Roland XP-30

I have just returned from auditioning the XP-30 at my local music shop. After auditioning the XP-30 (with cash in hand ready to buy), I did not buy it. I thought my reasons for not purchasing it might provide some contrast to the reviews from owners that I've read here.

O.K., for starters, let me say that the XP-30 is not a bad keyboard. In fact, for what you are paying ($1000 U.S.) it is reasonably priced. This keyboard has thousands of patches (1500 some odd to be more exact). It includes the ROM waveforms from Roland's JV-1080, JV-2080, and Session, Orchestral, and Techno expansion boards. This in-and-of itself makes the keyboard a good deal when you compare what you'd have to pay to get these same sounds when buying one of Roland's other JV/XP synths. (Note, to get the same sounds and in any other JV/XP synth you'd have to buy the three expansion boards that are included in the XP-30. These boards are approximately $300 each so it would cost another thousand dollars.)

But now we come to the crux of the matter. The sounds. Are they any good? Well, in a word, yes. Yes, they are O.K. But only O.K. Many of the samples can only be played within the 61 note keyboard range. (Transpose the XP-30 up or down an octave and play on either end of the keyboard and you'll see what I mean. The sounds become un-usably tiny or flat and muddy with no attack.) There is a large number of waveforms, but the samples are relatively short. Because of this, in some cases you can hear the sample loops. (i.e. the sounds go "flat" when they are sustained for any period of time.)

Here I'll answer a question I've seen in various discussion groups. "What is the best piano sample on the JV/XP synthesizers?" The answer is "none". The pianos are awful. The best one is the piano from the Session board. Still, even on the session "Stereo Grand", the samples are short and a little tiny, with an audible "flatness" when any notes are held. (This makes sense of course. The waveform ROMs are only eight megabytes and the whole ROM is not used for just the piano. A good 16 bit, 44.1KHz, stereo piano sample takes anywhere from 12 to 24 Mb.)

There is a large number and variety of sounds in the presets. This is the XP-30's main strength. Almost every possible sound you could ever want is represented in the presets. I don't want people to get the wrong idea. Many of the presets are very good. Extremely rich and warm. You can use the XP-30 right out-of-the box and never have to program it. This is really where I think its strength lies. For players that just want a lot of sounds with "reasonable" quality (i.e. they do not want to program original sounds), the XP-30 is an incredible instrument.

This leads in to my second concern with the XP-30, the interface. The interface is terrible. A two line display is simply not enough to probe the innards of the synthesizer engine in this instrument. In addition, many editing functions are contained on shifted buttons. For example, to turn an oscillator off you have to leave edit mode by "un-shifting" the tone editing buttons, press the tone edit button (which now represents an oscillator switch) of the oscillator you want to turn off, press another button to "re-shift" the tone edit buttons, press the tone edit button (which now represents an edit function) of the envelope you were originally adjusting, and cursor over (more button presses) to the parameter where you left off. Yuck! After spending an hour experimenting I gave up. The interface was just too cumbersome to allow for easy sound creation. This is a shame because the XP-30 has the same powerful synthesizer engine contained in the JV-1080. All the cool features are here (structures, the booster, the ring modulator, cross modulation, etc.). The XP-30 is an incredibly powerful synthesizer, not just a sample player. Unfortunately, its

The XP-30 basically has everything (and more) that you could hope for in a synthesizer in its price range. It's polyphony is 64 voices, but this is misleading. Because each oscillator (tone) in a patch uses one voice of polyphony (and patches can use from one to four oscillators), the typical polyphony available is 21 voices. I arrive at this conclusion because to do anything interesting on the XP-30, a patch typically uses three oscillators. For patches that use all four oscillators, and many do, the polyphony is only 16 voices. Thus I don't really think the XP-30 is a great multitimbral box for sequencing. Nor do I think that any of the JV/XP synthesizers are great stand-alone boxes for sequencing. Try using two four-oscillator patches together and you'll soon run out of voices. (Yes, you can strip patches down by removing oscillators or using patches with fewer oscillators, but now you are losing the rich sound of the XP-30 which is presumably the reason you wanted to sequence with it in the first place.)

Another problem affecting multitimbral use. The XP-30 has only three effects processors: one reverb, one chorus, and one multi-effect. These, in many cases, are used as integral components of a patch. When you switch into Performance mode (the XP-30's multitimbral mode) you still only have three effects processors. Thus, your patches lose their effects.

I have owned other Roland JV/XP gear and personally never used the synthesizers in multitimbral mode because of their limited polyphony and effects. What I did do was lay down a track (to digital "tape") using a patch in single mode. Switch to another track. Lay down another part with a single patch. You get the idea. I don't think recording an entire musical idea to MIDI and trying to play it back on just the XP-30 is realistic (at least not if your musical ideas are of any complexity).

There are two addition expansion slots in the XP-30 that accept cards from Roland's SL-JV80-nn waveform library. With the three waveform libraries already built into the XP-30, and the two additional slots, you have more sounds and expandability than most people would ever need. If there is any problem with this, it is that there are already too many sounds in the XP-30. I found it a bit daunting scrolling through patch, after patch, after patch, after patch when I only really need 20 to 30 sounds for everything I do. (Just how many string, piano, synth, and orchestral sounds does a person need!) I remember this same feeling when I first used a fully expanded Kurzweil. The extra sounds actually took my focus away from what I was trying to do which was to create music. That said, you can probably copy the 30 sounds that you use all the time into the first user bank of the XP-30 and then forget about the rest of the sound banks.

The sounds from the internal (JV 1080/2080) ROMs are extremely versatile. So are the sounds from the Session and Orchestral ROMs. To sum up the Session and Orchestral ROMs: there is a good selection of piano, synth, string, woodwind, horn, and other special effects sounds. There are even a few accordion samples (albeit, they are not very good). The Techno ROM is one hundred percent useless. Ninety percent of the sounds from the Techno ROM could be achieved using waveforms from the internal ROM. The other ten percent are sounds that are really so specialized you might use them once in a lifetime, if that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing electronic music. People who write electronic music tend to be pretty intelligent folks who are "very up" on their gear. (i.e. they know how to program it.) There is a myriad of saw tooth, sine, pulse, noise, and special effect waves already in the XP-30 internal ROM. These are perfectly suited for creating ambient and techno sounds. So the Techno ROM is wasted space. But, two out of three ain't bad. Especially when you didn't pay for the three to start off with

Hmmm. I think I've pretty much covered this already. The sounds I liked: synthesizer pads, strings, cello, flute, bassoon, choir. The sounds I didn't like: piano. The sounds I thought were useless: sampled orchestra hits, rhythmic drum loops (these chew up memory in the waveform ROM very quickly - to bad Roland didn't use this extra wave memory to create better piano samples). Some of the orchestral sounds are too short and you can hear their sample loops. In other orchestral sounds (fugal horn for example), the attack portion of the sound is truncated. (This is true of some of the other orchestral sounds too. In general the orchestral sounds are useable, but not great.)

I didn't spend a lot of time playing around with the effects processors. What I can say is this: the reverb sounded very good, even at long reverberation times. There was no noticeable "breathing" the way there is in many cheap effects processors.

What kind of music can the XP-30 be used for? Anything. The XP-30 is an all-around general purpose synthesizer.

What was the velocity and keyboard response like? It seemed to me that the velocity response curve on many of the patches was exponential. Playing softly yielded a very soft sound, but playing just a little harder caused the sound to become extremely loud "all of a sudden". I could not tell if this was simply the way the patches are programmed or if this was the physical keyboard itself. For my preference (if I had bought the XP-30), I would be looking to try and program a more even response to keyboard velocity.

In general, the sounds of the XP-30 are good, but not great. I agree with the salesman at the store where I tested the XP-30: "you do get what you pay for". In the JV/XP synthesizers Roland has elected to give the user a great variety of sounds at the expense of the quality of each individual sound. What I'm really saying here is "would you rather have hundreds of good sounds or ten really great sounds?". If your answer is "yes" to the previous question, then the XP-30 is for you. The quality of the sounds in the XP-30 is mixed. Therefore I give the XP-30 a 5 in this category.

I can't say for the XP-30, but... In general, I have found Roland equipment to be extremely reliable. It is some of the most reliable equipment in the business.

As for construction... This was one area where I was a little disappointed. Yes, the XP-30 is only a thousand dollars, but a thousand dollars *is* a thousand dollars. The XP-30 is constructed of plastic. (The bottom is metal, but the top and sides are plastic.) And the "big" buttons that everyone seems to like also feel very plastic and light. In addition, all the jacks on the back panel look as though they are soldered directly to the PC board (as they are on most Roland gear). In other words, don't trip on a patch cable or you'll crack the PC board.

I would gig with this keyboard, but I would be very careful with it. I don't think it would handle much of a bump very well. My guess is that the XP-30 is very reliable if treated well. It would have got an 8, but because of the plastic case it gets a 5.

For customer support, forget Roland U.S.A. They have been awful every time I have contacted them. "Customer? You're a customer? How dare you waste our time!" Roland Canada is a different story. (And I'm not saying this just because I am a Canadian.) I have found Roland Canada extremely helpful. People call you back when they say they will. Their service technicians have helped me debug problems over the phone. Their sales people have helped me track down hard-to-find, out-of-production items. Roland Canada gets the thumbs up as far as I am concerned. So if you need support, don't call Roland U.S.A., call Roland Canada!

Another plus for Roland is that they have been in business for a long time. And it looks as though they are in no near sign of going out of business (something that you *do* have to be concerned about with keyboard vendors). Roland also has support and their own service centers all over the world. This is yet another plus. I found out how important support is when I bought a Yamaha P200. I almost bought the Kawai MP 9000 instead, but Kawai had no local support. Soon after I bought the Yamaha, I did have a small problem with it. (For those of you that don't know what a P200 is, it is a digital piano that weights mucho pounds!) Yamaha sent someone to my house to fix it. No kidding! They gave me absolutely superb customer support. Kawai could not have provided this kind of support.

For customer support (despite Roland U.S.A.) Roland gets an 8.

If it were lost or stolen, would I buy it again? No. I didn't buy it to begin with! I was prepared to buy the XP-30. But after letting the hype die down, auditioning it, and letting my sensibilities kick in, I think there are better ways I can spend my musical money.

The XP-30 does have a lot of sounds. More than any synthesizer in its price range. Heck... More than any synthesizer (out-of-the-box) in twice its price range! If this is what you want, then I'd say the XP-30 is a deal. I'd give it a 10. But if you are as concerned with the quality of the sounds, ease of programming, and the quality of construction (which I am), I'd give the XP-30 a 5. Thus, 5 is my overall rating for the XP-30.

I tried to compare the XP-30 with other products. Really, in its price range, there is nothing to compare it with. It is good value for the money. The real question is, "is this enough quality or should you save a little more money and buy an instrument of higher quality?". The answer to this question (of course) depends on the buyer. For me, the answer was "save my money". (Because like I said before, how many synth, string, and oboe sounds can one person really use anyway? I'd rather have fewer and higher quality sounds, and a higher quality interface.)

I suppose I should add a little background to give my comments some legitimacy. I've been playing different kinds music (Jazz, Blues, Afro-Cuban, Pop, Celtic, Folk, Bluegrass, and Country & Western) for twenty years. My experience with synthesizers dates back from analog keyboards (like the Profit 5, Profit T8, Yamaha CS-80, Oberheim 4 voice, Oberheim Xpander, Rhodes Chroma), to FM stuff (like the DX-7), to early samplers (CMI Fairlite, Emulator I, II, and III, various Akai and Ensonique models), to modern-day keyboards (Korg Z1, Korg Triton, Kurzweil K2500, digital pianos, Clavia Nord Lead II). I've owned most of these and played many others. And I've been through everything from pitch instability, to the advent of touch sensitivity, to good, bad, and impossible single-slider user interfaces, to buggy internal software (most notably Yamaha's horribly buggy EX series - I love Yamaha stuff, but they sure pulled a blooper when they released the EX).

So I guess I'll leave my review here and sum up with this... These days, it takes a lot more than a few hundred samples and some filter sweeps to impress me. Most important, whether I am playing in the studio or playing live, is that a keyboard allow me to translate my musical ideas from vision to reality with as much expression and as little impedance as possible. For this, Korg's Trinity and Triton series gets my highest marks. These keyboards are not the most flexible sample players/samplers available. And they do not have as many sounds as Roland keyboards. But the Trinity/Triton provide superb sounds (again, except for the piano), powerful and flexible synthesis, and a touch-screen interface that nobody seems to be able to beat - both a joy to play and to program.

I bought this synth because I knew the presets were excellent. I want to make music not program sounds. For most tweaking I can use the pallette controls. As a veteran of Roland JV/XP synths I find the user interface is very straightforward. The programming I do is for setting up Performances for multitimbral sequencing. I've only had to crack the manual once but I haven't been fond of Roland manuals in the past and this one doesn't look much better. The included Sound Diver program can make it easier for a newbie to grasp the JV/XP architecture.

Polyphony is 64 but this can be reduced drastically by using patches with multiple tones. I love the way the patch EFX settings can follow the patch into performance mode on one channel. That way I can run a multitimbral sequence and easily audition patches w/EFX. The XP-30 has space for 2 SRJV expansion boards and a memory card if you feel the need for more then the gazillion patches it starts with. I'm subtracting 2 for mod/pitch stick. The throw in the Y axis is pathetic. Everything else I love.

IMHO Roland XP/JV series has the best overall sounds of any PCM type synths except for maybe Kurzweil. And this was $1K not $4K. For the most part the sounds still stand up when you turn the FX off unlike many other synths. If your primary app is sequencing with a computer then don't go out and buy another PCM machine until you hear this one. I could have got this and another JV2080 for what I paid for my Triton and been more satisfied.

I've had a half dozen pieces of Roland gear over the years and I have not had a problem ever.

Never had a need for support. N/A

I would probably have preferred an XP-60 but then I would have paid more for a sequencer I didn't need and I would have to ante up for the Session, Orchestral, and Techno boards - all for a decent joystick. But what I REALLY want is for Roland to put a keybord on a JV2080 or put more EFX in the XP series. This board sets the standard for value. I've take many side trips but have always come back to Roland.

The board hasnt even been out for 6 months yet, so there isnt any OS updtaes...i dont even see a need to update it..

I've either owned or extensively used every synth in the Legendary XP/JV lineup..so i basically know all the presets by heart..most are so-so, but with the Xp30 you get the session, orchestral, and techno already built in...very sweet..i've previously owned the techno board, so i knew what i was in for in that one, so the orchestral and session boards would be new territory for me. the Session sounds great, Roland told the truth when they said they put quality into this expansion..check the out "9 ft. Grand" patches..i love em to death, very realistic sounding to me!..for the orchestral..yeah, its decent, but hell, i make Dance-oriented music, so unless im making a n ambient track, i wont pull strings out for anything...

Editing patches for me is a snap..i been doin it ever since i got a Jv1080 a while back.i can program Xp/JV's in my sleep..it does come with a sound-diver editing CD rom..but mines kinda funky..it thinks that my Xp30 is a JV1010...hmmph...

Manual actually wasnt that bad this time around, i actually got my head around it quickly.. yay!.

There are 64 voices of polyphony, but each sound can be made up of 4 "tones"..think of it as 4 Oscillators.each oscillator uses up 1 voice of poly. Keyboard action is nice and semi-weighted....fun to play

There is an EFX processor inside with 40 EFX, and pretty nice ones too.. i like em and use em frequently..delay is pretty nice

expansions...yes...probably the most expandable lineup ever in synthesizer history..in the case of the XP30, 2 more expansion cards can be inserted, D + E....a Vintage Synth card currently occupies space "D"...theres also a smartmedia storage slot on the back, in case your a programming hound and happen to outgrow the 128 user patch/performance memory internally

Keys respond to Velocity + Aftertouch, and VERY nicely i might add.Theres an Arpeggiator on-board, but most of the styles suck anyway..oh well, back to step programming in the sequencer for that one..

One of my faves about this synth is the realtime control capabilities..it has 4 sliders for filter and envelope, tone control and midi controller...the filter actually sounds quite nice...kinda like my Jp8000 did...

Also has big luminous buttons for jamming or programming in the dark, if that applies to you somehow...

No on board sequencer, but if you connect to any sequencer, the power of this synth is VERY apparent

The Realistic sounds are pretty realistic...best steel guitar ive heard is on the XP/JV stuff, also has some nice stereo grand samples...for Analogue-emulation its also great as well...like i said, i have a Vintage synth card in there too, so even better for me..i have WAY more sounds than i'll ever need, and theyre all great too...Hell, this board works for any music genre guarenteed..if it doesnt, then the user must be mentally insufficient..Considering the Xp30 is the heart of my setup, it better react to my playing, which it successfuly does. Like i said before..both Velo. and A.T

its VERY sleek, its METAL..and id definatly gig w/o backup..as a matter of fact, i always gig my XP/V stuff w/o backup..

If it were lost or stolen id definatly buy ALLLL over again..id beat the hell outta the person who stole it if i ever found that bastard too..I been playin piano for quite some time, and i been programmin synths ever since i was 13/14 years old..i used to have a ton of gear floatin around, but i downsized..ive got my trusty Vintage expanded XP30, and an An1x for those REALLY convincing analogue sounds...all sequenced into an MC50...I love everythin about this synth, except for the ARP...its got the basic 1/4 1/6 1/8 1/12 1/16 1/32 up/down/updown/random stuff...but the other patterns suck!! mambo patterns? Bossa Nova Patterns?? what the hell?? i hope they write another OS that adds cooler ARP patterns..is that possible?? I had no need to compare..for under $1000 where do you get almost 2700 sounds and like 12 drumkits? thats right...nowhere else..Since this my main piece of gear, it definatly helps me make music..

The sequencing software that I am using is Master Tracks Pro. The presets sound wonderful and I couldn't be happier with the sound banks. The XP-30 has the Orchestral, Techno and Sessions Cards already installed. In addition, I have the World Card installed. the only problem that I have is "ease of use" and the manual which is unbelievable BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD! Who do they have write these things, accordion players in mental institutions? Absolutely NOTHING makes sense in this manual. They might pull a term out of mid-air and you check the reference section, and the term isn't even there! Whoever wrote the manual presumes that users already know and understand the instrument. The XP-30 does not have an on-board sequencer and my guess is that the majority of users would NOT be able to figure out how to sequence by using the manual! With the Proteus for example, one simply assigns the patch that they want to a track on both the proteus and the computer. With the XP-30, it is necessary to get into a "performance," and somehow assign patches to tracks and channels within the performance. I would really appreciate it if someone would give me a simple set of instructions, 1....2....3......4.... steps to set up a multitimbral operation.

64 voices polyphony. I like the keyboard action, but I grew up playing an accordion...... It plays like an accordion. Does that help or scare you away? It is nice and soft and mushy. It definitely does not have a piano action, but the keys are pressure sensitive. There is no on board sequencer. As stated before, the manual SUCKS and it is not a very intuitive instrument.

I love the patches and the additional cards. There is an exceptional assorment of sound banks. I'm into space and ambient music and could care less if I have realistic sounds. I don't think that the strings compare to those in the Proteus, but they're OK. I was disappointed in the depth of the French Horns, Trombones, etc. It has good velocity and aftertouch. Too bad the manual SUCKS! OOPs! I've said that before!

I've only had it a couple of weeks, but it appears to be reliable. If only I could have someone interpret the manual, I'd be a happy camper.
Also, a video manual exists for the XP60 and 80, but there is no video training manual for the XP-30, because it does not have an onboard sequencer

I spent almost an hour with customer support, only to learn that I need to be in a Performance in order to do multi-timbral things. The person with whom I spoke couldn't translate things into "blond," and had difficulty breaking things down into Step 1, 2, etc.

If it were lost or stolen, I would by a KORG Trinity or Triton or Proteus 2000 or ANYTHING else! Why? The sounds are great, but if I can't figure out how to sequence with it, I think it is TOTALLY WORTHLESS! I would buy something with easier to understand documentation and a more intuitive interface similar to a Korg or a Proteus!

I've had my XP-30 for a month now. I took 3 weeks vacation and virtually dedicated this time to go beyond the "surface" of this amazing machine. For ease of use I found nothing comes easy unless you take stabs at the various settings WITHOUT THE MANUAL. That way you find out what you need to know before going into such a sophisticated piece of gear. Once comfortable with the instrument, I found navigating fairly easy. Presets sound excellent (but I expected this from Roland) after being quite surprised with the sounds even on my now traded in XP-10. Patch editing does become a bit easier with the OEM supplied E'Magic's SoundDiver v. 2.06 (the most current) software. I did have trouble with loading SoundDiver at first. It did not like Creative Labs drivers that were set up for the standard AWE64 card. SoundDiver would not boot up due to some of Creative's drivers "blocking" it, so I disabled most of the MIDI drivers that Creative Labs sets up save the AWE64 Wave Table Synthesis driver and all works fine now. (If you have an AWE64 card you can't delete the drivers or you will lose all of them!) You just have to disable them. Patch editing with SoundDiver is quite easy once you get the hang of it and you can copy and pastes performances from one spot to another quite easily. As far as the manual goes...typical Roland (or is it typical Japanese to English translation problems) it is great in some areas poor in others. How about the XP-30 video Roland?

Polyphony of 64 voices and in my use, have not heard any signs of notes dropping...but I'm working on it. Keyboard action is semi-weighted and feels very comfortable. Insertion effects number 40 and I've used the foot controller to trigger Rotary on some of the organs. Sliders 1-4 can be programmed for controllers and work in real time in MIDI sequencing. (Nice!) Easy to set up splilts and having the ability to assign a pedal hold on either side of the split or both!
Unit will handle up to two expansion boards. I installed one already and it took all of 2 minutes. No problems. Purchased a 4 Mb Smart Media Card ....wow $125.00 CDN from Roland agent. What a rip-off. These cards are manufactured generically by Toshiba and I would recommend going out to a discount camera store and see if you can get them any cheaper. But 4 megs on board is plenty to "back-up" your system and store many more performances. When you back up to the Smart Media card, you back up the entire synth each time and either overwrite a file or create a new one. Great for keeping a gigging set on board and when you get home you can load on your "Home" setup (s).
There is no on-board sequencer but this is why I bought it. I use my PC to do this stuff.

Pianos are great. I have the Roland RD-600 stage piano and the Steinway Concert 1 patch is on the Session patch on the XP-30...it's very hard to tell the difference if there is any. Of course there's patches I won't possibly use but I've run through most of the "on-board" patches and I'd say 90% sound great. It lacks ethnic and the common SFX that I had in the XP-10 under the GS structure but some of these can be acquired via the expansion boards. With the 60/70's Keyboards expansion card...I don't think I could ask for very much more, plus the fact you can do some fancy tone editing.
I'm in a 50's/60's R & R band for fun and will find this board very satisfactory. Organs (with the expansion card) are great and the on-board brass and strings will fill in nicely. At home I tinker with classical and contemporary stuff from the 20's 30's 40's & 50's. Again the XP-30 will fit the bill precisely. Keyboard action is pretty good being semi-weighted and is responsive I feel quite "correctly" for the respective patch being used.

After owning an XP-10 for 4 years and lugging it along on boats and in my car and having it withstand a lot of bouncing around, I have complete faith in the reliability of the XP-30 although time will really prove this out. I would use it on a gig without a backup. On gigs I'm considering leaving my RD-600 at home due to the great piano sounds the XP-30 provides though it's a bit short on the number of keys but switching octaves is very easy and all the buttons are large, well lit and laid out for quick access.

Due to the size of our city, and in all fairness, the limited knowledge that a local retailer can offer, I have contacted Roland a number of times. I have had nothing but a "bending over backwards" in help from them. I work in the computer field and it's impossible to know everything on every machine. (Where is that person?) I give Roland Canada (Gary) a thumbs up for his assistance.

If stolen I would acquire this unit again. I am just over 50 and have been playing keys since I was 5. I currently own a Roland PMA-5; Roland RD-600 Piano and now the XP-30. (I don't work for Roland...just like their stuff) I've had short term ownership of a Korg NS5R module but dumped it as soon as I saw the add in Keyboard Mag for the XP-30. I have also complied a patch list for myself and others for the XP-30 and Cakewalk. My own list covers the XP-30 on-board tones plus the 60/70's 70's keyboards, the PMA-5 and RD-600. Anyone interested in the XP-30 + expansion boards ONLY, I would be willing to help.

The presence of many big buttons makes the synth very easy to use overall to do the main function. The editing in depth is very hard if you use only the insufficient display(2x40). To choose the sounds is necessary to press too button. Very interesting is the software to manage the sounds and the performances but it is a little difficult. The manual is too simple: it doesn't go in depth.

The polyphony is 64 notes but every sound can have four tones that reduce the polyphony. The keyboard action is very good and has channel aftertouch. The synth has three built in effects: one for reverbs, one for chorus, one for dsp they are insufficient (look at trinity or alesis qs and yamaha) but the quality is very high. The sounds are more then 1400 and you have 128 user sounds in addition. The performances are 32 + 32; they are few but you can buy the memory card to have some other space. The sample memory is 32MB of compressed samples and you can add two other expansion board (they are very expensive). there isn't a sequencer.

The general quality is very high and you can make many interesting sounds using the big synthesis capabilities. Many sounds have different level. To make better sounds you must use the dsp effect processor. Pianos: nice piano very good (not acoustic) it plays a little bright, The session piano isn't good; you can have some enhancement using the editing(sessione piano is good on the upper frequencies). Too few. Organs: poor Flute: very good Pads: wonderful Brass: poor (an exception is the super tenor) guitar: nylon good in the middle, str guitar very poor(has somebody a k2500 Slo type Guitar for xp30?) electric and distorted are good. all orchestral: wonderful synth: very good bass: very good ethnic: good but too few.
ps if you use very well the effects and the editing you can make many acoustic sounds interesting and make many new sounds. For me too drum sample

I'd buy it again but I'd look the Generalmusic Equinox. I love it but i'd have liked some other sample of piano and acoustic guitar and overall a bigger display. The overall quality is very high. I'll look the country board for guitar.

The preset patches are incredible! Most keyboards will have some not so useful patches, but this one has very usefull prsets! This Synth is amazingly easy to edit patches to create your own variations of sounds! I've already made a couple of them. The manual was difficult to completely understand at first(especially the section on how to make your own patches) but it gets much easier when you actually start trying it yourself!

It has 64-voice polyphony. I love the weighed keys because it gives it a much more realistic "feel" to it. It has 40 effects that can be applied to the patches. I was amazed that it had so many sounds! It has the full JV1080/JV2080 Sound set plus 3 of Roland's more popular Expansion boards(Session, Orchestral, and Techno) and there's still room for 2 more expansion boards! The lack of a sequencer is easily made up by the expansion boards and price of course.(Since you can still sequence with a PC and MIDI software like Cakewalk)

The sounds are trully impressive! Especially the Orchestral sounds. One of the reasons I purchased this synth was because of the realism of these sounds! Since I compose mostly scores, the Orchestral expansion alone was worth getting this synth. Everything is fully customizable(The effects, velocity, aftertouch,etc.)with the assignable sliders! The effects were very natural as well. I also like how the sounds are "true to life" depending on the velocity.When the velocity is very high or low, you can hear the changes in the sound.(unlike other synths that will just increase or lower the volume of the same sound)

I would definently depend on this synth. It has a very durable body which can be trusted to take anywhere. I would take this and a laptop to a gig, without any other backups. (If anything was to go wrong, it most likely wouldn't be the synth's fault)

I haven't needed to use it yet. (hopfully I won't have to)

If it was to be stolen, I would definently get it again! I've used it for a couple of months now and I've aleady made several songs and scores with it! This is by far the best damn package you can get for a synth at this price range! I definently would never get rid of it! (If I ever get new gear, this synth will always remain in my gear list)

This is an update to my previous review - At the time, I said that I loved the machine except for some significant grunge - IM distortion, and a grungy static near the end of slow decays.
The grunge has been resolved - it was a problem in the otput circuitry, and not a design flaw.

The sounds are impressive, but I dislike the method of selection - requires a confirming press of the Enter key to actually change the patch. I suppose this can also be useful, you set up the patch number as you have the time, and then one keypress switches, but this is not the best performance option.

Generally good sample set - saxes suck, of course, but the ALL do - it's not a good instrument to sample, there aare too many ways to produce the same note. This is best left to modeling-style instruments.
I have a minor issue: many of the decaying-type sounds (guitars, pianos, etc.) have what appears to be a short loop-very 'static' sustained tone-and a tendency toward an unnaturally long decay time. This is. Of course, easily correctable, but a bit of a pain.

Roland's Customer Support desk was initially not helpful - the tech could not hear the problem over the phone (may be true, but it was really obvious to me, and to a friend who heard it on the phone.) But in the end, this was not an issue.

The grunge in my XP-30 was not a system-level problem, the output stage was defective. My service tech replaced a couple of parts and the problem went away! Curiously, this was the second XP-30 exhibiting the problem (the first I returned to the store) but the main point is - it sounds great!
I think it's a great cost-per-feature machine, and now that the grunge has been resolved, I wholeheartedly recommend it!

I am a professional musician, but a first time synth owner and MIDI enthusiast, and I found all the basic functions of the XP-30 to be very intuitive for a beginner/ intermediate. You can pretty much figure out all the basic stuff just by spending 10 minutes with it in the music store without even looking at the manual! When you get into the guts of it though, this board is an incredibly versatile machine, if you can figure out what everything does. I figure it will take me about six months to really understand and be able to use this synth. Unfortunately, the manual is a weak link. It is a pretty dry read, and if you aren't experienced with synths or MIDI, you may find yourself lost once your past the "Getting Started" section. Hopefully, Roland will put out a more comprehensive manual, and maybe a video in the near future.

You can read all about the specs on the Roland website until you're blue in the face, so I won't go into them here. In my opinion, however, this board has everything I need to put together a powerful MIDI workstation. I don't gig on keys, but my guess is that it has everything you will need for performance, unless your maybe Rick Wakeman, or want to be him.

I think the patches on this board are outstanding, and very useful. There seem to be a lot of useless sounds out there, but Roland has pretty much weeded them out of this thing. Being an acoustic instrumentalist myself, I am picky about my acoustic patches, and I found them to range from pretty good to the absolute real deal. The synth sounds were all killing too. With some 1400 sounds onboard, and the ability to expand, I know I will have no problem finding any sound to fit my music. The overall feel of the board is pretty good - it's no piano, but then again if I wanted a piano, I'd buy that instead of a synth.

No problems so far, and from my experience and other musician's experiences, I don't anticipate any.

I try not to call (and haven't called) customer support. I don't care for muzak.

I think this synth is the best buy out there right now. I spent a lot of time researching synths, and this came away as the winner, hands down. It is pretty complex, a little too complex for me right now, but better to have room to expand then to dumb down you're gear just because you're inexperienced. If this were stolen, I'd tell the insurance company that I had two, but if that didn't work, I would definately buy another. Quite honestly, it has opened up a whole new world of musical possibilities for me. Any instrument that does that is worth it's weight in gold.

I seem to have stirred up a bitof contraversy with my review of the XP-30 by stating there was observable digital grunge in the samples. Several readers and XP-30 owners took issue with my statements, so I feel a more detailed update is in order. I haven't had time to complete my investigation, so here's what I plan to do - I'll create some WAV files of the offending patches and post them on my Web site for your perusal and rebuttal (I really hope there is something amiss with my synth, or my eras, but this is the second one to have the symptoms!) The peculiar sound around G1 has been traced, and I'm embarassed to admit was a resonance from a jar of writing implements! But the grunge factor is still a problem for me. It appears at this writing to be a form of IM distortion, or harmonic interaction. I'll keep you posted.
David Kempton davidk@thesoundsmith.com

Presets are great, most of them are usable, depending on specific music style. As far as it includes three popular expansion sets - "Session", "Orchestral" and "Techno" - the synthesizer is quite universal. Editing patches and setting parameters for performances aren't great problems - it's a question of patience and time, until you get into the way. I'm using Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.0 as a sequencer, and for selecting performance parts and adjusting reverb/chorus parameters. The XP-30 package includes CD with "Sound Diver" for editing performances etc., which is a monster software, 'cause it requires, it seems, 21'' monitor at least, and has very unusual interface. The manual of XP-30 is chaotic, it seemed that Rolands were in hurry a bit before winter NAMM... But for beginners it is just one way out to understand XP-30 . I wish it would be rather lika reference book, a-la dictionary.

61 keys; Poly - 64; parts - 16; standard 1080's 8 reverbs, 1 chorus, 40 EFXs; 1406 patches and 26 rythm sets onboard, 2 extra slots for SR-JV80*, 1 slot for memory card (4Mb max); assignable sliders (C1...C4), standard pitch bend/modulator. Preset-E, arpeggiator (43 styles), phrase preview and patch category features was taken from JV-2080. XP-30 has only one mix out, and two pedal inputs (one switch and one CC assignable). Noise level: moving Volume slider from "down" to "up", noise gains at "mix" to ~5dB max. Keyboard action is great, most parameters are adjustable, channel aftertouch is perfect and smooth. XP-30 has no onboard sequencer, but this fact is not the matter for me, because I use Cakewalk to MIDI all my gear. I knew what I bought - lot of Roland sounds and nice controller - 2 in 1.

The sounds are pure and clear. I'm just immersing into them everytime I touch keyboard ! No decay noise problem, noticed on some Roland models: no even noise or distortion, the patches sound the way they should. Great Guitars, useful Brasses, realistic Strings ! Most of Organs are great. Pianos, IMHO, are 50/50. Beautiful synthetic sounds - pads, rhodes etc. Solo Violins aren't great - it's understood. Unfortunately, Ethnic and SFX sets are very short, however, most of existing patches sounds very nice, exept Bagpipes, which are, kinda wildbird croak. In short, 90% of sounds are really good and useful for any type of music creativity.

I purchased it 2 weeks ago - nothing to comment yet.

Never consulted with Rolands. Seems strange, that they don't advertise their e-mail address, isn't it ?

I'm sure to state that I would buy it again if something happens (I wouldn't wish troubles neither for myself nor for everyone). 1406 patches, 26 drum sets, effects and perfect controller - absolutely worth the money! But I wish there would be a second pair of outputs or second effects processor. And, may be, more intuitive software for editing. I'm just learning to operate it, but couple of tracks are already finished, so, I should say, I help XP-30 to make sounds and XP-30 really helps me to make music !

The XP-30 is probably the greatest sounding box out there right now for the money if you plan to take it live, but there is a significant amount of digital grunge in many of the samples, like they compressed them a little too far. Some of the sounds exhibit no trace of this, while others are really quite annoying, especially around G1.
Editing is as straightforward as any Roland product (about average for the current generation)

64-voice polyphony is used quickly in multitimbral performances, so set your voice reserves carefully. The effects are very good in general. The two expansion slots took cards from my XP-80 with no problem. Aftertouch is good (and adjustable). The slider assignment capabilities are really useful if you are controlling external modules. Eachslider can accept a system-wide assignment (not patch-by-patch, but what do you expect for under a grand street price?)

Great nylon guitar, double-reed, bones, string sections, ambient and tek sounds. Very good electric guitars, church organs, cellos/bass. Adequate flute, pianos, electric pianos, clavs. The Hammonds suck. Onboard fx help a lot. Good response and feel.

Dependability with Roland is generally very good, I've only had this a short time so can't be objective. WOuld I use it on a gig without a backup? Of course, I'm not Herbie Hancock! I can't afford 2 of everything...

I have about a dozen other keyboards and modules, have been playing a long while. I buy my keyboards as system components, not stand-alone units. I got this to act as a live adjunct to an acoustic piano gig with drummer/vocalist and sequencer. I wanted better quality sounds than we currently get (he uses an SC-88 and the sounds, to me, are cheesy.) This is a significant upgrade to the sound quality.
I wish it were as clean as my XP-80; as soon as I have time, I intend to check out another unit at a music store to see if this is endemic, or if I got a noisy one (but I don't think I did...) Generally, it's a fine machine for its price point.
If anyone who owns one listens closely in a studio (or really quiet) context and can tell me there's no trailing grunge on any patches, I'd love to hear fropm you while I'm still under warranty.

I think the XP-30 is about the best keyboard on the markket in its price range. The sound set is pulled from the JV-2080. I replaced my XP-50 with this keyboard, so I already knew what I was getting, sound wise. I was planning on buying the "Session" expansion board for my XP-50 when I heard about the XP-30, which has the "session" "Techno" and "Orchestral" built it. I don't need onboard sequencing, so the XP-30 is perfect. I am so pleased with the excellent range of the presets, so many sound great and are really useful. I do a lot of music for low budget film and TV, and the XP-30 is packed with appropriate sounds that I do not have to edit. Another great feature is the new switch design. Switches that have on "on" or "off" state have large, easy to see LEDs, unlike the tiny LEDS on the other XP keyboards. The switches here are more of the quality found in Roland's stand alone controllers, like the A-90. It makes it very easy to see what you are doing. In general, these are the best switches I have seen on a keyboard. Very tactile. When you consider the sound search feature, the built in, multi-function control sliders, and the compact size of the keyboard, I think it sets a new standard for price and feature. The manual is also clearly written, the useful examples! Key functions like syncing internal LFO's to incoming MIDI clock. Very cool.

I have nothing but praise for the XP-30. Instead of a floppy disk drive, or costly RAM card, it has a Smart Media slot. I purchased a tiny, wafer like card for $26 that holds 4 MB of patch data. I big improvement over the old technology. My only complaint is the mod wheel/pitch bend level. On the XP-50, there was true movement on the "Y" axis (up and down), but on this keyboard, it's more like a pressure controller. I have to push quite a bit to get the same effect. This is the place where I believe they cut corners. Also, they included the Sound Diver software, which I was excited about, and I used it to transfer my old XP-50 library to my Mac, then later to my XP-30. Or so I thought I did. I later discovered that while I did load my sounds into the Mac, "Save" did not mean that I saved my patches ( I had to first create a "library"), so I spent two hours doing nothing and lost all my patches when I sold my XP-50. Sound Diver is cool, but not very intuitive. Also, the XP-30 does have a computer port built in, so you canb plug it directly to a mac or pc with no MIDI interface required. Like its predecessors, a "shift" key is required to access banks of sounds, except for the expansion boards, which have dedicated switches (nice).

The sounds are versatile, excellent sounding, and worth every penny.One new feature is the ability to easily modify filter, resonance, attack and decay using simple MIDI continuous controllers. I created a console in Digital Performer to do this, and if I do need to tweak a sound, I can do so entirely from the Mac, and be confident I will get my sound back the next time I play the sequence.

I do not kow yet.

I called Roland twice with questions, and I got tech support right away, and they knew the answers.

This keyboard rules. I use it for my occassional live gig, which is just for fun, and for my music composition, which is how I earn my living. I would like to have a better Mod wheel design, and it would be nice is the control sliders were close to the Mod wheel, but its not a big point with me. For this price point, I think Roland got everything right.

Well, here it is - the first review of the XP30. I've only had it for a couple days but I've been asked by many to post a preliminary review.
It's pretty easy to use. There's only a two line display but there are lots of buttons to quickly access all the functions. The interface is fairly intuitive.

64 note polyphony, comes with 64 MB of ROM standard and includes the equivalent of the techno, session, and orchestraI board plus two more expansion slots. No sequencer and only one set of outs but that only makes it more affordable.
Has the patchfinder and phrase preview functions of the JV2080 which is cool.

This is the reason why I went to Roland. It has the most unbelievably realistic patches compared to all the other synths I've tried in this price range. Many patches respond to velocity and aftertouch extremely well and allows you to get some really natural sounding tracks - morso than Yamaha's physical modelling technology. I also noticed increased sound quality and crispness compared to the XP50 - probably due to the borrowed clean synth engine of the2080.
Another reason why I bought the unit is because of its ability to do classical pieces. The best unit for this type of work IMHO. I couldn't care less for the techo stuff.

Have had it for 2 days ... no problems yet.

I'm not too fond of Rolands site and haven't had to deal with them yet. There's no email address for inquiries (that I know of) but I'm sure there's a 1-800 number available.

I absolutely love this thing. It's the best bang for the buck if you're into natural sounds (orchestral instruments for example). It comes with the equivalent of 3 expansion boards and is still cheaper than all the other expandable XPs so it's definately worth the money. I have the unit maxed out with the Orchestral II and SFX boards - 96 MB is nothing to complain about!
I'm extremely pleased.