Roland JV-1080

good

good

Ok, wow some of these reviews are annoying as hell. This box needs massive respect. And i hate roland! I bought a sh-201 a while back because i wanted to like it because i loved the interface. WORST SYNTH IVE EVER PLAYED. TOOK IT BACK WITHIN 48 HOURS, theres 80's preset keyboards with lusher tones. Its a shame the same ammount of love didnt go into there other gear that went itno this. I think the real question is are you good enough to use this monster. and judging from reviews some people arnt. If you just want presets then skip this beast. If you actually know how to program patches then oh my god get this one. The soundcards are great but honestly other then the 60's and 70's card i can program just about anything else i can imagine without them. id say though that the vintage synth one isnt too bad. because of the solina sound alone. i cant seem to get that close without it. No, dont expect drums. actually dont bother. but it more then makes up for it in other areas. I judge a good synth by if i can put my akg's on and close my eyes and play a tune and believe im listening to a track. if its too hard to believe that then the sound engine is too weak to bother recording with. so why bother. i have no problem doing that here. the dx7ish bell string stack pads are insanely beautiful. these reviews are sad. but also great for me. as this means that jv's will stay on the low end for at least a few more years. keep it up guys you keep buying those dx7's. id take a jv1080 over that anyday. hell i will eventually get another. and possibly two. i had the jv-1010 for a while. also great sounds as almost the same sound engine minus a few features. but in my opinion the jv-1080 is the perfect place right in the middle. not too much not too little. just right! ive owned tons of gear and have been playing and programing for over ten years. i have better things to do then list the gear ive owned or own. i will say this. out of all the gear ive owned or own. other then my moog rogue that i picked up in the nineties when they were still cheap. (175) this is one of the best values ive ever owned.

good

eh?

good

It's easy to use, I took the manual only a few times. If You're familiar with Roland soundmodules - this would be piece of cake...

The polyphony is 64 voices, which is acceptable even now. Effects, are OK, but not as good as Yamaha in my opinion. The MIDI response is quite fast so lags are not noticeable.

Nice piano, not gorgeous sampled grand, but nice sounding patch. I think it's very playable, and cuts well in the mix. Other sounds are different in quality - many are usable, many are crap. But they were made for all kinds of music - from pop to techno, so its soundset was a good balance between these kinds. If You want to use this module to one kind of music style, just extend it with many additional SRJV cards...

It's well build, but watch out for the buttons!

Never use it.

I think it's one of the best choice for that price...

Presets are pretty good. As many have remarked, piano sounds fine in a live mix, but whenever I let it play by itself in rehearsal, band members laugh at piano sounds. Strong suite is lucious pads and strings. Editing is pretty easy, as the LED interface is long and multi-line, with ample control buttons. Manual is pretty awful, but if you're persistent, you can figure it out.

See above. I'm not a big fan of reproducing much in the way of other instruments aside from piano, so I have no real opinion of guitars, horns, etc. Anything that doesn't do good pianos isn't going to get more than a 7 from me. Still, if you're familiar with Roland's products from 1980 to 2000, it is what you would expect: It's great for being a true synthesizer (fat pads, strings, etc.).

Bought it used; seems pretty solid-- all of its many buttons and outputs still working fine.

Has three pairs of audio outputs, which can be handy. (I run clicktrack from rhythm channel out to drummer alone.) If it were lost or stolen... I dunno. These things still bring $300 used, which seems high for what you get-- and don't: no onboard sequencer, like you get with the Alesis QSR. But if you want an outboard synth that is pretty easy to edit...

Very easy! I've used a korg 05 r/w, this one is easier to tune ! I don't use a editor, don't need it. I use softsynths to get that "hook"sound. I use the 1080 for filling up the mix. The manual..... yes there is a manual....

Just a 7 rating hee, for nowadays this module has a bit "old"specs. Only 64 polyphony, midi-timing gets bad when you sent a lot of contoler-data. But for the money: good thing!

Overall: great. Not every categorie is as good as the string section, but I like the synthpads, the basses, the guitars and the e-piano's. Drums are bad, sounding very out-dated. I bought the piano and the drums/bass expansions and I must say that those realy power up the potential of this machine! I'd really would like more fx-processors, but maybe one day i'll get the 2080...

No problems yet...

Do not have had any customer support experience yet.

I like this machine. I bought it used, for the price was very low. I also own a proteus 2000, they really complete each other. Proteus is more agressive and hard, 1080 is more soft and warm. I also looked for a korg trton/trinity, but my older 05 R/W was a bit hard to understand so I desided to go for a roland... I only wanted this thing to have more user-rom. And why are the expansionboards so expensive? They don't offer a complete new engine, just waveforms...?
This machine doesn't inspire me, it just offers the sounds I need. When it gets lost, I'd look for antoher one, or maybe the 2080.....

I use Logic Platinum for Mac 4.8.2. The presets sound generally very good indeed but the piano sounds sometimes lack lustre
I have only ever edited patches within the Roland. My dream would be to find somesort of software editor for the Mac which I could use instead of fiddling with the buttons on the ROland
The manual is absolutely terrible. God, what a waste of time that is. Totally confusing, I can never find what I want (try looking up "bulk dump" in the index) and when I do find it, it's either very technical or only tells you how to go half way( again - bulk dump - gets you half way but how do I get the information back from logic? - I know now but only found out through trial and error - 2 years of trial and error - lesser men would have crumbled....)

Polyphony is 16 patches and/or 64 voices whichever limit is reached first
I have the 19" rack version so no keyboard.
Effects are good but what really counts is the performance mode (that's Roland speak for "playing more than one sound at once in a sequencer") Here the effects limited in their use because you have to group patches through them. I think this is because there is only one chip per effect but I'm not sure
Expansion up to four cards and two data cards. Never used this though.

The Rhodes is absolutely superb. Drums are OK. There are very good pads ("Dissimilate" springs to mind - where do you think up something like that?)
The piano sounds are a bit duff.
Good for dance, pop.

very reliable.
I don't play live any more but yes I would use it on a gig without a backup

I've tried to get through to ROland but how do you do it? As always, once you've bought their product, they couldn't give a monkeys.

If my baby Roland 1080 were stolen I would dedicate the rest of my life to hunting down the miserable criminal who did it and make him (or her - I'm not sexist) eat his (or her) own genitals. Although I might let him off if he gave me a brand new Virus Indigo.
Definatley worth the price I paid (even 3 years later - I don't know why the guy accepteds such a low offer - although he did have two of them...)
I've been playing for 3 years (with the Roland).
What I love about the 1080 is it's excellent sounds and I hate, repeat HATE the manual. Stupid thing.

Ive owned a fair amount of hardware in my time, but like most bedroom producers, Ive always been on a budget. The frustration that comes from that, obviously, is that sometimes you cant afford the toys with all the best sounds or features. So you settle for something that isnt spectacular, but it falls under the "good enough" category. The Roland JV-1080 isnt one of these. As a matter of fact, I found myself cursing all the times I wasted money on mediocre equipment when I could have easily bought this beautiful monster and saved myself a shitload of cash. It truly is an enormous relief to find a synth with sounds that dont make you cringe. Quite the opposite, almost all the sounds coming from this rack module got me truly exited about production with the same enthusiasm that I had when I had first began working with music. Thats not to say all the sounds are amazing, but even the mediocre ones are very workable provided you know how to work them to your favor.

It has 8MB of sounds and like I stated before, it offers a lot of expandability with 4 expansion slots + 2 data card memory slots. You can get up to 42MB of sounds by adding any of the JV-80 expansion cards. It also has plenty of effects and filters, motion control and extensive MIDI implementation. Speaking of effects, even though this is the secong Roland unit I have ever owned, I have to say that they are one of my absolute manufacturers for quality effects. Ive owned an SP-808EX which I used mainly as a sampler and the effects on it where by far some of the best Ive ever heard. Even with the increasing evolution of software effects (especially VST and the ever popular WAVE series), software effects get bent over and spanked compared to any effect I have ever heard coming for a dedicated Roland unit. They are just way too rich and full, especially reverbs and delays.

Awesome. The majority of presets are great, especially the pads which will just bring a tear to your eye. But where this synth module really shines is in the expansion. There is availability for four expansion cards within the guts of this unit and if you think the presets sound great, the sounds coming from the the expansion cards are truly amazing. I own the "House" expansion board and for anything one ever interested in making deep or tech house, this expansion card is a must have. My good friend and production guru, DJ Midi of www.djmidi.com , has released some beautiful house tracks on the uk dance circuit using this unit as the core of is studio. Hes also running the "House" exp card as well as the "Vintage Keys" and "60's & 70's keys" exp cards... all containing awesome quality sounds. Need more convincing? Its also used by the likes of Faithless, Hardfloor, Scanner, Roni Size, LTJ Bukem and Apollo 440. Hows that for credibility.

Ive only owned this unit for a short while but my experience with Roland, along with the majority of anyone who has owned Roland hardware is that Roland makes reliable shit. I dont forsee anything but good solid years of use from this synth module.

Well, Ive never needed cs support but from what Ive heard, they arent exactly the greatest in this department.

If it were stolen, there would be a deep painful wound left within a void in my heart. Then Id leave a deep painful wound on the bastard that took it from me. This is one of the most popular digital synthesizers ever to come from Roland and for good reason. Its a solid piece of hardware thast has been around for quite some time and its tried and true. I paid $500 for a brand new one in the box off ebay and you can find them new or used anywhere from around $400 to $550. If youre looking for pristine quality sounds and an affordable price, look no further. As with any hardware, however, I would seriously test one out at your local music store to make sure that the unit is right for you.

Easy to use if you know your way around the roland architecture. Display is smaller than the later models (2080) but read on!!

Polyphony is 64 "parts". Patches can and do frequently use more than one "part", so in multi-patch mode ("performance mode" in roland speak) polyphony is affected by that.

The strength of this machine are the very good built-in effects -- the settings are incorporated into each patch.

Not that the 2080 has more of these effects (you can run 3 of them in "performance mode" as opposed to 1 in the 1080). But the 2080 is a little more sluggish in reacting to MIDI data!!

Very good for its architecture type. See comments re effects above.
The 1080/2080/whatnot have a ;arge selection of add-on ROM boards. They are a bit expensive.

If I could rate it 11 I would! I have never seen a synth module withstand as much abuse as the 1080.

No idea.

Worth every penny (bought a couple of the new).

The interface is a pain to get around having to keep on pressing the Parameter key when trying to select varouse settings in preformance mode.

I havent run out of polyphony yet so it seem to handle things ok as far as thats concerned. Having only 3 efx in total at once is limiting but 6 outputs helps to get over this. The expansion side of things are a bonus here but they wouldnt replace geting a module for each sound set for me as whats the good of have so many sounds with very limited efx and only 16 parts although the expansion cards are very good.

The sounds are great they have a good depth and top end and sit well together in the same mix. I dont like the reverb very much and like the Yamahas reverb much better, having said that it does the job.
The reaction of the sounds are very expresive to my playing and makes you want to play some presets for hours.
It wouldnt replace a analog synth for this but some sounds have some warmth in the basses.

Totaly reliable what can I say It hasnt let me down yet! I do data sys ex dumps to and from about 20 times during making a peice of music with it and it hasnt crashed or lost any data at all.

Roland know their stuff and they have helped me a few time with no fuss?

If it was lost or stolen I wouldnt replace it with another JV1080 but I would with a JV2080 due to its EFX and Editing enhancments.
If anyone wants to create a pro sounding peice of music then geting either of these modules will do the job although its recomended you use this as a big gap between other equipment.
Given its drop down in price I think you couldent do any better than get a Roland JV1080.

This unit comes with 640 presets stock which sound better than my old JV-1010-even though it is supposed to be the same. I also purchased an M-512e memory card, and the Video Manual. Editing patches is not too hard once you get used to the instrument panel. My unit did not come with a patch editor (computer program). I got this used so I did not have the manual. I since placed an order with Roland USA for $12.00. I hope it is worth the expense. I recommend the video manual. Although it is only 88 minutes long it does cover the pasic operation of the JV-1080,

There is 64 note poluphony on this synth module. The problem here is that depending on the patch the actual poly varies based on how many of up to four source sounds are used. The Reverb (8 types), Chorus, EFX (40 types) of built in effects are maximized for each patch and although may have some flaws, are basically usable. The module accepts 4 sound expansion boards from the SR-JV80 series and is basically the reason I purchased it. I previously had the JV-1010 which only had 1 expansion bay. The unit also utilizes battery backed up ram cards which is a good feature. I store my own patches on the cards. Overall I would say I am satisfied with the module's features, and ease of operation.

With 640 patches onboard and the availability of 4 expansion boards this unit has a lot of sound variety availble. The sounds range from fair to excellent in all categories so the module can be used with virtually any music style. If anything there is some slight redundancy in patches that could have been eliminated. I would rather have 1 excellent accoustic piano patches than say 12 that are only average at best. But, as anyone will tell you who owns a JV/XP, the best sounds are on the expansion boards. I plan on creating a lot of my own sounds so I am more interested in what the programming capabilities are versus the stock sounds.

Well I only had it a short while but it works for me. The 2 rack space module is very sturdy-a lot like a VCR, or Home Stereo Amplifier. I would use it without a backup.

If you have questions or problems with Roland Equipment it is best not to bother them with it. I don't think Roland has a good Customer Support operation at all. (I'd give them a "0" if I could.) Other synth companies ie Yamaha & Alesis, have their product manuals online in PDF files to download for free-Roland WAKE UP!!!!

If it were lost or stolen I think I would replace it with the JV-2080. It is worth the money I paid, and I does verify my dissatisfaction with the JV-1010. I don't think I hate anything about this unit at all. But then again there is nothing to love either. The module will be 50% of the centerpiece of my sound system. (The other 50% is a Kurzweil K2000VP.) I basically bought this unit because I had a JV-1010 and was unhappy with it. The JV-1080 is what I should have bought from the start. I think that this module is exactly what I needed

An annoying habit of Roland seems to be the production of poor manuals for their excellent equipment. I use a Roland A-80 to drive my JV-1080 and the manual for that is awful too! The big problem with the JV-1080 is the poort user interface (another Roland trait!) although it was improved upon with the JV-2080. There is a good video manual for the JV-1080. I bought it and it shows how to work your way around the unit and this has proved more useful than the bloody manual ever will!!! This video is about $25 (US) and was produced jointly between Roland UK and Roland USA. Well worth the extra outlay.

This is a fine synth module and is suited to either live or studio work. I only use mine at home these days but one thing I did find when I was using it live, in with the guitars and stuff, was that I had to boost some of the patches to get them to "cut" through. It's a very intricate unit, if you're not careful when you are editing you can completely lost in pages of menus! The expansion board idea is brilliant (you can add 4 extra boards in) and that's the main reason I'm giving it 9.

To be honest I've never been a huge fan of Roland sounds. I'always found them lacking the "bite" that Korg and Yamaha seem to excel at. The JV-1080 sounds are not in the same league as the killer patches on the Korg TR-Rack but there are a lot of very usable sounds all the same. The presets are OK but they require some tweaking to sound really good. I agree with the reviewer who said that this module is a gap-filler...the sounds are not great on their own but when you blend them with other sounds they work really well. Check out some of the expansion boards though, there's some great patches on those.

In true Roland style, this is a very reliable piece of kit. Had mine since 1997, no problems at all.

Very good from Roland UK and local dealer.

The JV-1080 is almost a de facto standard instrument in many studios and MIDI setups in general. It has sold in large numbers and it's not difficult to see why, it's a reliable and useful piece of kit BUT it does seem to lack something...the Korg TR-Rack blows it away in my opinion but I'll be hanging on my JV-1080. I recently "rediscovered" it and found it too useful an instrument to part with. If you're looking for something non-intrusive and to compliment your existing setup you could far worse. If you're looking for more sonic excitement look elsewhere.

The presets show the quality and capabilities of the synth but to a major extent are useless. When I wa purchasing it, I planned to do a lot of programming with it, so I didn't care much about the presets. However now I do have several great synths which are much more joy to experiment with rather than this boring ROMpler. Hence I am rather disappointed with the fact that this "general" type synth cannot be used out of the box. You need first to replace some presets and heavily tweak others in order to enjoy it.
Patch editing from the front panel is easy; I prefer Sounddiver because I do all of the tasks on my computer, and it's sure makes it even easier despite some inconveniences. The manual can't really be called "manual" -- it's rather a beginners introduction, and the most cryptic and confusing one I ever read. Don't read this freaking manual until you think you can't do without it.
Another serious thing I hate about the JV (and I know it's not only this synth) is the logical (and hence psychological) distance between patch editing and actual studio performance. Instead of always staying in the multitimbral mode with the ability to edit patches whenever you need to, you actually need to remember a whole lot of confusing terms and switch between the useless solo mode (strangely called patch mode by Roland) and multitimbral mode (strangely called performance mode by Roland0, whihc makes it hard to audition the sound you are editing in the real multitimbral environment and with the common effects processing. A REAL MESS shoukld I say.

Polyphony is 64 layers, but an average patch taxes about 2-3 layers, so think of it as about 20 voices at a time; it is ok for a bread and butter synth. There are 3 effects plus separate reverb and separate chorus. They're easy to use. The synth accepts up to 8 ROM expansion boards made only by Roland; these can be easily found in stores, in a wide variety. MIDI capabilties are ok. I don't like that there's too much done via sysex which can cause different glitches on the way between the seuqencer and the synth, and consumes a whole lot of data stream. The synth is a little slow; some say it's due to MIDI sloppiness but methinks it's a cheap CPU inside which is the real cause of the trouble; don't expect it to produce 64 tones in a n insyance even if they're all made up of just 1 layer.
The programming capabilities are pretty advanced compared to other ROMplers, but still do not go far beyond the mutilaion of filters and layers.
All in all, you get what you pay for, and the overall capabilities are fine.

The synth "fills the gap", i.e. is suitable for adding a lot of adequate background noise to any type of music. The quality of the samples is high. By adding expansion boards you can greatly expand its soudn palette. Most of what is lacking can be compensated by various features of the synth. The bottom end is excellent, which compensates sorta cheesiness of the basses. The stock orchestral, strngs and brass sounds are weak and cheesy (but they say you can get an expansion board for some real thing). The synth sounds and pads are fine. The guitars are very, very usable (unluckily I dont' use guitars much). Don't use it for drums and pianos. That said, the JV surely sounds exquisite compared to sub-$1,000 gear.
The effects sound wonderful, but some are noisy.
My main reason to complain about the sounds is the variety rather than quality; from a bread and butter synth, I would expect at least twice the amount of different samples; many patches in the JV-2080 are made of similar samples and the various effects, filters and envelope settings applied cannot always hide that similarity.
I use "Session" and "Asia (World v.2)" expansion board, and plan to get "Techno", "Orchestral" and probably "Bass&Drum" boards for some variety.

The thing seems to be sturdy. It alwyas sits in may rack and I only touch it to switch on and off.

The synth can deliver a tremendous value for the money if you use it appropriately. Namely, you need to spend time for tweaking and not to attempt to get any character our of it -- it does not have a character because it is was not designed to. Such a mix is what disappoints me -- I would expect a sheer amount of quality material ready to use out of the box from such a plain synth.
While I do own it, I'm satisfied with the capabiolites I have and am not going to sell it. I use a cheap soundblaster live card as a drum sampler so I don't need a sampler right now, but if I lose the JV-2080, I will also throuw away the soundblaster and consider buying a decent sampler with a huge hard disk and a lot of CD's. Alternatively I might consider a ROMpler or a ROMmified sampler with more useful presets and other goodies, e.g. CS6R (expanded), EX5R, K2500 or E-Synth (all these seem to be in about the same legion).

I'm not sure of the software versions (I own 2 JV1080's!) Let's just say that the presets on the whole are very well done (even the bad ones such as some of the acoustic pianos, saxes and some of the solo wind and string sounds). Mabey I am contradicting myself with this last statement- what I am trying to say is that while some of these latter sounds don't stand up too well in a soloed enviroment, they sound perfectly adequate in a sequence or multi-timbral enviroment! Editing patches is not too cumbersome- alot of use of the cursor dial and switches is required and envelopes are not graphically shown (2x40 LCD display) as they are on a JV2080 or Korg Trinity/Triton. It is not too much of a chore to program this unit from the front panel- at least it gives you that option unlike my Korg TR Rack (see review elsewhere). The effects routing takes a bit of getting used to and the manual (whilst not as bad as some other Roland manuals I've come accross) doesn't help much here either. For those not into programming or editing, there are more than enough great patches in the JV1080 to keep you happy for years (and the number of sounds gets trully frightening when you add all the expansion boards!).

Powerful synthe architecture with 8mb of mostly decent samples which can be used with 10 different oscillator structures (this is powerful stuff- something that the Korg Trinity/Triton doesn't do!). The filters are great- multiband resonant and the effects still stand up very well for a 5 year old instrument- 3 effects units (1 reverb, 1 chours, 1 EFX with 40 different types of effects). It would be nice to have access to more than 1 EFX unit in a performance/multi but this is where the JV2080 fixes things up to an extent. It is 64 note polyphonic which is cut down to 16 notes when 4 oscillators are layered up. It is a 2RU rackspace unit- no keyboard (the XP series are the keyboard equivalents). There are some neat modulation routings which can be programmed to hardware controllers on you keyboard and LFO and Delay times can by synced to MIDI clock (UNREAL!). You can expand the JV1080 with up to 4 JV expansion boards (there are 16 available). They are easy to install and take out but more of a pain if the unit is bolted in a rack (like mine are). The boards are a great way of expanding the sonic arsenal of the JV1080 even if they are a tad overpriced (retail of $695 Australian). No onboard sequencer in a rack mount module! Buy an XP50/60/80 keyboard for that! It will also accept PCM and patch expansion cards on the front panel (these are also way overpriced Roland!).

I think my Korg Triton wins out (just slightly) when it comes to overall realism of acoustic samples. This is obviously a very subjective issue but I have A/B'ed both extensively! The Korg also sounds fatter with just 2 oscillators (refer to my Trinity Plus Review regarding this issue). I must say that the JV1080 (and all it's other JV relatives) can produce a very wide range of sounds. I have used it as the only sound source for sequencing with no problems. It works great for dance music (many great dance orientated patches) and new age/ambient music. I must say that the sounds sit very well together in a sequening enviroment. I will now list some of the sounds I like and dislike- Piano's- Acoustic pianos are not very realistic and I don't use them much except for when there is nothing else plugged in (get the session expansion board for a great acoustic piano sound). The electric pianos, clavs and organs are all great but I wish there was at least one authentic sounding fender rhodes and wurlie emulation (guess that's where my Keyboards of the 60's and 70's board come in!). Bell sounds are great. Synthe sounds (both pads, lead and bass) are top notch as are the electric bass sounds. Strings are OK but my Triton and TR Rack strings are much better. The orchestral board has better string sounds (I own this also) but my Korg gear still improves on those as well! Sound effects are great. The stock drum sounds are not that great however (they were OK in 1994). Bye the Bass%Drums board for great acoustic drums and at least one of the dance boards for great dance drum sounds. The session board also hase some nice drums. Orchestral stuff is average for a sample based synthe and I am no fan of the saxes (again Korgs are much better here- the M1 sax sound is still my favourite sampled sax sound!). Guitars (both electric and acoustic) whilst not the most realistic on the planet are extremely playable. I like the onboard effects alot- I have since been spoiled by the Trinity/Triton effects and simply wish that I could have more than one EFX at the same time- I am buying a JV2080 next year for this reason! Their quality if superb and I like the midi synced delays, flangers and phasers! You can adjust effects send levels per part in a performance so this gets around the limitation of only 3 effects for 16 parts to an extent! 6 outputs at the back (ROLAND THIS IS GREAT! OTHER MANUFACTURERS PLEASE TAKE NOTE!). This was one of the reasons I sold my JV1010- no extra outputs. I would even look at buying the new XP30 next year if only it didn't have a pissy single stereo output!!!!! Studio musicians NEED extra outputs on their gear!!!! I like the modulation routings (such as routhing filter cutoff to mod wheel etc). This is indeed a very expressive instrument which a huge programming potential for those who want to dig in and get their hands dirty!

THANKS FOR NOT GIVING US ANOTHER FUCKING EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY ROLAND! I (and others) HATE THESE TO THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. As I have said in other reviews, I NO LONGER BUY GEAR WITH EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLIES NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE SOUNDS!!!! The JV's have never failed me and they are well built.

Roland Australia have been very good each time I have dealt with them.

If these units were lost or stolen, I would raplace them with JV2080's or whatever Roland brings out next which would still be compatible with my expansion boards. I have been playing since 1980 and I also teach piano and organ privately. I co-own a MIDI based production studio using a PC with Logic Platinum 4, Yamaha 03D Mixer (LOVE IT!), 2 Roland JV-1080's with 7 expansion boards (orchestral, bass%drums, vintage synthes, keyboards of the 60's % 70's, techno, hiphop and session)- soon to get orchestral 11. Roland MDC 1 dance module, Korg Triton, TR Rack, Z1, DW8000, T3, Wavestation AD and SR plus a fair bit of outboard stuff. I love the overall sound of the JV1080 and it is just such a great 'all round' module for those working using a small set up. They compliment my Korg sounds really nicely and I like running the JV's through the Triton's effects for extra character! i wish that the effects were expanded (I will sell one of the JV1080's next year to get a JV2080 for this reason and the fact that I am running out of expansion board room). I can't say I really hate anything about the JV1080- IT IS A CLASSIC SOUND MODULE as far as I am concerned and that is why that have sold (and continue to sell) by the truckload! (I think the JV2080 is overpriced at the moment and that is why I am waiting for it's price to drop when Roland bring out something new-JV3080 perhaps????) I b ought an Alesis S4 plus before I got my 1st JV1080 simply because it was cheaper and offered rougly similar features but overall, the JV leaves it standing in the overall sound quality rating. This is not to say that the Alesis sounded bad at all- it just didn't appeal to me as much as the JV did. The biggest competitors come from the Korg Trinity/Triton instruments which to me sound slightly bigger and cleaner (the JV's no doubt use older DA convertors and lower (44.1k) sampling rates as opposed to the Korgs 48k sampling rates. The JV definetly needs more oscillators to 'fatten' up the sound as opposed to the Korg dual oscillator progams- (this was one of Korg's arguments for keeping the Trinity's polyphony at 32 voices). In the end, nearly everything I wished it had has been remidied in the JV2080- more effects at once, more expansion slots, bigger LCD display and patch search facility). I would love 128 notes of polyphony (wouldn't everyone!!!!). It has not only helped me make music, it has inspired me too many times to mention!!!!!! THAT IS WHY I OWN 2 OF THEM! When they bring out the JV3080 or JV4080 I hope Roland allow us to do sampling (as in the Korg Triton). But none the less, now that JV1080's are very reasonably priced (around $1,500.00 Australian on the street!) get 1 (or more) whilst they are hot. Add a couple of choice expansion boards (my first recommendation is the session board which fixes up most of the JV's weaker stock waveforms) and you have a music production tool that will keep you making great music for years to come! (NO I DON"T WORK FOR ROLAND AND MOST OF MY GEAR IS KORG STUFF) I really mean what I say. GO BUY IT!!!!!!!

Here you have a sound module / synth that incorporates a pallet of sounds that covers many musical areas. The stock patches are clean and well programmed, however; many of them cry out to be tweaked. The acoustic pianos are adequet for use in a mix, but a bit woody sounding for my taste. The strings and orchestral sounds are smooth and synthy ( if you want a more realistic pallet of orchestral sounds,I recommend you purchase the Orch board ). The analogish-type synth pad patches can be lush in a digital way ( love that Greek Power patch ), however the lead patches are weak. There are quite a few guitar sounds that are fun to work with and can definatley give a piece some grunge power. The organs work well, as do the percussive sounds( vibes, Marimba, ect). Your given quite a variety in the bass area. I'm especially fond of the Dry Fretless, but the synth bass sounds are equally as impressive.
The drums are usable and with a bit of compression have made it to the final mix of many recordings I've done.
If your into creating new sounds, the JV1080 will also shine in this area.
As a multi-timbral beast, this module is a workhorse. Because of the fact that I do soundtracks,I own many different types of synthesizers to pull off the work. Would I use the JV1080 as a lone soundsource for this type of gig? Probably not. But there isn't a single sequence or recording out of my studio that the JV1080 wasn't a major contributer to.
Highly recommended!!!!!

Very expressive sounds
Works well in all types of music.

If it were lost, I'd purchase another ( probably the JV2080 ).

Using the manual I was able to get a decent understanding of the basic features and functionality of this unit. However, once I passed the "novice" stages, I quickly found the manual to be inadequate in providing a clear understanding of the advaced features and editing techniques.
However, the layout of the 1080 is straight forward enough that I was able to play around with many of the parameters and figure out what the heck I was doing to the sounds. It seems as if the manual were written for users that have an understanding of the logical aspects of sound editing tasks. I have found it useful for looking up things like what TVA and TVF are. Prior to the 1080, I was inexperienced in this realm. Even so, I couldn't understand how the parameters affected sounds until I played around with it.
So, in short, the ease of use if sufficient if you're willing to try to gain an understanding of the logics of sounds, but if you're looking for a manual to walk you through step by step how to do things, you're going to get frustrated pretty quickly. I understand that not everyone can understand a unit by playing around, but don't be discouraged by the manual's inadequacies. The unit is still worth having. Once you gain an understanding, the unit will definitely be an asset.

When discussing sounds, I always comment with a grain of salt, because a sound's beauty is in the ear of the listener. Additionally, I really believe you have to take into consideration what type of music you're writing.
Me? I write R&B, jazz, and a little bit of Hip-Hop. For these genres, the sounds out of the box are few and far between. Fortunately, once you get past the ease of use issues and start programming, I believe you'll find that the 1080 can produce tons of useful sounds.
Personally for me, the programming aspects of the 1080 are great. I hate to hear songs that I can identify what synths were used. I've even heard many popular R&B songs on the radio lately that have explicit 1080 sounds in them. Hey, I'm not knocking anyone, it's just not for me (in most cases - sometimes you want explicit sounds).
So, the editing capabilities are key. If you're not afraid of a little sound programming, this unit is excellent.
Also, the effects are usable. Nice tremolo effect. Reverbs and choruses are usable too.
The expansion cards I have are:
Dance - I use this card as the basis for the majority of my drum programming. I've been able to put together some quality drum sounds, although it took some time and patience. But as I said, for me this is okay.
Orchestral - Very nice card. Check out the classical guitar patch - you can actually here the strings being released when you let up off of the key! Very nice. The strings are good too. Some of them sound more fake than others. Search for the good ones yourself. But this card is definitely worth it.
Bass&Drums - when I first bought this card I was a little disappointed in the lack of what I would consider usable drum sounds. Again, this is just me. I've managed to find some useful drum sounds after tweaking, but for the most part, I don't use the drum sounds from this card too much (duh, right?). Most of the drum sounds are too heavy for the kind of music I do - heavy on the "rock" side. If you're into emulating live drummers in your sequeces, or you need "rock" drums, this is definitely worth it. The basses on the card are above average, although again, I needed to do some serious tweaking to them. Mostly to make them a little more smooth. Plus, maybe I was doing something wrong, but many of the patches had waaayyy too much reverba assigned to them. Once I took it off, the sound of the bass could come through.
World - I used to use this card much more than I do now. But in short, it's a cool card to have if you have the space in your unit. There's a nice shaker patch on it, nice congas. Lots of wierd stuff that I wouldn't EVER use. So, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're into ambient/trance/jungle.

I've never had problems getting decent sounds out of the unit. Like I said, some of the sounds out of the box are cool, a great many of them need tweaking (again - for me they do).
If you don't allocate the voices correctly, you'll get alot of notes notes dropping off quickly.
They pianos are not real great. In fact, I don't use them. I use the 1080 in conjunction with a Roland RD-600, so ALL of my piano sounds come from the RD600.
The keys are actually very useful for me. Again, I've tweaked most of them to sound little less "dark", but for the most part, I like them.
The brass sounds are weak in my opinion.
The basses and drums are tolerable if you tweak them. For the most part, besides the Bass&Drums expansion card, all of my drums from my sampler or my Korg Trinity.
Keep in mind one thing though - the expansion cards exand the sounds - not the polyphony. I've heard a few people getting these units with that incorrect belief. Thus, while you're adding more sounds, you still only have 64 voices to work with. So it's not like you can play more sounds at once - you can just play more sounds.

It stays in a studio, but so far I haven't had any problems with it.

Ah - I have mixed opinions. Since I've been dealing with them, I've noticed a considerable decline in the service. I actually sat on the phone one time with a tech, explaining my problem to him. I wasn't in front of my unit, so I asked him for a couple things to check when I got home. You know - check this, check that, check this. I figured this wasn't an unreasonable request, but he kept saying "it could be anything". Hmm - no, I think there was probably a finite set of things that it could have been. I wasn't asking for a dissertation, just a little direction. So, that's the last time I've called them, because I was a little annoyed - and I'm a pretty understanding person. Now if I have a problem I just ping some of the news groups or mailing lists.

If it were lost of stolen I would definitely get another one, but it'd probably be a 2080. These units are a must have if you wish to remain competitive in the market. I'm probably going to keep my 1080 and get a 2080 when the prices drop, because I need more expansion slots.
My setup works in a very complementary manner. I also have a Korg Trinity Rack, and I truely don't believe the 1080 and TR-Rack are competitive products. For me they work extremely well in a complementary manner. The strengths and weakness of each unit are weaknesses and strengths in the other. If I had to buy one first, I'd choose the 1080 though, because for me, programming is key. The TR-Rack is not a strongly programmable unit in my opinion.

Well, this thing is pretty straightfoward (in a way)Im using the latest software i believe (cant remember that Number tho). Presets are great, theres a whole slew of em. theres like 128 on each bank, and theres 4 banks (A,B,C,D) plus i expanded mine with the Vintage card so i have an unbelieveable amount of sounds. Its awesome. editing patches in very deep. Nothing like programmin my Jp8000 where i jus turn the knob, Jv1080 is digital (duh). You hit the parameter button and you continuously click through buttons 1-8 to pull up all the values of your sound. quite simple to me, if you have a hard time dig into the manual (which is impossible by the way, thank god i know what im doing. There is however a patch editor that you can find online, and it makes things alot easier, really.

Im sure you've all heard this before. Polyphony is a whopping 64 notes. More than i'll probably ever need. Jv1080 is also 16 part multitimberal. No wonder its "world renowned" for being one of the best modules. For the price i paid ($799) you cant go wrong. I control Jv1080 with a Roland Jp8000 keyboard, its sweeeeet. velocity sensitivity is sweeeeet as well. As for built in EFX, it shines here too. Theres like 40 different FX, wow, everything i need!! And whats more?? Theres expansion possibilites too!! Jv-1080 can accept 4 expansion cards (and its big brother Jv2080 can accept 8! ) Most of the cards rule...I picked up n vintage synth card when i bought my 1080, and lemme tell you...its the best...got collections of Moogs, Oberheims, Sequential stuff..and more...It can also accept PCM cards and other cool stuff to expand MB memory and add more waveforms...jeez..this synth is great...There are also more midi abilities than you can shake a stick at, i havent even fully explored them yet. Although there isnt an onboard sequencer or arpeggiator, i dont mind...I have a Roland Mc50 for hardware sequencing,Cakewalk for software sequencing, and My Jp8000 takes care of Arpeggios. This synth is VERY flexile,probably the most flexible i've ever used...

This bad boy does it all. realistic acoustic sounds (the steel guitar is the best ive heard)Pianos are decent, and brass is nice and punchy. On the other end of the spectrum, the analog sounds are cool too. even with out expansion boards, this synth has tons o cool analog sounds, it shines even more when you put techno or vintage board in there. Jv1080 does every music...evryone who's someone has one and uses it extensively. buy it as a beginner and be thrilled, and 10 years later as a pro, use it as a pro tool, and still be amazed..thats what i call a synth!! Onboard EFX are plenty and they rule!! This synth has truly added dynamics to my music, and it will never be the same!!(Good thing)

oh yeah i depend on it, its built in metal casing!! ive never heard of a Jv1080 gone wrong. i wanted to use this thing live, and in the manual theres even a section for tips on playing the Jv1080 live!! wow!! Id gig it w/o backup, with no questions asked

ne'er had to deal with roland, nor do i think i will

Same as for my Jp8000, if it were lost or stolen, id weep dearly for hours..then id pick my depressed butt off the ground, and run to my local dealer and buy it all o'er again!! Ive been playin roughly for about 4-5 years, and i also own a Jp8000 for analogue stuff, a Boss Dr550mkII for drums, and tons of other stuff.I didnt really compare this to anything else, cuz no other Sound module offers this much for $799. You can buy little Nord lead 2's for more than that, and theyre only 4 part 12 voice, with no xpansion options..Anything i wish it had?? ehhh...a larger screen? ehh..lotsa knobs (we knob twisters can only dream!!) This helps me write music big time...i can let my creative ideas flow and this synth jus puts my ideas in motion, Just like the M1 was a pioneering synth in the 80's (IMHO) this may as well be the pioneering synth module of the 90's (come on, its been carried by Roland since 1994!!)I love Roland gear!!

I used an XP80 (featuring the same synth engine as the JV), sold it and got a JV1080 and three expansion boards. The reasons why I sold the XP are 1) after I bought a Roland RD-600, I just didn't want to play un-weighted keys and 2) I didn't need the features that the XP offered over the JV (sequencer, arpegiator, RPS) because I do those things with my PC anyway. Speaking of ease of use, I find the JV1080 easy to use depite its small LCD. I was not a big fan of the large LCD of the XP80 because it was hard to read. The front panel of the JV is logically designed and in fact I use the JV's buttons more often than a couple of PC editors for the JV/XP series when programming. Frankly, I find the JV as easy to use as the XP. The manual is OK.

It has 64 polyphony, 3 effect processors, good modulation possibilities, 4 expansion slots and a very deep synth engine featuring 10 synthesis structures. Last, but not least, the JV/XP series is probably the most-supported-by-users-synth of all time. There are a lot of excellent web sites dedicated to this synth and of course there are tons of useful stuff waiting to be downloaded.

Almost all preset patches are good to excellent. There's no real loser. I've expanded mine with the Orchestral, Vintage Synth and Super Sound Set boards. Even without expansion boards, the basic JV offers an extensive range of waveforms and patches. This synth can be used for any genre. The patches and waveforms of the expansion boards that I have are also good to excellent. The Orch. board has some real beautiful string sounds and awesome brass sounds. The patches in the Vintage synth boards are stellar and the Super Sound Set has the best harpsichord sounds I've ever heard. When controlled from weighted keys, the JV responds very very well. Depending on how hard I play keyboards, I can make a patch sound mellow or screaming. The JV doesn't disappoint in the modulation department either. Filter cutoff, resonance, LFO...you name it. The resonant filters are excellent although the K2000 has better filters. One thing I like about the JV is that patches don't depend a lot on effects in order to make sound. I used to have a Korg 01/Wfd. The 01/W (or Korg synths in general) heavily depends on effects to make good sounds. This was not a problem for me in a single patch mode. But in a sequence mode almost every patch of the 01/W sounded real terrible because individual patches couldn't use the effect setting they were meant to use. Contrary to this, most of the JV patches use effects to slightly enhance sound, so even without effects individual patches still sound good, which is a hugh plus when sequencing.

This JV1080 is the fourth Roland synth I've bought, and I must say Roland gear is built like a tank. Btw, the most poorly constructed pro keyboard ever introduced must be the Kurzweil K2000. I would have not bought it if I had not known about the V.A.S.T.

I haven't dealt with Roland service for this JV yet.

I'd definitely buy it again. It is my all time favorite synth, beating even the K2000. It is blast to use and its sounds are inspiring. I'm making new sounds with the JV all the time. The only real annoying thing about the JV (and the XP also) is its internal sounds are always copy-protected,so I must turn off copy protection every time I program a patch & save it.

Well, overall we're talking about a top class synth module that still goes strong on the market despite its age. The presets are satisfying, most of them, there aren't bad sounds on it, there better and less better sounds. Editing patches is hard thanks to the poor LCD which isn't better than the fucking old Korg M1 which dates back to 1988-9. This machine is very deep and the user interface is fairly good, comparing to JV-90 for instance where it was a HELL to use it. the manual isn't bad like others say, they just don't understand the attitude of this manual, I will give you an example: for intance, if you don't read the beginning, the Enter button which executes commands is needed to be used to do the action so they tell you what screen it is found and what parameter is changed, you healthy logic should understand that all you have to do is to press enter and the action is done. there are many cases like this in hte manual which makes it very confusing but not a big shit necessarly.

Very versatile machine. 64 polyphony, 4 samples simultaneously to make a patch, 16 channel reception with channel and polyphonic after touch and velocity, realtime controllers to control parameters such as modulation and filter sweep, you know, resonance. The filters are very good for this kind of machine but thet're quite noisy, the effects are crystal clean. it will except 4 expansion boards, I am about to buy the techno board there are 12 boards to choose from. the effect system is good but too bad they didn't give the chorus effect a posibility to change Chorus changes like the MC-505 has. the MC has one reverb, one delay and EFX. The JV has one reverb, one chorus and one EFX, the MC's effect system is better at this case. The LCD is bad, really bad, it's clear, sure but it's too small. the XP-50 also has this losuy display, the XP-80 and 60 has a better LCD so as the JV-2080, I wish I could afford.

There are lots of presets that sound like the real thing and those who don't sound nice, that's exactly what I was looking for. This thing can be used for ANY style of music. the effects are good but one EFX is insufficiant. It reacts very well to my playing, my master Keyboard which is Korg X3 sucks because it's very plastic when you strike hard to get a punchy sound from the JV. Overall it reacts well to all playing methods, just don't try to yell at it, it will not listen! the machine's filters Scream like hell!!! unbelievable!!!

I will definately use it without a backup. It is very reliable, once in a time it locks but it never fails!!

I haven't dealt with these guys yet.

I would definately buy it again, fully expanded. I am playing 10 years keyboards and I also own Korg X3 which I really hate. I love everything in the JV except the stupid memory protect mechanism. I compared it to Trinity and it won, I am glad I bought it, I don't regeret, I regret for not selling my X3. I wish I had a normal mixer and a normal drumset, in this case, I would like to have a Trinity Plus. It helped me make music more rich and full.

The front panel is very easy to hunt down patches and performances. You can search through the patches individually or do fast skip w/data knob. Roland also put a demo button so you can hear the patch without turning around and thumping the keyboard. For editing patchs, you REALLY want an editor/lib program. There are so many options per patch you can get overwhelmed on the front display. One thing that pisses me off however, is that in a sequencer you can't just pick a channel and then pick a patch and play. (you can do this in GM mode), Roland makes you create a performance (collection of 16 patchs assigned to specific channels). Performances are neat and all, but sequences do that too, and they are a lot easiers to do it in. So in other words, when your in patch play mode, you have a very expensive SINGLE channel synth.

64 voices, 1 & 16 Timbures. 40 effects, primarily chorus and reverb but they have flange and distortion and other fun ones. Sounds are great. Check for hidden features in sounds. Exp. 'Steel-Away' a steel string accustic guitar patch, sounds great, and when velocity reaches 127 you get harmonics. This is very very cool. Just with the power of the synth and the built in patches, you could play for years before you run out of options. Just sit down with an editor, and make some new ones.

Sounds are great. Some are so so, but for the most part it's fantastic. The 1080 comes with 512 built in patches. These cover just about everything. I really noticed how well it does synthy stuff. Once you get used to it, the 1080 will be you favorite piece of gear.

Still works, but it stays at home.

Haven't had to ddeal with these folks yet.

I'm still on the fence about the channel thing. I figure if Roland can include the flexibility in the GM part of the 1080, they could have enabled it in the rest of the box. The sounds are what has kept me with the box. I'll have to change my sequencing habits to accomodate the 1080. I'm very glad I bought it. I don't think there is really anything quite like the 1080 out on the market. As other have said the manual is stinky. Before you get any good idea of what to do in the synth, it jumps right into editing. I think most people, but for sure myself, want to know all the options for running the box long before editing anything in it.

Pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. Fast to access with the data entry knob, (something the TG-500 could do with). The sounds are good, nice pads and some good basses, the drums are also quite good. Its a shame because it seems that all the decent sounds are on the expansion boards which still cost over 200 pounds each. It seems Roland have sussed out their marketing to a tee !. I never bothered reading the manual, perhaps I should start I might learn something.

64 note which you can allocate across all 16 midi channels to make sure certain sounds dont cut out, the after touch is very sensitive. The effects range from the usual REV and Chorus effects through to sync delay, mixed effects. All effects can be edited quite easily. It can be expanded by adding up to 4 expansion boards (although I think personally that they are overpriced) and also memory cards. It has the usual MIDI functions you'd expect from a tone generator, aftertouch, velocity, the MIDI Clock is a good function which allows the LFOs to run from an external clock from a sequencer.

There acoustic drum sounds are good and react well to velocity changes which makes them sound pretty realistic. The string and synth pad sounds are good (DAWN 2 DUSK top sound !). Effects are quite good and are flexible. All expression (aftertouch, etc) is good and reacts well when playing the sounds.

Totally reliable, no need for a back up.

My only complaint once again is it seems Roland left all the good sounds out and sold them separately on the expansion boards. This is a bit of a rip off. It would cost a further 1000 pounds to fully expand this sound module, considering I paid 1200 pounds for the unit itself I think this is a bit out of order.

Its a good work horse, it can handle a lot. The polyphony is good. I think the unit is worth the money. The sounds are pretty cool. I hate the fact that you can only have one drum patch on midi channel 10 and nowhere else. The MIDI control in performance mode is good, this gives a great deal of flexibility. Out of the 5 rack mount sound modules I have I think this would come top.

This is a wonderful machine to just set down and play. The presets are mostly useable as is w-out tweaking. There are sounds for almost any style of composition (very useful to songwriters who write in a variety of musical styles)
Editing patches is hard - but that's the price you pay for such a deep machine. I have had this machine for 2 years and have barely scratched the surface. I can make this machine sound like any synth I've ever heard!
The manual (is that what that book is supposed to be?) is useless.