Well, most of thesounds on the new XV series are not that much better than the XP series. The effects are great. The new drums are very good. Most of all the guitar sounds aren't bad either.

I was very skeptical when it came to Roland's new XV series. A lot of tones and patches on the XV were already on my Roland SC880. While the amount of programming capability on the SC is far less than the XV, it becomes readily apparent that Roland recycles waveforms and sounds often. You have to put these two beasts side by side, all of the Rhodes on the XV series are in the Roland SC880.

The one thing that really puts the XV far ahead is not the 128 note polyphony, it's the stereo tone switching (well, the two actually work well together). For the first time you could have one tone using two waveforms to get the cross velocity feature to work the way it should have been intended to.

Yes the XVs have better DA convertors, but who the hell cares about this. The average user wouldn't be phased by this. The average user would be phased by the superior sound quality heard on the SRX Drum board.

For me, it would be the stero tone switching, SRX board and sample storage space (XV5080) that would convince me to get any XV. If you have the XP30, I would say to get the Bass & Drums board and you should be very happy. Of course, you could wait for the "XV1010"!!! - Lol

The only judge is the one who's judging. You should be the sole one who influences your purchase, remember, it's your money.

The Infamous EPU.