Okay. Yes I know I have no authority here. On a serious note, I thought it would be real cool if everyone here listed the expansion boards they have, what you use them for, why you like them, and if would or not recommend it to someone else.

Yes I know it sounds like homework, but then this is some type of school right. We come here for information and to learn new things about our items. I'll start this off.

I have the #10 Bass&Drums, #12 Hip-Hop, #98,99 Exeperience I & II boards.

I have a production company that specializes in Hip-Hop Funk. Hip-Hop that is musician oriented and is totally original, but sounds street and urban enough. I get a lot of artists who are looking for dirty sounds, the #12 Hip-Hop board has them all.

I also bought the #12 because although it's geared for Urban music, it has one of the widest wariety of patches out of all the board. It has great Wurlys, EPs, Pianos, Synth Basses, Guitars and SFX.

Since I was classically trained and play in a number of Jazz bands and grew up on the music of the 70's and 80's, I need that natural Bass and Drum sound that most synths don't offer. The #10 Bass & Drum Board is THE best. I've fooled so many people with this board. With "real" bass and drum sounds, my compositons become more interesting and fun to do. I'm also a session drummer, and I've got to say, the drums are great.

I got the Experience Board (#98, #99) for two reasons - 1) Sam Ash was blowinng them out for $5 a piece!. 2) They have a wide variety of sounds from all of the expansion boards

I would recommend the Hip-Hop board to anyone doing Pop or Urban music. Also to one who would want a wide vareity of sounds. The Bass & Drums board is a MUST for everyone. The Experience is hard to find and goes for almost $100 on EBay nowadays.

(Now It's Your Turn)

The Infamous EPU.

I'm a mere music hobbyist, but have been at it for nearly a decade. I have limited time (usually at the expense of sleep) to "play" in my studio and I enjoy composition and playing my synths a bit more than I enjoy (what can be laborious) sampling, programming, and producing. So, the expansion boards are a dream for me - excellent sounds that fit well in a mix and that are fun to play and just satisfying to hear.

When I play/practice, it is usually classical music, so I love the Orchestral board. I "orchestrate" a piece how I want to hear it and go at it. The orchestral samples respond well to playing dynamics (velocity changes).

For composing pop music (as I do), the Session and Vintage Synth boards are my favorites.

I also own the Hip Hop and Vocal boards. I have the 60s/70s Keyboards board, but I'm going to sell it on eBay soon (look for it if you are interested!) because I don't have any room for it in my synth (I want to keep the Orchestral board I bought for practicing/playing and I've used the other boards too extensively in songs I've recorded for me to get rid of them).

Hope that helps anyone that might be interested.

The only 2 that I like are:
Vintage synth
Old Dance board

The session, pop, experience, 60/70's are just ok. I only hear 3 or 4 sounds I like, everything else is throwaway. Sure, I would pay $10 for them.

I have the Bass & Drums board, and it smokes! These are some kickass sounds that are really helping when it comes to writing. Anyone have the techno board? If so, how do you like it?

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"Jim, Chekov's got your pants on!"

I am also a music hobbyist, and I have been playing for about 15 years. (Since I was 10!)

I have got the Vintage Synth and the Techno boards. I usually play synthesizer-music, inspired by Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Enya etc. The Vintage Synth-board is perhaps THE board for synth music. Lots of great sounds/waveforms. I use the Techno-board mainly for drums (Great sets and waveforms, IMO) and leads. I don't really play techno, so there are a lot of sounds that I don't use. Got it second-hand

I want to buy the "Session" board later. Those pianos sound great!

StigF

In my JV1080 I have- Orchestral, Bass&Drums, Vintage and Keys of the 60s and 70s. When I get the XV3080 (soon!) I will install the Techno and Hip Hop boards which I took out of the other JV1080 which I sold. I will eventually buy the orchestral 11 board and probably the new SRX drums board but I will wait a fair while to see what else Roland releases in the SRX range because unfortunately the XV3080 only has 2 slots for these new boards??????? Why Roland???? Anyway hear goes-

ORCHESTRAL- I personally think the string sounds in my Korg Triton and TR Rack are more authentic, but these are definetly warmer. The orchestral ensemble patches are great when used in a mix but sound a bit synthesized when soloed. I love the timpani, percussion and orchestra hits on this board, also the nylon guitar. The 2 choir sounds are nice also in a mix. I think the 4 piano patches are a valuable waste of ROM- utter crap IMHO!!!! However, if I was buying today, I'd skip this board for the better sounding orchestral 11 board with it's improved samples (and great Enya choir voices!!). However, I still like this card alot.

BASS AND DRUMS- Awesome!! That's all I can say. These are the most realist bass sounds this side of an actual sampler (or bass player!!). I've also fooled people with these awesome sounds. The drums are also good but the kicks require some external EQ to make them 'punch' more IMHO!! The loops sound nice but are pretty useless and this ROM could have been put to better use for more drum sounds IMHO!!! However, I can't recommend this board enough!! BUY IT.

VINTAGE SYNTHE- Yes some nice sounds but I've largely neglected it since owning my Korg Z1!!!! The best sounds are the basses and fat oberheim and Jupiter string pads. I also like a couple of the Hammond sounds on this board surprisingly!

KEYBOARDS OF THE 60'S AND 70'S- The Rhodes and Wurly sounds are not that great IMHO- those in my Triton piano expansion board crap all over these, as well as the ones in the Z1 and Triton MOSS board. The organ sounds are OK but to be brutally honest, I'd own a Roland VK7 anyday. Again I think that the Korg organ sounds are more playable. However, this board is great if you want alot of old organ and EP sounds and have no other soundsource. The clavs aren't that great IMHO and the Mellotron samples are a waste of ROM IMHO!!!! Mabey it's because electronic organ is my 1st instrument, but this board, whilst not a disaster has failed to inspire me!!

TECHNO- Someone at Roland was on something when designing those loops- THEY ARE CRAP!!!! The vocoder speech sounds are also a waste. But this board has great drumkits, leads basses and pads. I would have loved to have gotten the 1st dance board but it's no longer available because Roland got sued over it!!!! I have the MDC1 Dance expansion module and I must say that this is better for overall general dance music sounds. I must confess that I did origionally think that this board was the old dance board with a new name!!!! I got a bit of a shock when I loaded it up and found out it wasn't!!! Oh well.

HIP HOP- BLOODY AWESOME BOARD!!!! THE LOOPS ARE TOP NOTCH and the other sounds and hits are to die for!!!! I really can't criticise this board! It's great. This has inspired me more than any other board I own!! BUY IT! And I was expecting it to be nothing special- so there!!!!

SESSION- I use to own this board. The pianos, strings, brass, saxes and nylon guitars are well done but I must say that this board contains too much other 'filler' synthe type stuff that the stock JV's already have in their own ROM. If you need the better piano sounds, get this board. But I think the new XV's have largely made this board redundant unless you are installing it into a JV where it really adds alot to the weaker stock internal waveforms.

My 2 cents worth.