the D10 is, I don't think the D5 would have been great although the factory demo made it sound amazing. Having said that, now I listen to the K1 piano and realise how far we've come over the years! I still though have a certain sentimental love for LA synthesis, and the D10 is a gorgeous looking keyboard. Can't remember the differences between the D5, D10 and D20... all I know is that none of them were a D50! You did an amazing job to stick with the D10 and create what sounds quite a passable piano.

[@peteraaron8626]

I think the D5 had no effects, the D10 did, and the D20 had a floppy drive and a sequencer. I think. I had the D10 but sold it many years ago. I often toy with the idea of getting another one.

[@avace917]

The D5 was just the keyboard. The D10 has a drum machine and as the other commenter said, the D20 has a sequencer and floppy drive

[@WilsonPhotography1]

I have a D-20 and I’m being gifted a D-110. I think they’re awesome.

[@vjrei]

I love the D-10. I fell in love with it back in 89 I think. Yes, is simple but it has so much to offer. It tries really hard without pretentious.

[@LouisSerieusement]

I have a D110, and I'm not a noob with audio synthesis. But, it's the most complexe synth I ever own (never bought FM synth lol). the D110 is sitting under my computer for more than a year. I've read the manual several time but it's just too tedious to edit. So far your video is the best tutorial ever for LA synthesis. Thank you a thousand times !!! Cheers and love from France !

[@Michel-r6m]

FM isn't complex (operators and modulator/carrier like a vocoder) synthesis. The difficulty lies in the predictability on how sounds come out and not the synthesis itself.

[@LouisSerieusement]

@@Michel-r6m yeah I get that but it's not the only reason why I don't connect with FM synth. There is also the amount of values you have to enter to set each envelops of each operators is insane, especially on a tiny screen with no copy/paste functionality. I remember spending like 2 hours to get a shitty saw like pad patch on the volca FM an thought to myself I would never bother again x) Yes, it's kind of lazy. Also FM synth have no filter and I'm lost without a tweakable cutoff aha

[@Michel-r6m]

@@LouisSerieusement I hear ya 😅 I had a Korg 707 (4 operator) and that was enough for me 😊

[@neilloughran4437]

Really lovely attempt. Back in those days sample memory was really expensive and acoustic piano is quite a complex sound to begin with. To be honest I'm surprised the D10 could do something approaching an acoustic piano and your sound is really nice. I remember playing the D50 in 1987 and don't recall any good acoustic piano sounds.... I think in general the Korg M1 was when a somewhat usable acoustic piano sound came on the market in a synth although I quite liked the acoustic piano sounds in the JX8P and JX10 for certain things.

[@jazzad]

D10 was my first first independant synth, after using a yamaha cx5m. Loved the fat tones but back then couldn't even try figuring the way LA worked. I like your idea of using a single instrument and take it to the max.

[@littlebritain64]

Maybe it is not the most realistic piano sound ever but it is a very good rendition of compact stage pianos from '70/'80s!

[@oupahens9219]

Ha, great stuff. This is not an LA sound though, as you did not use the PCM section as a partial. This sound is more like virtual analog. You only use square, pulse, and saw waves with RM, just like on a Jupiter.

[@johnrico4083]

Hello, can you show how to record a new User Pattern Beat, i have te same Synth

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

Hi, this is a nice idea for a video! Not sure if I get the time to make one about it. In the meantime, you can have a look at the user manual, PDF page 75, where the procedure is nicely documented. The following link should take you directly to the section www.manualslib.com/manual/695874/Roland-D-10.html?page=75#manual

[@johnrico4083]

Thanks, i will check @@carlgeorgbiermann2915

[@andybond5002]

D10 was my first synth. I don't miss it at all. No feelings of nostalgia here. A piano should sound like a piano.

[@doordedeur]

The Roland E-20 keyboard shares the same sound engine. Customers often asked me, how is the piano sound? I had to tell them the E-20 has no piano sound at all.

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

Yes and even with this patch it's still true. All the people I showed this patch in person said it didn't sound like a piano 😂

[@keep_your_sanity]

Wow! Great sound and tutorial. I have D-20 and keep it for some lo-fi synth sounds, it would be great to improve its piano. Many thanks for the vid!

[@kbejustervesenet7261]

Well done! This should have been a preset

[@patrickhoveling]

Wow. Awesome

[@xidoxido7080]

thanks for sharing your sounds and your passion. very inspiring. the D10 sounds great!

[@doordedeur]

What if you just un-detune the Honkytonk patch?

[@Michel-r6m]

RTFM does not apply for Roland gear 😅 Other than that Roland made some great synths. In the 90's had a JX-3p and D20, currently own a Jupiter 50 as TR8s.

[@junksmith_wizard]

I own both and d110 and 10 and gr50 all are the same deal and take the patch cards. But the D-series is not where i would go for actual piano sounds.also they all sound way better with external eq and fx

[@DetlevSchwabe]

I bought a D-20 when it had just come out. MIDI recording on Atari STs was booming at the time and I wanted a multi-timbral synth to become able to play back fully orchestrated songs live right out of Notator. It was supposed to complement the 2 other synths I already had at the time: a Juno-6 and a DX7, both mono-timbral of course and one didn't even have MIDI. JunkieXL is right though when comparing its sound to the D-50: it really did sound quite cheap in comparison. Almost as bad as the GeneralMIDI boxes that were coming out around the same time. Roland probably tried to save money by using cheaper DA converters. Looking back, the D-20 got me what I wanted during pre-VST times but it was also the first purchase I eventually regretted.

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

From listening to Roland D-50 demos I could also tell it sounds much better, but couldn't pin down why. I thought maybe it's got something to do with the quality of the samples (bit- or sampling rate). Also the D-50 has a chorus. But you hinting at the DA converter is also interesting!

[@stevehofer3482]

It doesn’t sound like an acoustic piano, but it is a very nice sound for the reasons you give. I like it better than the stock piano by farThanks for posting.

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

I can't tell the difference anymore, I got so used to this sound, haha

[@bestrickie2]

What is the subtle difference between the D 10 and D 20?

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

I believe the D-20's synth engine is the same as that of the D-10, but it has a floppy drive and sequencer capability. On the D-10, you can only sequence drums.

[@MrFfwrch]

Hi there, I have a d10 and I’m wondering if you could help me get it out of split mode

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

Hi, depending on whether you are in Performance mode, or in Multi-Timbral mode, split mode works slightly differently. The button at the top right next to the display switches between them. In Multi-Timbral mode, the D-10 can play up to 8 different tones at once if you control it by MIDI, but only the first two tones are controllable by keyboard. If you press "TUNE/FUNCTION", then "DISPLAY up" twice, the display will show "Split Point". Pull the "VALUE" slider all the way down to set the split point to C2. Then press "EXIT". The whole keyboard should now play the tone selected in "Part1". For Performance Mode, I will follow up below

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

If you have selected PERFORMANCE mode, the split mide depends on the performance preset you have selected. A performance preset can serve a single tone, layer two or put them in split mode. The mode of a performance preset (the D-10 calls it "Patch") can be switched as follows: press "EDIT", then press "LOWER" to select editing the Patch, then select the keyboard mode "WHOLE" with the help of the "VALUE" slider. The D-10 will forget this setting when you switch it off, but it's possible to save the Patch. Does either of these work for you?

[@MrFfwrch]

@@carlgeorgbiermann2915 Thank you, I managed to work out how to do it in performance mode but the instructions you’ve given on multi timberal mode are very helpful

[@fphilipmusic1858]

Thks a lot for your post. Very useful and superior quality. I ll try it on my D-20 (my first synth back in the days). It sounds quite like a yam CP 😉. With some externals effect it should be perfect

[@hotdiddly]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@norakat]

I felt very unfortunate and cursed to have purchased a D-10 as a kid 🤦‍♂️