The instrument
The D-5 is a 9-note multi-timbral, 32-voice digital synthesiser with 61 velocity-sensitive keys and MIDI. It was released two years after the D-50 and, like the D-10 and D-20, is a scaled-down version but with an arpeggiator. Like the other devices in the D series, it is based on LA synthesis, the combination of PCM samples without filters and simple synthesis with filters. A PG-10 programmer can be connected for easier programming.
Details
The sound programme of the D-5 is called ‘Timbre’ and is made up of 2 ‘Tones’, which in turn are made up of one or 2 ‘Partials’. A partial is either a PCM oscillator (ROM samples) with a downstream amp or a pulse-width modulated oscillator (triangle/rectangle) with a dynamic filter and amp. 13 structures can be selected for the combination of the two partials to form a tone, so that a sound programme can consist of up to 4 oscillators. The filter offers resonance without self-oscillation and sounds extremely ‘warm’.
256 PCM samples are divided into two banks of 128 samples each. 63 samples are provided for drums and percussion. There are 128 preset patches and 64 user patches in the memory and the patch effects chord play, harmony, chase and arpeggio.