VC-1 card: first impressions

When I booted up my V-Synth as a D-50 I was surprised at how different it sounded from the V-Synth. I never had the chance to play with a D-50, but I recognized some of the sounds right away.

The sounds are very unique and it does have it's own voice. I haven't had the opportunity to try much sound creation on it yet. I think it will be capable of some very interesting stuff.

This is definitely a good sign for more potential V cards. I don't know if the V-Synths processing power will limit what they can come up with, but I can imagine new and unique synths being created for this, not just synths from the past.

I will be interested in hearing your VC-1 sounds Artemio.

I was first impressed by the sound quality and the breadth of sounds (you get all the patches originally released for the D-50 -- including expansion cards). But I was blown away at how 'integrated' the card is with the V-Synth itself -- you can use the touch screen, D-beams, and Time-Trip pad to alter parameters! Definitely brings the venerable D-50 into the present.

Richard

VC-1 is cool.
Even the reverb sounds as bad as in the D50.
The only difference is the absence of noise that the original DA converters generated.
I totally dig the fact that the LA saw and square waveforms are available in the normal V-Synth as well.
That allows me to create a 21st century D-50 by using all the features that the D-50 never had, like FM, OSC Sync, Filters for the PCMs, suboscs, Variphrase for the PCMs, more effects etc.
its literally the best of both worlds.

Mr.XR

the difference between theory and practise is that in theory there is no difference

"Even the reverb sounds as bad as in the D5"
Haha!!!

This is why I fell in love with the VC-1. I am very glad Roland realised that there's no more need for perfection, because perfection itself has no character. This just made me respect the company even more.

Thats true-it would have been (too) easy for Roland to improve on the reverb but then all of the classic patches would have sounded different.
Especially the reverb and chorus were important contributors to the signature sound of the D-50.
When you take a closer look at all the limitations that the D-50 was suffering from it is even more amazing what a great job the sound designers did that created the factory patches.
And it definetly proofs that having a limited set of tools makes you work harder to achieve a satisfying result.
With the overkill that todays synthesizers have to offer it is too easy to get lost in all the possibilities and take the easy way out when it comes to making patches.
Listening to those D-50 patches is a lesson in humility.
And for me it is like coming full circle as the D-50 was the first synth that got me interested in sound making some 20 years ago......


Mr.XR

the difference between theory and practise is that in theory there is no difference