Is Roland JV1080 still worth buying?

[Kim Olesen]

As far as jv stories. Tell us what the real deal with the dance expansion was. (i have one which i bought before it was withdrawn)

Unfortunately, mucho copyright problems with third party supplied samples on that one. Numerous high profile lawsuits, etc. It was the only "recalled" Roland product that I'm aware of. Major headache for everyone in Roland Sound Development in those days. We stopped doing third party stuff the same way after that nightmare.

Using the samples on that board on a commercial release is quite dangerous it turned out! So although it's highly prized these days, watch out on using it because it got a number of Roland end users into lawsuits.

I learned a lot about copyright law from having to deal with that problem though....very useful info for my later adventures into my own sound business.

I don't know if it'd amount to too much but i'd love to know what patches were affected. I asume it was mostly the loops?

[spectrum]

Wow. there must be something going on in that engine. t just sounds so good to my ears.

Most of Roland's stuff works that way. A few products use a higher sample-rate of 44.1k, like the JD-800/990, but most use the lower rate to squeeze in more or longer sounds.

We're pretty spoiled in the software world.

[spectrum]

I don't know if it'd amount to too much but i'd love to know what patches were affected. I asume it was mostly the loops?

I can't get into specifics, but there were problems with numerous sounds, not only the loops. Many of the third-party sounds were probably clean too, but the problem was that it was impossible to determine which was clean or not....so they pulled the whole thing and started being much more strict about checking sources and sample clearance, documentation, etc. in the future.

[Roman Empire]

I still got my JV, but haven't used it for 5 years - that's when I started using VST's for everything
It's a really great synth for sure, and I'd get one myself if it's not for that I prefer using as little hardware as possible.

Now we're talking about it: What excactly did the spectrum effect do? I remember using it to get a pretty-ok sounding 303-distortion.

I also had the dance board, but sold it. It was nice to have back then as an alternative to my AKAI sampler, cause it had all the 808's and 909's coming out through the same outputs as the rest, but other than that, I never found it that special.
How has it been proven, btw, when people were using the uncleared loops from the dance board? I mean, these were taken from sample cd's, as far as I remember, and nobody forces you to prove that you didn't use a JV for that stuff in your song, but the original sample-cd...

[spectrum]

How has it been proven, btw, when people were using the uncleared loops from the dance board? I mean, these were taken from sample cd's, as far as I remember, and nobody forces you to prove that you didn't use a JV for that stuff in your song, but the original sample-cd...

It's pretty simple. The manufacturer that release the sounds is legally responsible.

So everyone gets wrapped up in the lawsuits that way. Just because someone else provided the uncleared source sample doesn't mean the end manufacturer is exempt from prosecution.

That's why fully documented sample clearance is so important. It protects everyone.

[Ildon]

Roland really needs to fire its preset guys.

Yep...we sucked pretty bad. Guess that's why all those Roland synths we did were so unsuccessful....

spectrum

Ah man. That's great. I had no idea there was a Roland preset guy roaming these parts.

Hehehe... oh man.

You can't take what I say too seriously, because I'm only joking when I say Roland needs to fire its preset guys. I do hate those Roland presets, though. Sorry, man. I can only imagine how it must've been to have to make whole banks of presets and learn the synth in what was probably a very short amount of time. In a sense, I can kind of sympathize and understand that a person can't make magic after only having a synth for a week or a even a month.

Oh man, that made me laugh. But you obviously didn't take what I said too seriously, so that's good.

[Roman Empire]

How has it been proven, btw, when people were using the uncleared loops from the dance board? I mean, these were taken from sample cd's, as far as I remember, and nobody forces you to prove that you didn't use a JV for that stuff in your song, but the original sample-cd...

It's pretty simple. The manufacturer that release the sounds is legally responsible.

So everyone gets wrapped up in the lawsuits that way. Just because someone else provided the uncleared source sample doesn't mean the end manufacturer is exempt from prosecution.

That's why fully documented sample clearance is so important. It protects everyone.

Ok, so are you saying that the original sample-cd was not cleared either?

[spectrum]

Roland really needs to fire its preset guys.

Yep...we sucked pretty bad. Guess that's why all those Roland synths we did were so unsuccessful....

spectrum

Ah man. That's great. I had no idea there was a Roland preset guy roaming these parts.

Hehehe... oh man.

You can't take what I say too seriously, because I'm only joking when I say Roland needs to fire its preset guys. I do hate those Roland presets, though. Sorry, man. I can only imagine how it must've been to have to make whole banks of presets and learn the synth in what was probably a very short amount of time. In a sense, I can kind of sympathize and understand that a person can't make magic after only having a synth for a week or a even a month.

Oh man, that made me laugh. But you obviously didn't take what I said too seriously, so that's good.

No problem at all...to each his own and I know very well that's impossible to please everyone.

My guess is that you most likely dig something I've made at some point, since my tastes are pretty eclectic. The 1080 stuff was done a long time ago and is a pretty small set of the sounds I've made over the years:

http://www.spectrasonics.net/artists/epersing.php

http://www.spectrasonics.net/artists/roland.php

And hey...the hip-hop guys loved that same stuff!

spectrum:-)

[Ildon]

Oh, you're the guy behind Atmosphere? Cool! I do like Atmosphere's sound. There was a time where I was saving up for it and Stylus RMX, but I never got around to buying either of them because I went down the GM/VGM route with my music. I had no idea you were so prolific. That's really neat.

[Ildon]

Oh crap, you did sounds for the Sound Canvases?! Are we talking the SC88, SC55 or higher?

[spectrum]

Oh, you're the guy behind Atmosphere? Cool!

Yup.

I do like Atmosphere's sound.

Good! That's certainly much more of a personal creation.

There was a time where I was saving up for it and Stylus RMX, but I never got around to buying either of them because I went down the GM/VGM route with my music. I had no idea you were so prolific. That's really neat.

...just been doin this for a while now....

[spectrum]

Oh crap, you did sounds for the Sound Canvases?! Are we talking the SC88, SC55 or higher?

Well....yes...all of them, in that I oversaw the development of the original hi-res versions in the Roland Master sample library.

The Sound Canvas stuff is the cut-down, low res versions of a limited selection of those sounds....the original hi-res versions are MUCH, MUCH better sounding than the consumer editions they did for the Sound Canvas series....and there are many more sounds too.

They were originally released as Roland 700 series CD-ROM libraries for pro use.

[Ildon]

I'm a huge fan of video game music, and the Sound Canvases have the sound for me that I've been trying to find or recreate in other synths and have failed miserably. That blows me away.

You're right. I have liked your work - a lot. Those Sound Canvases are gorgeous.

[spectrum]

I'm a huge fan of video game music, and the Sound Canvases have the sound for me that I've been trying to find or recreate in other synths and have failed miserably. That blows me away.

You're right. I have liked your work - a lot. Those Sound Canvases are gorgeous.

hah....interesting. Never got that compliment before. Glad you like 'em.

[DevonB]

Hey Eric, I just picked up the D-50 card VC-1 for my VariOS. How much of the D50 was your work? It's so...

Devon