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Roland D-550 — the rack version of the D-50, running the identical Linear Arithmetic engine. 1987, made in Japan, serial 845001.
LA synthesis layers short PCM attack transients against digital synth partials and runs the result through the onboard chorus and reverb. It is the sound of late-80s records, and the factory patches — Fantasia, Digital Native Dance, Staccato Heaven, Soundtrack — are why this box still gets bought. 64 internal patches in an 8x8 bank layout, plus a memory card slot for more.
Tested and working:
- Powers on; internal patches load and play — the photos show it running I-84 Afterthought
- Stereo 1/4\" output (L / MONO R), plus the front-panel PHONES jack
- MIDI IN verified receiving — notes, program changes and SysEx patch dumps all land
- Volume pot sweeps end to end, full range, no dead spots
- All front-panel buttons respond: patch bank/number, TUNE, MIDI, DATA TRANS, COPY, UNDO, COMPARE, EXIT, EDIT, WRITE, ENTER, SHIFT, CHASE
- Memory card slot present and clean — no card included
Display: works and is fully legible — see the photos shot in a dark room. Like most 39-year-old character LCDs it loses contrast under bright or direct light, which the daylight photos show honestly. A brand-new exact-replacement LCD module is included, uninstalled. I bought it to refresh this unit and then went a different direction. To be clear: fitting it does require soldering — it is not a plug-in module. Or leave the original in and play it as-is, which is what I have been doing.
Cosmetics — Very Good for a 1987 rack, photographed honestly:
- Scratches and scuffs across the brushed front panel, heaviest along the top edge and around the VOLUME legend
- Paint wear around the rack-ear mounting holes — it lived in a rack
- Light surface haze and dust on the top and bottom covers; no dents, no rust
- Both rack ears present and straight
In the box: the D-550 module, IEC power cord, the original owner\'s manual, and the new LCD module. No memory card, no original carton.
Ships double-boxed from North Carolina. 2U rack, roughly 15 lb packed. Flat $50 to the continental US.
Sold as-is, no returns. Ask me anything before you buy and I will answer or take more photos.
