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 replaced mono sample layers with stereo sample layers, and switched from 32kHz to 44.1kHz sampling.
JV series synths are expandable with SR-JV80 series expansion boards.
Models overview
Notable models
- Roland JV-80 (keyboard) and JV-880 (module) - first models, based on the same technology used in the Roland SC-55.
- 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-90 - 76-key version of the Roland JV-80.
- Roland JV-1000 - 76-key version of the Roland JV-80 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.
- 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.
Very unusual models
- Roland XP-10 - budget version of the Roland JV-80. Features extra preset banks(?).
- Roland JV-50 and Roland JV-35 - JV-branded keyboards, but with a Roland GS-compliant tone generator similar to the Roland SC-55, rather than a JV series synth 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.