To answer the previous question, you do not have to have a memory card to save sounds from the vintage board, it writes them to the memory slots your specify. You can load one at a time or a whole bank. This process is the same for the JV 880, which is where I load my vintage board presets.
As for the 990. I just sold my JD800 because I was tired of it. I got a 990 as a consolation, thinking that it was just a rack version of the 800. Boy was I wrong!! It has every single sound from the JD800 only they are all played back with the amazing 4 pole filters which makes them sound punchier than they ever did on the JD800. This synth is one of the best synths I've ever heard, period. Almost EVERY preset is completely usable in some musical context. Not only that, but this box has become my new 'bread and butter' sounds whereas the JV880 used to be that. Well, I popped the vintage expansion card from Roland into the JV880 and it is now my 'catch-all' analog sound source and the 990 is the do everything box. I can't say enough about this thing. I find myself just playing and playing this thing, getting inspiration, then the next thing I know I'm tracking a new song. It's that inspiring. It is as fat as any synth I've heard this side of an Oberheim OBX-A. But it's just as punchy, and the oscillators are stable and the polyphony is greater. I have not gotten into programming yet but I'm looking forward to it. This is a special synth, forget retro-analog boxes. Get this and a Roland Vintage expansion board and you've just covered 85% of your analog needs right there. Can't beat it.
Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Monday-Nov-14-2011 at 14:35
robber byker
a hobbyist user
from uk
writes:
do i need a memory card to save/ load in the the Vintage synth expansion card sounds ? i can load one sound in ata time but it is only temporary and wil disappear when you change patch .. only had the synth for a day and its driving me mad! waht am i missing?
Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Saturday-Nov-12-2011 at 16:00
scaught
a hobbyist user
from USA
writes:
Just get the final eproms (operating system) from roland and pop them in and voila,,, no more bugs! Still available from Roland.
Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Thursday-Apr-01-2010 at 00:58
Tom
from Switzerland
writes:
Dont know why people selling this for a handfull bugs, just to buy another virtual crap. I bought my first one a month ago on ebay after using a JV 1080 a couple of years. The sonic qualities of the JD-990 are just amazing, far beyond the (superb) JV's as Luca mentioned in the master review. This is the outstanding studio sound I ever wanted! The only cons is the limited voice architecture (24 voices). But this is no reason to rate this machine lower than 5. Just an hour ago I bought my 2nd one :-) Now I have one with "Vintage SR-JV04" expansion and one with "World SR-JV05" expansion and the Techno soundset of SOR (www.sounds-of-revolution.com). And with Sysex-mapping on Logic I could easy remap PG-1000 (D50 programer) sliders to the JD-990 (what a fun, like having an extended JD800!). No doubt, this IS a classic and maybe some day I'll get my 3rd one. There is nothing to compare with it. Dont wait! Get one!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Friday-Oct-07-2005 at 07:16
neven dayvid
a professional user
from berlin
writes:
i bought one just to try it out (w/vintage expansion, and for a very reasonable price), but didn´t expect i´d like it this much. as a user of vco-type old analogue synths, i wouldn´t say it sounds like real analogue with all the quirks and grit. i once owned an mks-70 but sold it because of its coldish dco sound. this module imho shouldn´t be judged as a preset synth / analogue imitator. it should be loved because it sounds very right in its own way, and i don´t care how it generates its sounds...it shines when used for unobtrusive warm background textures and strings, but you can also make absolutely stunning modular patches that sound very clean and expensive. i actually like its halfway anlogue-digital sound, it enriches my palette. sometimes i don´t understand the stupidity of the market, like you can buy sth like this in mint condition for the price of a softsynth...
Rating: 5 out of 5
posted Saturday-May-07-2005 at 16:25
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