Howdy all!
I found this message board about a month ago. I just recently went forward and purchased a used XP-60; after researching synths in its price range and a little over, I determined that it was the most ideal synth for me. Goodness, I know it's kind of a bit of a marketing ploy by Roland to get you to keep spending more money on them, but those expansion boards are really great. I currently own the Orchestral I, Special FX and the Techno expansion boards.

I'm still very much in the beginning of exploring and learning about this grand piece of equipment, but was wondering if you guys have any suggested reading (other than the manual, which I am taking the care to read) to help me get a good understanding of what this synth is capable of and how I can eventually fully utilize it.
Also, are there any sites that helped you guys in creating interesting synthesized music? I'll be using this board for a lot of applications, but it would be really incredible to be able to utilize it for music in the vein of, well, I guess it's known as "Trip-Hop", but basically stuff like Olive. Also, Joe Satriani's ENGINES OF CREATION is the album that got me to realize just how cool synths and electronic music can be.

Also, do any of you have any music you've created with your XPs/JVs/XVs on the net? It would be really interesting to hear what you guys have done with these wicked instruments.

Well, I look forward to learning more from you guys and hopefully becoming a useful participant on these boards. Thanks for your time :-)

--bluesboy2003

Hi!
Welcome to the BIG club of XP Users ! Good choice!!
On my homepage www.stalker-online.de.vu you can hear some of my songs (Realplayer!). All of them are realized by using the XP80, at a few songs You can hear the Yamaha SY35 as well. But the page is written in german... . First the intro page appears. There You click on the left side of the pic in the middle (a strange pic, a little bit like a skull with keyboards as eyes named Stalker). Then You come to a selection of link-pics. There click on "Die Musik" (has nothing to do with die, in german "die" means "the"!). OK, then You are at the right page: every linked name is a song. Choose the later songs like "Urban Love". It's all no triphop or so, more some kind of film music without films.

Hi

Welcome to this board, and congratulations with your new synth! Good choice as Stalker said!

The XP-60 is a great synth, I have one of those myself... The expansions are also great, but expensive.

Roland has made some documents that may be useful to you:
http://www.rolandus.com/SUPPORT/DOCS/SUPNOTES.HTM

I found these useful for learning some of the basics of the instrument, sequencing, creating patches etc.

Good luck.

Stig

Howdy,
I use an XP-80 almost exclusively. I've expanded with the Orchestra II, keys of the 60s 70s, bass and drums, and the discontinued dance card. I've made everything from big band jazz, to country, oldies, R&B, hiphop, and Latin. I don't have a way to get it on the net however.
I hope you enjoy creating sounds, as this is where the XP units really shine. I love creating sounds, and downloading patches from the net. I sometimes wonder why Roland didn't create some of these sounds. The sounds they provide in the user banks are pretty boring, I've erased way over half of them with sounds I've made or downloaded.

Thanks for the replies, guys! It's a pleasure to meet you.

Stalker: I checked out quite a few of your clips--very cool. What will your soundtrack be used for?

stigf: Yeah, I've been to that link. There are a bunch of links for XP-50 users and two for XP-60, and I guess two more for the XP-80 users. Are the docs for the XP-50 applicable to the 60 as well?

FAEbGBD: How is that discontinued Dance board? I've seen it go for over $250 on eBay. There must be SOMETHING about it other than the mystique about Roland getting sued by the company that helped them make it. Also, you should check out www.digitalsoundplanet.com and look at their free Quartz AudioMaster software. If you have a soundcard and a stereo cord with two male jacks, well, you're set to extract your audio from your XP and put it onto your computer. It also features an MP3 compression codec.

Also, any of you guys know what the ill fated Li'l Chips site was about? I've seen it mentioned in old posts on various sites. What exactly was it/was on it? Thanks again!

I was looking to do that. In fact, I downloaded that Quartz program a couple months ago. My computer is not that good however. Others on this forum know that I'm completely blind. My sound card is very temperamental when it comes to running my speech software and audio equipment simultaneously. I need to upgrade soon, but haven't got to it yet.

The dance card is pretty cool. It has enough grooves and sounds to satisfy my needs. I have only a passing interest, so it works for me. A small group of hiphop, acid jazz, techno, and house loops it just what I wanted. Enough to add some cool elements to my songs without going hard core.
One thing I don't like is that the grooves aren't very editable, (IS that a word?) Some of them have various whistles and bells in them that I'd like to edit out, but it can't be done, so I must live with it or not use the groove. There is a nice variety of drum sounds though so I can make pretty good rhythms without the loops they provide.

FAEbGBD: That's fantastic that despite your blindness you're still digging into music as well as participating in online boards! Man, technology is really awesome. I didn't even know speech recognition software was that advanced yet. Out of curiosity, how are you able to adjust patches on the XP? Do you use some computer software to alter the patches and then import them into the XP? Just curious, because I know the XP doesn't come with speech recognition software... unless I just got a defective one. Hehe. Well, hopefully we can find a way to get that music out on the net. We'll think of something. Thanks for the reply!

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--bluesboy2003

Hi, actually it is not speech recognition. I type everything; no mouse; tabs and arrows and such to manipulate. The speech software simply speaks to me what is on the screen. I don't look at a monitor, I listen to a speech synthesizer.

I actually have a website. I'm a working musician by trade, but not as fulltime as I wish I was. Check my profile for a link to the page if you are interested. There is a song download there, but it is done on a grand piano not a synthe. Actually, there are 3 songs, but 2 are corrupted somehow. Only "Amazing Grace" will work.
I noticed from your profile that you are a student. College or high school?

When I got my Xp, my dad read me the most useful elements from the manual. He was there to explain the layouts of the screens to me. I took notes on my laptop, with instructions for myself as to how to work the arrow keys. For x procedure, push down arrow twice, then right arrow, which will adjust this parameter..
Then, I scanned the entire manual and put it on a floppy so I can check any new feature I wish to learn. Then, I ask someone to explain the screen to me, and I experiment with the arrows and such to figure out how to orient myself. Once this is done, I make a new note of it on the laptop. So I do all my patch editing right from the XP. Also, this discussion board has been priceless.

bluesboy2003:
No, documents about the XP-50 are not normally applicable to the 60, but of course documents for the 80 are, as the XP-60 and XP-80 is the same synth really..

Stig

Thanks, bluesboy2003. I don't know, until now there is no film. But it sounds a little bit like there was one, doesn't it??