Roland RS505 Paraphonic String Synthesizer

Published on Feb 28, 2014 SynthDan1·14 videos

"A little improv on the 1978 Roland RS-505. It's a paraphonic string synthesizer, with a synth section (with resonant filter) and a bass section to boot. This video is a blend of the synth & strings, which creates a lush and almost haunting sound.

What's a paraphonic synthesizer? It's a keyboard that allows you to play many notes (because it's essentially a divide-down organ), but all the sounds run through a single filter and envelope. This is of course less powerful than a conventional polyphonic synthesizer, but they allowed for unlimited polyphony and some interesting sounds and effects. There were tons of string synthesizers made in the 1970s, all based on the paraphonic concept, and they were used in tons of famous songs (think of the beginning of "Dream Weaver" while listening to my demo).

P.S. Sorry about the weird audio glitch at the very first note, I guess my phone glitched."