Roland D50 Automation

Posted on by

Now that I am able to program the MKS-80 with the Bitstream 3X I am attempting to do the same for other electronic instruments that lack tactile controls. This involves digging into the MIDI implementation of these instruments and then programming the BS3X to send the appropriate values. The first instrument I’m trying this with is the Roland D-50. So far I have had no success in getting the Roland D-50 to respond to the values I’m sending it, but hopefully I get it figured out soon. Here’s an example of what I’d like to accomplish. To create the sound below I used the D-50’s joystick to change the cutoff frequency on the first upper partial while sending it notes via MIDI.

Roland D50 Automation

This entry was posted in One Synthesizer Sound Every Day, Synth DIY and tagged , , , by John CS Keston. Bookmark the permalink.

About John CS Keston

John CS Keston is an award winning transdisciplinary artist reimagining how music, video art, and computer science intersect. His work both questions and embraces his backgrounds in music technology, software development, and improvisation leading him toward unconventional compositions that convey a spirit of discovery and exploration through the use of graphic scores, chance and generative techniques, analog and digital synthesis, experimental sound design, signal processing, and acoustic piano. Performers are empowered to use their phonomnesis, or sonic imaginations, while contributing to his collaborative work. Originally from the United Kingdom, John currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he is a professor of Digital Media Arts at the University of St Thomas. He founded the sound design resource, AudioCookbook.org, where you will find articles and documentation about his projects and research. John has spoken, performed, or exhibited original work at New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2022), the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2022), the International Digital Media Arts Conference (iDMAa 2022), International Sound in Science Technology and the Arts (ISSTA 2017-2019), Northern Spark (2011-2017), the Weisman Art Museum, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Walker Art Center, the Minnesota Institute of Art, the Eyeo Festival, INST-INT, Echofluxx (Prague), and Moogfest. He produced and performed in the piece Instant Cinema: Teleportation Platform X, a featured project at Northern Spark 2013. He composed and performed the music for In Habit: Life in Patterns (2012) and Words to Dead Lips (2011) in collaboration with the dance company Aniccha Arts. In 2017 he was commissioned by the Walker Art Center to compose music for former Merce Cunningham dancers during the Common Time performance series. His music appears in The Jeffrey Dahmer Files (2012) and he composed the music for the short Familiar Pavement (2015). He has appeared on more than a dozen albums including two solo albums on UnearthedMusic.com.

7 thoughts on “Roland D50 Automation”

  1. D-50 sysex parameters are already defined in the Bitstream configuration software, did you try those?

    Also did you share any of your Bitstream configuration setting files anywhere?

  2. @Tony I have been trying them. For example in the BS3X configuration software I can choose “Roland D50 Upper Partial 1” and “TVF Cutoff Frequency” to get the MIDI string “F04100141200000D00F7” with the “control value position 1” set to “8” and “control value position 2” set to “0”, but the D-50 doesn’t to respond. I’ve been reading through the MIDI implementation and I’m guessing that the numbers in “control value position 1” and “control value position 2” are incorrect. However, I’m not sure what the correct values should be. Tried running the gamut through those numbers, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

  3. I fiddled a bit with a digital synth from this era (Yamaha V50) and the sysex manager in my Cubase seq.
    IIRC, most problems I faced then came from checksum calculation methods and/or LSB/MSB permutations, which wasn’t, obviously, standardized amongst manufacturers. Maybe that’s a separate menu in the BS3X ?

  4. Pingback: Audio Cookbook » Blog Archive » Evolving Roland D-50 Arpeggio

  5. Hello John,

    I know this is a pretty old post, but as i’m currently working on a ctrlr panel for the D50, and have been using the Bitstream software for the sysex reference (the D50 advanced manual midi chart is indeed a bit too obscure for me). Unfortunately I’m encountering the same issues you are mentioning. Did you manage to get the Bitstream 3X to control your D50 in the end? If so how did you do it?

  6. @Opuswerk. Unfortunately I did not solve the problem with the BS3X and the D50. This is something I would like to revisit at some point. Please let me know if you make any breakthroughs. Would love to checkout your ctrlr panel as well. Cheers!

  7. Hi John,
    I haven’t managed to get the Bitstream nor the CTRLR panel working. Which makes me come to the same conclusion as you about the preset in the BS3X. Although I have found the D50 advanced manual, I don’t really get the whole sysex section where it’s talked bits and bytes instead of the Hex values i was hoping to see.
    CTRLR does provide a translator, but i must say i’m a bit at a loss there. If you’re interested in trying to solve this mystery with me you can head to this thread: ctrlr.org/forums/topic/roland-d50-pg-1000-panel/
    Out of curiosity, did you try the sysex that are sent with the MIDIQuest D50 thing?

Leave a Reply