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!

Very Easy. Two knobs, LED panel. Plug it in, twist the knobs, and you're off. I gave it an 8, however, because of sound diver.

64 note ploy. Limited effects.

Some great out of the box sounds. I think there's over a thousand. I still haven't used all of them. Great acoustic guitar, passable electric guitiar, nice string and some great lead and pad synth. I don't like the piano.

BIG problem with the volume, as everyone else has touched on. If you are on a patch, go to the next one and then back, you can have a big jump in volume.

Yeah, I'd probably buy another one. It's small size is great.

Some ppl say they couldnt work it on XP. I DID!!!!
All I did was download the OEM from emagic.com, then I downloaded the updates and it looks nicer and works fine. sometimes the system will freeze for a second (when you save a preset or request a patch),but its just a metter of waiting, then everything is back to normal.
At first I was like, what the hell is this!! I dont understand!. But after reading the inlcuded PDF file patiently I got to understand it.
I also recommend this unit for those using Cubase SX. The patch list is already included in Cubase SX, just load the device and voila! I have the entire patch names and I can sort and find what I like, with a click of a mouse, its a blast!

The polyphony is ok. honestly speaking its just fine :)
The FX taht are built in are kinda tricky to use. They arent that great, I add FX from other sources usually.
I'm thinking of expanding this unit for the SFX card, I'm a video game composer, thats why :P. There are 4 other expansions I would like to buy too. I wish the expansion where like in cartidge form at least so you can pop in one and change, etc. I'm thinking of purchasing the XV-5080 in the near future, I think the expansion feature is great, plus the expansions I like are VERY GOOD.
Thanks to the JV-1010 I got introduced to this line.
The MIDI capabilities are good. nothing crazy, the computer does all the patch changes for me. I like the preview button!

This little box has SO MANY SOUNDS!!!! obviously not all of them are good, but I would say I like a lot of them!! the synths are great! and the pianos are good. If you run this thing into an FX and the Aphex 204 like I have, you'll get a nice punch out of most of the patches :) very realistic, and great for the buck.
The machine reacts great, and it react good to velocity and other controllers. I've had it connected to a V-Drum and a V-guitar, its not bad.

Yes,
the JV-1010 is very reliable. If all you have is a JV-1010 then I would think you are not yet ready to go wild. I have the JV-1010 going through several processors and I have achieved what many of my friends with expensive synths have. Again, this unit has convinced me to go for the XV-5080.
I've also taking this thing to my friends studio and on the road. Its very small and easy, plugs into my laptop very easy too (I got a USB serial) so I can use the serial connection. :)

As far as Roland products, I live in Canada and I have good contacts with Roland. The Roland Canada site if you register, has lots of FAQ and customer support. I've had lots of support from Roland Canada. thumbs up. If anything breaks, Roland here in Canada is very attentive and helpful.

If it were stolen I would cry and attempt to get a new one, or just wait and get the XV-5080. I cant just spend money buying and replacing, I just started freelancing. I guess like everything, I would have to wait and think about it!!!!
I've owned this JV-1010 for a year now.
I like that its small and it has so much in it! I hate the FX, but I got my ways around that.
I thought about the XV-2020 too, but I didnt have the money. I'm very happy with the JV-1010, if you can afford it, I would get it right away and start making tracks. I wish the LCD described more, but its not annoyting, I barelt look at it anyway. Its all in the computer.

OK. I dont do computer music I just have this thing in my dorm room in college. As I am a music major studying keyboard, i have it connected to my not-so-great Yamaha dx-7, so i can get realistic sounds. I also use the same setup for gigging with my space-funk band
anyway... As far as selecting the patches (theres tons), its is extremely easy. Other than that i dont know.

As i said, i just use it for the preset patches, and they are great. Much better than any keyboard i have ever used

SO MANY SOUNDS. i practice the piano/organ in my room for my lessons, and then i switch to the "eurotech clav" and "pieces-of-cheez" for gigging with my band. This thing has the coolest/cheeziest sounds that i cant get enough of. Piano, Organ, Clav, Rhodes, Wurly, strings, brass, and a million variations on those and a ton of synths.

I HATE when i gig with it and the midi cuts out.
as everyone else has mentioned, when you switch the sound category, the thing can ignore your playing unexpectedly. theres no way to fix this and its a problem. not the biggest problem in the world of sound but is unfortunate for gigging

poop.
wait, sorry. I mean i never have needed it.

I think its great and it will remain in my ever-expanding bag of toys. I reccomend it for people like me who want a cheap, easily portable (its like 6 pounds and fits in a backpack) and somewhat reliable box of sounds

Yes, I ahave to admit, it is very difficult to use.
If you do not have a computer, editing is very limited, you just use the preset. The display is not so clear, above all in performance mode.

64 notes for polyphony, not so many, since patches are made up by four tones. The 3 effects are very good, unfortunaly they are only 3. The JV reacts very well to aftertouch and other controllers.

Wonderful sounds. The St.Piano is unreachable, I've rarely heard anything at the same level. Very good points also for basses, both electric and synth basses are very outstanding. The drums are average, but anyway much better than anything in this price range. I feel the Kick drum very punchy, it is really a good sound.
What else... The strings and pads are full, even if I think Korg has some more bells in this arena.
Acoustic guitar are very good, electric guitar quite good.
At the end, I find this horse is very hard to beat, the overall quality is very high, and there is no annoying mixture of sounds when you play a performance (16 channels), all the tracks stand on the mix.
I've owned a lot of synth, and the sounds of this box are really among the first ones.

Ok for me.

Ok.

My overall rating is high. I am much satisfied by this box, which I bought last year. I do not agree on the reviews I've read about the poor DAC converters, and about the low volume. Yes, the output volume could be better, but I think JV-1010 is a wonderful ROM player, has an accetable signal to noise ratio, wonderful sounds, and that's all.

Accept that you need a PC and Sound Diver to edit sounds, and you're on to a winner. On the whole, whatever sound you need there will be several good-sounding presets. As has been said before, you'll need to do some tweaking to make the most of them. And in order to do that, if you're familiar with the building-blocks of synths, using Sound Diver is a breeze with envelopes and kb splits all displayed graphically. I haven't tried using the multi-timbral setup yet, but then I bought this little chap for playing live.
The manuals are basic, but then the box is nothing different from most synths.

Good polyphony, but it's eaten up by layered voices.
Very flexible FX setup, but not a great variety of FX algorithms.
I probably won't add any expansion cards- don't really need to as it's got so many presets out of the box.
MIDI controllers can be used to vary all sorts of aspects of a preset- most useful.
The only bad point is that the performances aren't accessable live without much MIDI trickery- if that's important for you, go for the XV-2020.

I bought this module because it had a harp sound. Silly, but very necessary for a certain song I play. But it does make a point- this module has every sound you're going to need, be it pop, rock, dance or classical. It's worth pointing out that this box is more about flexibility than "wow" sounds- while good, the sounds aren't the best in the world. Choruses and reverbs are a little weak, but they do the job and you can set the FX chain up in any way you need.
My other gripe is that some of the multisamples have poor cross-overs as you go up the kb.

Seems like a solid little box. It perches on some rubber feet on top of my M1. Only done a couple of gigs so far, but it's holding up fine.
However, it can crash if you spin through the banks too quickly- I find that if you wait for the first sound to be playable before selecting the next bank, everything's ok.

I had quite an e-conversation with Roland before I bought my 1010- I wanted to make sure it would do what I need. They were very helpful.
I haven't needed any post-sales support to date.

If lost or stolen, I'd replace my 1010 with another- I've invested too much time in creating and editing presets! It's superb VFM, and compact (don't want to lug racks about).
And if I couldn't get a JV-1010, I'd go for a XV-2020.

Ive got to tell you guys and girls, the sound diver software that came with my little 1010 is really east to use. You need to play around a bit but you'll get it. What we really want to do is change tone levels, release, attack ,effects levels(ALMOST ALWAYS REVERB) cutoff frequency, tone changes and decay settings. Double click on the patch that u want to tweek and commence with the editing. Ive got one of the best performance pianos Ive ever herd. My little 1010 is a work horse.

64 note poliphony (but dont be fooled). I dont need hammer thump. I just took it out of my piano piano patches and to be honest with u, I cant tell the difference. I like Rolands voice allocation scheme.9 times out of 10 your going to have to go into the effects section and turn the darn reverb down. When this is done, your going to hear some really beautiful Roland Tones. The session exp. has some interesting sounds. beautiful strings, brite pianos(if u tweek them right. My only gripe is the organs...POO POO. My Triton takes care of that department. Once you set up your users bank and your controller(I use my old Alesis Quadrasynth plus) Rename your patches and start kicking ass with this thing. Im a synth key guy anyway so Im not going to complain about responce. My 1010 lives on the top right hand side of of my qs+. Four small pieces of velcro and the 1010 isn't going anywhere.

Lets put it this way. I pride myself on tweeking piano sounds so they cut through on the gig. I play for a living so my bread and butter sounds have got to impress. My 1010 comes through. The top synth on my keyboard stand is a Triton Pro. Ive got the piano exp. PCM08 installed and it also sounds good but to me MY 1010 kicks my Tritons Booty. If anything, the 1010 is an excellent piano module. Dont get me wrong. I LUUUUUUV my Pro SOOOOOOO much, but I always have musicians and sound techs asking me where my piano sound is coming from. Except for the organs, I really dont have any complaints. My Triton has a killer B-3 and Leslie simulator and great electric pianos. My 1010 takes care of the Acoustic Pianos, some strings,acoustic guitars( Did I tell U that I also luv the acoustic guitars???????) and some synths.Because of the organs, I give the 1010.....9

Ive been using and traveling with my little 1010 for about a year now and it keeps on ticking. I would like to make a strong suggestion......If you travel around with a band like I do, buy an extra wall wart for it. Mine has never crashed and burned yet but u never know.

I havent had to call ROLAND yet....KNOCK ON WOOD....

Bottom Line People.....Ive played pro for over 20 years. Ive owned alot of keys. My 1010 has one of the most impressive pianos myself and alot of my fellow colleagues have ever herd in an onstage mix. You just have to know how to tweek them. If it were lost or stolen, I would buy another one in a heart beat.... Roland could have stuffed the 1010 into a full rack space case, charged a couple of hundred bucks more and laughed all the way to the bank of TOKYO. All I know is that Iv'e got a great sound module for a great low price. Whos Laughing Now????????????????????????????

Windows XP and soundiver included with the jv1010. Some presets are very good, some are not. Editing patches is easy if you can get soundiver to work on your computer. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. All roland manuals are generic and hard to understand. I made better progress without the manual.

I have expanded the unit with the vintage synth card. I had a MVS-1 and loved the sounds so the choice was obvious! No sequencer on the jv-1010 but soundiver has sequencer. VERY COOL!

There are plenty of great sounds and there are plenty of bad sounds. Most can be tweaked within soundiver to get them sounding good. I don't use the on board effects so I cannot comment on them. Responds well to velosity and aftertouch. Some presets are way louder than others but this can be adjusted within soundiver. Low volume output but again this can be corrected.

I have only had the unit a short time but I already love it and it seems very dependable. Would I use it at a gig without a backup? I guess I'd have to since it's the only sound module I own.

We all know how Roland's customer support is (or lack of).

I play bass in a three piece band. I bought this unit to use with my Roland PK-5. I also have the floorboard so switching between presets would be easier than spinning the value knob. I have taken all the sounds that I like and moved them to my user bank. This is a very nice piece of equipment for the price, though kind of useless if you cannot get soundiver to work. I agree with others rating this product that it does have it's share of faults. I basically just use this for fills (solos) and it does the job well. If I was to take up playing keyboards full time I would look for something else. For what I'm using it for it's great! It does help inspire some of our better originals!

The JV1010 needs Sound Diver in order te be edited. Editing without connecting it to a computer is impossible. But I guess editing with a computer is easier anyway. Nonetheless, for a not-so-experienced tweaker like me, editing is not always simple. I don't think I have used al it's possibilities already.

Further on: changing sounds can only be done by turning a knob on th efront panel, which isn't very convenient for stage purposes (the thing has so many sounds!). But using the user bank properly solves this problem: just put the sounds in the right order for your set list, and switching to the desired sound becomes fairly simple.

Polyphony: 64. The built-in effects suffice for my goals. I bought it to have an all-round sound library for my band, and I had a limited budget. Expanding is possible (one expansion slot), more expansion possibilities would have been nice. I put in the 60/70s keyboards expansion card. The session expansion board is already built in. No sequencer. Midi I/O/T (a second MIDI IN would also have been nice), connection w/computer by DIN(?)-cable. Uses an adapter for power supply.

This is why I bought the thing: loads of sounds. I do not use all of them, but if I wanted to, I could play like an all-round keyboard player.

Of course, it has it's weaknesses. The output volume is low, generally speaking, and there are indeed volume differences between the different sound patches. Currently, I'm trying to solve this problem (live playing demands quick operations) by editing the patch volumes. Don't know yet if this will work out sufficiently. Some sounds are great, the others not so great. I lacks the really nice Fender Rhodes sounds, for that, you need the 60s/70s board. Organs: fairly OK, the expansion board provides a richer offer for those. Piano's: fairly OK. Strings/brass: OK, but not great. Guitars are great, some synth sounds (it has over 300 synths and pads!) are really great too.

The 60s/70s board has lots of Hammond organs (appr. 100, not too many leslied organs, though), some Farfia and other cheesy organs, ca 40 Fender Rhodes pianos (some of which are quite good), ca 30 Wurlys, a couple of great clavs (also two presetted wah wah clavs, which are very funky), a bunch of nice mellotrons (for all the Tony Banks and Rick Wakeman lovers) and some other sounds. Nice card, a bit hard to find when I bought it, so I'll keep it for at least a while.

For its all-round sound scope and the quality of a part of the sounds, I'd give it a 9.

I used it on several gigs and it has let me down only once. Turning it off and on again solved the problem I encountered. The size is an advantage: very small, fits easily in any suitcase. I use it without a backup.

I had to phone Roland Belgium once, when I looked for the 60s/70s board (which were to be replaced by the SRX boards at the time). They were very helpful in sending a demo card to my dealer. All in all: good.

Like I said: I'm a player, not a tweaker (but it is fun to learn editing sounds for improvements, of course). When you're limited to a small budget, this is a fine choice. Hey, when I'd have won big bucks, I would have bought a XV88 or a RD700 with a XV5080 module, probably, or some other more expensive units, but I'm not in Oz, and I ain't in Kansas neither.

I would buy a XV2020, if this unit were stolen, just because it's more expandable (2 SRX cards, which will be available for a longer time then the JV expansion cards, I guess) and the XV sounds are said to be better.

I control the JV1010 by a simple Roland keyboard (Roland E70) and own a Yamaha P80 as well. This is a fine set-up, but I'm thinking about replacing the E-70 by a Roland RS9 or another synthesizer, thereby expanding my sound possibilities. I won't sell this JV1010, though.

I don't regret buying this thing. For me, it was the right choice, and before I'm sure about using all its powers and possibilities, I will not judge negatively, because it's a nice little thing with lots of sounds.

I would like to edit the patches on Windows using SoundDiver, but the software has been difficult to understand. There are some terms that I am not familiar with and there are no definitions or help.

The SoundDiver manual is too general. I emailed the company that produces SoundDiver and did not get any response.

Editing on the LCD display is cumbersome, but I thought that might be the case before I bought it.

I am not sure how to rate the software features, because I am not able to use them with enough confidence to know what I am doing.

I mainly use it as a sound module with Sonar. I use one performance (16 MIDI channels) only.

I like a lot of the sounds, but I would prefer to tweak them for specific songs.

No problem so far. I have been using it for about 6 months.

I called Roland for help, but was snobbed with the question 'Are you NEW with synthesizers?' Incidentally, I have been using synthesizers and creating patches for more years that I care to mention.

I emailed the company that produces SoundDiver for software support help and did not get any response.

I may replace it for some of the sounds, but I would consider one of the other JV-xxxx synths first. As I have created and tweaked sounds on other Roland synths, that may be the best solution.

Win98/Cakewalk. Easy of Use may be quite ok. Unfortunately and have to admit that I had the same described above when switching from MIDI to Patch and fo forth, the unit goes down and no data is received until reset again.

Not too much features as compared with larger JV's. I use it for live gigs. Just bought it with my partner, who owns the place and put the money to finance $7K on music gear, the finest up to JBL, bottom line, I just can't find the way to tell him we have to return the JV1010 when I recommeded it was the same JV2080. I was wrong!. Sound Quality is poor.

Poor sound quality as compared with the 2080. I was using a small old sc33. Made my partner invest 500 dollars on this unit and now I have to admit whe have to go back to the small SC. Reason. Pianos and strings would be very good. Who needs that when playing live and drums sounds so thin. Play orchestra, ok. Clasicall, ok. Jazz, goin down. Rock it, audience disappointed, no punch. Drums too thin. When use a 2000 Crown power with top of the line DBX EQ's up to JBL Factor Series, double woofer. It should rock, and it doesn't.

I guess this is a Roland stregnh. You can depende on it. Unfortunately this thing has a desgin problem, it goes off from value to value when turing down the knob from MIDI to Patch, performance. etc.

If stolen, I wish it as an excuse to upgrade to the 2080.

I'll be brief because everything has been said. This device needs software that works and has a manual. Soundiver 2.0 is a pain. I downloaded version 3 but it crashes my W98 system.

I only use the software to do what I bought the unit for - tune it in different temperaments. Wish I could do something to get rid of the FX, biut it's all so complaceted...

I bought it becasue it's the only unit I could find with harpsichords and stuff like that, on the Super Soundset 07 card. They would be OK if I could get rid of the FX.

My son messes around with other keyboard stuff & it's OK for what he does.

We're both only interested in messing around live at home.

The really serious problem no-one has mentioned is the dynamic range. I managed to set Keyboard sens. to "heavy", but all the pianos seem to be stuck in the range mP to mF. This makes it TOTALLY USELESS for anything remotely classical.

Don't know if the expressiveness thing above is a fault or a bug, because there isn't a Roland site that accepts questions from a .fr email.

See reliability, above.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd put the insurance money towards something else. I'ts taken me 2 years to get not very far; I was new to MIDI, can normally handle technical/computer stuff, but not this thing.

Using XP. Plug it in, hook up MIDI conections, and you're flying. Easy front panel interface, but I use it at home in a studio so I really haven't touched the knobs in a while. Gets a 7 because editing is so confounded. Won't respond to any computer inquiry on the part of the included "Sounddiver" software. However, I tweaked with one of the user presets, and the 1010 saved the changes...and Sounddiver had no clue as to what I was doing. While I am using MIDI connections and not a serial input, I really don't reccomend youtry to do any serious editing because the software is just unusable.

Enough polyphony to handle my Jazz and Orchestral stuff, but nowadays that isn't a problem with a lot of modules. Probably would be better with the orchestral board in it. I use it to create backup tracks, etc. for vocals all laid down in Cakewalk. All patches are easily accessable from cakewalk, so no problems there. So far have just used your general controller 91 reverb on all of the patches, and it does fine. However, running the mix through a reverb processor will flesh everything out a little better. Like others have mentoned, OUTPUT IS LOW! However, using it in a home studio is no problem. This doesn't have the meat to stand up at a live job, but, I've never needed it for one.

Very good sounds for what I do. I utilize mostly the conventional instruments for Jazz, Orchestral, instrumental stuff, so I'm not as up on the analog/synth/pad sounds like others are. Good pianos, excellent organs and rhodes. Guitars, esp. the Nylon from the session board, are excellent. I could use a more convincing upright bass, however. Strings, etc. are great, and brass holds up. All respond correctly to modulation, etc. with correct vibrato according to the situation. Turn up the mod wheel on a few of the vibe patches and you get that nifty tremolo.

Problems: Levels. Some patches are a bit louder than others, though a few volume adjustments take care of that. A couple of the woodwind samples are out of tune with the rest of the box. Hitting F4 on any of the solo flute patches in an ensemble is instant death without selective pitch tuning. Also, the drums are somewhat blase- single samples, no velocity switching. I tend to replace them with good soundfonts in cakewalk.

Only problem has been one freeze up when using the front panel. But, I don't really use the front panel anymore. I suppose once again for the giggers this could be a drawback on a big solo section.

Never needed to call.

Yes, I would replace it, esp. for the low cost nowadays and the fact that almost everything I've done is based on the presets in it. Overall, it's a great module and does everything I ask it to. Reccomended for the weekend warrior or the light user who wants to get off of their soundcard and into the module world.

For my purposes the JV 1010 is very easy to use - Just dial up a patch and that's all there is to it. An LCD would have been nice but I understand that some corners had to be cut in order to keep costs down. As far as multi-timbral/performance mode operation, I'm not sure because I don't use it for that. I was able to get the included version of SoundDiver installed on my computer without any problems (that is more than I can say for some other software).

The features are there when using SoundDiver but otherwise the feature set would be awfully light. The JV1010 is intended to be used as a preset sound source and for computer sequencing though and it works fine for that/

This is where the JV1010 really shines. The JV1010 has a very good piano, great pads, good strings, IMO it has the best classical acoustic guitar (of any I've heard) and good emulations of classic D50 and JP8/JP6 sounds.

Seems solid - Roland has a reputation for that. Every once in a while after changing patch categories it will "freeze up" and not allow you to dial through the patches in the new category but just turning it off and then on again will correct this. For gigging, I'd recommend saving all the patches that you intend to use in the user bank and then you won't have to switch banks while performing live. This should circumvent the problem.

To sum it up, I like it overall. Admittedly, I'm not a very demanding user though - I just wanted it for a compact source of good preset sounds...and it delivers that. Pair a JV1010 up with a virtual analog synth and many electronic musicians would have most of their bases covered.

I'd also like to add that I've read a lot of user reviews claiming that the JV1010's sound quality is poor compared to that of the JV1080/2080. I disagree! I've listened to the presets on the JV1080 and I don't think that there is a discernable difference. Yes, there is some variance on the volume levels on some of the JV1010's presets but nothing that makes it unusable. I've also read users say that for the same price as a JV1010 you could get a used JV1080 but I wouldn't. The JV1010 has the Session expansion sounds (plus I got the Techno card as a free bonus) that the JV1080 doesn't have plus the JV 1010 is less than 1/4 the size of the JV1080 - the JV1010 is much nicer for taking to gigs and practice.

I feel compelled to respond to the previous post that bashed the JV1010 and mentioned the tweakheadz website. The guy who runs that site is unquestionably an expert on electronic music and he runs what certainly must be the best website out there for synthesists of all levels. Any question that you post is answered within 24 hrs - honestly, I don't think there is anything else on the net that can compare. So, if "the Tweakmeister" recommends the JV1010 then it's gospel truth as far as I'm concerned. In addition to that, the JV 1010 got a very favorable review at www.sospubs.co.uk and even beyond that I am quite capable of using my own ears to know that the JV1010 is no slouch. I think that many of the critical reviews of the JV 1010 come from people that paid full price for a JV 1080/2080 several years ago and now they just can't bear to think that the JV 1010 pretty much offers all that and more for such a low price!

I (like others) think I have the latest OS loaded, but since the editor for this DOES NOT work with windows XP, I have had to go back and forth with an older computer to edit this piece fo junk.

Forgot editing this monster. Put it back in the box and wish for a million dollars.

The patch editor does not work with xp, works ok with windows 98, what a drag.

Manual, you call that included piece of slim a manual. WHAT A JOKE!

Lots ot polyphony (64), no keys. The effects are there but who can find them.

I can be expanded, but the best thing to do with this unit is to expand it to the trash can, or if you can't get your money back from the sales person, but it on e-bay, work it up big time, and hope some joker buys it.

Some sounds are ok, but the output of this tin box is almost nothing. I put it on my mixer, ran the gain up, and if you listen in between the extremely high signal to noise ratio, you may actually hear some sounds!

The pianos are so weak, I thought the outputs were destroyed or broken, it is that low, and poor.

You should hear this sucker hiss when you turn you amp up. If you have tinnitus, and need a white noise generator, this would do the trick.

Well, unfortunately as bad as the unit is, it seems to be reiable. Weird.

If someone stole it, I laugh in the guys face, and tell him what a dolt he is. In case you haven't noticed, I hate this piece of junk. What was I thinking?

Run away from this. Don't let tweakshead talk you into this piece of rubbish, he must own stock in the company! It's just that bad....

I'm using the latest OS, I suppose. The presets sound great, especially the guitars and synth pads. Editing patches is a pain, even with the included sound diver program. It's much easier to take an existing preset and modifying it than making a new sound from scratch. But I didn't buy this module for that. The manual is OK, I think. I don't really look at it much.

Polyphony? 64 voices it says, I think it depends on the patch you use. The built-in effects are adequate, but I would want to use an external effects module for recording. Effects can be accessed through sound diver software or front panel. You can drop in a JV/XP expansion board of your choice, if you desire.

Most of the instruments are pretty good. I feel the guitar patches and some of the orchestral patches could fool the average listener. IMO, it's best suited for instrumental/new age music, but one could really use it for any kind of music they desired. Onboard effects are great for casual playing, but I would disable them and use external for recording because they will color the mix. It is very responsive to playing. Most patches respond to mod wheel and aftertouch. The only problem I have with the sounds is there is a lot of variance in volume across the patches. I've had this problem with other synths, but it is still annoying for flipping through patches.

I can depend on it for my home studio uses, and I use the term studio very loosely here. I've dropped it once, and it works fine. I would probably gig with it.

Support is pretty good. I bought this second hand and got the module/manual/power supply but no CD!. I had to order one from Roland. The customer service rep said it was backordered and wouldn't ship until a week later, but I recieved it exactly one week after calling them.

If it were lost or stolen, I don't know what I would get really. Maybe something easier to use? I think I got a great deal considering I bought it used and it works perfectly. I've had this unit for almost 6 months now, and I still enjoy using it. It is pretty good all-in-one module. I would avoid using it to do entire tracks, even though it's entirely possible to do so. Compared to other ROMpler modules, it's a great deal for me. Everything else was either too expensive or didn't sound too good to me. I chose this module because it had the sounds I wanted and I could afford it.

I just wanted to add that I've never had a problem with sound quality on this unit, I think maybe people select a loud patch, hear clipping and say it sounds bad. It has a a very light hiss if you turn the volume all the way up, but that doesn't bother me in the least. I guess it would if I wanted all my music to sound sterile and boring but that is not what I'm about.