Roland RS-505 Paraphonic

The Roland RS-505 Paraphonic was a polyphonic synthesizer released in 1978 by Roland. It was predominantly a string synthesizer, with additional polyphonic synth and bass sections.

Stewart Copeland's Roland RS-505 Paraphonic
The Roland RS-505 Paraphonic was Stewart Copeland's favourite synthesizer before he got the Fairlight CMI.

The Roland RS-505 was likely amongst the array of Roland gear he and The Police purchased from Manny's Music Store on 48th Street, New York during one of the band's many trips to the store, probably as early as 1979.

Stewart used the Paraphonic mainly to provide simple synthesizer textures to augment the band's sound without contributing to the overall character. He used one on the Zenyatta Mondatta record (either his or Andy's) - for example, the organ sound on "Bombs Away", and the faint string sounds on "Don't Stand So Close To Me". He also took his RS-505 over to AIR Studios in Montserrat for the recording of Ghost In The Machine album; as well as adding background synthesizer strings on some of the tracks, Stewart used the RS-505 for virtually all the synthesizer sounds on "Darkness" and "Rehumanize Yourself". Stewart Copeland also used the RS-505 on the Rumblefish soundtrack, released in 1984.

Andy Summers' Roland RS-505 Paraphonic
Andy Summers had owned a Roland RS-505 Paraphonic synthesizer - it is listed among his equipment in the Ghost In The Machine tour program. He had it as part of his home demoing rig in Ireland in Spring 1981. He probably used it previously on the Zenyatta Mondatta record, for the synth string sounds on "Behind My Camel".

The Roland RS-505 also provided the string sounds on the I Advance Masked album, Andy's collaboration with Robert Fripp released in 1982 - the album credits state 'Moog and Roland synths' which may have also referred to the RS-505.