Roland S-50
61 Key 12-bit Hardware Sampler

The Roland S-50 Sampler was released in 1986 and was manufactured for only one year with production terminating in 1987.

This keyboard sampler featured a 61 note key bed, sampled at  between 15 - 30 kHz 12-bit resolution.  The sampler used a 3.5" Double Sided Double Density floppy disk drive to allow the samples to be save and recalled for future use.

A rack mount version of the synthesiser was released in 1987.  The S-550 sampler was 2U 19" rack monted sampler.  It shared the same sampling platform with the S-50 but had twice the sampling memory, different filters and the option to install SCSI storage devices.   While the samples created on each sampler are compatible you need to run a conversion utility on the disks to move them between samplers.

I acquired the my S-50 a few years ago.  I had been on the hunt for a low-fi sampler. This fitted the bill sampling at 12-bits. Not only is the S-50 a fairly useable sampler, Roland and many other software / sampling vendors also crafted sample sets for both this and the S-550 / S-330 platforms.

The sampler was aquired from a guy in Hull and despite having satilite navigation in the car, I managed to get very lost trying to find the location that was a little off the beaten track!

When acquired there were a few problems. Apart from the sampler being filthy, some keys either did't work or work intermittently and the screen randomly choose not to work. 

What I didn't know when I started this project was how involved it would get!

I was offered a second S-50 during 2025.  Which I acepted.  My first S-50 was still in operable and I decided that I could use this second example to find out the mistake I had made when reassembling the first S-50.  This project is ongoing and you can see the various videos that have been made documenting it below.