All user reviews for the Roland RS-5

I bought this synth from Sound Control in Glasgow, Scotland in October 2003. I paid £399 for it, with £100 off, since the product was discontinued by Roland and has been superseded by the Roland RS-50. I had been looking for a synth suitable for gigging and that could ease me into composing my own music at home, and the RS-5 seemed to fit the bill.

What drew me to the RS-5 was its its range of functions and sound quality. It has a superb range of sounds at a very competitive price. I found that there was a large gap in price of keyboards that i shopped around for, there was very little in the budget range i was aiming for. With the RS-5 I found the perfect instrument. It has 640 internal tones, 128 can be preset by the user to suit their performance so a very good range of sounds can be achieved. Your most frequently used tones can be stored within the favourite tone bank. In addition it has a decent selection of on-board effects such as the arpeggiator function, chorus and reverb.

The only criticism of the unit i would have is the design of the knob controls. Since they project out from the unit, I can imagine that over months of continual use these could work loose if any bumps or knocks to the keyboard occur. This would be deleterious to accuracy of playing and would ruin the whole look of the synth. The RS-5 does not have integrated speakers, so I use headphones whilst practising and connect to a power amp in the recording studio. This should be also accounted for when considering your synth budget.

Construction and design quality of the unit is almost impeccable. The brushed aluminium finish is easy to wipe clean and surprisingly durable. The design is simple yet functional, not too many buttons and knobs and has a search facility to access tones quickly.

The bottom line is this: if you're looking for a budget synth which looks as good as it sounds look no futher than the RS-5 - it is a great buy.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

5 out oct/512 presets/effets/arp/2 audio / midi in, out thru.

UTILIZATION

Very simple to use, the access type classs sounds are, we can its perf mmoriser prfres.
manual very well done, excellent aluminum look.

SOUNDS

Good quality for sounds that can sometimes lack depth, but, used in compounds are quite correct.
Performance can CRER trs beautiful combinations of sounds, if you dig a little synth

OVERALL OPINION

A versatile instrument, which will delight fans of gnralistes sounds.
gnrale good quality, look, sound, connectivity.
I just bought it used, I was looking for one for quite some time, I'm not.
very complmentaire with other instruments, or VSTi hardware.

-> Keyboard: 61 keys, VLOC.
-> Type Synthse: Playing PCM samples.
-> Waveforms: 32 MB, 16-bit linear equivalent.
-> Polyphony: 64 voices.
-> Multitimbral: 16 votes.
-> LFO: Yes.
-> Envelopes: Yes.
-> Filters: Yes.
-> Sounds: 512 presets (including 256 GM2) 128 + prog.
-> Combis: 128 Preset + 128 prog.
-> Split: Yes.
-> Display: LCD (2 x 20 char.) Rtroclair + 3 LED characters.
-> Portamento: No.
-> Effects: Multi-effect (42 types), Reverb (8), Chorus (8).
-> Audio Outputs: Stro.
-> Arpgiateur (45 styles).
-> Lever pitch bend and modulation.
-> 20 preset rhythm kits (including 9 GM2) + 2 programmable.
-> 6 coders (including 4 assignable) allow rgler in real time frquence cutoff, rsonance, envelopes, etc..
-> Weight: 6 kg.
-> Dimensions: 103.3 x 29.4 x 10.3 (WxDxH in cm).

UTILIZATION

-> Setup, shipping and manual trs clear.

Enjoyable use (touch right, buttons a bit too "plastoc" relatively good, but ...)
=> Only problem (I got): no jog wheel to quickly change or give patch.

-> A shame also to the lack of aftertouch and layout of buttons DIFFERENT (especially the buttons "value + and -," "transpose" and the 8 button "Perform favorite bank" under the screen ).

-> The pots seem a bit fragile.

-> No squenceur house.

SOUNDS

-> The sounds are good quality and gnralistes (acoustic sounds are correct) agree a lot of music styles.

-> The effects are not evils at all, yet on 16 DIFFERENT sounds that can be, if you choose an effect (outside the rverb and chorus) for one channel, can not apply another effect to another channel (only one posible because 16 sounds for 1) damage! ==> We need a multi-effects device.

OVERALL OPINION

It's been a year since I have and I do not regret it: I rflchis long time and I needed a keyboard with marital synth sounds and gnralistes good quality acoustic ==> it is.

Report qualitprix honnte (especially now used).

With exprience, I do it again this election for a keyboard a keyboard complmentaire matre more complete (if possible with the touch piano).

Nothing to say!

UTILIZATION

This synth is very simple and has used the manual is clear trs.

SOUNDS

I recommend this synth for all your concert and even for the studio is very complete for every style of music overall have found a lot of sounds from the 80 and also 90. the electric piano trs are good and synth sounds like HEAVEN XP are exellent!

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 2 years and it is very comprehensive and easy to use all the same there is a little expensive for the quality of the synth-end but over the use and overall sound are very very good for all style zic live or studio.

5 octave keyboard with aftertouch VLOC but no. 64-voice polyphony.
Several modulation knobs in real time (super convenient!) Lever pitch / modulation as on all Roland.
1 pair of audio output, the usual three MIDI pedals and 2 taken.
The touch keyboard suits me well but noisy. In any case it is of much better quality than the Triton!
The synth sounds and embarks 512 GM and GM2 compatible.
I put 9 / 10 because of the lack of aftertouch ...

UTILIZATION

Despite all the itty bitty screen, it's pretty simple to navigate. Sounds are grouped by which one catgories accde with the appropriate button. For the edition, you have to walk through the menus, but it comes out relatively easily. In beginners, do not hsiter dive into the manual (not too bad cel by the way) ... Roland would still have even been able to provide a utility PC / Mac!
The big problem on this synth is that the edition is really basic! It sounds a little hack, we add the effects, we cre performance, but that's it! It's frustrating! But good for the price, not bad when even!

SOUNDS

Well the most important point: the sounds!
Tablecloths, leads, basses and strings are really trs trs well. For more acoustic sound, I am not specialist in, so I am not going to give an opinion. They suit me at all, by some that I find cheap ...
There are few sounds of this fabulous D-50 that has always and will continue t prdilection my machine even if you can not compare!
Ah yes, I do not know if it's clean all the RS-5, but it lacks a bit of synth potato. Mchant nothing, but sometimes I want to boost a little more.

OVERALL OPINION

I bought it nine in 2002 to get over the music an APRS trs trs long PERIOD stopping. I did not want to put a fortune and j'hsitais with Korg and Yamaha S03 X5D. I took the RS-5 on the advice of the seller and I do not regret it at all. I prfr synthse one more push and a little more dynamic, but this keyboard is overall good trs! And it is beautiful too!