Roland JV1080 vs. XV5050

[Benmrx]

Quite a while ago, a friend of mine that I did music with had a JV1080 and I loved it. Even though it might be considered out-dated technology to some, I've still always wanted to pick one up. However, there's a Roland XV-5050 for sale locally for a good price and I was wondering if I would get the same basic sound-set and effects as from the JV1080. Or do some feel the 1080 has some "vibe" that was lost in the XV series.

This would mainly be for rompler style orchestral sounds (I.E., suppose to sound a tad fake) and pads, maybe also for some of the more acoustic patches.

[DevonB]

It's really the same thing, but according to Don Solaris, the waveforms are at higher sampling rate on some samples if I understood him correctly for the XV-5050. The 5050 has the most presets out of all the JV/XV series as well. Lose the vibe? Doubtful. I've had a 2080, 2020, 5050, and the 5080. They all sound great. Did I sit down and do absolute back-to-back comparisons? No. I had each at different times. The 5050 is the best bang for the buck in the XV/JV series, IMHO, unless you want JV slots. The 1080 only has JV slots and the XV-5050 only have SRX slots.

What's your good price, BTW? I'm selling mine since I went for a XV-5080 instead.

Devon

[Farshad]

Get a JV2080. Has lots of expansion capability and not as expensive as XV5080. And, it sounds great!

[Kiljoy]

Originally Posted by Farshad

Get a JV2080. Has lots of expansion capability and not as expensive as XV5080. And, it sounds great!

+1! I have a 2080 after many years of rueing the sale of a 1080 and I'm in love again.

[jcpzero]

My big concern was if my jv-1080 PATCHES would work in an xv-5050. They do. All my presets from my jv-1080 work in my xv-5050. Go for the xv-5050. More presets, digital out. 1 RACK UNIT.

[Benmrx]

Awsome. Thanks for the info everyone. After a little more research I'm wondering if I would be happier with a JD-990. BTW, the "good price" was $250. I might have already missed the boat on that XV-5050 anyways.

[Kappi]

Be careful with JV-series they can get really sluggish (latency) if you stack a few patches, XV-series is already much tighter.

[Meriphew]

I have two JV-1080's (both loaded with expansion cards). I love 'em to death. I've never had any latency issues with them.

[fallforward]

I have an xp50 that is my main synth that I gig with. I have the Session, Orchestra 1, Bass and Drums, and Vinatge Keys expansions. That combined with digital piano gets me all the sounds I need on pretty much any gig.

If you need good all around sounds, from a lot of different genres, the JV/XV series give you the most bang for the buck. I prefer them over the triton/trinity.

Good Luck man!
Robby

[Benmrx]

Yeah, never been a fan of the Triton stuff. I think I'll just hold still and wait for a JV1080 to pop up as that's what my memory trusts.

[Don Solaris]

One of these days i promise to re-write the whole thing and post some pics (made during analysis). Anyway, to cut the long story short:

• JV-1080 is 32kHz
• XV-5080 is mixed content 32kHz and 44.1 kHz. I got this later confirmed by Roland. (though some web pages list it as 32kHz ROM only)
• XV-5050 is 44.1kHz full. That was the reason some users started complaining about the old JV-1080 patches sounding "thin". It's true, cause some energy has been "lost" due to wider frequency coverage. Can be compensated with good eq(?).

@Benmrx: All of the XV and Super JV units are back compatible ALL the way back to the JV-80 (from 1991). This means you can load some of those old (legendary) patches from JV-80, JV-880, JV-90 and JV-1000 into XV-5050.

Some correction (in resonance) is needed because these synths had "Soft" and "Hard" resonance setting, next to amount (though, both surprisingly less power than new filter in 1080). JV-80 set at max resonance (127) with "Soft" setting is the same as JV-1080 set at 44. With "Hard" setting it is the same as JV-1080 set at 88.

Personally i'd go with XV-5080 or XV-3080 for the thicker sound and XV-5050 for more hi-fi sound (but less bass). All of these machines come with newer kickass 24bit converters and high quality DSP effects - way better than 1080 and 2080 generation. Tested all of them side by side. In case of XP-30 (this is JV-2080 with keyboard, and 3 boards installed) vs XV-5080 on same patches, difference was quite noticeable in bigger stereo field and (superior) sonic quality of 5080.

Hope this helps!

P.S I sold the 5080 and kept JD-990 /w. vintage exp, and XP-30 with 5 expansions.

[Benmrx]

Thx for the info Don! I'de love to read the whole thing if you ever get a chance.

[code 10]

I wouldn't ever touch any one of the XV/JV range, I had the XV 3080 OH MY GOD, that sounded as fake as Paris Hilton is sincere, total crapness

[Yoozer]

Originally Posted by Don Solaris

In case of XP-30 (this is JV-2080 with keyboard, and 3 boards installed)

I wish :(. The XP-30 just has one EFX insert effect, the 2080 has 3.

[AnalogNYC]

Does anyone know if the XV or JV series exists somewhere as a soft synth or sound library? Love the sounds, but I'd kinda like to lose the boxes.

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by AnalogNYC

XV or JV series exists somewhere as a soft synth or sound library?

No to both questions.

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by Tony-->

I wouldn't ever touch any one of the XV/JV range, I had the XV 3080 OH MY GOD, that sounded as fake as Paris Hilton is sincere, total crapness

Hmm..not my experience with my XV-5080.tutt

[code 10]

Originally Posted by Phaidon

Hmm..not my experience with my XV-5080.tutt

Well, if you like a thin, weedy sound then go for it, could never find anything worthwile sonicly useable on the XV I had and got rid quick sharp.

[sound_forward]

Older JV-80/JV-880 are much better (more analog/fatter) sounding than newer JV/XV.

Myth or truth?

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by Tony-->

Well, if you like a thin, weedy sound then go for it.

Nah....!

[rockmanrock]

Originally Posted by sound_forward

Older JV-80/JV-880 are much better (more analog/fatter) sounding than newer JV/XV.

Myth or truth?

I've got an XV2020 and have had a JV1080 and JV1010. They all sound fairly similar - a certain Roland ROMpler sound that is vastly different to my Korg X5DR.

The Rolands can sound very good (things like the pianos, strings, guitars and certain twinkly ROMpler pads) but there are some presets that have an extremely grating tinny high-end to them, mostly on the synth sounds which I think is down to the filters combined with some of the effects like the phaser. Also the limitations of the 32kHz samples shows up more on simple waveforms like the saw/square etc. It's a sound I associate with the MC303, the nasty sounding 'analogue' patches.

Don has said the JV80/880 has a weaker filter, I suspect this made it impossible for Roland's preset authors to go overboard with the tinny shrillness that they went gung-ho for with the newer models.

[Stakker]

I acquired a 1080 earlier this year and although I have found more use for it than when I first had one about 10 years ago, I still don't feel I am getting the best from it.

Can we just clear one thing up. Is the JV1080 a Sound Module or a Synth? I mean, I can't seem to edit the sounds at all, so for me, its just a module.

It's not like it has filters, envelopes and ADSR or anything...or am I missing something?

[CapnMarvel]

Originally Posted by rockmanrock

The Rolands can sound very good (things like the pianos, strings, guitars and certain twinkly ROMpler pads) but there are some presets that have an extremely grating tinny high-end to them, mostly on the synth sounds which I think is down to the filters combined with some of the effects like the phaser. Also the limitations of the 32kHz samples shows up more on simple waveforms like the saw/square etc. It's a sound I associate with the MC303, the nasty sounding 'analogue' patches.

I've got a 1080 and I agree with this regarding the onboard patches, generally. The '60's and 70's' expansion board is excellent, however. I've yet to find better Mellotron or Hammond organ samples than those, if you care.

It really isn't much of a 'synth', though. Theoretically one can program it, but it's even more convoluted than the D-50/550, so much so that I personally haven't put much effort into it. For a ROMpler, though, it's cheap and sounds good...but just understand you're not going to be getting it for Moog sounds or anything. Why would you?

[Michael Khan]

hey what's up guys, just wondering, what is more beneficial and has the most presets - getting the "complete orchestra" srx card or getting the orchestra 1, 2, and vocal collection sr-jv80 card? not regarding money. gracio.

[danielb]

Originally Posted by Stakker

I acquired a 1080 earlier this year and although I have found more use for it than when I first had one about 10 years ago, I still don't feel I am getting the best from it.

Can we just clear one thing up. Is the JV1080 a Sound Module or a Synth? I mean, I can't seem to edit the sounds at all, so for me, its just a module.

It's not like it has filters, envelopes and ADSR or anything...or am I missing something?

You can program it. I had a JV1080 for a few years but I found it such an unpleasant thing to program that I really couldn't be bothered. I got rid of it recently having used it in exactly one piece of music.

D.

[Don Solaris]

Originally Posted by Michael Khan

hey what's up guys, just wondering, what is more beneficial and has the most presets - getting the "complete orchestra" srx card or getting the orchestra 1, 2, and vocal collection sr-jv80 card? not regarding money. gracio.

I believe SRX are 44.1k. SR-JV is 32k, that's for sure.

[RobJB06]

Don, are you saying that the SRX-06 "Complete Orchestra" (which Roland say contains all the waveforms from SR-JV80-02 "Orchestral" + SR-JV80-16 "Orchestral II") is not data compressed? So all the waveforms from those SR-JV boards are ported over at 44.1 without the compression?

Originally Posted by Don Solaris

I believe SRX are 44.1k. SR-JV is 32k, that's for sure.

[Captain Proton]

What on earth happend to the Roland Juno D and G. I've never heard such a bad synth since I powered up a Yamaha PSS-10.

I hope the SV range are not the same as the Juno G range, really dissapointed in the sounds on this synth. Made yello tools rompler sound good lol.

[felis]

When they were new, I bought an XV3080, trying to save a few bucks compared to the 5080, and was disappointed with the sound.
I returned it for an XV5080, which I've been much happier with.

[RobJB06]

Must be poor converters, but ive not heard them.
I think the XV5080 sounds good, ive not felt the need to look at the new S+S being churned out by Woland.

I dont like the way the new stuff sounds so clean, everything is sampled at like 365 khz or something rediculous like that.. I like my 12bit Prophet 2002 much better hah hah..

Would be cool if Dave Smith could do a newer sampling keyboard with a Evolver/Prophet 08 UI, Lofi 12 bit, running through those CEM chips (filter) he uses.
Maybe something the size of the old Roland DJ-70 or whatever it was called.

Originally Posted by Captain Proton

What on earth happend to the Roland Juno D and G. I've never heard such a bad synth since I powered up a Yamaha PSS-10.

I hope the SV range are not the same as the Juno G range, really dissapointed in the sounds on this synth. Made yello tools rompler sound good lol.