Roland JV-1010

First of all, I'm not a keboardist or pianist. I'm a bassit/guitaist. I bought me a Yamaha psr 270 about 10 years ago (stil works fine!) to learn to play piano. I bought the roland JV 1010 about 2 years later because the yamaha pianos sounded toyish.

I don't know what software version it's running. I haven't had the need to find any updates for it. The preset sounds are great for me. I believe that most of the sounds are usable for live and studio applications.

Editing the patches using the knobs is impossible for a guy like me that is not really into sound editing. You NEED a computer to accomplish edting on this unit. The Sound Diver software that was included does a great job. I've used it to rearrange the user bank patches and to bring in some new pathces that i've found in the internet.

This was my first real synth and new to midi. The manual is ok. I had to read it carefully more than a few times though. It does not cover everything thourghly. Any questions I had were answered by others on forums.

It is 64 polyphony. It's enough for most sequences i've made. It's a module so there is no keyboard action. The unit does come with decent effect I think. The patches do come with a little too much reverb. I fix them with the soundvier software and save them in the user bank.

More sound can be added by using one expasion card. I have the Bass and Drums which has killer basses!! (they need compression).

It has 16 channels of midi. On this unit, Midi is best used with a computer. I have an Alesis QS6.2 and I hook up the JV1010 to it. I enjoy combing both of them for new sounds. I have a problem that I don't know how to remedy (I'm still learing midi). When I change a program on the QS, the JV1010 swithces to another patch. I know my user bank very well so I'm able to call up any patch I want from the Jv1010. The JV1010 ONLY display a three digit number so you must learn your pathces.

It does not have an on board sequencer. But is very easy to use with a computer. I use it with Cakewalk Home studio. With Cakewalk i'm able to change just about anything on all channels simultanously(i.e. patches, bank, volume, pan, velocity to name a few) on the JV1010.

The sounds are great.I bought this unit for the pianos. Everyone has a different taste. And for my taste, the pianos, strings and orchestal pathches are excellent. The EP's are great. Most guitars are great. Rock guitar sounds are weak with a couple of exceptions. The Session Guitar sounds very real. Most drum sound on the presets are great; they sound like they came from a respectable drum machine. Now, if you add an expansion board like the Bass & Drums, man, you have excellent drums sounds and killer basses.

This unit works well for almost all kinds of music. It sounds great for church. It's awesome for pop and rock (except rock guitar. but you can run it through you guitar effects and it will give you a monster guitar). Pianos and orchesta sounds are great for classical music.

The onboard effects are ok. They are not bad but not great either. When using a sequencer, the drawback is that you can only use one effect for all the 16 channels. If you have flanger on a guitar on channel 1 and then you add reverb to drums on channel 10, the guitar loses it flanger effects and it is replaced by the reverb. but i'm sure that if you use it in a studio, you would strip the patch of its effect and add a studio quality dedicated effect.

It reacts relly good to my playing or i should say that it responds well to all midi commands on all 16 channels. I think that it responds well to velocity and aftertouch.

I've had it for over 8 years now and i havent had a problem with it. It is very reliable. I would use it in a gig without a backup. But who plays in a gig without a backup anyway.

I 've nerver dealt with Roland. Never had to.

I would defentily buy another one if it were stolen. It is very well worth what i paid for (i bought it new for $400 and something).

I been playing for about 18 years. the keyboard for about 10. I own an alesis QS6.2 which i would not buy another one if it were stolen.

I best thing i love about the JV1010 is the sounds. it is unbelievable that i can create a very complex sequence with only the sounds of this unit.
What I hate about it its that you get a small display which displays only numbers. Without a computer, you have to look at the knobs to see in which bank you are at. I also hate that the knobs stick out so much.

I just which it had a bigger display and individual effects for each midi channel.

But for the price and the excellent sounds, I can't complain. My best friend is a studio engineer with years of experience and owns many expensive gear (keyboards, basses, guitars, effects) that people on a budget like me can only dream about. He recommended me to buy a JV 1010 and that that's all i'm gonna need for a home studio. I'm just grateful i took his advice.

If you're thinking of starting a home studio this is the way to go. Even though this unit is old, it stil works with todays music. And nowadays you can snatch one for less than $200 bucks on ebay.

Dont know the software version. i know theres updates for it outthere cause ive seen them. but i chose not to update it. the os seems stable enough fro what im gonna do with it and if i find myself wanting to use it live and find it that unstable i would most likely just upgrade to a 2080. well in this area being that you have to own a pc to really even make this thing be much more then a preset box im giving it a low ease of use grade. ive been programming synths and sequencers hard and software based for about 10 plus years now.

OK PLEASE READ MY REVIEW!!!

im going to try to offer an honest helpful setup here because im fairly knowledged on synths and i know someone on a budget like me who still likes to write every once in a while might end up buying this box. or someone who finds they needs some other sounds that there va synths arnt cutting and consider this box or antoher one 1080 2080 etc a good investment. well first off id say get the 1080 but honestly i dont know what the difference is in the software. if there isnt really any get the 1080 cause it certainly has more features. ok

i would not recomend getting this if your not faily knowledged on pc's and synthesis. check into a yamaha cs1x. its sound engine is weak compared to this unit but its way more user friendly. but if your willing to learn pickup a book or read the manual thuroughly. also buying this unit without an pc is not smart. theres plenty of ways to get sounddiver.... yeah so get it and put it on your pc. hint."coughs..soulseek..". dont worry if it didnt come with it you can still get it. i dont recommend getting another one cause i dont know much about any other editor. and sd does everything you need it to.
second. your going to need to purchace a pc interface. now flat out get an edirol interface. there are others that will work im sure but edirol is a roland company. and the edirol um-1ex goes for 30 bucks. it works just follow the simple setup sheet and if that fails read the cords they tell you where to put what. and thats the cheapest decent interface you might get. remember that edirol um-1ex your going to need that to get much done. now once you get those two things done heres a site with what i believe to be the only patches still left out there due to the age of this unit.

http://www.pdmusic.org/jvxp.html

theres a part that says system patch files. download those and fool around with them till you find some stuff you like. mix and match its a good place to start from.

you can edit them into your own thing. but it is nice to hear where someone took the sound engine. helps you know what you can do.

NOW AS I SAID NO PC, DONT BOTHER GETTING THIS. YOU WILL HAVE A REDICULIOS TIME EDITING THIS WITHOUT IT IF YOU EVEN CAN. BUT IF YOU HAVE NO PC THEN HOW ARE YOU READING THIS!?

ok the sound engine is way incredible for the age of this unit and its price. one of the best piano's ive heard you there. the filters are decent. i can get some decent bass action with the res up. try to not play with the overview settings on sounddiver to much as far as the res and cut are concerned cause ive sound it will make your filters sound bad. try to stick to the waves filter.

the fx are lousy. the phaser is ok. the delay is good. the flanger is annoying. the reverb is way over used. reverb is best left to reverb units.

be weary of expansion cards, ive heard most of them and after having fully dived into this unit alot of there sounds are already possible on the unit. however the 60's 70's card looks like a winner. mainly for the rhodes and wurlitzer sounds. you can get pretty nice b3 sounds with the system alone. dont get the techno card.....just get to know the box before you decide to spend any more money one extra sounds. all and all this box can do quite a bit. get to know it it has alot of potential and should be put to waste.

ok ill list what ive gotten out of it.
great piano's
great stacked analog strings (juno,jupiter,ob, etc)
great bass(moog, ob, juno,101, etc)
great leads
incredible pads.
electric pianos are ok for the whole dx-7 sound no good acuostic ones.
and this is without any sound cards
from my knowledgs alot of the sound cards stuff is just rehash on what the system already has, id say that goes especially for the techno card.

very solid for its size and capabilities and price.

roland is great if you create a login with there us site. ive got tones of updates from them and am greateful for it. like my pudate for my br 8 that i can now bring all my recordings straight into live and remix everything.

id give it a ten if you didnt need a pc. but if you didnt it wouldnt be such a cheap item i think its a fair trade. also the cards are way over priced. i think its a scam for the most part. but im getting the 60's 70's card eventually for the rhodes and wurlitzer stuff. go here if you wanna hear what cards do what.

http://synthmania.com/

ive done psytrance,ebm,triphop,shoegaze,hiphop,ambient,braindance, etc and i play guitar not as well but you know. well i hope you found this review helpful.
id say im fairly eclectic and i was satisfied. and its been a while since i bought a unit and didnt feel jipped. so thanks goes to the jv 1010.

Plug in and of you go.Every sound is the click of a knob away.Dont have editor or manual,but dont need them, I got this to boost my sound arsenal and it does the job easily.

Polyphony is 64, what more do you average Jo's want?Effects are great.I use this just for playing 1-2 sounds at a time and it works superb.Not about to use it as the centrepiece of my midistudio,but you would get the JV 1080 for that wouldn't you?

The overall sound selection is just great.For the used price(I paid $260)you really can have zero complaints.Very profesional all round.At last a useable JV piano sound!(on the Session bank).And yes I have a JV 1080,and the preset pianos there are sub-standard.

No hassles so far,like I say, I'm not about to go ramming 16 tracks of midi messages down its throat.It does me just fine for a welcome boost to my sounds.

Never been there.

I'd buy again, its a bargain price to boost your set up.Real easy to use presets.Of course my JV 1080 is king, but with the JV 2080 bank E sounds and the Session Expansion sounds the JV 1010 really holds its own in the preset arena.The Session piano sound has been inspiring, and has restored my faith in the JV series.

I found it very easy to use: controlled mostly from PowerTracks Pro Audio on a windowsd based PC.

keyboard to 1010 action was fine.

I was attracted to the palette of sounds.
I am still impressed by what this now cheap unit can do.
I'm a big pad sound fan, and I really like what it offers
in that category.

I also experienced the hang up when turning the patch knob beyond the casual clicks...
unit would then have to be booted.

never had to call: didn;t bother to call about the hanging, I figured it was user induced, as this was my first outboard MIDI unit.

I would certainly consider Roland units for sound modules.
I mainly do home recording.

Let me begin this by saying: I am a bass player with a home studio build going on and I needed a keyboard. So, after researching, I picked up an M-Audio 88 key controller, and bagged this JV1010 on ebay for $179.

I was able to plug and play in 1 minute. Able to review as many sounds as I wanted without reading a thing, and have since printed the patch list for reference. Thats it. Now I'd say that sounds like it's pretty easy to use. Given, I am not looking to start editing patches, or hook this to a computer. If thats your intention then my score may not apply to you.

As ar as features are concerned, I am not, and have no desire to delve into the enormous amounts of editing capabilities of this unit. Its got the abitlity to add an expansion card, and from what I've researched, there are dozens available for this unit. I am researching which expansion card would be best for a general studio environment. As far as the sounds......well lets talk.

I have been a bass player for 25 years and have played with lots of keyboardists, usually with a few feet of the keyboard monitor, so, my opinion of the sounds is strictly from a listeners point of view. I bought this because I wanted a general piano/organ sound module at a reasonable price. Well, I got my money's worth and more. The sounds I hear are as good , if not better, than any of the players I've worked with. Mind you, the Piano's sound great, but they do not remind me of an acoustic piano. The sound similar, but none seem to incorporate a realistic "room sound" that you get from an Acoustic instrument. Also, I got this in trade for a 67' Rhodes 73 Stage Piano I got at a garage sale for $50 bucks. (That Rhodes sounded EXACTLY like the Wurly on "What'd I Say" by Ray Charles.) The Rhodes' sample in this module sound nice, but it don't sound like the 67' I just traded. So realize , these sounds are GREAT, (especially stereo), but they're samples, not true replicas of the gear their mimicking. All in all, if you are looking to build a truly professional and current sound library for keyboard, what you get here for the money is truly exceptional. Strings-2 or 3 in the library are very nice. Piano's- 3 or 4 are exceptional. Organs- I found 3 or 4 that were absolutely great. The balance of the sounds are excellent as well. The nylon string guitars are really rich sounding, and believe it or not, the Bell patches are really beautiful as well. Tons of usable sounds. Not a bunch of crap.

It crashes if you turn the bank selector too fast. Watch out. Turn it slow, your OK. Otherwise, not a problem.

never needed. the thing works.

This thing is an incredible value. $179 and I have dozens of usable sounds for a home studio. Enough additional sounds to inspire my 14 year old to start songwriting. Hooked to the M-Audio 88 key controller, I pretty much have a $1000+ keyboard for less than $400 bucks. Yes, the Rhodes was nice, but i feel I got a very comprehensive and usable board, that will be comfortable for any visiting player for the cost of trading away a $50 garage sale find. I may consider buying another one on ebay if I can bag it for less than $150. These things are a great value. Just Great. Buy it if you find it.

If you have even a slight knowledge of MIDI, then wou should have no problem setting this up, but as far as the use of editing is concerned, thats a different story. Editing the patches internally, only useing the 1010 is a waste of time. If you can find an external editor, and have a midi interface to your computer then i would probably raise this rateing a few points, but dont hold your breath, so far i havent come accross any. If your just looking to use the (plentifull) presets, then i would give this a 10.

There is more polyphony than you will need. There is reverb and other effects, but they down rite suck. I wouldnt bother useing the internal FX. There are cards you can buy to expand it, but i dont see why you would want to, it has just about every sound your probably looking for, and if your looking for such a specific sound that you feel you need to upgrade, then i would suggest MAKEING the sound yourself. I wouldnt say this synth is flexable, but the presets are versatile.

Ive read some of the above reviews, and i dont know why some of you guys think these sounds (piano and string) are thin and unrealistic. I record ambient music, so piano and string sounds are some of the most common and important sounds i use. If you havent played the jv 1010 yet, and are thinking of buying it, dont rely on these reviews, play it yourself (theres probably 1 laying around your local guitar center)

Its encased in metal, what more needs i say?

I havent had any technical problems with it, ever, and i even bought mine used ( from guitar center )

Ive never had to.

Well, seeing as how i dont have any money, i wouldnt buy it again. But if you want to know if it was WORTH the 100$, definetly. I can see why some people payed the full price. I wish it had an envelope editor on it, or i wish that someone would make one for it. It IS kinda degradeing to use companys presets and not your own....

One aspect of my review below needs further explanation. Turning off the system's reverb without librarian software should be possible via the following System Exclusive Message sequence:<br>

Switch Reverb Off: F0 41 10 6A 12 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 76 F7
<br>
Switch Reverb On: F0 41 10 6A 12 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 01 75 F7

<br>
Using such a procedure, I was able to disable the reverb (despite initially using the incorrect checksum of 0A instead of 76). However, for some reason I have had no such luck in attempting to turn it back on, though for my use, I would prefer to leave it off. Editing the JV-1010 without librarian software is a frustrating and time-consuming task unless you are a complete Midi guru. Detailed explanation regarding editing System Exclusive settings on the JV-1010 can be found at the following website:<br>

http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tutr/rolsysx.htm

Patches generally sound much better with reverb disabled. This is also a consideration if you want to use external effects such as an amp modeller.

Basic selecting sounds is easy. The category banks help in locating sounds. Selecting between sounds with the knobs can still take five to ten seconds, which may be too slow for live band situations. Also, as others have mentioned, turning the bank knob too fast will cause the unit to crash. This is annoying as it requires turning the unit off and then on again, and I've found has also required turning the keyboard controller off and on again in a certain order as well. In a live performance situation, this could be disastrous. You can avert this by copying all your favorite patches to the user bank so you don't have to switch banks, but again you need a computer with librarian software to do this.<br>

It would be preferable for live use if there was some sort of "favorites" list editible from the front panel. An alternative is to assign favorite sounds to the user bank, but this must be done with a computer and librarian software such as sounddiver or soundquest.
<br>

Unfortunately there is no way to edit the sounds or effects without a computer and software. I bought my unit used and it did not come with the software. Sadly, the software that originally came with the unit is not freely available.
<br>

If you don't have the librarian software, but you do have a sequencer with the ability to manually input sysex events as text in an event editor, it should be possible to edit some of the basic parameters, such as turning off the annoying reverb.<br>

Reverb can apparently be toggled via midi with the following messages:
System Common Size Description Data (value)
00 0A 0000 000a Reverb Switch 0 - 1 (off, on)
<br>

Midi implementation can be found at http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/jv-midiman.htm.

The piano patch is the reason I bought this module. The bass registers just growl. Upon bringing the unit home, I found that the mid, and especially the treble regions were not as good as I had initially perceived. For the most-part though, the piano patch holds it's own even compared with some newer synths. I actually prefer tthe jv-1010's piano patch to the stock XV-5050 piano patch. (I've heard the piano on the SRX03 "Studio" Expansion board is better than the stock XV-5050's. Alternately, you can install the same piano sound that's on the jv-1010 on an XV-5050 via the SRX07 "Ultimate Keys" expansion board from what I have read.)<br>

As far as string/pad sounds, there are only two that I would consider using regularly in a live band situation. One of the two is stringier and brighter. The other is paddier, and darker and more mysterious sounding. The darker sound would probably blend better in most situations. However, somewhere in the midrange there is a ugly recurrent chirping artifact on at least on of the samples making up this patch.<br>

There are a few nice electric piano (EP / clav / rhodes / whirly) patches too. Organs did not impress me. Some fairly decent guitars, but I'm a keyboardist. You have to sift through a lot of cheeze to find the gems.

Turning the bank knob too fast will cause it to crash. Then you have to turn it on and off again, waiting for it to reboot.

I've ordered a replacement IPROM chip and pitch/modulation wheel unit from Roland. If you can identify the part you need, they are very helpful. For example, when I first called about a replacement IPROM chip containing the text for the display of an older A-80 keyboard controller, the customer support person was of no help to me. (Common, can't they look this up in the service manuals?) I knew it was the chip that controlled the text, but they were not able (or willing) to figre out precisely what part I needed given that information. Once I was able to trouble-shoot the board myself and locate and identify the IPROM, I called again, this time with the result I wanted. They were of great help and burned me a new EPROM for me at a reasonable cost. Overall, my experience with Roland customer support was surprisingly pleasant, and I give them high marks for still supporting older gear.

If lost or stolen, I would not buy it again. Instead I would buy the SRX07 "Ultimate Keys" board and install it on my XV-5050. Actually, I like the SX-5050 so much that I would like to have two of them and toggle between them for quick and seamless switching between sounds during live use.<br>

The best aspects of the unit are compact size, affordibility, and large number of sounds. For many desktop musicians, and guitarists looking for sequenced or recorded backing tracks it may suit their purposes just fine. However, for serious keyboardists and for live use, it makes sense to spend the extra money on something like the XV-5050 for the improved sounds and front-panel programability.

XP - pretty easy - yest it does - it's OK.

I haven't had any issues with note stealing, although my next door neighbor likes to steal my newspaper from time to time.

MIDI is awesome, even at high altitudes.

Good, realistic sounds for real instruments. Although this unit is technically a 'real' instrument, I only use it when gigging for funeral homes and wakes (for dead people).

Yes

No

Roland sent me a DVD once. The demo guy stole my idea for a song. I may sue him if I can find his name on Yahoo chat.

I strongly agree with the reviewer below. Robots are extremely dangerous and in today's PC world we should try to thwart all attackes whenever possible. Also, I don't like monkeys at all and would kill them if they ever tried to take over a tour bus, especially one bound for LA to go gamble with old folks.

I use XP. No problems. Roland is notorious for hard-to-decipher manuals and instructions...not so this time around!

Polyphony is adequate, even for layering. The effects are sweet. Expansion is almost not necessary, so many good factory patches.

I am most impressed with the Electric pianos and Guitar sounds, for realism. This is a great substitute for lugging a Hammond around as well...the B-3-like sounds are well put together. It seems to have zero latency which makes for speedy data reception.

No glitches in over three years. I would be comfortable having only a solid piano as a backup, as nothing electronic is totally predictable.

I have not had to contact customer support...a plus, so I cannot comment on this section.

I would like to see insurance policies made available for individuals against robot attack. Everyone knows how dangerous robots can be. Once they get hold of you with those metal hands, you can't break free. I also think allowing monkeys to drive tour buses is just good business!