Roland S-50, Sampling Keyboard

return to the technical page | monitors

NOTE HOW I DROP IN THE LOGO. MICROSOFT DIDN'T KNOW THIS TRICK.  The Roland S-50  is a five-octave, sampling keyboard. It is a 12-bit sampler with MIDI capabilities, introduced around 1988, at the beginning of the MIDI era. The sample rate and the 12-bit word are adequate for electronic music, and the MIDI connection enables the S-50 to be coupled to other instruments and computer sound cards. The MIDI connection is bi-directional, so the S-50 can send and receive information. In order to boot and be played, the Roland S-50 requires a floppy disk, containing the operating system and samples. The S-50 is way behind modern standards and the total sampling time is only 14 seconds. This is in two 7-second blocks, which can be sub-divided in 400m.s. intervals and could be doubled by dropping the sample rate from 30khz to 15khz.

My own S-50 came in derelict and without a disk. Roland were kind enough to send a disk and I taught myself to sample without a manual. I do not suggest you follow this example. The easiest way to get started with the Roland S-50, is to download some sample files and put these onto disk. You will need to find the old blue 720k disks. I don't think you can buy these, but should be able to scrounge some from a local company. In the USA, it may be possible to download a manual, but I have not found this possible in the UK, due to the server requiring a USA telephone number.

In 1998, Roland supplied an intoductory document, which you can download.
This file views ok online but may contain rough text when downloaded.

Sample files can be found on the net, though I can't see them at present.

The sample files are in Roland's 720KB OUT format and can be written to disk using a dos-based facility called S-Disk.

This is the s-disk documentation:-

S-Disk V1.0
July, 1993

  S-Disk is an MS-DOS utility for converting Roland sampler diskettes to
  DOS files. Uses of S-Disk include the archiving on hard disk of samples,
  the transmission of samples over a serial line or network and fast
  duplication of sample diskettes.

  Sampler diskettes that are recognised are as follows:

     S750/S770
     W330
     S550
     S50

  However, S-Disk will actually work on any formatted 720K or 1.44M 3.5"
  diskette.  It just won't be able to identify what sort of diskette is in
  the drive if it does not appear in the list above.

  S-Disk is an interactive utility and responds to single letter action
  commands typed from the keyboard. These are as follows:

      R - Read the diskette in the currently selected drive to the
          designated file.

      W - Write the selected S-Disk file do the diskette in the currently
          selected drive.

      D - Specify the file and diskette drive details for subsequent
          Write or Read actions. The current settings are displayed
          in the top left corner at all times.

      Q - Exit S-Disk.

  Pressing the  key during a Read or Write operation will abort
  immediately, leaving whatever was being written to (file or diskette) in
  an undefined state.

  All messages produced by S-Disk are displayed in the scrolling Activity
  Log which displays the last three messages produced by the utility.

  S-Disk was written by Nic Grant, Carrot Top Music:

    email: nic@nms.otc.com.au
    snail: Carrot Top Music
           PO Box 320
           Lindfield NSW 2070
           AUSTRALIA
           Tel: +61 2 416 1841
           Fax: +61 2 906 4770

  Please feel free to distribute and use S-Disk in any way you wish,
  provided it is not sold and is accompanied by this file (sdisk.doc).
  However, if you wish to be notified of updates or would like to see any
  changes made (or bugs fixed), then feel free contact me via any of the
  methods listed above.
 

I wished to answer a query on the net, got out the old Roland S-50 and promptly dropped it, smashing the disk drive. These are expensive to buy, but I was able to fit an old high-density drive, intended for an Atari. My notes are posted on the S-Group site which caters for Roland S-50 owners.

The Roland S-50 is best used with a monitor screen, and even then it is not easy to understand.. It does have a built-in fluorescent display which might be useful during performance, but sampling is easier with a screen.
back to the top of the page

We have the choice of monitoring in mono or colour. Colour monitors will be similar to CGA or EGA, as the colour output from the Roland S-50 is in the form of RGB components. I hope to cover this more fully later, when time permits, including the possibility of using European SCART. It is believed that VGA will not work because the scan rates are too fast.

It is easiest to monitor the S-50 in mono. There is a phono output for this purpose and I have used old mono security monitors of UK origin, a PAL monitor, and a Jap NTSC, colour tv. It should be possible to plug into the phono video connector of virtually any modern ctv. I don't say all in case some cannot handle the frame speed. My Roland S-50 is a 240-volt, 50hz, UK model, yet worked with the 90-volt, 60hz, Jap ctv (imported by accident). Bear in mind that you will only get a mono picture!

The phono socket on the S-50 can break loose from the circuit board, causing loss of signal. If this happens, a temporary cure is to run a 5-pin Din to 5-phono-plug cable from the 8-pin Din, colour socket. You will find that one phono plug gives you a slightly weak mono picture. It worked for me and is useful to know.

These are intoductory notes, intended for those aquiring an old Roland S-50 and wishing to get started. I hope to expand them when time allows, but my Roland S-50 is currently out of use.