Hi there: I’m Jeff, and I'm a musician, composer, and a bigtime techie nerd. I've been doing this a while, and I’m here to discuss music and technology.
On my channel, you'll find discussions about music gear, technology in general, and of course, my signature Top 11 and Top 13 lists. I love a bargain, and if you’re on a budget, you can count on my channel providing good advice about ways to save money on music gear and other technology.
Whether you’re new to being a musician, recording in a home studio, and using all this great technology, or you’re a more experienced aficionado, you’ll find helpful advice, honest opinion, and education.
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Hi Jeffrey, since recently, I get the "Video unavailable Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner' message in the playback window. Check your settings please. Can't see your videos any more...
Great piano patch! I always wrote off the Junos because they had only one oscillator per voice. But with pwm, chorus, and the dead simple interface, it was a gateway drug for many.
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.
The andromeda is very expensive and already highly sought after. A good one is the EMU E4K which is a feature heavy sampler with a very high quality seven octave range keyboard attached, it has multiple outputs, dual FX card as standard, 64 note polyphonic, amazing Z plane filters, up to 128mb ram, fully editable with samples that are compatible with the EMU Ultra range and sounds fantastic. It’s the rack E4X in keyboard form and can be picked up for £200 upwards. It’s different from the later Ultra sampler range with better AD/DA converters and a wider stereo image. You’re welcome.
Wonderful memories Get an 80's drum machine and do a set of themes Maybe composed by you to avoid the strikes. Have an idea for another video.Imagine you have to uproot to a different country or planet and had a choice of 11 items to carry what would be your choice and why.Incude also drum machines keyboards recording equipment(non DAW as you may not have internet/computer access, unless you include a computer,software and interface as an item) and acoustic stuff(a guitar and microphone) and pedals/multieffects.
Em 1985 meu pai vendeu um carro e comprei 1 casio cz 1000 e 1 juno 106 que tenho até hoje.uso ele como controlador no fl studio,tem duas vozes com problema mas vou arrumar.um abraço do Brasil.
Okay, I'll consider that. It's really just a dozen keyboards, rack gear, and computers. I've featured or spoken about most of it on the channel, but if you think people would be interested, I'll do it. It's probably timely, because I'm thinking of selling a few things or boxing them up and putting them under a bed. Thanks for the suggestion.
How about the Iconic sounds and instruments that Keith Emerson used with "The Nice", and E.L.P. Might make for interesting viewing. Perhaps a little history also to add to the flavor!
Keith is an ICON, but my 70/80s favorites are Geoff Downes, Johnathan Cain, and Tony Banks, among others. I'd love to explore some on the music of Asia, Journey, Genesis, Toto, etc., but there are copyright issues. Appreciate the comment.
Finally some love? The last 10 years has been nothing but love for that gear. Where are they love for Juno-60 or Jx3P.?? They are the real heroes. Happy birthday Juno-106 !!🍾
I understand. You're absolutely right. The love for the 106 is unprecedented from many, but it my first video, I slammed it. The Juno-60 deserves lots of love and so does the 6. In a recent episode "More Older Bargain Keyboards" I made the JX-3p #1. Thanks for all your comments.
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.
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.
The Stylophone was my first 'synth'. I wired it into a suitcase with a home-built phaser, a home-built ring modulator (with its own oscillator) and an octave divider. It sounded great for the small me. 🙂
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.
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.
Hi Jeff. I agree wholeheartedly with your assessments. Of course there are nuances to the values placed on vintage gear but, for most, ( unless you can burn through $ ) it’s not practical nor wise. These “ synth lore “ instruments are not a prudent investment in general. If you’ve noticed, whenever someone mentions “ CS-80” what do we think of immediately? Not the sound or music creation process but, the $. That right there can tell you where everyone’s ( and I speak hyperbole ) mind is. I bought my CS-80 new in 1980. $4400. I toured with it for a couple of decades with little to no problems. I think I was lucky. Prog was king and it sat atop the CP70, along side the B3 w/ L 147 cab, Mini and D6. The other side was the Roads and Profit 600. Quite backbreaking for the first 10ys. Once in top 40, I ended up storing all this and scaled back to a DW8000, D50, Mirage, DX2FD then, VFX , TS-10, XP-50, and finally, the Motif 6, King Korg, BS2 and Hydrasynth. Now, some of these and a bunch of B clones, Mofo, and a Tr8s sit atop the studio desk w/pedals and a couple of DAW’s. Point is; smaller and happier through the years to date. I did notice that the “ synth hype “ gained its meteoric rise once online auctions such as EBay took off because remember, just a mere few years earlier, these super synths were at garage sale prices - in the hundreds. The CS-80 always has a soft spot. It inspired me to new heights but, increasingly lost its appeal due to its limitations and sound capabilities. imho. Popular You Tubers such as Dave Spiers and the guys on Sonic Talk etc. can attest to this sentiment. Personally, I think that the lesser CS models offer a lot more fun, sound and variety for today’s contemporary music and better bang for buck. P.S: I still have some left but sold the 80 years ago to get into a mortgage. I wouldn’t advise anyone to buy synths for the $ investment but for enjoying their music making and, keeping it simple. It’s a different time we live in and soon we’ll have to contend with a housing bubble. Everything else follows. Thanks for your opinion Jeff. It does shed light.
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.
One more for me. I bought a Roland SC-88 Pro. This was a general MIDI module, which is still used by some retro gamers (in fact, there's a VST version on Roland Cloud). The sellng point was that it had lots of voices in it and could play 16 of them at once. But I found the voices flat and uninspiring, when played live, you were llimited to mostly single voices, which were also not great, and the audio interfaces were inconvenient RCA jacks. Even though Sound-On=Sound had raved about it at the time, I was unimpressed and never used it. I think it's still in my closet.
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 🙂
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 haven't had much experience with the Z1 interface. I have played the sounds, and for late 1990's modeling, I thought it sounds pretty good. I recall that the EPs and organs were pretty good.
@@JeffreyScottPetro Yeah, the sounds are lovely, especially the more synthy ones. But try to edit the sounds on the hardware is really cumbersome and quite weird. I'm going to try with MOTU Unisyn on a Mac with os9 on if I can find a working copy.
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.
For me : Yamaha FB-01. Alesis Micron. Yamaha DX-21. Native Instruments (Pro-53, B-4, FM-7, Etc). I loved the soft synths, but swapped CPU chips in my XP machine and couldn't reauthorize after they shut the authorization server down. You should do a video of what you'd never let go of......
This was great.Like you I have had romantic memories of the possibility of what the D70 would have been.I thought it was 2 D50's on a 76 note semi weighted keyboard with additional storage features .More like a studio and stage/concert unit.
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.
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.
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.
Dear Jeff, I know this took meticulous time and effort and is extremely appreciated. I am fortunate that one of my clients is a top copywrite attorney in in the US. I sent him this and he said he couldn't recall anyone providing this kind of patient instructions in this kind of detail. You are becoming a valued resource in the music community sir.
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!
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.
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. 🙄😆
Once again, this borders on legal advice. What I can say is: Anyone can file for protection of written works, such as poems, novels, and plays. Chord symbols are generally immaterial. There are some great books out there on copyright. If you want more than I can offer, you can probably find a good book on Amazon. NOLO Press often has books for non-lawyers that are easy to understand.
Thank you once again.I have never seen this before Maybe someone like Rick Beato May have done something like this but I am so pleased to receive this information.Couple questions if I had performed one of my songs in an event many years ago but never did an official copyright can I do this as an unpublished work?Also if my works span many years but have never been copyrighted do I just use the the date of filing for my works.Finally at least for now can you copyright partial songs eg recordings of a single verse and chorus and add the other verses later or just in performance . Best wishes and thanks once again.
Hello: I want to help, but I have to be careful what I tell you, so it is not construed as legal advice. Q1. Regarding the song you performed and would now like to copyright. Type this "how does the us copyright office define published work" into GOOGLE. The first answer at the top should help you. Q2. The episode talks about this at 21:54. If you have multiple works that span many years, use the date of the most recent work. Q3. This would border on legal advice. I'll tell you this: I've written part of a song, come back to it later and written a little more, and eventually I finished it. The process may have taken months or years. I never felt a need to copyright it as I finished portions of it. When I was done, I registered it. What you do in this regard is up to you- sorry I can't be more specific.
Thank you this was wonderful I look forward to your offerings and this one was really pertinent and covered the so called poor man’s copyright in detail. Are you aware of the procedure for poetry and prose ? I am not in the US so I will have to check local laws or perhaps even register in the US Blessings as always
I have never copyrighted poetry and prose. I would think, if you can make it through an online session for music, you could probably figure out poetry. I have copyrighted novels, and it was very similar to music.
Just a note: this really depends on your jurisdiction, and the USA has rather different legislation from most, if not all, of Europe. A note to that note: Europe has at least 50 national jurisdictions, many of which are a member of the European Union. In other words, your dog is equally qualified to advise on these things as I am. In Europe, you don't need to copyright your work. Once you produce it, it's yours. How exactly you're going to prove that it was you who produced it is a different matter, of course. In Europe, copyright (which really is an American legal term, and is possibly/probably irrelevant in other jurisdictions) expires 70 years after the original creator dies - regardless of who actually holds the copyright. For example, somebody works for an advertising company, and produces a photograph as part of his job. The advertising company holds the copyright, but this voids 70 years after the photographer dies. So the situation exists that some of Agatha Christie's is out of copyright in the USA, because it was published in the 1920s. But it will be protected by copyright until 2046 in Europe, which is 70 years after she died.
