Roland JV series
The Roland JV series is a line of PCM ROM sample-based (ROMpler) synthesizers, mostly in sound module form, produced by Roland from 1992 onwards. While containing similar underlying synthesis technology to the prosumer Roland Sound Canvas series, they target a more professional market, with most models being full-width rack units, and having a focus on high-quality, fully-editable multi-layer synth patches and expandability, and less of a focus on multitimbrality. Some units have basic General MIDI support, but not Roland GS support.
The Roland XP line of synthesizers are keyboard versions of later JV modules, they are included here as they largely share the same technology.
It was succeeded by the Roland XV series, which introduces stereo tones, a new expansion standard, more on-board effects and waveforms.
JV series synths are expandable with SR-JV80 series expansion boards, Roland SO-PCM1 series expansion cards, and some keyboards are further expandable using V-Expansion technology (detailed below).
Models overview
Notable models
- Roland JV-880 - first model, based on the same technology used in the Roland SC-55. Has a keyboard model as well.
- Roland JV-1080 - most famous JV sound module, it greatly expands the feature set of the original models.
- Roland JV-2080 - enhanced JV-1080, adding an extra bank and 4 extra SR-JV80 slots.
- Roland JV-1010 - 1 unit tall, half-width, cost-reduced version of the JV-2080 with minimal front panel controls, limited connectivity, and only one expansion slot, but with the Session expansion built-in.
Keyboard models
- Roland JV-80 - Keyboard version of the JV-880.
- Roland JV-90 - 76-key version of the Roland JV-80, with added waveforms, and added V-Expansion spot for use with a VE-JV1 to expand polyphony, or VE-GS1 to add Roland SC-50 level GS support.
- Roland JV-1000 - Version of the Roland JV-90 with a built-in Roland MC-50mkII sequencer.
- Roland XP-80 and XP-60 - 76-key and 61-key versions of the Roland JV-2080, features built-in sequencers. Limited to 4 SR-JV80 slots.
- Roland XP-50 - 76-key version of the Roland JV-1080, with a built in sequencer. Replaced by the XP-60.
- Roland XP-30 - 61-key version of the Roland JV-1080. No sequencer, would have included 3 SR-JV80 boards when bought new - Session, Techno and Orchestra.
GS-based models
These models use a Roland GS-compliant tone generator similar to the Roland SC-55, rather than a JV80 or JV1080-compatible engine. This makes them radically different to other JV series synths in their base configuration. They can however be upgraded with a VE-JV1 expansion board, which contains a JV-80-like synth engine, making them more like other JV synths, but they still can't use SR-JV80 expansion boards.
- Roland JV-50 and Roland JV-35. This keyboard's GS tone generator has 226 normal instruments and 9 (or 8? manual contradicts itself) drumkits, consistent with the Roland SC-50 (no Roland CM-64 banks).
- Roland XP-10. This keyboard's GS tone generator also lacks the Roland CM-64 banks, but it adds a lot of extra instruments and extra kits.