KVR Audio

zeep · Post by **zeep** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 12:53 pm

Thanks for that info Don. I'll hold of ordering these and check out some other offers, such as ebay, first.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 7:10 pm

I do have a fully loaded JV-2080 available (all expansion slots filled) but the sampling task would be ridiculous and I couldn't even sell it due to copyrights by Roland, of course.

I might just have to purchase one at some point. I still have the infamous first Dance expansion board, the one that got Roland sued (and quickly taken out of production).

Cheers!
bManic

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:22 am

The computer rompler industry jumped fast on multi-gigabyte products, pushed by numbers and market, that often don't sound/function half as good as their 8Meg hardware counterparts.

Steinberg's Hypersonic was close on delivering a true software alternative... fast, complete palette of bread-n-butter sounds (and beyond), GM compatibility (important at the time), and good patches/programming/effects.

MFXxx · Post by **MFXxx** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:01 am

I still have a 1080 and it will remain there till my dying day. It's a great module and as mentioned the strings, choirs and bells on it is great.

I wasn't aware of the issue with the Dance expansion card which is the only card I actually have installed. Would love to find the strings expansion for a bargain, will have to keep an eye on ebay, graigs list etc.

Time to boot it up again.

Wittenberg · Post by **Wittenberg** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:33 am

Another JV fan here. i have a 1010 here and it still gets used regularly

One thing though; while most patches sound great in isolation, I usually am having trouble get them in a mix with other instruments. Somehow I find that its sounds like a certain bite and clarity to punch through. Everything is sort of in a haze, which makes them warm on their own, but underpowered to compete with other instruments.

Xenobt · Post by **Xenobt** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:10 pm

Something that helps with that is turning off the onboard reverb, and sometimes the other delay based effects, if it doesn't change the sound of the patch radically.

The "raw" waveforms and samples have a lot more punch and presence, and sound great even without a thing on them. Then use your DAW effects to taste as you mix, if you need to add something back in.

When the JV/XP series was created, big, new-agey patches with tons of built-in effects on them were fashionable (and not to mention demo ear-candy!), but tastes have changed, so turning them off will give you more modern, in-your-face sounds.

Also, as I've mentioned in other threads, having everything in stereo means nothing is in stereo, so panning some of your instruments away from their wide-as-can-be factory settings will add more clarity and help them sit better in the mix too.

KVR/eSoundz: Xenobt

JavaJ · Post by **JavaJ** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 7:23 pm

My first "pro" synth was a JV-80. I went through college with that keyboard- performing in the travelling college band at the time. It was a great synth. I even had a laptop running Cakewalk (DOS) midi'd to it. Our band got cut down because the drummer and bass player's GPA was below minimum requirements. We ended up getting a drummer in to lay down midi tracks (this was back in the early 90's), and I programmed the rest. Turned out awesome considering the low polyphone of the JV-80. Had the Pop expansion card.
I really regret trading it in for an Alesis QS-6. Something about the JV-80. I remember one practice, I did a quick organ gliss up- not knowing what I just did- I had a note stuck. We stopped- I looked down- and saw that I snapped a key. Luckily the Roland Canada office was nearby in Surrey and they took care of me for cheap (that was a treat to go into the repair depot in the head office and see all the keyboards being worked on). I was a teen at the time- so I regret not appreciating what I saw- espcially the older vintage stuff lyring around. A Roland guy came over to me and gave me a bunch of Roland stickers as a momento (ones they give to dealers to put on their windows- you stick it on, pull off the sticker, leaving the grey Roland logo behind).
I would definately pick up one if I ever come across it again.
Sadly, I got the Sonic Cell and 2 SRX cards for it- but for the price, I was dissapointed. I ended up selling it and using the funds to get my Spectrasonic synths.

But I still miss that JV-80.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 1:17 am

JavaJ wrote:
But I still miss that JV-80.

dude, pick up the JV-880 on ebay, they are rediculously cheap.

JPQ · Post by **JPQ** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:15 am

Roland Juno-G and alesis S4+ are only hardware samplesynths what i have what i surely going use both fully of usefull sounds,and Rolands engine is also very nice... others are Yamaha S30,Korg tr-rack. Little offtopic but Juno-G very similar to jv-series to me.

Ben H · Post by **Ben H** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:25 am

don1thedon wrote:zeep
[snip]
I did manage to find a complete library and purchased from ebay, this is shipped from US on 7 DVDs at ~27GB and a little more expensive & shipping! Too soon for me to tell you whether this really fits the bill though.
Don

27GB worth of samples to recreate an 8MB (in the 2080s case) box.

One has to laugh at the cluelessness of the people who create these collections.

willit · Post by **willit** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:29 am

ben_horwood wrote:
don1thedon wrote:zeep
[snip]
I did manage to find a complete library and purchased from ebay, this is shipped from US on 7 DVDs at ~27GB and a little more expensive & shipping! Too soon for me to tell you whether this really fits the bill though.
Don
27GB worth of samples to recreate an 8MB (in the 2080s case) box.

One has to laugh at the cluelessness of the people who create these collections.

lulz '27gb of meticulously recorded-by-hand 24-bit 96khz surround samples of an 8MB stereo 16bit 44khz ROM'

Interesting thing is - where can you find an 8MB soundbank that's as diverse as the 1080?

Ben H · Post by **Ben H** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:48 am

Yep.

It's the same for all of these synth sample CDs... "Every note chromatically sampled, at multiple velocities..." But hang on a minute, the original wasn't even chromatically sampled or multiple velocites...

willit wrote:Interesting thing is - where can you find an 8MB soundbank that's as diverse as the 1080?

That's very true.

Squeezing all of that goodness into such a small ROM space is such an amazing (and sadly dying), art.

There are a few software companies left today that manage to demonstrate what that old/original craft was all about... Timothy Schwartz from Digital Sound Factory springs to mind with the EMU Proteus and ASR recreations for Kontakt, and also Steve from Hollowsun...

These days it's all about the number of gigabytes though.

Xenobt · Post by **Xenobt** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:57 am

It's all in the synth sound design! The expert blending of samples and straight ahead synthesis know-how makes them sound big and deep even now.

Maybe it's too soon, but I feel like Eric Persing has been the Steve Jobs of soft synths. When I got Atmosphere, Trilogy and Stylus RMX in a Pro Tools upgrade, I felt like the game changed away from hardware at that moment.

Just like when I heard the D-50, JV/XP series and Omnisphere the first time. All projects he was deeply involved in, all the finest I could (can) find for price/performance, all immediately put to work in my projects. They don't get dated and they sound better the more I hear them. There's only a few folks I'd put next to Bob Moog, but Eric is one of them.

And I've seen used JV-880 modules in music stores go for as little as $75.00, WITH an expansion card. And $100 for a 1080 on eBay! You CAN get cheap and good at the same time!

KVR/eSoundz: Xenobt

pocvecem · Post by **pocvecem** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:22 am

Somehow i got addicted to the JV sound in the 1990s. I started with an JV90 when it came out. Today i have a D-110, a JV-1080, a JV-2080, 10 SR-JV expansions and a FantomXR.
I needed a sampleplayer for live playing and i see many bands using the the FantomXR on stage. The combi 2080 + some expansions (many good standards) + Fantom (sample ram + loading from CF-Card) still would be my favourite live setup today.
The sample quality and sound programming is simply amazing. When i go thru the synth presets of Omnisphere it reminds me a lot of the JV presets. Not soundwise but the playability.
You can't compare the samples with new Kontakt libraries and it's true that the JV effects make the sound muddy, especially the reverb.

Roland said that they used a special 2:1 bit compression, so the 8MB of the internal rom or of the expansions are indeed 16MB.

Here my (short) impression of the SR-JV Expansion Boards:
POP Expansion Board (SR-JV80-01)
Makes the JV80 almost to a JV1080. You don't need that with a JV1080 and above.

ORCHESTRAL Expansion Board (SR-JV80-02)
Still sounds great today. Good strings, brass, and choir. Don't compare to Kontakt libraries.

PIANO Expansion Board (SR-JV80-03)
The pianos from the Session board are much better.

VINTAGE SYNTH Expansion Board (SR-JV80-04)
Doesn't sound like originals imho, but very good synth sounds. For me it's a must have.

WORLD Expansion Board (SR-JV80-05)
Usable and interesting ethno sounds. Good percussion.

DANCE Expansion Board (SR-JV80-06)
I'm totally underwhelmed by this board. Some good drums and synths. But who needs those drumloops today?

SUPER SOUND SET Expansion Board (SR-JV80-07)
The sounds of the old sample rom cards on one board. I think it's the worst expansion of all.

KEYBOARDS OF THE 60's & 70's Expansion Board (SR-JV80-08 )
Very good mellotrons and epianos.

SESSION Expansion Board (SR-JV80-09)
Has the best piano sounds of all expansions. Also good strings and choirs. Plus some very boring synth sounds.

BASS AND DRUM Expansion Board (SR-JV80-10)
The best bass and drum sounds for your JV.

TECHNO COLLECTION Expansion Board (SR-JV80-11)
Many good drums. Synths are a bit oldskool.

HIP HOP Expansion Board (SR-JV80-12)
Same as above.

VOCAL COLLECTION Expansion Board (SR-JV80-13)
Definitely the best choirs for your JV.

ASIAN Expansion Board (SR-JV80-14)
Very good addition to the world board.

SPECIAL FX Collection Expansion Board (SR-JV80-15)
Good quality athmos and fx.

ORCHESTRAL II Expansion Board (SR-JV80-16)
Has the best strings of all boards. Very good addition to Orchestral I.

COUNTRY Collection Expansion Board (SR-JV80-17)
LATIN Collection Expansion Board (SR-JV80-18)
HOUSE Collection Expansion Board (SR-JV80-19)
I don't have those three boards.

And no, i don't give away any of my Roland synths! I still love them!

Cheers,
Gerald

felipem777 · Post by **felipem777** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:49 am

Hi pocvcem,

I saw your post about JV 80 Exp Cards. Very detailed (tks!).

I am planning to by one CME UF7 / JV 1080 that comes with PIANO Expansion Board (SR-JV80-03).
My first intention is to keep the MIDI controller, sell jv1080/card and buy Native Instruments Komplete 9 Ultimate and use plug ins (even in live).

After read your post I've changed a little about NI... Looks like the JV 1080 is still amazing.

Actually should I keep it it or sell it and buy another module / software?

Roland JV 1080