Roland XP-50

purchased at local music store for less than $3000 including stand and Peavy amp

I've been using my roland for several years now, both as a studio and teaching instrument and transporting to gigs. I've never had any problem with its performance - even though students and transportation can be rough on it! It's reliable and has more features than I could ever begin to use! I love it.

The program dial has worn - you need to apply pressure to activate the selection.

Sturdy and dependable even with the abuse of transportation in a soft case and daily use by students.

The XP-50 has a lot in it for the price. I know it's a bit outdated by now, but I would still pick Roland if I had to replace it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

As a sound module nothing is missing, there are some filters, effects, etc. on it, but you have to go thu menues and mess with numerical values, which takes a lot of time, so that would b nice to have it made easyer. Sequencer on it is a bit*h to use, i had it for 8 months and i still havent figuerd out how to compose a song of more than one part, but i dont use the sequencer at all.

Price paid

$430 used

UTILIZATION

Sequencer very hard to use, (compared to cubase) effects are hard to tweak, its hard to sequence, because it can only play one sound at a time, so u better have some vst's or other sound modules if you want to play your full song out. Not the most user friendly (maybe because it came out in 95) but sound quality is excelent

SOUNDS

I use it as a sound module, and as a midi controller. Sounds on it are the best in its price range (under $1000) and its expandable to your taste. I love the sounds on it high quality

OVERALL OPINION

Excelent, metal case. Mine sometimes messes up and sustains notes, and i have to do a memore reset, and then its fine for couple of weeks, but i bought it used, and it came out in 1995, better than i expecte.

I LOVE the sounds, and expandability, its also good as a midi controller. Other than that i cant recoment it for any other features.

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: Sarajevo (January 1-, 2004)

A 16 track midi sequencer is usually adequate for most situations. However the XP is best when used as a soundsource...or even a scratch pad that is sync'ed up to a more capable sequencer...whether that be one of many capable DAW/software program combo out today (Fruity Loops, Reason, Pro-Tools)or a hardware sequencer/sampler (MPC series, MV, even the slept on MC-909) One helpful feature is the RPS function, which allows you to trigger a created phrase on the fly at the touch of a key. With no sampler...this function is essential to creating "hybrid" sounding track...in other words a track that sounds sample...and has many of the "chopped" feature of one ...but is actually a 100% original

$1,300.00 (back in the day)

UTILIZATION

Its a miracle I still have my eyes after 8 years of peeing a the tiny orange rectangular screen. To access many of other more complex features of the XP such as patch(sound)editing, track edit..etc involves many searches through various screens. The manual is your best friend....however it is a Roland manual......be advised

it is a tank....can go above ground, underground, on the road...wherever. users who have either been longtime users like myself or others who are picking up one from somewhere else need to keep a careful eye on the ancient floppy disk drive for perfornamce however.

SOUNDS

The XP-50 has many good stock sounds right out the box for professional/aspiring composers, media scorers, and techno/ambiant/rave sound designers.. ah yes well that's nice. BUT, what about the aspiring beatmaker..or the grizzled pro?? If you be patient with the somehat unforgiving learning curve...you can craft out stunning compositions without having to reach to any other piece of gear(and thanks to current situation..I know that as well as anybody, these days. EFX processors, diffrent sets of filters and amplifiers allow you to customize your own sound.

OVERALL OPINION

I started from the instrumental side of music first then graduated to beatmaking. So I have yet to purchase those celebrated pieces of gear your 'favorite' producer has..(MPC, ASR-10,Motif....or my favorite..Fantom X7)this is my brainchild. Even when it is replaced...it will be kept for sentiment for a long time

Originally posted on FutureProducers.com
Posted by: cloudism ( 7-, 2005)

The touch is very light and relatively noisy if you type fast on the keys (little resistance).

One EFX (applicable to only one sound), unlike reverb and chorus / delay (applicable to 16 parts multitimbral Assayable)
you really need to get organized to make a complete song with the sequencer or computer: I remember that it was the main criticism that the machines did this time because for some presets, EFX done more to the end result that the waveforms selected and their programming.

The build quality is good.

Converters are excellent (much better than the XP-30 for example)

UTILIZATION

XP 50 is not very convenient to use at editing sounds (but much more than a DX7 or D50) and sequencer, especially compared to the current offer but still a good ergonomics thinking if we want to have the patience to read a minimum the manual and to train.

For those who had problems slowing the sequencer (see the first two notices), it was actually use the data reduction "THIN" (p 76 of the manual).

In fact, with the XP-50 I can make models, cast musical ideas through the sequencer, quickly, without wasting time to choose from thousands of sounds and especially without me putting pressure on the resulting sound (home, Korg Kronos is for!): the instrument outside talent, if my song is the road, you can hear it immediately: the sounds and effects that can not serve as a "fig leaf" to level compo ...

SOUNDS

It is on at the moment, it is mainly synthesized sounds that are interesting with a typical grain Roland (after all, the JV-1080 was a landmark in the studios during the 90s), but do not push too hard resonnance the filter because it could hurt your eardrums and your HP.

imitations acoustic sounds excellent for the time are overwhelmed in 2012, but some are really good quick game (in 1995 it was short loop to fit all waveforms) and difficult to reproduce on another machine sometimes the same brand! In short with original ROM 8MB he is doing well.

Note question sounds are sometimes difficult to mix them perform mode (multitimbral) because:

- The presets that too puff frequency ranges and which may make recovery (so you have to edit with filters to correct this problem because XP does not have a stereo output and not integrated EQ for each part) .

- The difference in volume between origin sometimes very important each of the presets surely gain setting or booster.

Regarding expansion cards SRJV I know well, the most interesting to buy (secondhand) are in my opinion the "World" and especially "vintage synth", but it two, they are the price of XP-50 secondhand! ... to be seen according to your budget and needs.

I think sounds much better (at the "grain") on the Juno-G I had and yet is much more recent: it is probably due to the difference in quality converters.

OVERALL OPINION

In fact I bought it used at the time, around 1997, two years after its release, to replace my JV1080 because I wanted the "integrated whole" (the XP workstation was my first after a synth Roland JV -35 replaced by the Roland JV-1080 rack + Akai S2000 Sampler + mac controlled with a keyboard Fatar heavy).

I bought recement by nostalgia, but also because I got it for really cheap and in excellent condition.

Despite the profusion of music software cheap or free that are more powerful, this machine is interesting for those who prefer the feel of hardware because I found him some advantages:

- The XP-50 keeps a grain of his own, especially for synthetic sounds.

- There is almost no boot time (time of ignition) unlike modern workstations (Kronos and Designs) and computers: If you inspiration in your head, you will not lose it!

- It was not too many features while remaining powerful, a limited number of preset compared to the thousands of machines and software lately: this is an advantage allows easy not to disperse, to get to the point because according me fewer opportunities = more productivity music.
(Yes sometimes have less can do more!).

- The value used is excellent in 2012.

After all, a JV 1080 with a keyboard and a sequencer for € 180, it is still worth a shot to complement other synths, if you to place home, of course.