Roland JV-80

Lets start by saying its all aoubt the envelopes in any synth. if you choose the sine wave saw wave or pulse wave and start in the envelope section in connection with its attack and sustain decay release, you can get minimoog sounds easily and realisticly adding the glide feature. All this can be done using one part so you basically have a 28 voice analog synth. Hmmmmm and all this time you thought it was just another sample playback piece of crap. after you add a good 450ms echo you are keith emerson. the pulse wav will do a real emrson solo. Youre welcome in advance. dont sell yours yet. email me for my patches.

works great as a soundcard to playback your midi music. you can take a cheesey midi file and use performance mode to select all the instruments you need and have it sound like a real song.

it does have aftertouch and expression although i never use it but recently have a little more. in performance mode you can layer some really nice stuff. in program mode you can start with one part and get a great analog sweeeping filtered chorused echoed part then part 2 make it a rising wind effect take part 3 and make it another sweeeping analog sound sing another wave and different attack and release times. take the 4th part and use the fantasia patch. BAM you have the best 'Here we go again" patch you can ask for. You're welcome

only have modules dont know. i have 3 jv880's

nope

the only problem is the display dims over time and its real hard to read. plus i'm blind in one eye and cant see out the other.

the jv-80 is your basic digital synth, editing requires more patience rather than a knob covered analog synth.

this keyboard featured 28 voice polyphony with standard MIDI it does accept 1 expansion board(hey, what do you expect for the year 1991?!)

Now were getting somewhere,the rackmount version of this synth- the JV880 was used on the album, Pestilence-Spheres(a death metal classic) which featured pads,strings,and effects made with the Cross Modulation capability(which is basically a fixed FM algorithm) that you can use on the PCM samples for clangorous,noise-based sounds.Anyways, years later the game Red Faction came out for Playstation.It featured breathy instrument textures, and the exact same FM effect in heard in the music I indicated above..I was blown away by the crystalline sounds that this synthesizer can produce,just those sounds are a drop in the deep well of possibilities this synth has to offer.

One of the things I like about this keyboard is the fact it's made out of sheet metal or aluminum.Roland nowadays, uses mostly plastic to build their boards now.Which I think reflects poor craftsmanship on instruments.That's what makes older synths so great,everything on the keyboards were metal constructed,except the buttons of course.

Ok, I am in LOVE with this board, so I may be a bit biased. The presets are very good. they get even better if you install any of the expansion boards. The only impediment to editing sounds is the (compared to todays) tiny screen. If you do want to edit the sounds the manual is very easy to understand. Did I mention I LOVE THIS BOARD!!!!

I dont know how much the stock polyphony is because I got it with the piano expansion board already installed.THe keyboard action is fantastic, I use this board live all the time and its my favorite even though I also have a Motif and a k2000. It has 1 expansion board port and 2 pcm slots, one for ROM and one for RAM. MIDI function are easy to assign. This board doesnt have a sequencer or a disk drive but thats ok it makes up for it in other areas

Most of the instruments are exceptional!!! The keys, synth, and organs are fantastic but the brass leaves a bit to be desired. The effects are where I think this keyboard truly sounds. I believe that good effects can make a crappy board sound great. And this board has great effects. The velocity and after touch are great too. One thing of note, for some reason, on the newer boards aftertouch is an actuall depression of the key, sometimes as much as 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch. I the JV-80 its compleatly pressure sensitive there is no discernable movement of the key to trigger theafter touch

I have never had a problem with this board. ever. Ever EVER! I bring it to every gig, I would give my right arm for one. If it were stolen I would hunt down the lowlife scum who stole it and stomp them a new hole.

Roland is fantastic in its support of this board cuz it was so poopular way back when. I have repaired it a few time since the patch buttons sometimes wear out. No biggie though, The parts are cheap and even if you send it out to be done it will cost you like 40 bucks to replace the whole bank of keys. (you can do them individually but once you open it up just replace all of them)

Its the best board I have ever owned, I will even go so far to say the best board I have ever checked out (ok, maybe the Fantom X6 is better) Get it, you will be happy, enjoy and make music.

Presets are very nice especially the acoustic guitars. Pianos are not very convincing, nice playable sax(Turbo Sax) and flutes. Editing is a breeze and I feel tempted to make new patches, which is what a synth is supposed to do. I have an Alesis QS6.1 and it is a nightmare to programme. Manual is not the best IMHO but if you used to Roland architechure you will be up and running quickly.

28 notes poly. not that many by todays standards, and even less if you programme 4 tones to patch. I havent yet tried a sequence on it so i dont know how the polyphony will hold up. Can be expanded with SRJV boards which are still available, so thats good. The fx are not that wonderfull, but still useable. Has a slider called C1 which can be used for midi control, dont know yet about the parameter sliders though. I think with a bit of editing this board can work for most genres of music. Keyboard action is not cheesey, sort of semi-weighted with aftertouch too.

Nylon guitars are beautiful. organs are a bit thin, but I see most people complaining too much about this. If you want a real Hammond sound well then get a real Hammond. I for one dont care about organs too much, I prefer analog synth sounds which this baby is capable of doing well except for self oscillating leads etc. There again buy a Juno60, 106, Korg MS2k, they are made for that purpose I have all three and the JV80 can fare well with them on certain types of analog sounds. It can be lush and spacey very bright and gritty if you want it.

I know I can depend on it, even after I stripped it to bits and reassembled it, it works. Its made by Roland!!. Front panel is extruded Aluminium and the back is pressed steel , about 1mm thick, and it has a zillion screws to keep it together. I wish all synths were built like this. I do gig with it, without backup. The only problems I have with it is the buttons and 2 sliders ,which I will replace soon, but thats a common fault, same prob with my Alesis QS too(slider).

Havent called them.

If stolen I would try to find another. Ive been playing for 16 years.I also own a Korg Triton 61key, AlesisQS6.1,KorgMS2k, Roland Juno102,60, Casio FZ1. I wish it had more user memory for patches and maybe 2or more SRJV slots. It makes me creative and thats wot i like. If you find one of these cheap buy it, even if it is to beautify you aresenal, cos it looks elegant.

Definatly a piece of cake to setup, MIDI implemention is done GREAT. Performance mode allows for different MIDI channels assigned to each patch, useful for seperating the drums and keys when it comes down to the sequencer. Presets are less than spectacular, but i'm not in this for listening to other people's sounds or making other people's music. It seems to be quite great for hard-biting sounds as well as pads and strings. t1l1t2l2t3l3t4l4 is the way of the ASDR, I like it personally. Especially with an expansion board, the sounds are wide and varied. Sweepable resonance and cutoff filters make for all the glory on this synth, sounds smooth or harsh, either way, simple cake like. Everything else has already been said.... Very easy to use and edit patches, considering you can get to the same patch controls from two or three different buttons!

Plenty of polyphony, only straggles on big chords or crazy layers. Expansion is kinda limited, there is a way to save patches onto a card, but where to get a card for a 10 year old synth??? (hint, ebay!) Pressure sensative, after touch, etc. Built in reverb and chorus with (unfortunatly) patch wide settings. No sequencer, this is a sound board!

Well, the only reason I plunked down $600 for this board was it's SOUND. So freaking clear, I didn't find out until later it's one of these "new-fangled" digital recreations of analogues. This means... NO SAMPLES! hurray! All the samplers, even in 48kHz sound gritty, harsh and unnatural. Just messing with the funky performance presets made me want this. You want wind, rain and thunder, this board can do it! How about a train working it's way up a hill, yep! What about an arpeggiator-like key sound, even though there's no arp inherent? It's possible, I don't even remember how I made it, but I got the patch.

Poor thing got kicked in it's teeth by a souped up rice rocket driven by a couple of beans. Grumble. It's reliability has suffered, but that isn't rolands fault, it feels solid, but unfortunatly, my c1 and bank 1 controls no longer work reliably.... perhaps more problems down the road... although, i would certainly gig without backup..

repaired broken teeth... yow!

This synth has no real flaws for being an older synth. Solid state electronics work and upgradable sound sets. Of course, you could just get a JV-1080 for the sounds and much much more.....
I've been a music junkie for a couple years, this is my second keyboard, after a DJX (you want crappy sound... look no further).... =P

Great synthy type sounds. Can do a good, fat "Jump" by V/H and Gary Numan type stuff. I don't have a manual, but I know just enough about programming. I still haven't yet figured out everything but I'm discovering more programming possibilities every time I mess with it. Expect to navigate thru menus to program this baby, but still not bad to deal with if you know basic synth programming: filters, EG's resonance, LFO's...etc.

Chorus and Reverb not bad at all. Velocity and aftertouch. What's cool is how little I paid for it, with the flight case, thanks to a pawn shop in Virginia Beach! VERY COOL! A good board if you're not worried about a sequencer (I don't use/need one...I just play). I have no need to get rid of this one. I'm no Billy Joel so I don't need tons of polyphony. This baby is perfect for me.

Good overall sounds. A workhorse. Cutoff frequency/Resonant filters make for some decent analog sounds. I got the 60's/70's card for the variety of KILLER Hammond/VOX (grrrreat)/Farfisa sounds that I'm so obsessed with. I'm probably getting a MotionSound Pro3T soon so I can get a good Leslie sound for the Hammond stuff. I program the sliders like realtime drawbars and I've created a really good "Green-Eyed Lady" patch. Acoustic piano not bad but a little thin. Chorus/Reverb are decent in my opinion. It's got velocity/aftertouch. Cool board! Considering it's like 10 or more years old, I have no complaints.

A few of the buttons are not working right. I have to like slam my fingers into a few of them. No problem with reliability. I have owned several Roland products and they have never given me a problem except for the few semi-functioning buttons on my JV.

I've never dealt with Roland. I don't know.

I'll never get rid of my JV, considering how much I paid for it and what sounds I need to play good, basic rock, oldies (love that Paul Revere stuff - listen to their version of "Stepping Stone".

Very good, indeed. All nice and logical in the "Roland-way". 8 sliders can really make this is a good one live. Somewhat "not-to-exciting" presets, but the user bank is better and you can really make some good sounds on your own, with its flexible modulation routings, portamento, "analog-feel"-parameter, FXM and rev/cho that can be driven into flanger and complex delays. I have the POP expansion-board (8MB) and the waves and patches are great, too bad you can't access the patches directly (you'll have to copy them to the internal memory).

Good keyboard and the polyphony is 28, no matter what anyone else tells you! And that is waves, so if a patch is made of four waves (max), then the polyphony is 7. No seq, but all midi I'll ever asked for. Can be expanded with SR-JV80 series (8MB), rom/ram data cards and some 1 meg PCM (wave) cards. Not too good EFX though.

Good strings and analog synthlike things. Ok piano.
Great Organs, EP, Bass and Brass on the POP-board.
But can make great anything, with some creative programming and a EXP-board.

No problems.

Good in Norway.

It is a great live instrument. Not so good multitimbral. Mainly because of the limited effects section and the 24 voices. Actually most of the sounds are layered, which brings down the actual number of voices to something between 7 and 14.

I have the vintage expansion board. It kicks ass!. Really fat sounds.
There is even a decent lesley hammond in it! I've made a hammond patch where I use the C1 slider to move between slow and fast lesley. I've tried playing the hammond through a overdriven guitar amplifier. Man... BIG sound.. I sent the guitar player home weeping.

Very good sounds. I've been using this board live for 7 years. I can cut through a mix very well. Probably because it can be very bright.
Now after 7 years, I am adding a K2000 to my setup, because I need sampling and sequencing possibilities.

It has never broken down on me. Only the last 12 months or so, some of the buttons are dying on me. This a really annoying. I'm affraid I will have to get some replacement switches, and disassemble the whole thing myself. I've seen how it is constructed. Man... you have to completely rip out every little thing to reach the board that holds the switches.

The body is made of metal, so it is very strong. I wish they'd still build instruments this way instead of all plastic. Mine fell off a keyboard stand a while back (really scared me) but it survived without any damage (phew).

I have never had to return it, so I wouldn't know what the Roland support here in the Netherlands is like.

As I stated I am adding a K2000 to my rig. Nevertheless I will keep using the JV80, although it might not be the centerpiece the way it used to be. If it got lost, I would replace it with another JV80, or maybe one of the rack variants.... (JV880, JV1080)

I purchased this synth new in 92. Regardless of its age, the presets are very good. They are relatively fat and digital sounding yet warm pads can be developed. Its architecture is similar to the new XP series synths and creating sounds is quite easy. Each patch is made up of 4 parts (or tones, which is the yamaha term). A 'Part' is the basic sound sample. Each part can have a pair of LFo's TVA's TVF's and PEV's, volume, filter and pitch evelope generators. It uses Low pass filtering only on each Part. (XP series has high, low, band etc) Two effects at once can be used. A selection of Chorus/Flange and reverb/delay. Its preset piano sounds are great. Bright and realistic. I still think they are better than current synths of other brands. (trinity and yamaha's ex7 for example)

It has 32 voice polyphony. It can use 8 different patches on 8 individual midi channels for sequencing applications. & of these are for sounds and the eighth is for a rythm set (drums).
It has eight sliders on the front for patch editing but unfortunately these cannot be used for real time controler use. It has one dedicated continuous controller (c1)at the front, near the volume slider and presence slider, and a couple of continuous foot pedal jacks at the rear, plus hold pedal jack. It has versatile midi functions and makes quite a good master keyboard regardless of the lack of 'front panel' controller sliders. Eight keyboard zones can be set up for internal and external device control. It has the facillities for pcm memory cards at the rear, and one sample/patch expasion board underneath, like the new xp series. There is no sequencer. I feel the modulation control on the bender/modulator stick is a bit useless. It seems to be on or off. No real control. The XP series has corrected this with a Kork styled modulator with greater travel. Never the less, the bender is great and I personally prefer the stick style of bender/mod control rather than the wheels. Keys are the classic Roland style. Very good. Not too light or heavy, and don't click like the ensonique and earlier Korg keyboards. It is very simialr to the D50, U20 keys. It has the metal plates beneath the keys to add weight. Aftertouch is a little uncontrolable like the modulator. Not enough travel. It seems to be on or off. Either pressing too hard or not hard enough.

Instruments are realistic and easy to get into. Quite inspiring. Works well for rock, not too many techno sounds but I'm sure the basic samples there can be manipulated to suit. They are of the typical Roland crisp-high quality. The drum patches are quite good. Very clear. The onboard effects are the same as the U20 keyboard. 2 effects can be used at once. A chorus type and a reverb/delay type. They are nothing to rave about but they do the job and are clear. No noise. Unfortunately there's no eq, rotary speaker, or distortion effect.

Well playing live just as a synth (using patch mode, not performance mode), it is reliable, but unfortunately, when using it with a sequencer, it occasionally produces a feedback tupe of squeel from the effects processor. As if the feedback on the chorus or delay was cranked up to max and became infinate. I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon but it can be risky playing live using in a sequence. Another think to watch for is that the controllers become laggy when using in a sequence. The more JV80 voices you use in a song, the less responsive the controllers become. Riffs and solos with bender, modulator almost become impossible if you are using more than 8 voices at one from the synth during sequencing. It seems to allocate all its time to making sure 'note on off' function is performed properly before controller funtion. This can have its benefit though. At least the notes are played correctly.

When it was new I sent it back to roland in Melbourne to check the feed back problem, but couldn't fault it. I'm not sure they tested it in the right sort of conditions, and only used it as a straight out Patch playing Synth. Apart from that, no problems with any of my roland equipment as of yet. (touch wood)

I don't think I would purchase another as the XP 80 I have has all the sounds the JV has. The JV is a compact neat looking, well functioning synth. For portability and use as a single patch playing instrument its reliable. In performance mode for sequencing, it sounds great too, except for the glitches. It was certainly worth what I paid, when i paid it. ( its 9 years old!. I can't believe it..laugh) I compared it to the Yamaha range at the time, but yamaha still sounded like a cardboard box back then and so the crisp Roland sounds really appealed. Anyway I still have it and I'm happy with it. I think they are getting around second hand for very reasonable prices. If your looking for a good sounding synth for rock, and realisting sounds, I would consider one of these.

This is a nice machine to create a lot of sounds. It sounds like a JD-800 because it has almost the same waveforms and parameters. Looking for a live- synthe? check out an JV-80 because it costs not too much and is really fat. Markus

I can't believe that no one has submitted a review on this popular little synth from the early 90's, so here goes. I used one live for 5 years and my and my thoughts will take into account the machine's age and features according to its current price range (500 to 800 dollars used). If you are reading this because you are considering buying one, read the "Reliability" section. The JV80 has the sound engine of the JV880, a 5 octave keyboard, and no sequencer. The keys have Roland's weighted synth action- if you flip the machine over, you'll see the metal weights attached to the keys. The factory sounds are bright, transparent, loaded with effects, and voiced for the studio. Editing the patches is easier than on the XP Rolands because there are 8 sliders that adjust everything on the screen. This makes it as easy to set things like filter and amplifier envelopes- as easy as on the new virtual analogs. This makes rolling your own sounds much more practical than other machines of this type. Everyone gripes about Roland manuals, but to be fair all the stuff you need is there and fairly easy to find- it's just not written in in a cool happening style. Check out reviews of the JV880, JV90, and JV1000 for other opinions on sound.

Practical polyphony is 7- 14 notes and if you layer 3 or more tones you'll get note- on delays. The effects are a rather metallic and warbly reverb (the same one used in the XP synths), better delay, and good chorus. Korg and Yamaha synths from this period have a definite advantage here. The JV80 will take only one expansion board but will also take those cool little 1 and 2 meg data cards that you can sometimes pick up for next to nothing.

The JV80 only has stereo outs. Combine this with limited polyphony and it doesn't add up to a very good studio axe. Its great keyboard, steel chasis, and decent sound make it great for gigs (especially at its current used price). I urge anyone gigging with this to edit those bright reverberent patches or create your own. Here's my opinion of a few meat-and-potatoes categories:
PIANO: good with a bright attack and neutral decay that doesn't honk through PA horns. ORGAN: no leslie simulator makes this a weak category unless you get the 60's and 70's expension board which has sampled B3-leslie combos. STRINGS AND PADS: typical Roland...great. LEADS: Fantastic!!! Everything you need for great leads are here: pragrammable keyboard modes, resonant lowpass filters, a slider to crossfade between tones, aftertouch, and yeah, I like the Roland bender- mod lever. My favorite leads with this machine used portamento when I played legato only. The fast staccato stuff came out normal but when I held two notes down...WWEEEEEEOOOOO!!! Really turns heads. ANYTHING THAT USES FAST ENVELOPE TIMES: not good. The JV80's envelopes have a stepped grainy sound to them that is not noticable if you are using it live but can really stick out in a studio.

Electronically, the JV80 is as stable as these things get but there are problems with the hardware, especially now that they are getting a little old. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT BUYING ONE WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING THE FRONT PANEL SWITCHES. They are not robust and to get at them the whole machine has to be disassembled. And if you think you can do the job yourself, think again (unless you're REALLY good). If you buy one I suggest keeping it covered whenever it is not being used, and if you play live, taping clear plastic wrap over the front panel. I played mine live for 5 years, and never had a problem with anything else. Incidentally, the tech I use said that those rectangular lighted switches can be a problem on anything Roland puts them on (they are also used on the XP series.)

I am currently using an XP50 because it has a sequencer and leslie simulator (things the JV80 lacks) but the JV80 has a better keyboard and a metal case. If I needed a gigging keyboard today and had only 500-700 dollars to spend, this would be my first choice.