Having spent over an year with my JD-XA, I've come to quite a different conclusion than Nick briefly described the filters of this absolutely wonderful synthesizer: In fact, a French reviewer once wrote in a French magazine somewhat like as follows, and I strongly agree with him: "…Roland spoils us by giving us the choice between a 4-pole low-pass filter to OTA type (Juno/JP/Jupiter 8), a 4-pole low-pass transistor ladder type (Moog), and a 2-pole low-pass/band-pass/high-pass type (SEM). These filters are extremely good, and each of the 3 filters is very distinctive from each other if you listen to them by moving the controller knobs very, very carefully: the LPF-1 respects the signal when the resonance is pushed, and it is undeniably Roland, which is a very good thing. The LPF-2 crushes a little in a very pleasant musical way, and it passes faster to the self-oscillation than the LPF-1, with a very different coloration. The LPF-3 starts in self-oscillation in a wild, completely uninhibited way, oscillating into all directions as soon as it reaches self-oscillation with a yet very different coloration. These filters are frankly one of the highlights of the JD-XA, in addition to a very flexible oscillator section." In fact, if you have spent quite some time with the JD-XA, you may start feeling that the filters of other analog synthesizers such as the Prophet-6 and the OB-6 to be a little too safe and too sterile. (Yes, I have Prophet-6 and OB-6 to compare side by side, as well as Prophet Rev2 (the notorious Curtis Filter on a chip) and Prophet X (David Rossum's new analog chip SSI2144), plus MatrixBrute (Steiner Parker filter and Moog-style filter), Moog Voyager XL, etc.)
Do you think the Prophet X is worth it over the JD-XA - are they quite similar in terms of features and sound sources? They both seem to mix samples with subtractive synthesis in a hands creative way. The JD-XA can be had for 1/3rd of the price though.
@@MadelnMachines JD-XA doesn't mix samples. It's analogue and digital virtual analogue. It's more comparable to the Korg Prologue. In my opinion I'd say the JD-XA wins in the filter shoot out and the sequencer on the JD-XA seems to have enough steps to do far more than the Prologues arpeggiator but the Prologue has more voices so you don't need to worry about voice stealing especially with the 16 voice version. The digital oscillator is open source so developers are constantly developing the sound, and the effects on the Prologue in my opinion just about beat the JD-XA. That said if you can get a JD-XA for a good price it's a very good synth in my opinion. I love it's analogue sound. Roland did a great job with the oscillators. Very under-rated but in the right hands it would surprise a lot of the synth snobs. The Prophet X is a totally different beast. High quality samples of real instruments going through analogue filters as well as having analogue synthesis. TBH I didn't appreciate it at first but after seeing and hearing what some good musicians have done with it I do appreciate it now. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses but if you know how to use them to their strengths all 3 are great polyphonic synthesizers.
Very informing and interesting. I just purchased the JD-XA and will look at those filters and differences in color. So if LPF1 is the Roland, Which is the Moog and SEM filters? LPF2 the Moog? and son on. This is a great feature as you say. I am impressed with how Roland analog section on this synth sounds. I will compare it to bass coming from my Studio Electronics SE1X. I suspect they will be close and now I can compare LPF2 and LPF 3 which are the Moog and SEM filters that I can select on my SE1X for comparison.
Quite underrated from my experience. I have owned one for over a year now and its quite the deep synth once you dig in and capable of far more than a cursory glance over would indicate.
Nick, please consider doing a video of whatever length tickles your fancy (though longer = better) of you just playing this thing. It sounds fantastic and your playing really shows what this thing is capable of. You can get Gaz in on it too if you want.
I think Roland are getting back on track. Though maybe not a visible color, it certainly looks great in red and black, rather than a very unpopular neon green. With RGB becoming so popular, it won't be long for that. Congrats to all who criticized Roland as a maker of ROMplers, etc. They eventually listened and responded to you.
To be honest, the other synth (System 8) Looks way better to me, I like green much and this red is so agressive... not really nice. And unfortuneatly both have these glossy,sensitive surface. DM12 Looks nice but Little bit menu diving... but when it Comes to Sound... I am not sure atm.
No problem with the design, the fingerprints and dust are exaggerated by the video lights. I've had an FA-08 for the past year that looks as shiny and new as the day I opened it. Clean hands before practicing, cover at night, don't look at it under video lights and you'll be happy as a clam.
No one wanted this about 7 years ago so I got it on a clearance sale and I love the analog/digital crossover-ness of it. The interface is partly very knob per function and immediate, but once you try to go deeper it can get fiddly. The good news is that once you memorise the peculiar workflow it becomes more seamless.
I finally got this thing after 4 months of waiting. It is an incredible sound sculpting engine. It's menu driven operating system is a bit cumbersome to use. Just touching the knobs or sliders brings up parametric values (on the display) which is nice. This instrument requires practice to get proficient with however. Quality of construction is good. I hope it is a success. $2200 retail in U.S.
I'm sold. Despite the issues, I'm not buying anything else for the next few months until this is in my hands. Great review of the analog, Nick, really looking forward to the next installments. Now, back to my Xi!
I just got my two XAs - both have the LPF3 behaviour as in the video. So either it 'behaves as designed' or Roland were misleading Nick saying it was only evident on pre-production models...
ollilaboratories dude, I played with one and the modulated pads it could do blew me away. It's a steep price though, but at least you get what you pay for.
The analogue section of this synth, has many similarities to the old Yamaha CS30 (1977-1979) especially the modulation that is available. it even sounds a quite like it. It's like Roland looked at a CS30 and said how can we
The shiny surface is annoying, especially under lights, but not a huge deal once you get used to the interface. Keep one of those tablet-cleaning cloths handy. Like you, I found myself squinting a bit to see labels on the controls in the darker room for the Roland preview at summer NAMM. But the individual controls are lit, which is really nice for tweaking under low light, once you know what control is what. But it sounds fantastic. It's really nice to see Roland doing something new and interesting here. Great review and demo.
Pete Brown Indeed, I'm thinking, nothing a skin couldn't fix, maybe styleflip will do one. If I end up getting ones of these, I will buy a skin pretty much straight away.
H4NDCRAFTED Synthgraphics did some for the TR-8. The one for this would be huge, but I bet he could do something nice. Maybe Jupiter 8 style or something. The nice thing is they'd have more of a matte finish, cutting way back on glare and fingerprints. synthgraphics.com/Roland-TR8-TR808-TR909.html
Pete Brown Apple and I hear a couple of others, even Microsoft, are selling mobile phones that suffer from this to an even larger extent and it seems they've been "pretty" successful at it ;)
bitleyTM It's very simple to wipe a flat screen and clean it up. Takes me a couple seconds with a microfiber cloth. Cleaning up a surface that is full of knobs, buttons, and screens, is perfectly doable, it'll just take more time.
I ordered a JD-XA back in April. I wonder what the final product will be like. One suspects their engineers are looking at pre production complaints and will fix some of these seeming minor problems. Am looking foreward to it's release none the less. Thanks for the best demo I've seen to date on this product. Kudos.
This synthesizer has a great design, but I don't want to `dig in` for years to create one beautiful sound... I want to play and create sounds in much easier way. And Korg Kronos is the BEST choice for me.
Hope to see a combination of the analog and the digital parts in the next review. In itself the analog section is good, but not great. I'm guessing the power of this synth lies in combining the Analog and Digital parts together. So I'm curious to see how the two engines complement each other.
I think the analog part sounds really good, but only 4 voices are not enough.. If it had at least 6 voices, I would buy one in a minute.. Cmon roland, build a 5 octave 8 voice version, just with the analog part..
Garnomala He puts it on a stand so that when Future Music do a "Hardwell's Studio" feature you can see he has one. Also serves as a place to stand his coffee cup.
Things learned from watching these videos: it is really easy to make really annoying sounds :P But it is really informative to watch, really enjoy it. Love how knowledgable the presenter is :)
Being a long time JV afficionado I am wondering if the digital section has expanded on the JV's Structure editing possibilities; the JV1080/2080/XP80 etc has 10 structures with ringmod and "boost". These functions are awesome for creating DX7 & SY77-like FM modulations with samples modulating samples or sinewaves modulating sinewaves etc. I've been getting back to my XP80 lately to just get some jaw-dropping experiences toying with this; it can easily create CZ- and TX 4-op "mallet" sounds and much more. I think this is a good example of Roland equipment being so much more than what meets the eye at first look. It's just weird that people refer to this synth range as "romplers" when they're really extremely flexible synthesizers in their own right. I've also been able to create distorted 303's (without using effects) & convincing, continously modulating PWM stuff. So if this has been thought of and maybe even expanded, excitement awaits… :) Goes without saying, any serious synthesist with the love for gear should pick up the JV synths again now that they're going for peanuts. Menu diving is actually fun! ;)
Spent 3 hours with this thing at a DJ store after having watched many UA-cam vids. I was really intrigued to see it and experiment with it in the flesh. First impression was that it looked beautiful in the flesh and was larger than I expected (compared to the jd-Xi).Very frustrating/ disappointing to start with... But... When you figure it out, how to edit the individual analogue voices, and how to tap into the 450 digital tones and really layer all the voices it is seriously impressive. I'm no expert on sequencers (re the negative feedback), but in my opinion worth the purchase for the gorgeous multi timbal pad/ string/ mechanical clatter sounds and the arpeggiator. You could produce some beautiful music with this thing if it's full potential is harnessed. I think this review is harsh and underrates it.
(another thing you can mention is that the JD-Xi and JD-XA are Roland's first analog synths since the MKS80 and the JX10 which I believe were the last ones marketed up until 1988 or something like that - I think they were in the brochure Roland Keyboards 10 (which also featured D-10/D-20 etc) - have it somewhere...)
Finally picked one of these up and I LOVE that crazy third filter. I use that one the most. But I like more gnarly, or "nasty" as Starsky would probably say, sounds. I don't expect Roland to return to analog so this might very well be their last for a while. It's not particularly big or beefy and the filters are rather dull compared to the One, Matriarch, Pro 2, etc but that's not what this synth does best. I find this weirdo to be best for ugly sounds. Yeah, it has all those "super saw" presets but I've heard all that more times than I need to. I like this synth for what it is. One preset with a possible 20 oscillators, 16 filters, 20 lfos, 48? egs, effects, ring mods, cross mods, arps, etc. Pretty nutty. The analog polyphony does not bother me at all. I far prefer to make 4 totally different analog parts and arrange them on the keybed in a far more interesting 4 note paraphonic setup. The menu diving is definitely the most annoying for me. The glossy finish looks 100 years old after 2 days of dust but I kind of love the look. It looks like Gary Numan - Telekon.
I actually liked that weird 12db filter sound. Similar to what I get from the doepfer Wasp filter. I would be nice if you could still get that, but maybe just at the end of the gain, or maybe with full Drive.
Love how Analog is wanted in a digital world, just shows how things always come back around and nothing is new. It looks digital but the sound is lovely warm deep analog, I just need the cash ;-)
havent heard the digital part yet. analog part sounds nice though, but - sadly - the filter has the same issue other analog filters have these days: cranking up the resonance immediatly leads to a more and more disappearing lowend. i dont know why they dont counter this effect. to date - for recent machines - i just found that elektron addressed this on the analog four/analog keys. i dunno how much this synth will cost but i guess it wont be cheap, so ... i hope that roland addresses the loss of lowend when you turn up the resonance. the idea of combining both isnt new but this synth seems more attractive to me and i guess its still cheaper than dave smiths variant
you say the digital works in paraphonic as there are more digital voices than analog. but you are still able to use 2 analog DCO's and 1 digital Oscillator in a 4 voice mode yes? (digital aspect just acting as a third oscillator on each of the 4 voices?) thanks for the wonderful video nick.
***** Hi Flux, yes it is possible, but you will need to edit the digital voice to have a long release if you want to have long release on both as post analog filter it routes through the VCA envelope. Also, if you route digital voices through the VCF, the digital part does not sound via its own part - if that makes sense?
Thanks for the review Nick, nice sounding synth. However, in the next part, could you explain a little more around the sequencer? I bought a JD-Xi recently, and the sequencer is very underwhelming in the lack of an event editor. (Yeah, I know it's a cheap device.) I miss the hardware sequencer of my old W-30.
My goodness, if the Roland JD-XI had just one more analog and 1 or 2 more digital synth parts, with maybe a couple more drum and synth/instrument sounds, I would never use another stand alone drum machine/synth again. It would be awsome if Roland would make a Roland JD-XI 2. I would get it in a heartbeat...SBN RESONATE
Very interesting hardware. Here's what I think from looking at this new digitally flavoured analogue synth. I do like the manual style interface. Dislike all red lights. It should let users choose. I'd prefer blue or green. The pure analogue sound shaping blocks are exciting, although I couldn't really tell from the video, apart from presets, it takes a bit to get them sound the way you want. Also, you are right about the display... real shame on this type of hardware. Without sounding (lol) overly un-optimistic, I will only guess, this is just another mid type synthesizer that's out right now, while Roland keeps perking their R&D department busy figuring things for their next flagship workstation (here's really hoping). I'd love to see this type of synthesizer, sitting down alongside my FantomG in the near future. Something with at least 16 tracks of pure analogue heaven (it is 2015, isn't it), with individual effects per track (Supernova had MORE than one per track, right?), or maybe just something totally different with 64 tracks and massive DSP power. I know I'm reaching a bit, but since a lot of music nowadays is being done on a computer, buying a synthesizer workstation should make you harmoniously feel like you can actually physically accomplish something awesome, and better, playing keys than moving your mouse around your screen, and picking randomly generated stuff. Again, here's hoping.
Great demo. I'd love to hear a bit more about how saving/loading presets works. I like being able to have a few different ideas readily available without button pressing x number of times to get to the right preset.
Two oscillator configuration (with cross modulation), similar to Jupiter 8? Could we say that this is actually (not 100%) recreated Jupiter 8 with added digital part? If so, wouldn't it be a better move and also the way to justify the price better, if they reissued Jupiter 8, with added new features - say Jupiter 8X? Instead, many people are repelled by the design, and I was as well at first - it took me a while to realise that this is a wonderful synth. If it was designed like Jupiter 8, I would be sold at sight.
Hi Nick, I was thinking of picking one fo these up and so revisited your review... and I live that patch you put together toward the end when you add the FX. Reminds me of an old Roland patch called potties pixie from the fantom family but sound so much nicer on the jdxa. Can you roughly remember how you constructed it, I’m somewhere near but just can’t just seem to get the envelope/lfo right. Trying to recreate on ultranova.
Sounds fantastic. It sounds really good, especially the filters, love how the 12db broke up and freaked out. Pity about the keyboard. $2200 for something without polyphonic aftertouch... and a synth engine that will respond to it... Bizarre. I guess why put it on there if the end result is just going to be compressed and hard limited to 0.0001 db dynamic range anyway, right? Always enjoy these videos though. Thanks for making them.
Excellent review as always! I'm really looking forward to the review of the digital side, because I can't really find much specification on this unit's implementation of the supernatural engine... The JD-XI seems to have PCM, but this doesn't (which would be fine, but)... I see that "Variation" wave, and I'm wondering if there are a bunch of wavetables beyond just the standard waves (and whether they are real modulatable wavetables or just different waves), or whether the digital side is only standard waves.
$2,199 street price. Yikes. It sounds decent, but that's ambitious pricing. And the red/black theme looks too much like the interior of a 1980's Pontiac.
Jason Leder Right? I thought the same thing about the price (and still do). I mean, the Prophet 6 is a discrete 6 voice VCO poly, and is selling for only $600 more. They are two different beasts, but still, I'd think a discrete 6 voice synth would cost a lot more to produce than a non-discrete 4 voice one that probably doesn't even use VCOs and includes a digital synth engine. The JD-XA does seem really cool, but the pricing doesn't seem right at all
slipknotboy555 Yep. I keep thinking that my Prophet 12 only cost me a few hundred bucks more than the Roland. While they aren't directly compatible, the P12 has more than 4 voices of polyphony, a MUCH nicer screen and what looks to be a better editing workflow, doesn't hurt one's eyes and was built right down the street from me in San Francisco. I'm sure that the Roland is a nice piece, and is fun to play around with, but it seems lacking from a value perspective. That said, it's great to see Roland dipping a toe back into the analog synth world, even if the products aren't immediately something I would put on my want list. The more the merrier!
Thank you for the review. I think you have the best reviews on you tube. I just have a question: Can you compare it with the Sequential Prophet 6? Are they similar, or they are apples and oranges? Thanks again.
Hello, can we find out, we still didn't understand, you can play them regardless of the computer, laptop, sequencers, programs on the xa rolonda roland jd-ha
I must be a bit thick today but I still don't get the structure of the analog part. Does the XA have four independent voices with two oscillators, a filter and envelopes per voice that can be adressed seperatedly or is it just two oscillators that can be played with up to four-voice polyphony?
as it turns out, a bunch of people are quite enjoying the sound of this synth.. but i thought the low frequencies sounded really strange. is it just me?
Good gawd it's ugly and the individual voices didn't wow me, but when played polyphonic ally it sounds wonderful. Can't stand the filter and res knobs and the red lights ... But I'm super interested in the digital aspects being modulation sources and what destinations there are.
LFOs MIDI/sequencer clock syncable? Shiny knob-top look hard to see in stage conditions.. even once you learn to use it by motor memory, you still have to see the setting.
So when you use multiple voices on the analog territory, can you have a different cutoff for each voice, or is it the same for each voice? The same for other controls, such as LFO settings, etc.? What can you do with velocity and aftertouch for analog? I like the sound of the effects. I'm not crazy about the fingerprint-happy panel. :(
What the different in the digital part compared to the Integra 7? The poliphony Iam sure, but how many patches we get? Supernatural synth tones? Can You do a bit deeper review on the digital part?
I have heard lots of people talk about the layering, but I am curious about splitting. Can you show some of the options for splitting between analog and digital parts?
Fruity Audio Have a Yamaha DM1000 digital desk, which goes into the Video Capture card at +4dB. I had to crank the line inputs due to the issue I described with the multi-mode filter.
God I hate how it looks but some REALLY great tones there Nick! Thank you! Great to see an Amp ADSR Env. there too! Wow - 4 voice analog & the voices from the Integra7... whats not to like! :-) Can the Integra7s iPad editor be used (or hopefully there is one coming for this)?
For the digital part review, I'd be glad to have some information about the available waveforms apart from the typical saw and square types. Are there PCM waves for bread and butter sounds or is this Maschine basically an analogue / VA hybrid?
Having spent over an year with my JD-XA, I've come to quite a different conclusion than Nick briefly described the filters of this absolutely wonderful synthesizer: In fact, a French reviewer once wrote in a French magazine somewhat like as follows, and I strongly agree with him: "…Roland spoils us by giving us the choice between a 4-pole low-pass filter to OTA type (Juno/JP/Jupiter 8), a 4-pole low-pass transistor ladder type (Moog), and a 2-pole low-pass/band-pass/high-pass type (SEM). These filters are extremely good, and each of the 3 filters is very distinctive from each other if you listen to them by moving the controller knobs very, very carefully: the LPF-1 respects the signal when the resonance is pushed, and it is undeniably Roland, which is a very good thing. The LPF-2 crushes a little in a very pleasant musical way, and it passes faster to the self-oscillation than the LPF-1, with a very different coloration. The LPF-3 starts in self-oscillation in a wild, completely uninhibited way, oscillating into all directions as soon as it reaches self-oscillation with a yet very different coloration. These filters are frankly one of the highlights of the JD-XA, in addition to a very flexible oscillator section." In fact, if you have spent quite some time with the JD-XA, you may start feeling that the filters of other analog synthesizers such as the Prophet-6 and the OB-6 to be a little too safe and too sterile. (Yes, I have Prophet-6 and OB-6 to compare side by side, as well as Prophet Rev2 (the notorious Curtis Filter on a chip) and Prophet X (David Rossum's new analog chip SSI2144), plus MatrixBrute (Steiner Parker filter and Moog-style filter), Moog Voyager XL, etc.)
Shinji S. Yamamoto interesting comment there mate
Do you think the Prophet X is worth it over the JD-XA - are they quite similar in terms of features and sound sources? They both seem to mix samples with subtractive synthesis in a hands creative way. The JD-XA can be had for 1/3rd of the price though.
@@MadelnMachines JD-XA doesn't mix samples. It's analogue and digital virtual analogue. It's more comparable to the Korg Prologue. In my opinion I'd say the JD-XA wins in the filter shoot out and the sequencer on the JD-XA seems to have enough steps to do far more than the Prologues arpeggiator but the Prologue has more voices so you don't need to worry about voice stealing especially with the 16 voice version. The digital oscillator is open source so developers are constantly developing the sound, and the effects on the Prologue in my opinion just about beat the JD-XA. That said if you can get a JD-XA for a good price it's a very good synth in my opinion. I love it's analogue sound. Roland did a great job with the oscillators. Very under-rated but in the right hands it would surprise a lot of the synth snobs.
The Prophet X is a totally different beast. High quality samples of real instruments going through analogue filters as well as having analogue synthesis. TBH I didn't appreciate it at first but after seeing and hearing what some good musicians have done with it I do appreciate it now. All 3 have strengths and weaknesses but if you know how to use them to their strengths all 3 are great polyphonic synthesizers.
Very informing and interesting. I just purchased the JD-XA and will look at those filters and differences in color. So if LPF1 is the Roland, Which is the Moog and SEM filters? LPF2 the Moog? and son on. This is a great feature as you say. I am impressed with how Roland analog section on this synth sounds. I will compare it to bass coming from my Studio Electronics SE1X. I suspect they will be close and now I can compare LPF2 and LPF 3 which are the Moog and SEM filters that I can select on my SE1X for comparison.
In comparison to this Roland synth vs your Matrix Brute, which is the best for Anologue?
Ive had one for a several years and I’ve had 45 roland synths over the years, this one is actually one of my faves.
oh... you can open the Museum of Roland 0_о
@@neocortexlab nope bit i have 28 synths now and half are roland 💃
Quite underrated from my experience. I have owned one for over a year now and its quite the deep synth once you dig in and capable of far more than a cursory glance over would indicate.
One of the best synths I've bought in years. I own 40
The look of it reminds me of the 1966 Batmobile.
😃
Nick, please consider doing a video of whatever length tickles your fancy (though longer = better) of you just playing this thing. It sounds fantastic and your playing really shows what this thing is capable of. You can get Gaz in on it too if you want.
I think Roland are getting back on track. Though maybe not a visible color, it certainly looks great in red and black, rather than a very unpopular neon green. With RGB becoming so popular, it won't be long for that. Congrats to all who criticized Roland as a maker of ROMplers, etc. They eventually listened and responded to you.
To be honest, the other synth (System 8) Looks way better to me, I like green much and this red is so agressive... not really nice. And unfortuneatly both have these glossy,sensitive surface. DM12 Looks nice but Little bit menu diving... but when it Comes to Sound... I am not sure atm.
This synth turned out to be quite incredible. Thank god they never fixed LPF3, it's just insane.
Insane for sure, but thank god it's there!
I just bought my JD-XA! What an amazing machine! The Pads are so much fun. :) Take care, Sam.
I love sincere reviews like this one.
A lot of guitar Magazines or channels feel like mere advertisers compared to this.
Great job!
No problem with the design, the fingerprints and dust are exaggerated by the video lights. I've had an FA-08 for the past year that looks as shiny and new as the day I opened it. Clean hands before practicing, cover at night, don't look at it under video lights and you'll be happy as a clam.
The poly stack 4-voice + FX sound at around 5:00 is amazing. Lush, detailed, interesting, creamy. It's really nice I think.
No one wanted this about 7 years ago so I got it on a clearance sale and I love the analog/digital crossover-ness of it. The interface is partly very knob per function and immediate, but once you try to go deeper it can get fiddly. The good news is that once you memorise the peculiar workflow it becomes more seamless.
I finally got this thing after 4 months of waiting. It is an incredible sound sculpting engine. It's menu driven operating system is a bit cumbersome to use. Just touching the knobs or sliders brings up parametric values (on the display) which is nice. This instrument requires practice to get proficient with however. Quality of construction is good. I hope it is a success. $2200 retail in U.S.
Just ordered mine. Can’t wait to experience this amazing machine. I love customization and this quite the experience!
I'm sold. Despite the issues, I'm not buying anything else for the next few months until this is in my hands. Great review of the analog, Nick, really looking forward to the next installments. Now, back to my Xi!
I just got my two XAs - both have the LPF3 behaviour as in the video. So either it 'behaves as designed' or Roland were misleading Nick saying it was only evident on pre-production models...
holy smokes... it sounds REALLY good.
ollilaboratories dude, I played with one and the modulated pads it could do blew me away. It's a steep price though, but at least you get what you pay for.
Chris Smout i am so on the fence here, price is way lower than the P6 and it sounds extremely good... But the design is so weird ;-)
ollilaboratories I would love to hear you rock one of these!
+ollilaboratories If you should have only one workstation, what would it be?
Jan Martin Ulvåg I too would like to hear Olli's opinion on the types of gear he prefers and why.
The analogue section of this synth, has many similarities to the old Yamaha CS30 (1977-1979) especially the modulation that is available. it even sounds a quite like it. It's like Roland looked at a CS30 and said how can we
Yay for sine! And that pulse width sounds sweet!
Getting close Roland. We are ready for a full classic analog. Thanks for finally listening to your "classic" consumer base.
Thank You! This was a really fantastic intro inspirational video into using my new JD-XA!
The shiny surface is annoying, especially under lights, but not a huge deal once you get used to the interface. Keep one of those tablet-cleaning cloths handy. Like you, I found myself squinting a bit to see labels on the controls in the darker room for the Roland preview at summer NAMM. But the individual controls are lit, which is really nice for tweaking under low light, once you know what control is what.
But it sounds fantastic. It's really nice to see Roland doing something new and interesting here.
Great review and demo.
Pete Brown Indeed, I'm thinking, nothing a skin couldn't fix, maybe styleflip will do one. If I end up getting ones of these, I will buy a skin pretty much straight away.
H4NDCRAFTED Synthgraphics did some for the TR-8. The one for this would be huge, but I bet he could do something nice. Maybe Jupiter 8 style or something.
The nice thing is they'd have more of a matte finish, cutting way back on glare and fingerprints.
synthgraphics.com/Roland-TR8-TR808-TR909.html
Jupiter would be a great idea! Thankfully is is segmented, so should be easier than it looks.
Pete Brown Apple and I hear a couple of others, even Microsoft, are selling mobile phones that suffer from this to an even larger extent and it seems they've been "pretty" successful at it ;)
bitleyTM It's very simple to wipe a flat screen and clean it up. Takes me a couple seconds with a microfiber cloth. Cleaning up a surface that is full of knobs, buttons, and screens, is perfectly doable, it'll just take more time.
Shades of the old JD-800...This, and a workstation like the old (discontinued) Fantom would make my day!
I ordered a JD-XA back in April. I wonder what the final product will be like. One suspects their engineers are looking at pre production complaints and will fix some of these seeming minor problems. Am looking foreward to it's release none the less. Thanks for the best demo I've seen to date on this product. Kudos.
It's in partnership with Alienware... :)
Instantly the best sound demo's done so far :)
That ringmod/cross mod sounds great. Very impressed
This synthesizer has a great design, but I don't want to `dig in` for years to create one beautiful sound... I want to play and create sounds in much easier way. And Korg Kronos is the BEST choice for me.
Hope to see a combination of the analog and the digital parts in the next review. In itself the analog section is good, but not great.
I'm guessing the power of this synth lies in combining the Analog and Digital parts together. So I'm curious to see how the two engines complement each other.
I purchased the synth graphic skins for mine. Wow does it all look and show up better with a Matt finish.
I think the analog part sounds really good, but only 4 voices are not enough.. If it had at least 6 voices, I would buy one in a minute.. Cmon roland, build a 5 octave 8 voice version, just with the analog part..
Instead, Roland went full digital with their "new" Jupiters. :(
@@Jauly YES!!!! I KNOW AND CAN'T WAIT!
That white JD-XA is for Hardwell's ghost producer i presume ?
Garnomala See that's funny.
Garnomala He puts it on a stand so that when Future Music do a "Hardwell's Studio" feature you can see he has one. Also serves as a place to stand his coffee cup.
Things learned from watching these videos: it is really easy to make really annoying sounds :P But it is really informative to watch, really enjoy it. Love how knowledgable the presenter is :)
Great review there Nick, looking forward to the next part. mine is on order - screwdriver at the ready.
Being a long time JV afficionado I am wondering if the digital section has expanded on the JV's Structure editing possibilities; the JV1080/2080/XP80 etc has 10 structures with ringmod and "boost". These functions are awesome for creating DX7 & SY77-like FM modulations with samples modulating samples or sinewaves modulating sinewaves etc. I've been getting back to my XP80 lately to just get some jaw-dropping experiences toying with this; it can easily create CZ- and TX 4-op "mallet" sounds and much more. I think this is a good example of Roland equipment being so much more than what meets the eye at first look. It's just weird that people refer to this synth range as "romplers" when they're really extremely flexible synthesizers in their own right. I've also been able to create distorted 303's (without using effects) & convincing, continously modulating PWM stuff. So if this has been thought of and maybe even expanded, excitement awaits… :) Goes without saying, any serious synthesist with the love for gear should pick up the JV synths again now that they're going for peanuts. Menu diving is actually fun! ;)
bitleyTM (btw check my yt prof to hear a couple of 1080-experiments & more)
I have a JV-1080. Preset machine. Nearly impossible to program.
I like "impossible", that's a good place to start. :-) Advanced synthesizers are more fun.
bitleyTM ????
bitleyTM menu diving is fun for whom exactly?? 99.9% of programmers hate it.
Really nice sounding. The lack of a data entry knob/wheel is almost a deal breaker though
The thing sounds good! But does it sound $2200 good? Not sure.
Spent 3 hours with this thing at a DJ store after having watched many UA-cam vids. I was really intrigued to see it and experiment with it in the flesh. First impression was that it looked beautiful in the flesh and was larger than I expected (compared to the jd-Xi).Very frustrating/ disappointing to start with... But... When you figure it out, how to edit the individual analogue voices, and how to tap into the 450 digital tones and really layer all the voices it is seriously impressive. I'm no expert on sequencers (re the negative feedback), but in my opinion worth the purchase for the gorgeous multi timbal pad/ string/ mechanical clatter sounds and the arpeggiator. You could produce some beautiful music with this thing if it's full potential is harnessed. I think this review is harsh and underrates it.
That sound @ 15.20 is gorgeous...
(another thing you can mention is that the JD-Xi and JD-XA are Roland's first analog synths since the MKS80 and the JX10 which I believe were the last ones marketed up until 1988 or something like that - I think they were in the brochure Roland Keyboards 10 (which also featured D-10/D-20 etc) - have it somewhere...)
Finally picked one of these up and I LOVE that crazy third filter. I use that one the most. But I like more gnarly, or "nasty" as Starsky would probably say, sounds. I don't expect Roland to return to analog so this might very well be their last for a while. It's not particularly big or beefy and the filters are rather dull compared to the One, Matriarch, Pro 2, etc but that's not what this synth does best. I find this weirdo to be best for ugly sounds. Yeah, it has all those "super saw" presets but I've heard all that more times than I need to. I like this synth for what it is. One preset with a possible 20 oscillators, 16 filters, 20 lfos, 48? egs, effects, ring mods, cross mods, arps, etc. Pretty nutty. The analog polyphony does not bother me at all. I far prefer to make 4 totally different analog parts and arrange them on the keybed in a far more interesting 4 note paraphonic setup. The menu diving is definitely the most annoying for me. The glossy finish looks 100 years old after 2 days of dust but I kind of love the look. It looks like Gary Numan - Telekon.
I actually liked that weird 12db filter sound. Similar to what I get from the doepfer Wasp filter. I would be nice if you could still get that, but maybe just at the end of the gain, or maybe with full Drive.
Love how Analog is wanted in a digital world, just shows how things always come back around and nothing is new. It looks digital but the sound is lovely warm deep analog, I just need the cash ;-)
Nick, could you make a bit longer demo without talking, just playing through sounds?
Good review of Roland JD-XA Analogue Engine.
havent heard the digital part yet. analog part sounds nice though, but - sadly - the filter has the same issue other analog filters have these days: cranking up the resonance immediatly leads to a more and more disappearing lowend. i dont know why they dont counter this effect. to date - for recent machines - i just found that elektron addressed this on the analog four/analog keys. i dunno how much this synth will cost but i guess it wont be cheap, so ... i hope that roland addresses the loss of lowend when you turn up the resonance. the idea of combining both isnt new but this synth seems more attractive to me and i guess its still cheaper than dave smiths variant
Developers should have figured out that red on black type was a bad idea in the 1970s. :-(
great demo. At it's price point it needs to be held accountable for some over sights, but it's sound is pretty incredible.Gonna keep watching
Am I the only one who likes the design?
The darth vader of synths. A complete techno box
This is a synth. Roland are back.
I believe the backlights are adjustable
you say the digital works in paraphonic as there are more digital voices than analog. but you are still able to use 2 analog DCO's and 1 digital Oscillator in a 4 voice mode yes? (digital aspect just acting as a third oscillator on each of the 4 voices?) thanks for the wonderful video nick.
***** Hi Flux, yes it is possible, but you will need to edit the digital voice to have a long release if you want to have long release on both as post analog filter it routes through the VCA envelope. Also, if you route digital voices through the VCF, the digital part does not sound via its own part - if that makes sense?
Thanks for the review Nick, nice sounding synth. However, in the next part, could you explain a little more around the sequencer? I bought a JD-Xi recently, and the sequencer is very underwhelming in the lack of an event editor. (Yeah, I know it's a cheap device.) I miss the hardware sequencer of my old W-30.
My goodness, if the Roland JD-XI had just one more analog and 1 or 2 more digital synth parts, with maybe a couple more drum and synth/instrument sounds, I would never use another stand alone drum machine/synth again. It would be awsome if Roland would make a Roland JD-XI 2. I would get it in a heartbeat...SBN RESONATE
It's gorgeous, give it 20 years people will go mad for it.
Very interesting hardware.
Here's what I think from looking at this new digitally flavoured analogue synth.
I do like the manual style interface. Dislike all red lights. It should let users choose. I'd prefer blue or green.
The pure analogue sound shaping blocks are exciting, although I couldn't really tell from the video, apart from presets, it takes a bit to get them sound the way you want. Also, you are right about the display... real shame on this type of hardware.
Without sounding (lol) overly un-optimistic, I will only guess, this is just another mid type synthesizer that's out right now, while Roland keeps perking their R&D department busy figuring things for their next flagship workstation (here's really hoping).
I'd love to see this type of synthesizer, sitting down alongside my FantomG in the near future. Something with at least 16 tracks of pure analogue heaven (it is 2015, isn't it), with individual effects per track (Supernova had MORE than one per track, right?), or maybe just something totally different with 64 tracks and massive DSP power. I know I'm reaching a bit, but since a lot of music nowadays is being done on a computer, buying a synthesizer workstation should make you harmoniously feel like you can actually physically accomplish something awesome, and better, playing keys than moving your mouse around your screen, and picking randomly generated stuff.
Again, here's hoping.
In my opinion what you get is what you buy, It does sound amazing but I will leave it up to you whether you should buy one or not.
If you thought the JDXA's panel was hard to read check out AKAI's ludicrous blue-on-grey Timbre Wolf.
Great demo. I'd love to hear a bit more about how saving/loading presets works. I like being able to have a few different ideas readily available without button pressing x number of times to get to the right preset.
Guy seriously knows his stuff....
Nick. Fun Friday this beast.
The sound is really good, but the look...
This is as close as we'll get to having John Shuttleworth reviewing a keyboard.
Two oscillator configuration (with cross modulation), similar to Jupiter 8? Could we say that this is actually (not 100%) recreated Jupiter 8 with added digital part?
If so, wouldn't it be a better move and also the way to justify the price better, if they reissued Jupiter 8, with added new features - say Jupiter 8X? Instead, many people are repelled by the design, and I was as well at first - it took me a while to realise that this is a wonderful synth. If it was designed like Jupiter 8, I would be sold at sight.
Hi Nick, I was thinking of picking one fo these up and so revisited your review... and I live that patch you put together toward the end when you add the FX. Reminds me of an old Roland patch called potties pixie from the fantom family but sound so much nicer on the jdxa. Can you roughly remember how you constructed it, I’m somewhere near but just can’t just seem to get the envelope/lfo right. Trying to recreate on ultranova.
15:55 Lovely stuff, reminds me of Mass Effect
Incredible demo as always from Nick-Thank You!
They should do a 'White Out' version of this synth.
I recently bought a JD-XA and it's a great versatile synth. However, the filter issue hasn't been fixed yet.
Sounds fantastic. It sounds really good, especially the filters, love how the 12db broke up and freaked out.
Pity about the keyboard. $2200 for something without polyphonic aftertouch... and a synth engine that will respond to it... Bizarre.
I guess why put it on there if the end result is just going to be compressed and hard limited to 0.0001 db dynamic range anyway, right?
Always enjoy these videos though. Thanks for making them.
Excellent review as always! I'm really looking forward to the review of the digital side, because I can't really find much specification on this unit's implementation of the supernatural engine... The JD-XI seems to have PCM, but this doesn't (which would be fine, but)... I see that "Variation" wave, and I'm wondering if there are a bunch of wavetables beyond just the standard waves (and whether they are real modulatable wavetables or just different waves), or whether the digital side is only standard waves.
$2,199 street price. Yikes.
It sounds decent, but that's ambitious pricing. And the red/black theme looks too much like the interior of a 1980's Pontiac.
Jason Leder Right? I thought the same thing about the price (and still do). I mean, the Prophet 6 is a discrete 6 voice VCO poly, and is selling for only $600 more. They are two different beasts, but still, I'd think a discrete 6 voice synth would cost a lot more to produce than a non-discrete 4 voice one that probably doesn't even use VCOs and includes a digital synth engine. The JD-XA does seem really cool, but the pricing doesn't seem right at all
slipknotboy555 Yep. I keep thinking that my Prophet 12 only cost me a few hundred bucks more than the Roland. While they aren't directly compatible, the P12 has more than 4 voices of polyphony, a MUCH nicer screen and what looks to be a better editing workflow, doesn't hurt one's eyes and was built right down the street from me in San Francisco. I'm sure that the Roland is a nice piece, and is fun to play around with, but it seems lacking from a value perspective.
That said, it's great to see Roland dipping a toe back into the analog synth world, even if the products aren't immediately something I would put on my want list. The more the merrier!
Jason Leder I agree!
Jason Leder +1 on the '80s Pontiac look!
You guys are forgetting it has a drum machine and vocoder.
Thank you for the review. I think you have the best reviews on you tube. I just have a question: Can you compare it with the Sequential Prophet 6? Are they similar, or they are apples and oranges? Thanks again.
Hello, can we find out, we still didn't understand, you can play them regardless of the computer, laptop, sequencers, programs on the xa rolonda
roland jd-ha
What’s your opinion today? On the JD-XA
Definitely need a JD XA for my next remixes
Hello! How does this instrument feel in terms of quality? I mean, knobs? Keyboard? Especially keys. Thank you for response in advance!
Whoever is curious, I posted a video with some experiences on my jd-xa! love this synthesizer!!!!
I must be a bit thick today but I still don't get the structure of the analog part. Does the XA have four independent voices with two oscillators, a filter and envelopes per voice that can be adressed seperatedly or is it just two oscillators that can be played with up to four-voice polyphony?
Nick Batt does the VERY best Reviews !!!!
as it turns out, a bunch of people are quite enjoying the sound of this synth.. but i thought the low frequencies sounded really strange. is it just me?
Nice review, looking forward to the next instalment :) Doesn't make me wanna rush out & buy one just yet though.... Oh that design :-(
sounds good enough to me...next part...sequencer...and recording knobs n sliders etc..and ...swing?...song mode?
And I would be really happy to know how hard or easy is it programmed? Lots of things on the front panel, but Nick mentioned some menu-diving..
Good gawd it's ugly and the individual voices didn't wow me, but when played polyphonic ally it sounds wonderful. Can't stand the filter and res knobs and the red lights ... But I'm super interested in the digital aspects being modulation sources and what destinations there are.
LFOs MIDI/sequencer clock syncable? Shiny knob-top look hard to see in stage conditions.. even once you learn to use it by motor memory, you still have to see the setting.
So when you use multiple voices on the analog territory, can you have a different cutoff for each voice, or is it the same for each voice? The same for other controls, such as LFO settings, etc.? What can you do with velocity and aftertouch for analog? I like the sound of the effects. I'm not crazy about the fingerprint-happy panel. :(
It does sound nice.
Matt Greer Music it does so does the jdxi
Yeah but i would never buy something with mini keys unless it was fantastic , i just can't do fast runs or big chords on them.
What the different in the digital part compared to the Integra 7? The poliphony Iam sure, but how many patches we get? Supernatural synth tones? Can You do a bit deeper review on the digital part?
15:19 Oh, lovely lovely sounds
Roland do it best, always have always will.
Are we watching the same video?
@@TransistorBased lol.
What preset are you using at 15:19? I would really want to replicate that sound.
I have heard lots of people talk about the layering, but I am curious about splitting. Can you show some of the options for splitting between analog and digital parts?
Just quick question, what interface/soundcard have you used to record this synth? :)
Fruity Audio Have a Yamaha DM1000 digital desk, which goes into the Video Capture card at +4dB.
I had to crank the line inputs due to the issue I described with the multi-mode filter.
sonicstate Doesn't it have an audio interface built in too? How about demoing it with an iPad?
God I hate how it looks but some REALLY great tones there Nick! Thank you! Great to see an Amp ADSR Env. there too! Wow - 4 voice analog & the voices from the Integra7... whats not to like! :-) Can the Integra7s iPad editor be used (or hopefully there is one coming for this)?
Amazing synth. not so keen on the design.
For the digital part review, I'd be glad to have some information about the available waveforms apart from the typical saw and square types. Are there PCM waves for bread and butter sounds or is this Maschine basically an analogue / VA hybrid?
This keyboard sounds like a updated version of Casio's XW series keyboards with a lot of knobs and sliders. Which one is better to operate?
I want this...now...good review ❤️👊🏼