Roland D-50 Celebration Moments with Mike Lindup

Keyboard legend Mike Lindup reminisces on how Roland’s D-50 synthesizer helped shape some of Level 42’s best-known tracks. Back in 1987, as their fame reached epidemic proportions, the band were spending most of their time on the road, playing arenas all over the world - both as headliners and opening for the likes of Madonna and Tina Turner. Needing to work on new material, Mike put together a studio that he could use on the road, which just happened to include a new and rather interesting Roland synth called the D-50…This hugely influential synth is now reborn as the Roland Boutique D-05 and is also available as a software synth plug-in via Roland Cloud.
D-05: www.roland.com...
D-50 30th Anniversary Page: www.roland.com...

[@margix1172]

Level 42 ...one of the VERY BEST band of all times!!!!!!!

[@balloontoyentertainment3684]

Mike Lindup you are such a brilliant keyboardist and terrific singer!!!

[@AtticusBleep]

Great to see Mike again.

[@AlmaLibreStudios]

It's great to hear where some of these sounds we loved from bands like Level 42 came from...Awesome!

[@Schumanized]

I still have mine and it still sounds awsome!!! I just can't let it go!!

[@perky26hughes]

LOVE Mike Lindup.

[@mayemcdonald9111]

I love this man’s talent. He has a great voice. I dream of seeing Level 42.❤️🎄💚

[@george00719]

Staring at The Sun..soo cool

[@garfield4108]

Brilliant brilliant musician

[@KOISANX]

Great interview and bit of self promo :-)

[@Mikeyp1054]

Top guy looking good still man

[@veerchasm1]

Legendary keyboard player more people need to know

[@marcuslambert8722]

great keyboardist meeting great synth !

[@anonymusum]

The D-50 was my musical partner on stage for over 20 years and somehow it still is as I replaced it with a Varios and a VC1 card which emulates the D-50 perfectly. In those days I had a Yamaha DX7 II, the D-50 and an MKS-20 which was the first pretty realistic piano module. Today the so called realistic sounds of a D-50 are outdated of course. But it still is a great synth for warm and spheric layers and atmosphere sounds. Unfortunately Roland didn´t follow that path and didn´t develop that concept and there would have been a lot to develop. For example: the synth engine wasn´t the best as was the effect unit. The attack samples could have been longer and there could have been much more of them when the memory space became bigger and bigger. I don´t know why Roland lost the thread in the last years. Today they mainly produce musical toys, aka boutique series etc. So profs like me prefer Yamaha, Korg or DSI etc. but Roland surely is missed as an innovator.

[@framax67]

L42 👍😉

[@unclefreddie1589]

Is Mike playing a Level 42 song snippet from 1:00 to 1:30? If so, what song by them is it? It sounds beautiful. Thanks.

[@BastianSchick]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqbOfWOBepaMjNE

[@unclefreddie1589]

Thank you very much@@BastianSchick!

[@trumjohannsmancave]

Check out a cool layered D-05 here😀 kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3qZc4lraL2beMU

[@issiewizzie]

an education

[@annother3350]

4 note polyphony is a deal breaker. 6 note poly i would consider.

[@Andy-G]

Your comment is now 4 years old, But the D-05 has 16 voices polyphony.

[@meechobrown3052]

Is he biracial??

[@elsongs]

Yes, his father is English and his mother is Belizean singer Nadia Cattouse.

[@TheOptimod]

Like it matters.

[@BatDadx]

Yes and beautiful. Like all of us are 😉