Roland JV, XV, and XP: The Most Popular Digital Synths Ever Made! - Sound Profile

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If you grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, then there's perhaps no synthesizer more iconic to you than the Roland JV, XV, and XP series. Affordable, expandable, and capable, they were used in everything from kids TV shows to the most memorable video games of the time, such as Castlevania: SotN, Command & Conquer, GoldenEye N64, Halo, MechWarrior 2, Mega Man on PSX, Metal Gear Solid, Persona 1 & 2, StarCraft, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 2, Xenogears, and many, many more.

But are they worth buying now, over 20 years since the original JV-1080 was released? In this review, I take a look at everything from the different models, to the synthesis features, to the much beloved SR-JV80 and SRX expansions so you can decide for yourself if these synths are what you need!

The eight new patches mentioned in the video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-ceC...
Remember to use it with a librarian like ChangeIt! as the SysEx file is blank outside of Patches 01~08.

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who let me use their video in mine. It's seriously, seriously appreciated and makes my job way easier. Here's a list of content used in order of appearance:

00:08 - 1970s style soundtrack with Minimoog and Prophet-5
by Synthmania    • 1970s style soundtrack with Minimoog ...  
00:25 - The sounds of 1983 | Yamaha DX7 demo | Famous sounds [01]
by Woody Piano Shack    • The sounds of 1983 | Yamaha DX7 demo ...  
01:07 - CS - S1E6 - Roland JV-80 + Eventide Space
by Rich Douglas    • CS - S1E6 - Roland JV-80 + Eventide S...  
01:17 - JV-1080 video sent by Technomancer00
  / richard-hill-322934048  
01:39 - Korg M1 demo | 24 combi sounds
by Woody Piano Shack    • Korg M1 demo | 24 combi sounds  
02:17 - Hans Zimmer - making of INTERSTELLAR Soundtrack
by Elegyscores    • Hans Zimmer - making of INTERSTELLAR ...  
02:24 - Tame Impala Interview - Pitchfork Weekly 2012
03:13 - Roland JD-800 Digital Synthesizer (1991) Calm Night - 90s soundtrack music
by RetroSound    • Roland JD-800 Digital Synthesizer (19...  
03:36 - Almost in tears | Roland D50 demo | Factory sounds [01]
by Woody Piano Shack    • Almost in tears | Roland D50 demo | F...  
05:07 - ROLAND JV90 | SYNTH | Jamming
by Synthcloud    • ROLAND JV90 | Jam  
05:22 - A few cool Roland JV-1080 patches
by SynthMania    • A few cool Roland JV-1080 patches  
06:17 - A few Roland JV-2080 soft pads
by SynthMania    • A few Roland JV-2080 soft pads  
06:32 - Roland XV-5050 Promo (2002)
06:38 - Roland XV5080 - Test presets
by Tiago Mallen    • Roland XV5080 - (FACTORY SOUNDS) EDIÇ...  
06:58 - Trapkat - triggering Roland XV-2020 SRX-01 drums expansion
by Sivan Carmi    • Trapkat- triggering Roland VX-2020
SR...  
07:50 - Roland XV-88 Electronic Piano Synth
by Gearfacts    • Roland XV-88 Electronic Piano Synth  
08:13 - Roland MC-505 - building deep-house drums (workflow)
by Lcaise    • Roland MC-505 - building deep-house d...  
08:19 - SD-80 video provided by Robyn
  / robynmod  
17:39 - SD-90 image provided by MovieMovies1
  / moviemovies1  
42:38 - Roland Cloud JV-1080 VST vs vintage hardware
by Woody Piano Shack    • Roland Cloud JV-1080 VST vs vintage h...  
43:21 - VST vs Hardware recording provided by Mikantsumikiwi
  / gamerprime-music-channel  
46:56 - Evolution of a classic synth module | Roland JV 1080 vs Integra 7
by Woody Piano Shack    • Evolution of a classic synth module |...