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Average rating:
4.5 out of 5
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I've had the XP30 for a year. I sold it now because I didn't like the overall sound of the unit. The reason I bought it was that it had to be my B&B synth, providing sounds my other synth's couldn't provide(Yamaha AN1X & FS1R). The quality and of the sounds where good and the amount of patches overwhelming. But I found that the sounds all sounded , shall I say 'compressed', they didn't have the dynamics of my yammies. It's just a personal thing I guess, because most people are blown away by this unit's sounds. The user interface was pretty good and the menu's understandable if you know the basics of the synthesis method. EFX are fair enough. Petty though that it only has one out, because with the amount of sounds aviable, an individual out (or more ) would be nice for some outboard EFX processing. Replaced the unit with an Emu E5K.
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Majority of sounds are clear and well programmed. Synth sound presets are a bit thin, but with some editing, can fatten up nicely. Default organs and electric pianos are pathetic compared to the standard of everything else on the board, however, I bought the Keyboards of the 60's and 70's expansion, and with this filling in the gaps, this synth covers all bases really well. Editing is rather slow from the synth itself, but use software (if it doesn't crash) and this becomes a lot quicker. If you want a synth to cover everything really well, get this and whatever expansions suit you.
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Value for money must be its middle name. You simply get a JV-1080 with 3 exp.boards, a perfectly playing keyboard in an easy to carry machine! I added the 60's&70's board witch is (I believe) the best exp.board arround. Petty you can't rip out the Techno shit to get an extra slot... If anyone has got a World exp. or Vintage synth exp for sale, mail me.
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The XP30 is the best in its class and price range... period. Most of the sounds in this board are ready to go with little to no editing. I can't say enough good things about the amount and quality of sounds that Roland has put into this board. Sound editing takes a bit of getting used to, but the unit ships with Sound Diver software. The acoustic instruments are among the best quality that I have heard in a non-sampler synth. The only instrument class that suffers in this unit is drums. I am a big drum fan and for the amount of sounds that are in this board, I would have like to see more drum kits (at least twice as much). I'm not sure what Roland was thinking here. Aren't these the same folks who set the standard for electronic drum sounds with their 808 and 909's? Bizarre! Other than that, the XP30 is a wonderful board and will find use in many setup types. Also, coming from a full-size, weighted keys background, the smaller keybed has taken a while to get used to, but its still a pleasure to have this synth.
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If you like the JV/XP line of Roland Equipment you'll have no complaints with the XP-30. It has a lot of features for users who use off-board sequencers. Sound quality is good, and there are many patches to choose. This keyboard is a good solution for my purposes, and has enough variety onboard if my musical tastes ever change. About the only negative thing I can say about it is that the keys are a little bit narrower than the standard, and there is no seperate pitch and modulation wheels-it's a combination wheel/slider. This could be a positive for someone who gigs because the case leaves a smaller footprint, and is very lightweight. Roland did cut a few corners to bring the price under $1000.00US, and I would rate it best over any other general midied synths under $1000.00. But, if you look at synths that are between $1000-2000 the XP-30 gets beat out by several synths-including ones from Roland.
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