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.

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Gazpacho

Posted 226 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 324 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.

Skandalo

Posted 387 days ago

Some sounds I couldn't find in the XP-30 were the classic organ sounds of the B3 or B4.
Who has some decent ones that can share?
It will be appreciated.

Paco

Posted 401 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.

jb

Posted 437 days ago

I agree, my best friend has one almost 9 years and he loves it !

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