The new XV-88 or equivalent modules sounds to me great. Post here any info, opinion, review web sites, boards you have about these new boxes.

Here's some info: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/cgi-bin/doc/0001234930216207321950112332747?doc=info,rolandnamm.html

The XV88 is the 1st Roland synthe with an 88 note weighted keyboard (don't confuse this with RD digital pianos and A90EX controller).

It looks much like an XP30 on steroids and I'll almost put money down that Roland will bring out a 61 and 76 note version later on (mabey called the XV61 and XV76????).

It has 128 notes of polyphony, fx wise it has a dedicated reverb, chorus and a newly designed EFX section with COSM based effects.

It offers 64 meg of ROM out of the box!!!! and can be expanded with 2 SRJV80 cards and 2 of the new 64MB cards which Roland are going to start producing. This is one thing that gets me with these new keyboards (Roland and Korg). With so many expansion boards already produced Roland why couldn't you give us much more slots for these! This is very short sighted as far as I am concerned even though they can be replaced.

There are 4 outputs at the back and 4 real time sliders. Not much has been mentioned about improvements in the synthesis from the older JV's and XP's.

In Australia it should retail at about $5,495.00.

I think that this kind of keyboard will be the mainstream of millenium. First Yamaha with the nice (and cheap) S80 and its new little brother S30 and now Roland. It's time for realistic sounds, natural keyboard (piano) feel and stereo samples. Great idea for real musicians (if not DJs). Here in GREECE Korg is the best selling gear because of the known bugs in recent Yamahas (EX) and the age of XP80. S80 sells well and i believe that XV-88 although expensive will sell well. It is not a workstation or an analog knobs-full synth but it is just a musical instrument with real polyphony and sound. I cannot wait to put my fingers on it.

That red-orange lcd that they used looks ugly.

Too bad they left out the onboard sequencer on the XV-88.

Personally, I'd rather deal with the red-orange LCD of the XV88 (and XP30) than the impossible to see Gameboy LCD screen of the XP80

I agree with previous message. I think that a sample play-only synth does not need a large XxY lcd. It's the OS and user interface that counts. We all have seen big lcds on synth with so unfriendly OS that make them difficult event to use (Yamaha's EX). My opinion is that the XV-88 kind of synth is a "musical instrument" not a workstation-like monster. Who really needs a SEQ that is just an marketing-trick ? There are nice seqs out there (from pocket battery versions to full blown studio quality as well as software). In 88-key weight synths is the sound quality that counts. As i know Yamaha's S80 that is close to XV-88 specs, sells very well and the reason is its piano sounds as well as piano feel. It is also has no sequencer or sampler or big LCD etc. IMHO we need keyboards with warm sound, effects that don't steal polyphony, samples that can play single part for maximum polyphony, stereo sounds and build quality. While i'm not Roland (or else) lover i believe that we'll see XV-88 in many studios even at home. I also believe that 76,61 keys versions are under development. We'll see...

I should think a larger LCD would be an advantage, even if it is "just" a synth (unless you use software patch editor), and no workstation. I think the XP-60/80 has a great interface that lets you see what you are doing when you edit sounds.

In my opinion, Roland would be crazy if they developed a 61-key XV without including sequencer and bigger LCD. I can understand that a lot of "piano-people" like the XV-88, but for the rest of us, I think it would be more interesting with an upgraded version of the XP-60 and 80. (Not that these need to be upgaded yet, considering the competition)

Besides, I see the XVs more as evolotion than revolution over the existing XP/JV-series. For example; check out the effects-section. A few more and better algorithms, but same number of processors.

And yes, there are some people that use built-in sequencer.. We even use our workstations as "musical instruments", playing the black and white buttons and everything.... :-)

I just don't need 88-keys, and having grown up with electronic keyboards, I hate "piano action and feel" !!

Stig

I think Roland will do well with the XV88 because there are many pianists out there who crave a nice action weighted keyboard.

However, it's important to stress that it doesn't feel right to play certain sounds from a weighted keyboard. I come origionally from an organ background and let me just say that I HATE playing organ sounds from a weighted action keyboard. The same goes for playing piano sounds on an unweighted action- I HATE IT!

I hope the XV88 will have good midi controller capabilites (able to control several zones at once etc). I like the action of Roland weighted keyboards so I am keen to check it out. But the $5,495.00 (Australian) price tag and the fact that I just splurged on a (beautiful!) Korg Triton, wont have me pulling out the cheque book in the near future.