SYNTH LORE ROLAND D-70

The first synth I really learned on ... glad you actually have one!

That was a very nice demonstration of the D70 with to me so far (almost) completely unknown Roland- quirks. “Da fliegt mir doch das Blech weg” is not just an amazing song by Spliff, but also means that I almost can't grasp it. My WS EX Graffity limited edition's sticky keyboard is already enough to take but those D70 quirks obviously are rather for someone like you with nerves of steel. Since I've neither personal D70 nor QS experiences, the quiz was only 9 right guesses from 18. Hitherto I just experienced Roland after touch issues like JX10, 8P & @JUNO-2. While with JX its just simple corrosion, with AJ2 it's indeed been that Roland often forgot to stick the sensor into its socket what led to the rumour AJ2 has no key pressure. Mine I indeed had to open & to plug the sensor back BUT corossion was already in progress & to press the keys unnormally heavy just to trigger something ain't my style. 🙄😆

Why was the test between D-70 and QS 7? They are almost a decade apart, not that close really..

I remember i sold one D70 in the music store where i worked..that was to a friend in 1990.
He is still my producer colleague i shall ask him what happened to it.

Very entertaining video, thank you!
I worked for the local Roland agents in South Africa in the late '80's and up till the mid '90's, and witnessed the release of the D70. I was the 'product specialist' for the keyboard and hi-tech dept so it was my job to get familiar with the gear and to be able to offer backup support.

If I recall correctly the D50 was a true 'LA' (Linear Arithmetic) synth, where short samples formed the attack transients of the sounds, and the body of the sound (decay and release) was more traditional digital synthesis. This was the 'magic' of LA.

Following the D50, a series of romplers were released. The U110, followed by the U220, which was just a U110 with effects (reverb and delay, I think). There was a 61 note keyboard version called a U20.

As you have astutely observed, I would agree that Roland were trading on the "LA Synthesis" popularity, by playing on the idea that the extra synth parameters which could be applied to the ROM samples on the D70, qualified it as 'Super-LA'.

I think a better example of 'Super LA' appeared on the JD800 in 1991, but this label was not used on that synth. The JD800 returned to the more chrystaline sparkly sound of the D50.

So essentially, the D70 was really just a rompler, as you mentioned, and had the same waveforms as found on the U220 with maybe some extras. I found it very disappointing at the time. It just seemed to lack sparkle and punch.

I used to use a Roland MV30 sequencer/sound module that had many of the same waveforms. It was very usable at the time, especially with some EQ and effects. If I recall correctly all these units (D70, U220, U20, MV30) were compatible with the SN-U110 cards, so I am not sure why yours are not working.

Anyhow, thanks for great videos. I am thoroughly enjoying your content.

Great edutainment!

Respect to the D-70 but I have been a fan of the D-50. I didn’t want to seek old hardware so I got a D-05 to scratch that itch.

I remember hearing horror stories about red adhesive gumming things up.

Back in the day I had the impression it was quite popular but that was maybe skewed because several people I knew had one. Maybe because it had 76 keys, a good keybed and also a good piano sound for its time.
Edit for clarification: I live in Germany.

U-220 OS was the same way. Not intuitive at all. About the backlight, AJs did that too (whine). AJ-1s also suffered from fragile keybed circuit board traces. The generation after this was proper. I have a JV-1000 with the Vintage Keys expansion and LOVE it ! (But, it still had red glue. What a mess). Oddly enough, I have no GAS for D-70.

My very first synth along with an Ensoniq EPS sampler.

i got one in many pieces in my closet, maybe its time to put it back together, the key goop sux though!

My friend bought a D70 new in 1990. After quite a few years (maybe 5 years) it developed the red glue problem. To Roland's credit they replaced the keybed under warranty. Also, I understand your feelings for your old hardware - my ESQ1 developed random issues pretty much weekly, but it's my baby and I won't get rid of it.

Would be nice to hear your thoughts on the Z1. Talk about convoluted interface 😂

I've always been intrigued with the D70 but after owning and selling the U20 a couple of times because they were boring in my opinion I dont need to go down the D70 route. On the other hand, I have never seen a D70 for sale were I live and might just by one if they come up for sale. Just for the heck of it! :)

I've read the D-70 was supposed to be called U-70. Apparently, U50 is even present on some circuit boards.

My Wavestation EX and AD had that annoying high pitch hum noise coming from the LCD screen. I have to upgrade to an LED screen to eliminate that noise 🙂

Very interesting. I was unaware of this particular model.

Fun fact: the lead sound from Liquido's 'Narcotic' comes from a Roland D-70.

Perry Bamonte of The Cure (especially 'Wish' era Cure) after stepping in and filing in for Roger O'Donnell after 'Disintegration' often used the D-70 as the lower tiered synth on his synth stack. Often paired with a Roland JX-8P (I believe) on the top.

I enjoyed this video as I didn't know anything about either synth in the test. Red glue! Yikes! Same as JD-800 I guess... When I did the listening test, I judged simply on which one sounded more like a Roland synth (which I know), and I got 12 out of 18 correct. Fun stuff. Keep making these videos.

I have a D-70, although it has been boxed for at least 15 years. When playing it before that people would remark about the big soundscape it produced. The sound was really good, and it seemed there was something special about it. Have to get it out some time to play again.

In September 2014, I purchased a Roland VR-09, a killer organ/piano/synthesizer hybrid the like of which I had been daydreaming for the previous 9 years. I was dumbfounded to hear one of the piano presets, “SA Piano”, which was the equal of a patch that (I didn’t know then) originated in the RD-1000 and MKS-20, “Piano 3”. That was the inaugural “E. Grand” patch. It wasn’t until the turn of 2024 that I finally learned that the “SA” stood for the “Structured-Adaptive” synthesis technique used for generating sound in those 2 models. I was curious if that SA synthesis method was preserved in this model. It seems big enough to host it, but what does that mean?
I’ve been obsessing over that sound since it cropped up in the original Yamaha Motif. I didn’t know until recent to 2024 that it was a Roland signature sound, not a Yamaha sound.

Being that the QS6 was my first synthesizer, I think I could pick out all of the sounds you played on it against the D 70. However, I’m more inclined to praise your playing than to pick sounds apart from each other. You’re incredible, Jeffrey.

I had a U20 and wished I'd bought a D-70 back in the day but I'm glad I didn't now! It succumbed to the red glue. I had extra sound cards, the Ethnic card was a standout, 3rd party sounds, I would detune the drums for odd effects. No one synth does it all but it had its strengths.

Hi Jeffrey, if I lived in your neighborhood, I would bring that D-70 back to life for you at no charge as I am a retired 71 year old electronic service technician with time on my hands, I have here in New Zealand restored keyboards which include in my collection the Roland XP-50 and the Korg 01/wfd model among numerous other well known brands, thanks for this episode on You Tube, cheers.

Thanks such a fan of some of the amazing patches unique to this synth but can’t justify ( another😊) big , unreliable old keyboard, I know roland did software version (the closest in hardware is the MV30 but it will only load D70 sounds not full patches) .But it’s rom must be so tiny 😄 it’s shame Roland hasn’t added a D70 mode to their plug in or boutiques ( unlike the D50😢)...ps. Yes it does read some but not all of the U110/220 cards.

It sounds nothing like the D-50, it sounds close to the JD-990. I have all of them. I think the problem was the 76 keys, too big to carry around. And it can not beat the M1.

The problem with the CPU happens again with the Roland JV-90, is a nightmare, is supposed to be a JV-80 but the JV-80 didn't have that problem.

My D-70 does not have the sound on the LCD, I changed it for a better one. But is one of the easiest keyboards to put apart. I just learned after fixing FOUR OF THEM so much.

Thanks for doing this! Got 11 right, 7 wrong. I was lead to the D70 by Michael Cretu of Enigma & Mags of A-ha. Mags uses it all over the Albums: East of the Sun West of the Moon & Memorial Beach.

Surprisingly many of the Alesis QS7's synth sounds are similar to both the Roland D70 and also the Roland JV series,
the only D-70 sounds that were obvious to me were 12 string guitar and clickleslie and maybe some of the bell type
sounds on the D-70 are recognizable to me. I personally like the D-70's PCM sounds which are based on the Roland
U series plus a few sounds from the U series PCM cards but I am more than happy with my Roland U-220, beige
CM-32L and CM-32P boxes as well as my Roland JV-1080 and I also have many of those drum samples in my Roland
R-8 so apart from the D-70's JV-like engine I don't think I'm missing out on much. If you want those same pianos,
basses, strings or saxophones... but don't need the JV-like sound engine and aren't bothered about editing sounds
then just get either a Roland U-110 or a U-220, the U-220 sounds pretty close to the D-70. I'm pretty sure Roland
didn't release a rack version of the D-70 for a reason.

Not only the LFOs slow down, but also the envelopes. That was really annoying back then. But I still liked that synth.

I have a Korg Taktile which has a key not working. It’s this same issue with a break in the trace. These breaks are almost impossible to see if you’re just looking at the board. You have to test with a meter or in my case I could visually see the break by backlighting the circuit board with a powerful led light right against it.

Not sure if the D70 has all copper at the sensor or not. On mine, it’s a copper trace going into a carbon patch. Instead of wires, I’m
Going to try conductive paint to fix this microscopic break.

I've heard that the main PCB has "U-50" silk-screened on it. So Roland must have re-branded to coat-tail after the D-50.

Spot on review of the D-70. Roland's biggest albatross

listening to the description makes me think they took the idea of the D-70, stripped out a bunch of features and slapped them into the Rhodes 760. Same keybed, same 6 sound multi-timbral setup. Less affects a heck of a lot less user patch spaces.

My guess is the ribbon cables that curl around either end of the keybed got damaged. Once the carbon contacts under the clear plastic bars that clamp the two carbon contact sets together usually crack and once they are broken it's likely you'll never get them back together. Let me know if you want some help looking for the actual issue.