Product ReviewsRoland Xv5080 Keyboard Synthesizer

An unmissable powerhouse.

The Roland XV-5080 is one of Roland's biggest flagships synths, featuring 1083 base waveforms built in, a built-in sampler, COSM sound modelling module, 4xSRX and 4xSR-JV80 slots. With its big screen, the on-board editing is quick and easy, especially thanks to the intuitive button layout.

The sound department itself is where the XV-5080 really shines. Thanks to its massive variety in waveforms and where they've come from (including JD-990 waveforms!), the XV-5080 can sound beautifully warm and lush, or cold and creepy. The presets it comes with by default are beautifully programmed, and are extremely expressive, making it perfect for any keyboard player.

On the sound design side of things, patch creation is easy but very in-depth, including a lot of nice features that make it as versatile as it is. Filters have a variety of modes, including your typical low pass, band pass and highpass, and some more variations. Filters can also be made to be velocity-sensitive, making for an extremely expressive sound when programmed right -- especially when combining it with the velocity curves it has on offer.

Other noteworthy patch creation options are the extremely powerful LFOs, being able to control many parts of the synth's engine; the downside is, however, that you only get two. Beyond that, there's also the inclusion of an "analog feel" and "stretch tuning" feature, which convincingly plays the part of mimicking a beautiful analog synth of the 80s. Also a nice feature is a very powerful pitch envelope shaper, to shape more synthesized sounds into something more believable.

The sampler is an incredible feature, only available on the XV-5080. You can load up your own sample CDs and send its samples to the "sample" section of the WG tab, and that sample set suddenly gets full access to the XV engine's features. It turns what looks like a gimmick feature, into a powerhouse feature that you would surely miss if you ever sold this thing on.

The XV-5080's one downside ultimately, though, comes from its ability to be expanded. It's really cool that this is an option, and the features the expansions offer are plenty cool on their own. However, even second-hand they are quite pricey. Your average SRX card ranges anywhere from $130 to $250, and the average SR-JV80 card costs $100-$170 a pop. On top of that, while the XV-5080 has a sampler built in, you're going to have to provide your own 72-pin SIMM RAM (128MB max), and an SCSI drive. Luckily this isn't too expensive, but a bummer to be sure.

Outside of its downsides considering expansion, though -- The XV-5080 is a high recommendation, as are the expansion features it offers. To me, it's become an unmissable piece to my arsenal.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: japanderful

Roland's flagship rompler of the 90s/00s

The big daddy of MIDI synth modules, from the big daddy company of synth modules: Roland. This is perhaps the biggest, and brashest rompler produced.

This has more features than you can poke a stick at and a massive library of sounds. Its heritage can be traced back through the JV-2080, JV-1080 and JV-880 to the JV-80, JD-990 and JD-800, and farther. Its huge bank of waveforms contains the bulk of Roland's rompler presets of the 90s, 1083 as standard with 4 SRX expansion slots and 4 SR-JV80 slots plus up to 128MB of sample RAM for loading sounds from Roland or Akai sample libraries.

It has a bunch of effects, and fully editable synthesis, so you take those waveforms and create something new. It has a large 320x80 display to make editing easier.

128 voice, 32 part multi-timbral with dual MIDI inputs. SCSI, R-Bus, S/PDIF, 8 analogue outputs and a card slot, makes getting sounds in and out a breeze.

Does it have flaws? Yes, of course! One problem using this today, is that it was cutting edge in 2000, but technology has changed. It takes 72 pin SIMMs for the RAM, and uses SCSI for connecting hard drives, CD-ROMs and Zip drives (remember those?); all old technologies so you will likely be getting them 2nd hand as well. The card slot uses smart media, which can be hard to find, and very low capacity by today's standards. R-Bus is largely obsolete. There is no USB. But MIDI, S/PDIF and good old analogue outputs will be more than enough for most people.

But if you want a rompler, particularly one with the sounds of the 90s, then this is game, set and match.Read full review...

The synth to beat all synths.

While many are opting for the new Integra 7, don't consider this synth antiquated just yet. Some of the comparison points; (5080/Integra 7).
Voices~128/128. Midi channels~32/16. Digital out~optical & coax/coax only. R-bus yes/no. Price used $350/$900.
The 5080 has the ability to access all 4 SRX boards AND sr-jv80 boards at once. The I7 while having more boards internally can only access any 4 at one time.
On the downside, the 5080 is without usb, I7, yes. But don't sell this synth short. It's sounds are second to none, save possibly the I7. It's a great value. It's also internally 'stackable'. You can 'chain' up to 8 of these beauties. You could conceivably get 3 of these for the price of one I7, load them with the 12 available SXR boards and 12 of the 19 available sr-jv80 boards and have 384 voices piped through 96 midi channels. Hook that up to a Motu midi express xt usb (handles 128 discreet midi channels) and you're good to go.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: martir1691

i sold my integra..

i sold my integra for a $1000, and bought a used xv-5080 that is expanded. The integra has alot of sounds but you actually dont need them all. Specially i love programming and creating sounds from the scratch so the xv-5080 now will give u great sounds. Same polyphony with the integra but the xv-5080 is more quality built. U cant go wrong either way but getting the xv-5080 will save you money and u can still buy other stuffs.Read full review...

Verified purchase: No

Tremendous!

I have always wanted an XV5080, and only now, after many years, am I able to afford one. I haven't been disappointed! If you can't afford the more recent and expanded Integra7, you will NOT go wrong with an XV5080!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: studio-baron

Roland XV 5080

An excellent module indeed

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: rrrrrobo

Great

Great

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: sirion933