Vintage Synth Explorer

Roland • XP-30

The XP-30 is a 64-voice Expandable Synthesizer that offered all of the great sounds of the XP and JV series at a more affordable price tag than previous XP-synths. Roland's XP-80 was a flagship workstation in its time, but by reducing the keyboard down to a standard 61 key (with velocity and aftertouch), elimination of the on-board sequencer, and fewer expansion card slots, the XP-30 was able to offer the XP-experience at a price within reach of serious musicians at any level.

The XP-30 does retain the XP-series synthesis architecture and all the world-renowned sound sets of the acclaimed XP-80 workstation, plus all the waveforms from the "Session", "Orchestral", and "Techno" expansion cards. It adds, however, a boat-load more patch storage than its more famous predecessors: there are 1,406 patches and 28 drum kits. Fortunately there is a Patch Finder and Phrase Preview for quick navigation and sound selection. Besides the two expansion slots for installing the SR-JV80-Series expansion boards, a SmartMedia card slot provides additional storage capability. Plenty of controls and four assignable Sound Palette sliders let you get deep into editing and programming its sounds.

VISITOR COMMENTS (7)

Comments page 2 of 2

Click here to add a comment

Your Name:

Email Address:

Image verification:

Message:

Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

Caesar

Posted 199 days ago

Cute board loaded with patches. Honestly, 10% of them [beep] but this is still much better then Roland's end of the century competitors and there is a lot to choose and edit from :) I like pads, synths, orchestral board, some leads and strings. Loops [beep] because they are there and can't be edited. Regarding sounds, first thing I did was turning the reverb off since it made the thing sound fuzzy like some cheap CTK boards for teens. Adding external pro processor improved the sound tremendously. Having a PC editor is also a must since editing ADSR takes too long (don't get misled by the left side sliders). 4mb cards available on Ebay for $70. That is a lot and a card allows you to store only about 60 patches. Keyboard action just like I wanted - not too soft not too hard. The only thing I'd change would be the pitch/modulation stick. It works fine for horizontal pitch but the vertical modulation is far from ok. Otherwise a perfect rompler.

tweekaholic

Posted 204 days ago

Me and many others have produced tracks for about 10 years on the XP-30. It is rock solid and hasn't given me any problems. It has really lightweight keys that allow you to give a lot of aftertouch. You can program your own patches that are outstanding. I never realized how powerful this was until a producer came by the studio one day and showed me how to release the beast in this thing. This is one keyboard I will never get rid of.

Gazpacho

Posted 478 days ago

Apart from not being able to get the 5v smartmedia cards anymore and the occasional MIDI lock-up when turning on external gear, its fab. Expanded with 60/70's keyboards and classic synths..who needs a mellotron?

kardek

Posted 577 days ago

Great Machine! All sounds i need in just one place! Very useful in any genre of music production. The best keyboard of XP series (with more operational resources than xp80) and a great bang for the buck! Thats it.

Paco

Posted 654 days ago

It was the first synth I ever bought, in 1999. Since then new gear has been added to my studio and unavoidably some synths consigned to oblivion many others, but the incredible amount of sounds of JV series(most of them to die for) made the XP-30 irreplaceable.

<21>