Roland JV-880

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Roland JV-880

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W × H × D (mm)	482 × 45 × 358 (JV-880) 990 × 85 × 305 (JV-80)
Rack units	1U, full width
Weight	4.2 kg (JV-880) 9.0 kg (JV-80)
Type	Fully-editable ROMpler sound module
Keyboard	61 keys (JV-80 only)
Manufacturer	Roland
Release date	1992
Standards	None
Parts	7 parts + 1 rhythm
Max polyphony	28
Normal presets	192 (total) 128 (preset, 2 banks of 64 patches) 64 (user)
Drum presets	3 (total) 2 (preset, 1 for each bank) 1 (user)
Expansion	1× SR-JV80 PCM Card Slot SO-PCM1 DATA Card Slot M256E / 512E PN-JV80
Effects	Reverb (8 types), Chorus (3 types)
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The Roland JV-880 is a module released in 1992 by Roland, and it, along with the JV-80 keyboard version, are the first synths to bear the JV moniker. It is also the first synth to feature many of the JV's and later XV's feature set, expansion capabilities and a lot of the sound engine features as well. It also has an emulated version available via Nuked-SC55, requiring the appropriate ROM files to work correctly, but otherwise offering the same capabilities as a real unit with a high level of accuracy.

This article mainly covers the rackmount module, as both it and the keyboard are very similar, save for the dimension, size, and input differences that are expected (which will be noted accordingly).

Unlike the successors - namely the JV-1080 and beyond - this synth is quite limited. It only features 28 voice polyphony, only 1 SR-JV80 expansion slot, no EFX or MFX of any kind (limited to only the on-board reverb and chorus), a very limited selection of presets and performances (only 64 patches, 16 performances and 1 drum preset per bank, which would all be doubled in the JV-1080 and later), and only 129 waveforms to choose from, not counting expansions. As a result, nowadays it is not a very sought-out model, but it does have some patches exclusive to it not present (but can be recreated or possibly imported, if desired) on later JV and XV synths.

Differences to the JV-1080

• There is no MFX unit - the only effects on board are the reverb unit and the chorus unit.
• The synthesis engine is simpler.
  • There are no structures available. Everything behaves like the JV-1080's Structure 1, which passes through each part and mixes them together.
  • There is an additional setting for resonance which lets you set its mode to "Soft" or "Hard". This on the JV-880 limits the maximum resonance and gives a more fine control over the resonance, as the resonance control still ranges from 0 to 127.
  • Equivalent settings on the XV (and, presumably, on the JV-1080 series as well) are a maximum of 44 for the "Soft" setting, and a maximum of 88 for the "Hard" setting. While this means that the JV-880 has approximately 2.8x greater range up to 44 on soft, or 1.4x greater range up to 88 on hard, it also means there is no access to resonance settings higher than that.
• There are only 8 total parts available - 7 tones plus 1 rhythm. The JV-1080 adds 8 extra parts and allows any part to be either a patch or drum part.
• The JV-1080 has General MIDI compatibility while the JV-880 does not.

Oddities

• Owners of the keyboard version, or those who are seeking a keyboard model out, should be aware of the red epoxy issue that could potentially damage the unit.
• In order to use patches or performances from an expansion board, one is required to copy the patch into the internal memory/a data card first. There is no separate memory space only used for expansion cards like there is on the JV-1080 and later.