Virtual JV: free Roland JV-880 emulation

[Uncle E]

I don’t have that expansion for the hardware here, so I couldn’t test that. I was was thinking that patches that show the tempo, e.g. 130, would match up the beat in the DAW if its tempo is set the same way (130), but it doesn’t. Maybe I’m doing something wrong? I’m using Cakewalk here on my PC.

The hardware doesn't tempo sync. The samples are just laid out across the keyboard and you have to sync to them.

[Uncle E]

So it looks like he fixed the loading issues in Logic, however, now I can't click on anything on the interface. I get this 'ding ding' sound as I try to click on things as if something hidden is open in the background and stealing focus. I can't see anything though. Happens in standalone too.

Thank you for reporting that. The previous version is working fine for me so I'll stick to that.

[Examigan]

I don’t have that expansion for the hardware here, so I couldn’t test that. I was was thinking that patches that show the tempo, e.g. 130, would match up the beat in the DAW if its tempo is set the same way (130), but it doesn’t. Maybe I’m doing something wrong? I’m using Cakewalk here on my PC.

The hardware doesn't tempo sync. The samples are just laid out across the keyboard and you have to sync to them.

I just don’t get why those numbers are there. If it doesn’t sync, then why bother showing a number? It must relate to something else.

[Examigan]

I just found this on Reddit. It’s from a year ago.
That’s the same plugin, right?

https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/c ... ion_cards/

[Uncle E]

I just don’t get why those numbers are there. If it doesn’t sync, then why bother showing a number? It must relate to something else.

C4 is those numbers. Every other key will be a different tempo and pitch.

- edit - Unless, of course, it's a House patch called PlayD4.

[beely]

I just found this on Reddit. It’s from a year ago.
That’s the same plugin, right?

https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/c ... ion_cards/

Yes, earlier version, same developer/project.

[beely]

This is a great point. When you load JV patches into an XV, the filter settings (and presumably others) are completely different. The XV's also sound brighter and more hifi in general. I used to use them side-by-side and would regularly choose them based on their completely different characters.

Indeed. For me, this plugin is a nice way to audition and reference the SR-JV cards and the 880 presets, and contains the most authentic Vintage set, which a lot of people used to rave about (I'm not sure it's all that, but...) - a lot of the core sounds are presented in later rompler versions in better quality, so I'd continue to use the Cloud stuff for those.

But the cherry on top for me is being able to audition the illicit, naughty, very-oopsie Roland Dance card (which was pulled from sale) as that stuff is not in the later SRX Dance cards or the Cloud stuff for legal reasons, and consequently the later Dance stuff is fairly generic weak sauce. So that's fun!

[beely]

I was was thinking that patches that show the tempo, e.g. 130, would match up the beat in the DAW if its tempo is set the same way (130), but it doesn’t. Maybe I’m doing something wrong? I’m using Cakewalk here on my PC.

No, take two or more devices, set them to 130bpm (or all the same tempo etc), and start them simultaneously, and you'll see they will all drift, by different amounts. You need to actually sync things together, otherwise they will not sync.

I'm not sure offhand whether the JV80 was pre-Recycle, but I think people that weren't doing production in that era don't understand how difficult/annoying it was dealing with drum loops and samplers and sample loop libraries, before the DAW age made things a lot more straightforward.

Loops would have their BPM listed to help you audition stuff that was in the ballpark of what you wanted, but you generally had to play to the loop, or retrigger via MIDI, and you could really only use pitch changes to speed up or down.

Recycle changed all that, but before hand, working with loops wasn't straightforward...

[autodafe]

I also have the Roland Cloud. I have checked the JV 1080 but it doesn't have the sounds that are in the Virtual JV. Where can I have the same sounds and soundacrds? in Zenology? Or Galaxias? or where?

[jsp1979]

I'm on Windows and I cannot access about half of the sounds on the last expansion card (House, I think?).

I click on the preset name and nothing happens for all presets past the half-way point roughly.

Anyone else seeing this?

[beely]

I also have the Roland Cloud. I have checked the JV 1080 but it doesn't have the sounds that are in the Virtual JV. Where can I have the same sounds and soundacrds? in Zenology? Or Galaxias? or where?

You'll find versions of many of the sounds in the factory presets of the 1080 and 5080 plugins, and many more in the "SRX" expansions (which are essentially the 5080 plugin with most of the samples from the SRX expansions, the successor to the early and smaller SR-JV expansions). Don't expect them to be identical, they are often improved sounding with higher quality samples etc and various engine changes - but you already have the older sounds in this plugin.

[beely]

I'm on Windows and I cannot access about half of the sounds on the last expansion card (House, I think?).

I click on the preset name and nothing happens for all presets past the half-way point roughly.

Anyone else seeing this?

I'm not on Windows, but yes, "VintagStrngs" is the last patch that correctly sounds, from then on, either the sound doesn't change, or changes to some default waveform. I'd report it as a bug...

(I've definitely come across some other bugs, weird noises when holding five notes in a pad just now on a particular patch, some weird tail behaviour on some pianos, some weird cyclic distortions when sustaining notes on other patches etc. It's not perfect yet, but it's still a quite impressive piece of work...)

[osofaux]

Thanks. I can't get anything else to respond, either.

Just an update on further tests with system exclusive with VirtualJV, the copy of Patch Base I am using to test is a demo version that heavily limits the parameters that can be edited, but the parameters that were unlocked, VirtualJV was definitely receiving. It also responds to bulk requests and says it is sending bulk data in response, although there is nowhere for it to go since the emulation does not (yet?) have MIDI Out. I made a point to double check the global chorus and reverb, VirtualJV definitely responds to those being toggled on or off via sysex, and although its GUI does not reflect the changes coming in over MIDI, the difference in sound when they are turned on and off is quite apparent.

I still haven't tried PatchEd with it, but it looks like it may be based on CTRLR, which in my experience is very hit and miss, functionality-wise. But I wanted to report back on that to let you know that VirtualJV does seem to play well with sysex after testing it further, so it may be the problem is more on the PatchEd side.

[TonesFreak]

It looks like an old project
https://github.com/jariseon/amame


Currently emulated devices are:

manufacturer model year
Ensoniq VFX 1989
Ensoniq VFX-SD 1989
Yamaha FB-01 1986

[Examigan]

I'm on Windows and I cannot access about half of the sounds on the last expansion card (House, I think?).

I click on the preset name and nothing happens for all presets past the half-way point roughly.

Anyone else seeing this?

Not on Windows, but yes, "VintagStrngs" is the last patch that correctly sounds, from then on, either the sound doesn't change, or changes to some default waveform. I'd report it as a bug...

(I've definitely come across some other bugs, weird noises when holding five notes in a pad just now on a particular patch, some weird tail behaviour on some pianos, some weird cyclic distortions when sustaining notes on other patches etc. It's not perfect yet, but it's still a quite impressive piece of work...)

Yes, it's the same way for me after VintagStrngs. Like I mentioned before, I use Windows.