Roland JV-880

It is easy operation.
but,There is a defect in a part of the function.
That is patch memory size.
little,very little.
The patch that I like "new sound" will be removed.

24poly and 8part.
This will be active enough if it isn't completed one unit.

Bright sound.
Specially, the sound of the bright piano is the superlative degree.
He has the still useful power.
D/A part is very Hi-Fi.
I like this one, my best of Roland PCM.

This broke once.

A repair fee is expensive.
A technological fee, $70 and parts fee, 5$??
Though a store cleared that.

It is old, and there are a few patches.
But, such a thing is not the factor which the superiority of synth is decided as.
He told me that a thing.
You should capture it.

Presents sound ok (typically Roland)
Editing is not difficult but hammering buttons gets boring.
The manual like most (read: ALL ROLAND products is a mess).

Good presets and FX processor.

Tiny display!

Midi is good.

Typical Roland sounds not VERY impressive but some sounds are very convincing.

Depends on the price you pay for this module wether it's a steal or not.

Roland so I expect it to work for ever.

Roland and support?
No PDF manual on the site etc.

Yamaha et al does a better job here.

Nice module under $225 mint with manual etc.

Cant't go wrong, sounds ok.

This is very easy to deal with sound editing. Presets sounds are OK.

28 notes poluphony. Thst'd kind of small.Effects are Rev, Chorus and also panning delay. This panning delay is attractive, nice. 8 multi-timbal.

Most best part of this unit is the sound. It's very very brite. It's not like mid-high, it's over 12k to 16k. That's what I'm feeling. I use bunch of present Roland's model, such as XV-5080, JV-1010. But I can grantee this has better sound. Listen and compare the sound called "Wave bell" and "Brass sect." You can know the difference immediately.

Great! I use this unit with UNISYN that is editarian software made by MOTU. Also, I installed VINTAGE SYNTH Card into this machine. Sounds come out from this unit is more better than recent analog-like synths. Listen to the "Frange Pad" from the card.

I don't feel like Roland has best team for Customer support. I asked many times to fix my S-760, but they can't even discover what I was having difficulties.

Let's say, A++ !
That's a lot.

After I worked with the 880 for a while, it became very easy to use.

I think polyphony is 28 or 32. It accepts one JV expansion board, but you can only use 64 voices at a time.

I really like the acoustic sounds-acoustic guitar,strings, bells,flutes. Those are the main sounds I use from the 880. There are also a few good basses. Don't like the piano sounds at all.

I have used the 880 on the road, and never had any problems. Only thing I did was have the internal battery changed.

I called Roland one time concerning a problem with an XP-50, and they were very helpful.

I sold my original 880 and recently purchased another one. I would probably buy another one if it were lost or stolen(unless I was able to buy an XV-3080).I also own an EMU Proformance piano module(my personal favorite piano sound for sequencing, EMU Planet Phatt(LOVE this module),Roland MKS-20(great rhodes sound), and a Yamaha RM-50 drum module. I don't think there's anything I wish it had-I feel it's a great deal for the money.

The presets sounds good. Nice pads and guitars, but the piano sounds are less. Editing patches isn't difficult, but there no submenus. So there is one series of a lot of parameters. A patch editor makes the job easier.

The polyphony is 28. But most presets consist of more tones, so the polyphony will be lowered. But it is good enough when you use the JV-880 only for one or two instruments. There are 2 effects on it: reverb and chorus. It isn't easy to attach an effect to a preset.
It's a disaster to make temporary edits of voices via MIDI. For example, on most modules you can change the attack of a sound with CC73, but this can't be done on the JV-880. So you have to change the attack parameter on the unit itself (or by using an editor) and save it in an user preset. You can rarely use CC11 (expression) to make dynamic envelopes.

The guitars are very realistic. Strings and pads sound good as well. But the pianos sound bad.

I simply wish that you can edit some parameters of sounds via MIDI, so that controllers 71~74 are implemented for example. Or that you can adjust most of the parameters with NRPN.
But the unit has some very good sounds.

This is a pretty clean Roland PCM synthesizer with a straightforward structure. I use a Macintosh patch editor (was Opcode Galaxy Plus Editors; now Emagic SoundDiver 3.04). Using a patch editor makes a real big difference. By today's standards, the number of PCM waves seem puny (just over 100), but I do have the Orchestral JV card added. The presets sound clean, albeit vanilla (for the record, I create my own patches for my songs, which are obviously tailored to my styles). The manual is okay, and as long as you don't mind the occasional English-As-A-Second-Language attempts to explain things, it's straightforward.

Only 28 voices of polyphony (a single patch can use up anywhere from 1 to 4 voices)--but for a synth that was designed 10 years ago, that's not bad. Built-in effects that can be set to either patch or multi-timbral performance modes. The effects are on the simplistic side, although they are useful. The performance mode allows for up to seven parts (patches) plus a rhythm part. There is one slot for expansion card (JV-series), plus a waveform ROM and patch RAM slots on the front panel.

I really can't speak for the genres that I don't (or haven't) do, but I find the JV-880 to be very useful and functional for both styles of music--Gothic and Industrial (disclaimer: currently there are about twenty synths in my studio, so I generally try to play to the strengths of each synths, as opposed to trying to do everything with just one unit). When I'm writing rough sketches for songs, I always wind up using JV-880.

One of the best ways to "mangle" a sound is to use the Frequency Cross-Modulation (FXM) parameter. I've created patches consisting of four such "dirty" tones, and they work well for industrial atmosphere and ambience. For Gothier stuff, I wind up using waveforms from the Orchestral expansion card, sometimes layering the strings with synth string patches. I use little on-board effects. My favorite types of sound to create on the JV-880 include industrial noises, Gothic strings, acoustic piano patches, cold digital lead sounds, and electric bass sounds. I make use of the two LFOs per part.

The best features of this synth are the aforementioned FXM, the choice of Soft or Hard resonance, and Analog Feel.

I have played live with the JV-880 once. No issues whatsoever.

Never had to deal with them.

The JV-880 is a wonderful, functional synth which works well for what I do. I've had the unit for over five years, and it has made its way onto several CD tracks that I have done over the years. I would buy this again in a heartbeat, although at current market prices for a used JV-880.

I've been creating electronic music since 1993, and playing live since 1996. Although I probably wouldn't want to take this baby on live performances anymore (since it is racked up in my studio), I'm still using this synth on almost every track that I've done since 1996. I value my synths based on how much I can push the envelopes (no puns intended) and boundaries of what it can do (as opposed to staying happy in the Presetland), and I am satisfied with the programmability of this machine--despite its limitations, it is a useful synth.

Not sure of the O/S Version. The sounds are good. The unit is a little archaic for today's standards, but it is still a good sounding unit and works well in my rig. The patch editing is hard for two reasons:
1. It is a Roland.
2. There is a 2 Line LCD Display.

The manual us also standard-fare Roland.

This unit has 28 note polyphony. It is a rackmount version of the JV-80 and sounds like all other Roland gear (except possibly the new XV series and Fantom). It has built in Reverb and Chorus and also has 4 outputs. Here's the deal;

When you use the two output mode you can have the Reverb and Chorus.
When you use the 4 output mode, the effects are disabled.

To me this has not been a problem, since I am in 4 output mode all the time and run effects on my outputs seperately.

You can also expand the unit with their JV Series expansion board. You can only put one board in at a time(kind of a pain for guys like me), but at least you can put a board in there.
This thing has a good MIDI set too, but is Pre-GM. But the format is so close to GM that you can get away with just about anything in GM stuff.
You have two mode in which this unit operates:

Patch Mode:
This is where you have single programs with up to 4 tones in the program. It is Mono-timbral and you can select wich channel you want to receive from.
Performance Mode:
This has up to 8 programs per performance. This is where the multi-timbral part of the unit shines. You can have full orchestrations (up to 28 note poly) and mix each part independently. You control the output assigment from each part, transpose, pan, level, and other variables. You can also set a voice reserve for each part for maximizing polyphony.

Editing in Patch Mode is kind of hard though, because of it being Roland and because of the 2 line display. Anyone with a Roland can sympathize. You can get third party editors for the unit and they are always better.

The sounds are good. The pianos are typical Roland and can work well. The basses are good as are the drum sounds. The strings are really good (I really like them). Horns are good too. The choir sounds are kind of weak. The sax sounds could use a little more presence and depth to them. Lead sounds are okay I guess, but I do not use them. I have other synths for that and they sounds better. On the whole, the unit sounds the best when used in a mix and to me, no sound really stands out as spectacular in solo mode. I have used it for almost every song I havae written since I bought the unit in 1994, and use it mostly for drums, bass and some keys.

I really like the drums sounds on it. I created my own kit and it works great. The 4 output setup I set it up for also helps with the drums and bass, as I send them to the Sub outputs and mix them seperately than the main outs (where I throw the keys and strings).

Again, as I have said in my other reviews of my gear, it really depends on how you use the instrument. Do not try to stretch the unit to make it do things that it cannot do well. Each maker has a certain thing they do the best. Utilize that and you will not be let down.

I can depend on this unit. IT has survived both road and studio use since 1994 and I love the unit. I did have the piano expansion board in it until I got my XP-60 7 months ago and put it in there. I still use it for drums and bass and strings, and mated up with the XP-60 for drums, my sounds are really good. I always like to layer different snares to get the right one. I am not the type of guy who like to spend hours and days writing new programs and patches. I like to plug them in, and play with them (and make a few changes if I need to). Overall, this unit has provided me with years and albums full of great sounds. If you can plug it in, and play the onboard sounds with little change, that is a thumbs up to a good company. With a good controller, I could use this unit solo in a gig I suppose and it would do well. I really like layering sounds, so I think that I would need more boards at once, but in a pinch, Icould make it work.

I've not had to deal with Roland directly, but they do seem like a good company.

If it were lost or stolen, I would contact my insurance company in no time and get them to replace it (and everything else in the studio). I have been playing for over 25 years.

I also own the following:

1. Alesis QS6 (great leads and Rhodes)
2. Ensoniq SQ2 (great orchestral and leads)
3. Korg X5 (great pads and guitar patches)
4. Roland JV-880 (reviewed here)
5. Roland XP-60 (great pianos and strings and others)
6. Roland VG-8 (the only one I really have to program, but then it begs to be programmed)
7. Yamaha DJX (fun jam keyboard)
8. Yamaha TG-33 (great pads and strings and some good FM stuff)

Isuppose there is nothing that I hate about it. I like all my gear for what its strong points are. I do wish that it had a bigger display, but that is about it. It has helped me make music on 5 out of my 7 albums now and will probably continue to do so in the years to come. When you get ready to buy gear, ask yourself a cople of qiestions first:

1. What type of music do I want to play?
2. What types of sounds is the unit good for?
3. Are they compatible?
4. Do they have 3 rd party sounds that can help in my music creating process?
5. How much does it cost?

If all of us could go out and get the latest offering from Kurzweil of something, then the lower priced units would not really be out there and everyone would have to conform to the high standards of perfection of the current technology. Since we don't, the lower priced units have shortcomings, but with research, can be worked around. Make an educated choice when buying gear. (If you want examples, e-mail me and I'll give you some horror stories, LOL)

The presets are mostly very good and useable which is good because it's very diffucult to edit on this thing and the manual is not much help. All Roland manuals are pretty bad. I'm very knowledgeable about synth programming and still have a hard time tweaking patches. Haven't tried a patch editor. There's not a lot of useable organ patches which I think is Roland's way of forcing you to buy their expensive expansion sound cards to get the really good sounds.(One of the things I don't like about Roland.)

Polyphony is only 28 notes, and that's with only one tone per sound. Kind of limited by today's standards but I use it almost exclusively for live stage work and it's great for that.

Built in effects are reverb and chorus only, wish it had a true delay. It will do a kind of midi delay but it's not very adjustable and is pretty cheesy.

It will accept one expansion board, I have the 60's & 70's Keyboard card and it's really good but expensive. I paid $400 for mine but they are down to about half of that now. The bad thing is you can't access the card directly in real time, you have to save the patches to internal memory or to once again expensive data cards. There is also a PCM card slot for new sounds but don't count on finding any PCM cards for sale. Roland has virtually abandoned these cards which sucks becasue they are the only way you can quickly and easily access new patches and waveforms. If you can find one of these with patches you like, buy it by all means because they are rare.

The unit responds to all midi messages adequately, I've never had any problem in that area. My major bitch with this thing, and there always is one with Roland gear, is that you can't program a keyboard split even in performance mode. Again, I think Roland is trying to force you to buy a controller keyboard in order to do splits. Greedy.

The sounds in this thing are for the most part really good which is why I bought it. It's good for all types of music depending on what expansion board you have in it.

I've had this thing for about 7 years and haven't had any real problems with it. The display has occasionally blanked out on me until I pushed on the case right below it. Only happened a couple of times and hasn't happened in a long time. It's my main sound source and has been for about as long as I've has it. I really don't have much of a backup for it.

Haven't dealt with Roland on this product, but have on others with mixed results. the bad thing about their support for this unit is that they stopped production of the PCM cards. I have to think they just want to force everyone to buy the much more expensive and hard to install and acceess expansion boards which is pretty greedy and lousy.

If lost or stolen, I might opt for a newer unit, but would probably get something similar. Roland's sound patches are outstanding but their design and programming is really not that good. I own several pieces of Roland gear and there's something really dumb wrong with all of it. It's like they design and manufacture instruments without asking working musicians what they want or if they're any good. Overall, this unit is well worth having, but Roland needs to get their act together in the design department.

This unit will take a novice time to get used to it. It is set up somewhat like an old analog synth. It is difficult to edit because of the very limited input structure (i.e., several buttons and a scroll wheel). The presets that came with the unit are suprisingly still usable. Pretty good for a synth nearing its 10th birthday. By editing the patches that it came with, one can realize that this synth still has alot of potential even today. The manual is somewhat helpful but one may get lost in all the technical jargon. I suppose that a patch editor (if one is available) would be very helpful.

This unit comes with 28 voice polyphony. However, this polyphony may be reduced to only 7 voice polyphony when the synth is layered. The effects are useful and easily set in the patch mode. However, in the multimode, only one effect is available for all the patches. For its time this was a very versatile unit.

The preset sounds are very useful. I've played the sounds at weddings, church, in a rock band and in a country band. The MIDI present on the unit works well with my Roland A-80 controller. It is very expressive.

I purchased this unit in May 1992. It has never been to the shop in the last eight years. It has never lost any of its programs. I do not need any backups. This is still my #1 module.

I've never contacted Roland. I have never installed any of the sound cards that are available.

If this unit was lost or stolen, I would not hesitate buying another one. However, since Roland has come out with the JV-1080 and JV-2080, I would probably purchase one of those for the increased features. Roland is #1 in my book. I purchase my first Roland polysynth in 1982 (Jupiter 8). I've also had a Jupiter 6 (1990), Juno 6 (1991), and Roland A-80. They are the best IMHO.

This is as much a heads-up as a review. As new synths keep coming and street prices slide for Roland's 1080/2080 modules, these earlier versions of that system seem to be showing up as trade-ins at tempting prices. I certainly couldn't resist any longer. This module seems awfully limited by current standards in polyphony, multitimbral parts, preset memory and effects. It has just one thing going for it: It sounds terrific. Did six years ago; still does. It's too limited for one-module, all-around use, but it could make a great additional set of sounds and playing capabilities for anyone who has built up along the GM route or the current analog-retro route and is looking for something different at a human price. It is not GM compatible though the sounds are organized in roughly the same way; but they aren't necessarily in the correct patch-number places.

Polyphony: 28. Multitimbral parts: 8. Presets: 192, with 64 of them user over-writable. FX: Only reverb and chorus. The module is compatible with Roland's very good JV expansion board series, so you can get some wonderful additional sounds, though not as conveniently as in the newer Roland modules. The 880 doesn't address the expansion board patches directly. Instead, you have to import patches to the 64 user-memory slots, one at a time or in blocks of 64 (the expansion cards typically have 255 patches). You can, however, directly address the waveforms in the expansion boards (typically 250 or so new waveforms) so you can program new patches using them. The 880's MIDI spec is very good: It will respond to all the standard keyboard controllers, incuding release velocity if you have it. Because the patches themselves can be programmed so responsively, playing it from a good keyboard is a joy. (It does not respond, however, to the now-widely-used set of GM control changes -- CC74 for filter cutoff, for example. You have to program such things into the patch and address them with aftertouch, modulation, expression pedal etc.)

The sounds are almost uniformly top drawer. Bass and drum samples seem a little dated on the basic set of presets, but otherwise these patches were well done from the beginning. There are only 129 samples to work with, including percussion, but they are excellent samples. No little piddly things with truncated attacks and instant looping. The programming/layering depth is such that you can take this sample set to far-away places. The ROM presets (and the 64 different factory presets available for the user bank) are strictly bread-and-butter pop/MOR/jazz stuff. No orchestral voices to speak of (except string pads), no world/ethnic, no death-metal guitar samples. You can use the expansion cards (it will hold only one) to focus in a particular genre. The standard ROM nevertheless is well-selected within the Pop genre; strong suits are pianos, organs, acoustic guitars, bell-like things and, especially, synth pads. As for effects: the downside is that there is only reverb and chorus (or, you can have delay instead of reverb and the chorus effect can be programmed as a flanger). The upsides: you won't lose sleep trying to figure out how things work; the coolness of the patches is a product of sharp programming rather than exotic effect schemes; and, really importantly, since the same effects are applied to individual patches and globally in multitimbral use, you can have your patches sound pretty much the same in multi, sequencing mode as they do individually -- an area where a lot of newer synths will disappoint you. As for responsiveness -- it it outstanding. This is a module from the middle period of synth design: post analog knobs & sliders, and before the current age of anadigital knobs and sliders. All realtime control works off the old-fashioned set of velocity, aftertouch, mod wheel and expression pedal (plus pitch wheel and keyboard scaling). Having succumbed to knob fever myself, it was genuinely refreshing to rediscover how PLAYABLE this older scheme can be when the patches are well programmed. All the control is right under your fingers and feet, quickly and naturally. You can get lost in time playing some of the patches: I'd put the sound quality roughly on par with Korg's TR-Rack but with coolness living in the patches rather than the exotic effects.

The module I bought is obviously several years old and well used, wearing some kind of gunk I had to scrape off the LCD (which is growing a bit dim, incidentally). It works perfectly, however. If you get one used, have the dealer put in a new memory-backup battery while you're in the store.

If I can find another one at the price, I'll buy it. This joins three others synths so only has to pull limited duty; specifically it's great for big billowing, textured, evolving pads, something a little lacking in my more current synth and modules. (My principal use is sequencing/composing). The value/useability of the 880 is much enhanced if you have a software patch editor/librarian. Easier to program; easier to bank variable sets of user patches for the 64 slots. I've had a much fun with this as any product I've bought the past three-four years. I think of it as a player's synth more than a composer's synth (I wear both hats). Composing, you need more options. Playing, though, the 880 is involving and rewarding.

The JV-880 is not the easiest module to learn how to navigate and operate, however once you get familiar with the user interface and the button-punching schemes it becomes fairly manageable. Editing and tweaking would be done a lot faster with the assistance of a software editor. Presets are just plain fantastic for the most part, there are a FEW stinkers - most of these being INCREDIBLY OBNOXIOUS (and generally useless) sound FX patches. The manual is yet another run-of-the-mill Roland manual with very poor Japanese to English translations in a lot of places.

The JV-880 sports 28-note polyphony although it should be taken into consideration that the synth engine uses anywhere from 1 to 4 parts (waveform samples), meaning if there is more than one part used, it effectively reduces your polyphony (IE - if 2 parts are used then you divide 28 by 2, giving you 14-note polyphony, etc.). This can become a problem if the JV-880 is your sole sound module, although the actual waveforms are so good I RARELY have to use more than two parts when creating patches. The JV-880 is 8-part multitimbral, has a complete bank of drum samples (and drum sample rhythm editor), and a very good set of musical waveforms ranging from acoustic samples to synthesized analog waveforms. The effects processor can do reverb, delay and chorus (you have to choose either delay or reverb - it can't do both at the same time). One 8mb waveform expansion card can be installed, and there is a patch data card slot as well as a 2mb waveform data card slot. The JV-880 has good MIDI implementation, can do up to 8 channels at once, and the module responds to MIDI velocity and channel aftertouch.

The sonic prowess of the JV-880 is by far its strongest point. The acoustic instrument patches are all very good; some of the best ones are the guitar with the chimes, muted trumpet, strings, and flutes. There are also some very cool analog synth sounds, ranging from leads to pads to strings. One of the best things to this synth engine is the fact that Roland included voltage controlled filters and two independant LFO's per part (allowing for up to 8 per patch). The LFO's can be made to modulate a lot of things, and they also can pan around the stereo field, providing for some very spacious and dazzling timbres. The delays sound really good, the reverbs are good but tend to sound grainy with longer tails; the chorus is very well thought out and flexible. One caveat here: when the JV-880 is put into 4-output mode the effects processor is cut off, period. A bit on the lame side, but nothing outboard processing couldn't cover. Since the tonal parts can be made to only kick in at certain velocity levels, etc. when creating patches, this allows the JV-880 to become VERY reactive to your playing (a very good example of this is the aforementioned guitar with chimes patch). The rhythm section has some of the best drum samples I've ever heard packed inside any sample-playback synth, newer modules included. The JV-880 is useful for ANY kind of music, plain and simple.

Never had any problems with mine - wouldn't think twice about hauling a JV-880 to a gig.

I have no idea since I've never had to call Roland for any of the equipment I own that's made by them.

The JV-880 is probably one of the best all-around synth modules ever made, despite the limited polyphony. Even though it's now considered an older model, it still stands very well against newer synths, Roland's own Super JV line included. I got the first JV-880 ever shipped to the town I was living it at the time and I loved it so much that I now own two of them. I would highly recommend this module to anyone looking to augment the synth energy in thier studio - the JV-880 can be had for under $400 these days and there is absolutely nothing that sonically compares in the same price range. The fact that the JV-880 will accept the newer Roland expansion cards just simply allows it to stay up-to-date - this thing won't go stale. It would have been nice had Roland included the voice expansion option in this unit like the JV-90, but then again, that's why I got a second JV-880. 'Nuff said.

I like the ease of use as far as overall, however, the ease of editing a patch is rather difficult. With special terms like p-env T1=00 T2=00.. You get lost pretty quick, however, after practice, the ease of patch editing increases. The manual does suck. I used it once to find a patch number when creating a performance. The sounds however sound rich and extremely good!

The JV-880 is 28? note polyphony but each patch can and usually takes up four notes. Midi is great however polyphony is a problem. I specialize in house/techno/industrial music and don't have a major problem, however, when using a pad or strings, large chords get a little heavy. I never used an expansion card, but, I know they are good sounding and very worth the money. There are only two special effects.... Chorus and Reverb... Both can be weak or VERY strong. I have made cool sounds out of both. Also, a place where I find the JV-880 falling is the ability to save your work. 2/3 of the sounds are non-writable (ROM), and 2/3 of the performances are the same.

Some instruments are beautiful and realistic. Like: Pipe Organ, Jazz Organ, Piano, strings, pizzacatos, DRUMS, muted guitars, and a gaziliion others... On the other hand, synth sounds are incredible too. I love the sounds I have created for my techno tracks.

Always able to depend on it. I even throw it around a bit but it does not stop working. I would never need a backup with it.

Never had to deal with Customer Support.

I love the JV-880. It was the first instrument i ever used and the only instrument I will never get rid of. Definitly worth it's weight in gold. I would purchase this product again and have thought about buying a second one. Writing music is extremely easy. The JV-880 is never encumbering to the creative train. However, I wish it had more expandiblity for less dollars.

The presets are great. Roland offers a wide variety of excellent acoustic and synth sounds. Editing is nearly impossible without a good computer vbased editor. I must agree with Joe, the manual is no good. The only use I had for it is looking up a patch chart to find a certain sound. Now i know the sounds and I no longer have use for the entire manual.

Effects are limited to reverb and chorus if you can find them, Expansion cards are great!!! Each one runs about $330 US but are well it. They come in a wide variety of catagories (orch, paino, world, dance, etc.) The front panel also has a spot for a PCI card that allows the addition of sounds to play with. A spot for a ram card is also available. I reccomend it for storing sounds and allowing a psuedo GM format. Internal memory only allows for 64 user defined sounds the card allows 64 for a total of 128. A must have.

Acoustic sounds are very relisitic. Three drum kits are great except the snare sounds are only good for erase-like drums. (i like the sounds, but would like a more realistic snare) Sampled 808 drums sound almost perfect and easy to manipulate. All the sounds are of top quality. This is great unless you are trying to peice together an 8 part song. the sounds do not blend together without a lot of maniplation. Don't get me wrong, this is one of the best sounding synths I've heard.

Never had a problem with it. It is racked and ready to go.

Never used it.

I love this module. It sounds great when paired with a warm instument. The sounds are great and the expansion cards are even better. I am happy with the price i payed new and I think that at the used price, it can't be beat.

The presets are very much what you would expect. The JV-880 is basicly a rack-mount version of Roland's somewhat popular JV-80. Expect to spend about an afternoon figuring out how to set all the parameters for multi-timbral operation. This isn't General MIDI, but if you're going to go this far, you probably don't need General MIDI anyway.
As with most (Roland) rackmount units, all editing must be done from the front panel with eight lamp button mode selectors, two cursor keys, and one dial. This sucks, but is commonplace. A computer based patch editor always helps with any synth. Thankfully, the JV-880 has a large "edit buffer", which can really empower a good patch editor.
The manual has obviously been translated from another language. The system exclusive/MIDI implementation section of the manual may as well be a photocopy of the handwritten notes of the engineer. If anybody can tell me what a "-30 keyfollow" is, or how many Hz there are in an LFO set to "12", I'd love to know, because the manual sure as hell isn't telling me.
Thankfully, this is a relatively straightforward synth. Otherwise it would be completely impossible.

The loser at Sam Ash will tell you it has 28 polyphonic voices, and this is true. However, each patch can use up to four of those voices, and an average piano patch takes two or three of them. I'm a hobbyist and I maxed it out on the first day. 28 is fine for a lead synth, but with the words "Multi-Timbral" right up front, it's far too little.
The JV-880 has two builtin effects, Reverb and Chorus, but they don't work when you use the sub-outs (did I mention the sub-outs?). I'm not a good judge of effects, yet, but I've tried them both for a while and they do lend something good to the sound. These effects are done after synthesis. During synthesis there's this "Frequency Cross Modulation" effect that distorts the sound as well. It's OK, if you're into that sort of thing. Also, you can randomly detune a voice for double+detune effects without using up one of the two LFOs.
The JV-880 can have it's waveform memory expanded by adding an expansion board (unscrew the top) or card (slot on the front panel). You can also expand the patch memory with a card (second slot on the front panel). Neither of the cards are PCMCIA compatible, although similarly sized. Most JV-880 owners on the net I've talked to buy the POP expansion board and not much else.
Being a rackmount synth, the JV-880 does not transmit any MIDI data, save for system exclusive bulk dumps. It can be programmed to respond` to twelve modulation sources, although the controller numbers for those sources may not be modified within the synth. If you need to map lip flapping to volume - within the synth - you're out of luck.

The sounds in the wave table for the JV-880 are beautiful and well- chosen. I have only used it as a hobbyist, so I cannot comment on which types of music it excells at. However, I can say that there is an impressive selection. Also, the twelve modulation sources and some fancy patch programming can get some really good variations happening. After several sessions I was able to control highly textured sounds.

The JV-880 has not failed me yet, but I've only had mine for a handful of months.
If you're a paranoid gigger, there's a memory protect switch that will stop you from overwriting anything in the synth without smacking the ENTER button several times.

I have not attempted Customer Support from Roland. I'm a little scared to, given the alien nature of the manual.

I'd buy it again if I were in the same situation I was when I bought it. Now I have more of a budget for this sort of thing, so I'd either go for a JV-1080, or a full-blown sampler.
I love the ugly little sounds I can make with it. I hate the deep green color of the ugly little LCD, and just about everything in the manual.
I view this as the worst synth in my rig, which isn't to say that it's bad. It actually sounds quite nice, but everything else I own must out-perform it, or I send it back. So, I guess, instead of saying "worst" I should say "standardest".