Roland XP-30

The patch sounds are splendid, on the whole. The XP-30 utilizes the JV 1080/2080 soundset + Orch. + Techno + Session boards. A wide variety of sounds.

The manual is very good for providing an overview of the synth; it is easy to grasp basic concepts, like auditioning patches, using phrase review, changing filter (palette) settings. More advanced operations (as you might expect) are more difficult and tedious to understand. I found myself reading some sections in the manual 2-3 times, to try to understand what is being said.

It is fairly involved to edit the patch tones (patch mode) or tone voices (performance mode). I'm having to do it manually, [and it requires careful attention].

Tried installing SoundDiver -- but the software would not auto-detect the XP-30 on my Pent. 166 Win NT system. I sent an e-mail to Emagic, and never heard back. So I've kind of given up on SD, uninstalled it, and just use the XP-30 panel buttons instead. Note: I've heard other users use SD quite successfully, though--so maybe it's just me...

All in all I think there's a lot of power in this synth--I know i'm not close to exploiting all the functionality available. Hope Roland comes out with a video on the XP-30 like it did on the other XP models, to make it easier to master the "more advanced" stuff.

Well, 64 voice poly is plenty for my needs. I haven't come close to running out of voices--although it's theoretically possible. The manual addresses the issue of "using up too many voices" in-depth, and offers useful options [e.g., drop oldest or quietest tones, I think].

Note that Roland now has an XV-88 synth [128-voice polyphony]. If you've got $2500, it's certainly a better synth with more poly (and it is backward compatible with JV/XP gear).

The stock EFX on the patches are fantastic. I especially love the pads, since i'm into new age music. Some patches could be better [a few flute and harp patches are disappointing, I think]. But many patches sound like the real thing.

As with all JV/XP series synth engines, you can't have separate EFX for each tone in Performance mode. Patches therefore sound somewhat different (i.e., thinner) when you switch from Patch to Perf. mode [from what I'm reading, you must user Perf. mode to make a multi-track MIDI recording].

Volume levels of different patches aren't particularly well normalized. Some blast your ears out; others are practically inaudible.

It can accept SmartMedia memory cards, and can take up to two additional wave expansion boards [which cost c. $250 each].
I'm glad the XP-30 includes the Sess. and Orch. boards at no add. cost--these patches are very useful in compositions:.

No on-board sequencer, but Cakewalk works great for me. I suspect it's much more of a flexible tool than an on-board seq.

The real-time sliders are cool. Very useful for tweaking up the sound.

The Arpeggiator is nice. There are quite a few styles. You just hold down the ARPEGGIO button for a second and you can change some of the ARP parameters--pretty intuitive. But it can require extra effort to use in performance mode, because you have to set the keyboard coverage area for the non-arp. parts so they don't overlap with the (single) arp'ed part.

Fantastic sounds. Don't know which type of music the synth is suited for, but I do like the pads, Vox sounds, New Age stuff [e.g., "Desert Crystal", "DreamVoices2", "Str+Choir", "Enlighten", "Translucence",
"Liquid Sky", "Big Vectors", "Stacc. Heaven" patches, etc.]. I also think the "Cathedral" organ patch is killer. My 11 yr. old son loves the "RockYurSocks" distortion guitar patch(!).

Again, the flutes and harps weren't so hot IMHO--but you can probably buy add on wave-expansion boards with better samples of these instruments.

The EFX are very powerful -- there are multiple parameters you can tweak for reverb, chorus. Through intelligent choice of reverb and chorus settings, you can probably improve the sounds of Performance-mode stuff to the point where it is usable.

The keyboard action is great. I've never played any other synth with vel. and aftertouch sens. before, but when I pound down on the keys, the sound seems to react dramatically and promptly. I suspect things are working the way they should!

I did my homework thoroughly before I bought this synth ($860, used on ebay). I'm very happy with it. Don't think anything comes close for under $1000, including the Alesis QS6 and QS7 line, which i read about carefully. If I had more money (and didn't mind my family starving), I would have gone with the XV-88. Oh well.

Can't say. I bought my XP-30 used [a few months old], and it's held up well for the last 2 months, but this is hardly a good test. Other users indicate Roland stuff is very reliable. But it doesn't hurt to be careful... I've read horror stories about users breaking the pitch-bend lever or wearing out the "VALUES" dial on some of these XP units.

Haven't had an opportunity to interact with Roland support. As noted, I think the Emagic (SoundDiver) support is poor.

Great sounds. Very high on the BBFTB scale (big bang for the buck). One can certainly overlook a few negatives here and there.
Would buy it again.

Alleluia, Praise the Lord!

Editing the patches is fairly straight-forward. Editing the performances, however, is a another matter. I have had this board for about two weeks and I am still trying to figure out how to make the performances sound the way I want them to. Of course, I read the manual, but it seems to me that it overexplains the simple functions and is vague in its explanations of more complex functions. Maybe I'm just stupid, but I had give a low rating on this category because I just didn't get much help from the manual.

The keyboard I had prior to the XP-30 was an XP-10, so needless to say, this is a vast improvement. I won't go into the ployphony and MIDI capabilities because I mainly use this board live with a band, and frankly, I don't even have a sequencer or computer. The keyboard action is pretty sturdy and solid-feeling, and I love the aftertouch function. It is expandable with up to two of the Wave Expansion boards and it already has the Session, Orchestral, and Techno boards onboard. No sequencer, but I have no real use for one right now anyway. For the price, this board is packed with features, which is one of main reasons why I decided to buy it.

Like I mentioned before, I had an XP-10 before this one, so when I first played the XP-30, I was blown away. I may not be very finicky when it comes to piano sounds, but I think the ones included in the Session board are pretty good. I usually play piano, electric piano and organ patches with my band and there are plenty to choose from here. The Orchestral board is pretty impressive, too. Almost every patch is very realistic sounding. The Techno board has some interesting stuff on it, although about 90% of it is useless for me, seeing as the bluesy/rock band I play with would probably kill me if I tried to use them. The multi-effects features are good, although almost every preset patch has an excruciating amount of reverb added to it (That's easily edited, though). The velocity sensitivity and aftertouch make for a fairly expressive board.

I feel that can I rely on this keyboard 100%. I played live with my XP-10 for about two years and it's never freaked out on me. However, I still bring my old keyboard to gigs, just in case.

Fortunately, I've never had to deal with customer support.

Overall, I think this is a great synth for the money. It's a great benefit for me live, and if I ever get a sequencer, I'll enjoy messing around with more interesting sounds. I've only been playing keyboards for about two years (I'm more of a guitar player), but since I bought the XP-30, I've realized how fun it can be. My only qualm is that the patch and performance editing can be a bit complicated and frustrating (and the manual is no help). If this were lost or stolen, I would want to get another XP-30 (after an appropriate period of mourning, of course).

Just some info...
When looking for a patch:
HOLD THE CATEGORY BUTTON WHILE PUSHING THE CATEGORY YOU WANT!!!!

This opens up a menu, for example.
If you push and hold the category button and then push the guitar category you will have three choices.
AGT, EGT, DGT. You choose them with the left/right arrow keys. Up in the top right it tells you which one is which. If you put the cursor under "DGT" in the upper right it says "Dist. Guitar" for distorted guitar.
This makes finding patches much easier. Some categories like SYNTH give you 6 sub categories.
Everyone I know that has an XP-30 just pushes the category button and then chooses the category they want. Bitching about how it was a good idea to put the function there but they only put 100 or so patches in the categories.
Well, they,(the patches), are all there. Just remember to hold the category button while choosing what category you want.
The down arrow will take you to the patch select, the up arrow takes you back to the sub-category.
Hope this helps some people navigate this thing easier!

I found this Synth very easy to use right out of the box. The presets for the most part are very nice, although patch memorizing is very key. The manual is worthless unless you are out of firewood. Perhaps a video manual is in order (hello Roland!)

The action is great, the built in effects are nice. No sequencer is necessary in this age of the PC. The expansion capabilities are wonderful and it's extremely easy to pop in new cards. Feature wise, near perfection.

This synth is very versitile and could be used for many many different types of music. Better piano voices would be nice, but that's what Kurzweils are for, right?

I've owned it for about seven months now and no problems yet.
As far as backup goes, if you've got the cash...always have a backup at a gig.

I haven't needed to deal with Roland yet, but let's hope their customer service is more friendly than their manuals.

Overall, this synth is wonderful. I've been playing for about seven years. I started out with Yamaha and switched to Rolands about four years ago. I also own a Juno 60 and a JP 8000. Go Roland!
For it's class of synths, there is no equal.
If you're in the market, I highly recommend the XP-30.

I just wanted to say a little something about this noise (Grunge)
problem some people are experiencing with their units.
I owned an XP-80 (3yrs) and then bought an XP-30 (8mos)old.While I
still had both, I sent both units L/R outputs to my Yamaha MD8 Mini-
disc recorder and A/B their sonic quality. I could not tell any difference between the two units, either played thru my audio system
(EV S122s Pushed with 2 Stewart 200w Power Amps)or with my Headphones
AKG 240DF. This info is just FYI, I thought someone would like to know
my experience. Thanks PH

I find it quite easy to use but it isn't that simple really. Finding patches is the hardest while playing. I memorised about 4 and am stuck with them until I remember a few more

This is just an update on my earlier review of it. Now I have had the keyboard for over a month (!) I can say that I am growing to like the sounds a lot more. As a performance keyboard it is great to take out - light weight wise, small length wise and fat sounds.I have posted samples of the session and techno boards here : http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/hall/4339/techno.mp3 (1.3mb)and http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/hall/4339/session.mp3 (4.3mb)if anyone is interested. Right clicking on the link should (in theory) invoke the save file as box and such.

it hasn't broken yet
would I use it without a back up - course I do, I only have two keyboards and I have no room to take out two of everyting. Roland gear is usually well made. Look at the number of D110's out there still chugging away after years and years

Auckland has the Roland distributor. I deal with my local music shop who are very helpful

It is pretty easy to use out of the box.
The sounds on this machine blew me away after listening to an Alesis.
The sax sounded like a real sax.
The manual is alright. It was not as thorough as the Alesis keyboards.

The keyboard action is kick-butt if you compare it to an Alesis keyboard.
The built-in effects are really good. I love em. They are pretty easy to use also.
It has two expansions on it. It also has capabilities for Smartmedia 2meg and 4meg.
16 Channel midi. Doesn't have a sequencer, but if you have a computer like me grab a simple Cakewalk program like the HomeStudio.

The sounds are very realistic. They are very easy to use. This keyboard can work for any style of music. Effects are good. It is very expressive.

Yes. Regardless of what I or anyone else has. A Backup is required.

Not the best. It sucks about trying to get the sequencing definitions for Cakewalk from a different site. Couldn't find any definitions on the Roland site.

Very good. If it were lost or stolen I'd kick some !@#. I would definitly buy another one.

the presets sound good. most are usable for various kinds of music. Editing is done with the Sounddiver CD. Intuitive to use. The manual is written in a simple manner, but just has a technical nature to it. But I learned this synth by trial-and-error. Easy to use.

64 note poly. keyboard action is semi-weighted, but solid and very expressive. i love playing the piano patches on it! Only complaint is the bender.

for the price I payed, it is probably the best sounding synth in its range. no other synths in its range has as many sounds, and the quality of sounds it has. Chorus, Reverb, and EFX are good. I love how most of the patches can be controlled with aftertouch and velocity.

If I plan to gig with it, i would depend on it w/o a backup. It has been sex months now since getting it, and still has not locked up on me. i managed to crash it when i tried to upload some sysex stuff to it, but resumed when i reset the synth.

i e-mailed a few inquiries to Roland, and they responded promptly. The local dealer would probably be more help for more detailed issues.

It is the best value of a synth out there in any class. Hands down!!!

At the risk of turning this site into a discussion board, I have to object to a few N.S.'s views about the XP-30.

The sampling quality: I think 90% of the patches sound good. Almost all wave-based synths have the munchkinization issue. And very impractical to use 8 MB on a piano sample just to get a few lo and hi notes right. In the range of notes used by most music, the XP-30 does well in the sounds it produces. And pls. tell me how many times u plan to use the extreme high's and low's of a 88 key scale? For the normal user, it would not be a problem.

SoundDiver: The synth, as noted by many other users, was meant to be more of a studio synth, than a performance one. And even if u were to gig with it, do u plan to edit patches while doing a set? And even if u plan to, maybe u can use an equipment called a laptop?

Cheap feel: Are you sure? If u read the other reviews, nobody has a problem with the built of the synth. i was particular with this factor, so i made sure i had a synth with a metal body. If it had a plastic body, i don't know if i would've gotten it. As far as the "cheap feel", u were mentioning about, i just can't get that "cheap feeling" u were talking about. For me, anything soft, mushy, and unexpressive feels cheap. the Trinity's keys felt cheap. Those Yammy PSR keys felt mushy and cheap. This one ain't, bub. Some users even note that they've abandoned their pianos for their XP-30's. I think the keys feel slightly weighted, but expressive and firm. As for the bottom panel, as soon as I read your post, i turned my XP-30 upside down to press that part. No bending noticed(unless u hit it with a hammer i guess). if u want something to use as an anti-tank armor, don't get the XP-30. otherwise, it's fine. Also, u actually turned the XP-30 upside down to press its underbelly in a music store?

Lastly, u cannot compare apples to oranges. Some of Mr. N.S.'s views are correct, but the complaints about the XP-30 are done without fair comparison to other synths in its class. In its class, the XP-30 is the runaway winner.

If there are other XP-30 users who can give a second opinion on these issues, please feel free to make them known in order to resolve this matter.

As far as editing goes, it is a little dificult without the sounddiver software. However compared to a lot of other synths out there it is still pretty easy to do straight from the board.
Once it's in pallette edit mode it lessens the button pushing by half.
The manual is pretty easy to follow, however I made it through the VS-1680 manual which made this one a breeze.
Not a beginner synth in programming unless that beginner is willing to take some time to really sit down and work on it.

Lots of polyphony(64), and it hasn't cut any notes out on me yet. And I have some pretty large sequences.
Of course I also have a couple of others so it's spread around some.
The built in effects are pretty good, with plenty of choices for you. Distortions, 4band stereo EQ, enhancer, rotary, auto-wah, just to name a few. Plus a seperate chorus and reverb, as well as more intricate types in the EFX.
2 expansion boards can be installed allowing up to 2044 total patches available.
And a SmartMedia card of 2 or 4mb can be used for saving more user programs.
The 4 pallette sliders perform many different functions as well. You can assign any of 94 different parameters to them such as breath, modulation, etc...
And use them internally, or have them control another external MIDI source, or both at the same time. Then, with a touch of a button they control the different volume levels of the different tones used in the preset you are playing. Another touch of a button and they control the filter, resonance, attack, and decay of the preset you are playing.
Velocity and aftertouch as well.

I love most of the sounds. I am sick of paying $300 or more for something that gives me 2 sounds I like.
The XP30 has to many good sounds to list, and not enough bad ones to mention.
The effects are pretty good for onboard effects. And the velocity and aftertouch are very nice.
With the expansions available I would say you could use this board for any type of music.

A nice strong metal body to this one. I would definetly trust it to not fail me live.

the only time I had a problem with a roland product,(the zip drive went out in my recorder), it was fixed for free and promptly. Unfortunatly I had to drive it to where it was fixed, an hour or so away. But that is a small price to pay for a new zip drive 8 months after purchase.

I wopuld definetly buy this synth again. I have been a proffesional musician for a long, long time. And I just love this keyboard.
I wish it had more outputs, and the pitch bend/mod joystick is pretty crappy.(very cheap feeling, like you could easily break it). But I have a Korg Kaos and that melds perfectly with it.
For the price, you really get a great synth. IMHO much better than an XP80,60,or 50(we won't even mention the xp10). The amount of sounds and control you get with the XP-30 far outweighs the importance of an onboard sequencer.