A synthesizer sound/amplifier question.

Kittyfrisk

I'm fine with guitars but keyboards are (relatively) a foreign country to me.
Having been given a free Roland D-5 synth, I'm wondering what is the best means of getting a sound out of it to see if I can be bothered with it at all ?
Should I ...
a) Use an existing guitar valve amp.
b) Use an existing guitar SS acoustic amp.
c) Use an existing spare stereo hifi amp.

None of the above?

Freebird

Active monitors? Synths are wide frequency instruments.

Kittyfrisk

Freebird said:

Active monitors?

Yep,  a really good idea but as I don't currently have any, I'm restricted to the options outlined above 

Freebird

Kittyfrisk said:

Freebird said:

Active monitors?

Yep,  a really good idea but as I don't currently have any, I'm restricted to the options outlined above 

Be careful that you don't blow your guitar amp then 

octatonic

C)
It is a very mediocre synth though, imho.

Freebird

octatonic said:

C)
It is a very mediocre synth though, imho.

What do you use? My cousin played keyboards professionally and I seem to remember him saying not to use guitar amps. I play mine through the line in on the audio interface.

octatonic

Freebird said:

octatonic said:

C)
It is a very mediocre synth though, imho.

What do you use? My cousin played keyboards professionally and I seem to remember him saying not to use guitar amps. I play mine through the line in on the audio interface.

Me?
I have Kii Threes.

brucegill

octatonic said:

Freebird said:

octatonic said:

C)
It is a very mediocre synth though, imho.

What do you use? My cousin played keyboards professionally and I seem to remember him saying not to use guitar amps. I play mine through the line in on the audio interface.

Me?
I have Kii Threes.

Swaps for my iLouds?? 

Musicwolf

In order of preference c > b > a.  You are looking for something that has Full Range, Flat Response (FRFR).  A valve guitar amp is about as far away from this as you can get.

Kittyfrisk said:

I'm wondering what is the best means of getting a sound out of it to see if I can be bothered with it at all ?

Headphones?

I'm pretty sure that I had a D10 (it's so long ago that I had to Google an image of it to jog my memory).  If you are new to keyboards then it would get you started as you'll be able to select pre-sets and it has full size keys.  The valuation, i.e. free, is correct.

paulmapp8306

In order .C and only C......

As for valuation.    Hum.   I pay a little for one, but only because the keybed is actually quite nice (all the D series were actually).   Its a nice enough board to drive VST synths from, and the core synth sounds are OK for a start.

octatonic

brucegill said:

octatonic said:

Freebird said:

octatonic said:

C)
It is a very mediocre synth though, imho.

What do you use? My cousin played keyboards professionally and I seem to remember him saying not to use guitar amps. I play mine through the line in on the audio interface.

Me?
I have Kii Threes.

Swaps for my iLouds?? 

Let me think about it...

Kittyfrisk

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I'll see how it goes.
As to value, it effectively has none, as is the case with my old stereo amp (can't give them away), so if something goes 'pop' I'll not be overly bothered 

Funkfingers

Roland D-5 was a D-10 minus some of the time and modulation effects that were essential to sweetening the basic Linear Arithmetic synthesis sounds. Both instruments existed to placate customers who could not afford the flagship D-50, on whose reputation Roland was trading.

I suggest that you audition the D-5 via headphones. Some of the preset sounds are okay. Some are peculiar but interesting in the right context. Most were naff thirty years ago and have not improved with the passage of time. 

The best sound that a D-5 can make is the satisfying smash of plastic against lump hammer.

Programming is tedious and rarely rewarding. Unless you wish to experience the “joys” of painting the hallway through the letterbox, just clean the case of the D-5 and pass it on. 

Alternatively, if you feel enterprising, part the D-5 out. Sell it as spares on t’Interweb.

GavRichList

And here was me about to shout about my love of a D-50, thinking this was about a D-05. Im not familiar with a D-5. Bin it, buy a D-50 - they still sound bloody wonderful if you use them tastefully. 

Kittyfrisk

^ Slight flaw in your argument, you used the word 'buy'... 

Freebird

I've got a Roland Alpha Juno, but the TAL-U-NO-LX vst synth gets much more use.

Funkfingers

Alpha Juno 1 is hamstrung by its short, non-velocity or aftertouch sensitive, keyboard. Alpha Juno 2 and MKS-50 are far more useful - especially with a programmer box in tow. 

I had a phase of attempting to recreate my old JU-2 sounds in Spectrasonics Omnisphere. I need to unearth the stored sounds and my old patch parameter notes.

ICBM

Kittyfrisk said:

Should I ...
a) Use an existing guitar valve amp.
b) Use an existing guitar SS acoustic amp.
c) Use an existing spare stereo hifi amp.

a) will probably sound shit unless you only want to be Jon Lord .

b) will probably sound OK, but be *very* careful with levels - acoustic amps and their speakers aren't designed for the frequency range and average power of a keyboard signal.

c) will sound the best, and the amp will be fine, but you will also need fairly beefy speakers - hi-fi ones might also be at risk unless they're rated for a lot more power than you're going to use.

dogload

Use headphones, DI or PA.

My experience of the D5 and D10 is that they are just 'not quite there' and are a pain to program (and I used to own a DX7!). As an introduction to synthesis I don't think they are particularly inspiring.
As someone said though, they are nice enough keyboards for controlling VSTs etc.