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XP-60 At a Glance
	Released: 1998 \| Specifications User rating: 3.9/5 \| Read reviews (19) Roland News(754) Streaming Video (123)
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Carlos M. Julio Lasnibat writes:

All in all an excellent synth in my opinion. The only thing that disappointed me with this synth was that you can't mix-record while entering notes in step-time. To record another "pass" in step-time, you need to use a different track or pattern and then merge the data with the original track. This isn't very conducive to maintaining the "flow" when you're entering beats in step-time. However, on the upside, it has encouraged me towards more experimentation in mixing step and realtime recording. This may sound like a daft gripe, but I personally like to layer up drum tracks mostly in step time as I find I just work better that way. Others may not have this problem.

I would especially recommend this synth to anyone into techno / drum 'n' bass / electro, etc. There's enough here to keep you interested for ages, if you like to program and experiment. It's not analogue, but what the hell. It sounds just fine to me...

The extra audio outs are a bonus, and the large, graphical display is a nice touch. (I should point out that this board is essentially a 61-key version of the XP-80).

All in all a worthy addition to any midi rig.

Carlos M. Julio Lasnibat WritesEste teclado es la mejor elecciÛn en el rango de las workstations de menos de US$ 2000, gran capacidad de sÌntesis, muy bajo ruido, gran polifonÌa, teclado controlador muy eficiente que puede manejar todos los mensajes midi que quieras con sus sliders completamente asignables. Su interfaz de usuario es muy amigable y f·cil de aprender... tanto que he desechado todos los editores en software que tenÌa. Otros "pros"... Los sonidos de voces y coros son sencillamente deliciosos... lo mismo que sus inumerables PADS y Strings. La mayorÌa de los BAJOS son muy buenos salvo los SLAP BASS que suenan muy despacio... con poco "Punch" Las guitarras elÈctricas son impresionantes, tambien las ac×sticas. Muy buen teclado para cualquier estilo... aunque est· algo cargado a lo ·cido. Cuenta con un modulador de anillo por cada dos voces o sea 2 por patch. Tiene un secuenciador gigante de 60000 notas, igual que el XP-80

Sus contras son pocos... NO es un sampler (obvio) No tiene peso en las teclas (aunque son muy agradables a la ejecuciÛn) Los drumkits son pocos y no muy bien logrados pero con expansiÛnes eso mejora. Algunos sonidos ac×sticos como trompeta sola o violÌn solo suenan muy pl·sticos.. los saxos son feos. Los sonidos de Ûrgano dependen de un buen efecto que no siempre estar· disponible, Lo mismo pasa con los pianos ac×sticos.

Comments About the Sounds:
Generally speaking, I think the XP-60 is a great sounding board. I have the Techno and Vintage Synth boards installed and altogether it comprises a fairly formidable source of sounds. I've heard a lot of griping about waveform based synths, and in many cases it's justified. However, if people would take the time to learn how to program sounds from scratch and get into the guts of their synth, i.e., the filters, lfo's, structures, boosters, ring modulation, etc., they'd be surprised at the amazing sounds waiting to be discovered.

Of course, it's a digital synth, so you don't get perfect replicas of analogue synths. Nevertheless, within a mix most of the "analogue" sounds stand up pretty well, and if you can get to grips with the booster feature some really nasty distorted 303-isms can be wrenched from this thing. The filters are also a little too clean, but again, fiddle around with those filters, boosters, etc., and some very satisfying results can be obtained.

(Thanks to Carlos M. Julio Lasnibat for this info.)
and www.zzounds.com for the pic

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