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Roland DS-61 versus FA-06 (and 88s)


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Someone else on another forum was asking about the DS-61.

 

Has anyone played both it and the FA series?

 

The buttons and pads etc. look identical and it just appears to primarily have fewer features and fewer overall sounds.

 

What kind of synth engine is it? It looks like it will take EXP sounds from Axial, but it doesn't' appear to have Supernatural sounds.

 

I would be curious to know if it shares PCM sounds with the FA series.

 

Also, I have an A800 which has the "modern" Roland keys that are a bit slimmer and shorter than my old old synths, and I thought the FA 61 was the same, but having lined them up the other night, I see that the FA keys are actually a bit narrower.

 

Is it likely the DS has the same keybed?

 

Amazingly the DS has a software editor. The FA does not. Maybe they also fixed all the other idiotic issues in the FA (like not being able to turn of MFX in any meaningful way). But hey, I got a pretty LCD screen!

 

I'd be curious about the Velocity Curves as well - I'd say the FA is probably a compromise, but I've had to set it to almost the heaviest setting to get any kind of piano dynamics that the default curves in the A800 do way better. I've heard though that the 88 key version of the FA is great (I've seen threads where people thought they were actually different patches, but it's really a key velocity issue).

 

So I wonder how the DS compares to the FA in the 61 key versions, and how the DS compares to its 88 key big brother in terms of velocity response.

 

I know it doesn't have aftertouch and that's a deal-breaker for some. But this person isn't really to the point where they're going to miss aftertouch so it's an attractive board for them.

 

TIA

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Well, I have DS-61, although strangely enough I just shelved it right after I bought it. Lack of interest maybe, but I realized that too late to return or exchange it. I also played FA-06 twice for a couple of hour so I have some basic idea of what you're interested.

 

Soundwise Fa's are much more powerful than DS/Di line. SuperNATURAL technology is the core of Fa's engine. Kind of VA buried there + some impressive modeling of organ and acoustic instruments. Well, impressive for this price tag. . DS is more of a rompler containing old/recycled sounds. Basically DS is Di + one more sound bank (some better pianos there, couple of good leads also, but nothing too fancy) + some new features (phrase sequencer, auto tune/vocoder, pads, some better feeling buttons and sliders, a mini mixer, one virtual expansion slot). BTW DS doesn't have soft editor, Di has, but it is OK for DS too. DS has a librarian though.The one thing DS surpasses Fa is the finish - DS's is a non glare opposite to the shiny glossy instant fingerprints catcher Fa has. Both synths have enormous sound banks - about 2000 presets in Fa, 1200 for DS. But they are not identical. Fa has it's supernatural pianos, el.pianos, organs, acoustics and lots of synth, and additionally some old PCM's (I think XV 5050 revisited). DS has only PCMs and most of them are quite boring/lifeless. There are exceptions though, still the are about 1200 presets..The expansion slot is a kind of salvation, you could load any of the 12 expansions that recreates the old but expensive Roland SRX hardware sound cards - DS comes with Studio Essentials pre-loaded, but you can replace it easily. Fa has 2 slots. Good, but again old stuff. It's also worth mentioning that recently Roland has made the first four banks of XV-5080 available for the DS line - you can pick them on axial.com. One more thing - if you are B3 affected, stay away from DS, it's organs are just pathetic. Fa has superNATURAL organ engine, which lacks CV but sounds ages ahead than the DS sampled joke. The thing that stopped me from getting Fa instead of DS - WAY TOO MANY SIMILAR PRESETS..As a matter of fact, that is valid for DS too and given it sounds significantly worse than FA, I regret I didn't buy FA..

 

Physically DS and Fa are similar. DS weights half a kg less, but it's buttons and sliders feels quite the same as the Fa's ones. Same goes for the keybed. Some even claim the DS keys (61 key version) feel a bit better than Fa's keybed. Not sure about it, but it's possible. I remember when unboxing DS, I was kind of pleasantly surprised, having some little experience with Fa 06 before.

 

Anyway, the best advice I could give you is, if you can, go and check/compare them for yourself.

 

Best,

Kalin

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It's so funny what you say about fingerprints - this seems to be one of the biggest pet peeves of many users!!!

 

 

Not just the FA's. The JD-Xa and JD-Xi had complaints up the wazoo.. so many that Roland is giving away free matte overlays. I got the white JD-Xi and it's MUCH better in terms of smudges and readability of the labels. Wish they'd make the XA and FAs in white as well. I did see a custom white XA but I think that was a one-off for some big name DJ.

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It's so funny what you say about fingerprints - this seems to be one of the biggest pet peeves of many users!!!

 

 

Not just the FA's. The JD-Xa and JD-Xi had complaints up the wazoo.. so many that Roland is giving away free matte overlays. I got the white JD-Xi and it's MUCH better in terms of smudges and readability of the labels. Wish they'd make the XA and FAs in white as well. I did see a custom white XA but I think that was a one-off for some big name DJ.

 

I would love to buy an overlay for my FA08. The Roland JD overlays look good - easy to put on.

 

There is a guy on the Roland Clan FA Forum making overlays for the FAs if you are interested:

 

FA Overlays

 

I'm only a little hesitant about these because the entire overlay has adhesive, although the maker said you can only expose corners if that is a concern. Also, it would probably be a Paypal deal, the guy is in the South Pacific I think.

 

Regards,

Joe

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  • 4 years later...

I found the FA didn't have a basic warm analog pad sound - virtually on EVERY production synthesizer made since the 80's - seriously? yup. not one (including expansion packs) - So I programmed one myself (tweaked) but it sounded weak - that and the fact that you had to do about 5 steps to get in into performance mode (using the sample pads as favorite patches) made the FA not suitable for my live 'Top' board. Supernatural sounds be damned....

 

I don't know what to call it (the George Michael Pad sound perhaps?) - but in one form or another of it is essential in the band I play in. Thge GM one doesn't cut it.

 

I haven't had a chance to get my hands on a DS - there's scarcity of just about everything in Toronto now...from the vids I've seen I think it will have 'that' patch. However - they're going for about $700 - $1000 used which I think way too much for a plastic synth containing 20 year old sounds.

 

Currently I'm using a Korg Micro-x (mini triton)... cost about $150 and sounds fabulous, only 25 keys though....

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you had to do about 5 steps to get in into performance mode (using the sample pads as favorite patches) made the FA not suitable for my live 'Top' board. Supernatural sounds be damned....

Hmmm... According to the manual, all you have to do to use the pads as Favorite selectors is hit the Favorites button on the front panel. DS is similar, there's a Favorites button, and that turns the 10 buttons under the display into Favorites buttons (which I happen to prefer, because then the pads are freely available for their other functions).

 

As for sounds (and other things), as mentioned in the later thread on this topic, DS and FA have many differences, and you can't say one sounds better than the other... besides some subjectivity, it will also depend on which sounds you're comparing. The sources of their sounds are pretty different. See: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3014011/roland-fa-vs-juno-ds#Post3014031

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I have an FA-07. Stock presets are all pretty "smooth & safe" sounding. I don't use any stock presets.

 

I find the PCM synth engine is more flexible for taking them to the next level. Understanding the structure settings, (especially 3 and 4) the FXM settings, using the 2 LFO's to destabilize the pitch and filters, using the analog feel setting, detuning elements and incorporating a lot of different modulation using aftertouch via expression pedals (there's two expression pedal inputs) along with tweaking the EQ in part settings, and careful application of certain MFX's can take a pretty basic pad sound to a whole new level. Make two or three similar patches after you've done one, stack 'em up within a studio set and you've got something that sounds way bigger, better, fatter and more alive than any factory preset. It's really a programmer's synth if you want to get the most out of it. You can take it a long way past those factory presets if you put in the time. Deep programming is a necessary evil though.

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My Roland FA08 continues to serve me well. More sounds than i could ever need and as mentioned by Konnector, I layer and split for most studio sets, and there is a very comprehensive programmable synth in there.
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