Roland XP-80

I'm not a professional synth user, but my ex gf did have this model and I loved to play it a lot since the only synth I had was a casio (I know it's a piece of ****) but this thing sounded like god to me. I learned on a traditional acoustic piano, so any synth to me was cool, especially the professional ones (ones w/o built in speakers). The sounds I found on this Roland were sweet. I mean the second I saw the thing, I got my hands on it and did stop till i sampled every preset. I know this thing has the ability to layer tracks and sounds but I don't quite know how to do it yet, too lazy to figure it or look at the manual ;) But from whatever I messed around with, it looks pretty straight forward if you know synths. Patch editing are actually one of the easier things on it. By the way I didn't buy the keyboard new, but rather used from ebay in excellent condition, looks like it's still new and funtions perfectly. It didn't come with the original box or manual, but roland has a page from which you can downloand (and print) the manuals for all models, past and present.

The synth has 76 keys which is 1 octave shy of the traditional full 88 key piano but it does have a 3 octave shift off so you can actually go 2 octaves lower than that of the low A on what would be the lowest 88th key. There are Over 400 effects preset, if not more. Most of them are very nice, others are sampled sounds that are used as effects rather than normal playability. From what I know and seen there do exist a few expansion cards for this model. I never messed around with the midi on this synth so can't really tell you much, but the synth is very flexible as I learned from using it over the past 2 years.

Some of the effects are a little outdated, others have rich tones, i.e. strings, vox, guitars, basses, organs, etc all have their ups and downs, there's usually something for everyone. Most of the effects are very good, but some sound a little unreal like guitar functionality as you may guess, sounds good, but you just can't reproduce the way a real guitar plays with a keyboard. key sensitivity is there but these are semi-weighted keys, so it's not that cheapy plastic feel, but it's not the real full weighted piano feel either. keys have about 5 or 6 volume senses, enough to play classical music, but if key sensitivity is a major factor then go with some other synth/keyboard. But otherwise key action is clean and reacts well with any velocity. Not the slow effects as you may guess.

It's very dependable, although it's a 1996 model. it's not like most of todays plastic shell synths, this one has 90 percent metal housing surrounding it not counting buttons keys and top side end pieces. It's also built/made in Japan not china or korea or malaysia Roland is a Japanese company and from my experience older Japanese manufacturers of electronic devices made their stuff in their homeland factories, therefore better quality, since the Japs are known for quality built stuff. It's a solid unit, so even if you drop it, I think It'll survive, or at least with a better chance than most modern synths.

Never had to deal with them yet, neither had the previous owner. Planning to add some expansion cards, still looking for them as they are discontinued and the only place to find them is ebay.

Well considering the fact that it's discontinued, I would buy another one, It's probably even easier to find it cheaper now than a few years ago. Definitly a good investment if you can't afford one of the newer models over the $1K margin. In fact I got mine from ebay for 900$ in 2007, I also got the 61 key xp10 roland for 200$ which is a good protable synth but the features are more simplistic, still pretty good though. Synths are my second favorite instrument, so hence the reason why I don't bother with much of the mixing and layering, but I do love my bass guitars and currently own a '91 Musicman Stingray 5 in black with rosewood fingerboard, and an '07 Fender Jaguar bass in red. I've played piano for roughly 15 years and bass guitar for 11 years. I do play a guitar occasionally but I don't enjoy it as much as bass. I own some yamaha guitar E300 or something like that, can't remember exact model name right now, but I do take it out once in a blue. If there is anything that I wish the XP80 had, it would be fully weighted keys, an extra physical octave would be cool, but isn't necessary for me.

about half presets are usable
but has reasonable editing and can get some great souds if you take the time
manual was as good as any
used this board live and studio to good effect but have allways loved rolands

poly is okay but keyboard is light okay if you learnt on keyboard not piano but i didnt
effects are fine but can easily be over done
never used new boards but use floppy for midi data
has on-board sequencer but never used it (i use pc's for sequencing)

some sounds are great some not so but all board are like that if you take the time with it you can get some great sounds
works well for most styles
effects ok
had some great late nights messing with this board can lead you to some interesting places
touch is not great if you want a piano feel buy a different instrument

never had a problem with this keyboard
only roland had any probs with is my old jupiter 4 and as i said thats old

nice keyboard from roland good to have the extra span with the xp80
board i find the extra keys well worth the money

Hello to everybody to all roland SKILLED ENGINEERS. you all have
made a i don't have words to speak for this KEYBOARD.i am girish
sharma from india i have an ROLAND XP-60 VERY VERY BEAUTIFUL KEYBOARD.the PRESETS sounds are very very good.very nice editing patches system is there.ok ok i got the video manual also from net.THANKYOU.

Nice polyphony.WEIGHTED & VERY VERY nice touch feel.
yes,it has very good effects procrssor.look iam telling you the Roland xp-60 keyboard you all ROLAND ENGINEERS have given a great EFFECTS.YES.off course it has Expansion capabilities.Off course.also the same words goes to the MIDI function.same words.The SEQUENCER part is also also GREAT.i am telling you that i liked whole keyboard.
it's very very flexible&also easy to use.

Yes not some instrument all instruments i feel real.
all type of music it work for me.any type.
very good onboard effects.
when iam playing i feel very very good & nice so much.
velocity & aftertouch is also good & nice.

OFFCOURSE iam fully depended on it.Thankyou.

they are very helpfull.& nice.
i want to do my kbrd upgrade not get it repaired.

for me is very very worthfull.
i am playing from 3 years.I have KORG KARMA GEAR.
I love very very &very much.
i like this kbrd.
-
whenever i play this is taking me inside very much.
once again i am telling you to ROLAND Skilled & VERY SKILLED ENGINEERS you are great.& great.

I'm not much of a review writer but thought I'd contrubute for what its worth. I think the XP-80 is pretty easy to use. You just need to make sure your in the proper mode (patch or performance), then it's pretty straight forward. Once you get to know this board it's a great controller! I think editing from the menus is pretty easy and good. You don't really need the manual to tweak things cause you can just menu around and when you're done you just write to a user patch/performance. I think it's pretty easy but one should understand a little about the way a patch is built. IE four elements can be used, each with different filters and what not.

Knowing one needs some basic knowledge I'll give ease an 7. It's not hard but you need to understand what this puppy can do and it can do a lot.

poly is 64. patches can use up to 4 elements. There are 3 effects, a multi, a chorus and a reverb. The effects are good but in a performance you are limited to just that one multi. individual parts can use it, but you can't have two different effects on at the same time (not including chorus and reverb that is). Like you could not have a flanger for a guitar part and a rotary for an organ part on at the same time.
Expansion is it can hold up to 4 SR-JV80 cards. MIDI capabilities are STRONG. I loved setting up a "SINGLE PERFORMANCE" and also using other multitimbral sound modules. With the Local/TX/RX switch you could play any of the 32 parts you want and can layer them on the fly. This is why I miss this board now (I sold mine for a Yamaha ES7)
It does have an onboard sequencer that is sort of easy to use. It also has a function to where you can loop a part of the midi file if you set it up right. I don;t know how that's done but this would help our big time if you want to use the sequencer live and you want to repeat a chorus or verses. Good features!

The board is a bit dated but I do like the pads in it. Th best piano is the Nice Piano (Preset A 004 i think) but without the weighted keys it's not easy to play piano expressively. I like the initial sound of the strings patches but when you hold them out you begin to hear a nasaly loop in the sample. That blew my mind and really freaked me out. I had to get the Orch I just to get away from that waveform. Which is a drag cause that waveform starts out great and would be wonderful if not for that nasally loop at the end. Organs are fair and need a little tweaking. I enjoyed the augermentive organ patch the most. I really enjoyed the "gluey pad" and the "Chime pad". In the single layer performance mode I would use both those pads and switch between them jsut to throw those chimes in here and there. I was using the chime pad sparingly so as not to over do it ya know? Expressiveness is OK. Fair I'd say, but maybe much better players could make it talk more than I. Oh.. I do want to mention that I liked the aftertouch. Especially when playing strings and pads together and I'd lay into the kayes the sounds would swell louder. That was good. Good aftertouch.

I think it's a reliableboard. I never have any problems at all. Never had to re-initialize it. I would certainly gig without a backup. But I don;t have many paying gigs any way. :)

Never dealt with them except to order a copy of a manual once and that went ok.

Well I eventually sold my XP-80 because the newer Motif sounds I feel are way better. I bought an S90 and so had the S90 and the XP-80 and had to take my S90 out on gigs to get the better organ sounds. Then I sold the XP-80 to help my pay for an ES7. But I'll tell ya, that SINGLE LAYER PERFORMANCE thing in the XP-80 is greatly missed, not the sounds so much though. I would like to buy another used one some day and use it mainly as a live controller for non-piano work. I'd hook a Motif ES rack up to it :)

Version 1.10 (nothing more recent form roland as of this date.)
Presets: Many are very good, some just okay, some I can't imagine a use for. Voice called "Nice Piano" has beautiful sounds in the higher registers. Great Electric Pianos, Rhodes voices are numeruos and rich. Lots of great voices.
Editing Patches: Never tried to. Always found somthing I liked.
Manual: Ya just gotta read it. I know this is a sacrilege to the sanctity of manhood, but lets face it, these machines do tons of stuff. Everything cannot have a dedicated control so you have to use menus, and so on. The manual is a tough read, but rolands tech support is second to none if you don't mind paying for the call. After taking the time to learn how to get around on it, I give it a 9.

Polyphony:64 I've found some limitation here when playing sequenced songs with a great deal of orchestration, with lots of tracks and extensive drums. Never a problem when just playing live.
Keyboard action was pretty tight, even when tapping out complex drum patterns with double bass hits and such.
Effects: Lots! Fully adjustable sends, returns and levels. Convenient visual route mapping on display for easy editing.
Accepts 4 Expansion cards. I have 5. The 4 in my Xp-80 are "piano", "Session", "Drum & Bass" and "vocal". They are awesome. Each adds about 200-250 voices. Paid around $200 ea.
Midi: I've used the midi with an 88-key weighted controller, and with a JV-2080 Module. It was all fairly straight forward.
Sequencer: I've used the sequencer a lot. It's a snap. Very easy and also pretty straight forward.

the XP-80 has a lot of great sounds. Many are plenty realistic. And the voices on the expansion cards are fantastic. Bass sounds sampled from world famous bassists, Drums are incredible, a stereo piano that has beautiful clarity and tone. I could go on and on. In fact, Before I bought my XP-80, I drove almost two hours to a store that carried the Korg Trinity. I already had an M1, and was convinced I wanted a Trinity. After playing the Trinity and the XP-80, I paid $300 more and got the XP-80. The sounds in the roland were just plain better. And I use this board writing and playing my own music as well as in my recording studio.
I read a number of other reviews and couldn't believe how some didn't like the XP-80. For you who bought yours used, perhaps you got it after someone had played with or modified the voices. Use the factory reset function in the utility menu to restore the sounds. I bought mine brand new, and it's been great.
On board effects are pretty good. Reverbs are nice, choruses, flangers, etc. have good presets and are easy to adjust.
Sensitivity to velocity is fine, and to one reviewer who said aftertouch was only when pressing very hard?!, I have found that if anything aftertouch can be triggered a tad too easy. But again, mine was new.

Dependability: Never have had the 1st problem with it.
I would take it on a gig without a backup without hesitation.

I have owned and do own many roland products. Dr 770 drum machine; VS-1680; VS-1880; VS-2480; XP-80; JV-2080 and more. I have used the tech support line many many many times. I have NEVER asked a question that they didn't have an immediate answer for. By contrast, I have a set of Yanmaha digital drums that I tried repeatedly to get answers about how to do different things with, and got nowhere with Yamaha tech support.
Roland excels here. They are awesome. I truely wish it were as easy to get this level of help with other gear I have.
I would give them an 11.

I would buy this board again in a heartbeat. It was well worth the money. It does many things I haven't even begun to explore. I played dozens of different boards before I bought this one. It rocks. No, it's not a steinway, but it cost $1800 not $60,000. And it can fit in my truck, when i go gigging. Even in my recording studio, I never heard a comlaint about the sound quality. Only praise.
But like anything else, Don't take anybody's word. Go play one yourself.

presets sound great i like the 64voice piano patch because its crisp and pure sounds like a real grand. Not much success editing patches I just play around the presets. I bought 2 expansion boards for it I like the tremolo wurly patch and the fender rhodes sounds. the manual is okay but its like trying to decode a manual, you know? the only dissapointment is out of hundreds of sounds there are only a couple good b-3's and rhodes/wurly sounds and those are the sounds I crave. I give it a 7 for realisticness

excellent. my first board was a juno 106 and this is a giant leap so this is like the best keyboard in the world i've ever heard. the sequencer is easy to use and comprehensive and I basically learned it on my own

the sounds are as realistic as they can get. The keys are semi-weighted and you can adjust the velocity so that you dont have to pound the keys to bring it out

hell yeah. I baby mine, its only been out of the house a few times to a few gigs still mint condition it sounds good enough to take on stage right now

never had the need. no upgrades, no midi software, I just play it straight up

God forbid it ever got stolen If I thought there was a chance I'd play my backup Korg N364 because I'd rather have that foreign keyboard stolen that the Roland. It has helped my music a great deal because hearing new sounds inspires me to create some really great sounding arrangements.

I use the XP-60
The presets are okay but they sound so 1980-ish. I do like the quantisizer. Much easier than the Triton but only in that aspect.
Never had a manual figured it out on my own.

YOu have to literally beat on the thing to get a response.
The effects are not impressive they are down right boring.
I have expanded it only once but the sounds were an improvement but my music still sounded 1983-ish.
The onboard sequencer is easy to use but the MIDI capabilities leave a lot to be desired.

The instruments are terrible, except the guitar sounds and the strings.
It is okay for R&B and hip hop but if the tempo gets more upbeat the sounds take up too much of the mix.
Horrible velocity and aftertouch

No I had a terrible time with the hard drive acting up

Never will buy this or another workstation used. From now on everything new. I have been producing since 1995 and I own Pro tools Le.
I hated that I bought it used and the difficulty with saving and transfering data.
I wish it sampled.
It helped me to be more skillful in my music making.
So when I purchase my Roland Fantom X6 it will be as easy as breathing.

One of the most overrated synths of all time (with its small brother xp-60)
Presets are objectively do not sound like a synth of this price range. %80 of the presets sound like a GM sound card and the remaining %20 are too much spacy. With spacy I mean, they occupy too much space in a mix. And for me, this is not good.
Editing is the standart Roland GUI (jd-990, jv-5080 etc.)
I didn't read the manual.

64 poly but the keyboard action is unexpectedly bad. I remember playing D-50 years ago and even that synth had better playing pleasure than xp-80.
Built in effects are easy to use to a degree, but there is nothing so exciting here. Standart reverb and delay etc.
xp-80 has 4*expansion board capability. This expansion board 'thing' (each of which cost about 400 $, listened 5 of them, and they do not sound THAT good as the previous revievers claim ) is Roland's shame IMHO.
One weakness about aftertouch: You have to break your fingers to hear the aftertouch effect. I call it 'coincident aftertouch'.
I don't use onboard sequencers since last century.

This is the point where xp-80 is very weak.
When you pay 1000++ $ to a used or new synth, you expect an 'originality' an 'exotic pleasure' a 'charisma' from your instrument. xp-80 sounds has none. Sounds cannot be told by words, so give it a listen somewhere: terrible.

Solid.

I have sold it. The sounds on this board, to be precise, the 'tone' of this board offered me nothing.
I do own : GEM S2, Novation KS-5, Kurzweil K2Svx, E-mu Proteus and XL-1.

I do not know what software versions it is.Bought it in 1999.The presets are not out of this world but usable.roland always have sounds that will fit well in a mix.The manual like any other from Roland is very intense.

64 notes polyphony, more than enough for me.The built in effects are not so bad. Room for 4 expansion boards.All the midi controls you want.In the beguinning we used the sequencer a lot (before we had a computer).Very easy to use after only a few times.We used to record music for ballet and dance schools so we found that adjusting the time playback was very useful( songs recorded could not be longer than 3 minutes)

How are the sounds? Again this is a Roland.You get sounds that will blen well in a mix.We used it as a sound module to play back midi files and it never let us down.This is not a piano so don't expect the same touch.This is a synth, very good touch for that.The sound are Roland,you either like them or not.

Thi keyboard was banged around,followed us for all our gigs for the last 5 years and always performed without a flaw.

Did not have to deal with roland.After 10 month the display went. Brought it back to the deaker and it was fixed within 48 hours. Just a loose soldering.

If it was lost or stolen I would get another one right this minute.We use it on stage all the time. We have our midi files now playing through a laptop( Sonar 2.2 XL)using Edirol SD 80 for sound module.Compared it price for price when I bought it an nothing came close with all the features this one had.We use it in midi with the sound module(over 1000 sounds)so we don't really need expansion board.Anyway it,s one instrument that we keep using and using.

Presets: okey not bad.
editing: I find it compicated, small LCD and small Fonts.
Manual; it's not a manual, it's a book.

User, presets,A,B&C are okey but the midi parts are not that good.
the general midi sounds are like nintendo.

Sound have good quality, but some of it has too much synth sounds, which is not really nessesary for musicians. too mush cursor to go.
hope they simlify it in the future.

Not the xp80 100% unreliable, because glue are melting out from the keys, and weights are falling apart. so my keys are stuck together. obusely you can't play it. so you need to open it and clean it up, again & again. they wont fix it for you coz the warranty is over.

They try to help you, but not really.

Think twice, before buying this. your fingers might be glued together with the keys.