I think this thing has real potential. I do. I think it is a very cool to mix the digital and analog parts. To me though, it seems like there are WAY too many features jammed into the machine at the expense of the user-interface. I feel like I would be farting around and menu diving far too long before I came up with something useful. Just my take. I do think this is a great sound design tool though.
As always Nick you’re a genius....I have this instrument and I can honestly tell you that this thing sounds massive. Since it is a new concept the need to explore the combination of digital and analog . It’s like an orchestra and your balancing out the various instruments . The essence of any instrument is will it make great music. It is not familiar to anyone since it’s a new concept. The learning curve can be a bit hyperbolic but once you get your head around it the reward will be a unique and truly amazing synthesizer. routing the digital parts through the analog filters yields warmth and dimension if that’s your goal. I find the contrast between warm and precise makes for a complementary overall sound that can only be recreated by connecting an analog and digital synth together. The one thing missing is that you can cross pollinate the various analog and digital engines for sounds that are completely exclusive to the JD. The other cool feature is that the axial free libraries can be loaded onto the JD. The Gattobus collection is particularly good and the Jupiter- Juno library is sweet. Most of the Integra 7 patches are also available with the JD library doing the heavy lifting. They also have added a drum library so the orchestra is fairly complete. The motion recording can make some swirly whirly pads and with the addition of an effect for each voice it can be breathtaking... It never ceases to amaze me how musicians want everything they buy sound the same... This s truly a unique instrument but it requires input from the musician to really tap into the genius fr the design. Stick with it and you won’t be disappointed...
Thanks for this wonderful review. I just bought one and am in the process of learning how to use it. Being in my 60s this is not going to be easy. It's menu driven system that drives all these parameters is a bit daunting. The JD-XA seems to be a good compromise on quality of build and overall synth flexability for this price. I hope it is a success.
I think I may stand alone in genuinely liking the visual design. It's almost a sort of "80s grotesque" in terms of the colors, the fonts, even the old school screens. It will quickly get a pleasant "dust patina" of little microscratches and then fingerprints and little flecks of dust won't stand out so much. I'm not in the market for this, but I'll happily snatch one up if I ever find one for a good deal some day. Sounds really nice to my ears.
Great Design in many aspects. For my band this was the best LIVE PLAY type of synth we could find for our style of music, price and needs. We use this in combination with AKAI 49 Advanced. Together its great
I think it looks great…until you touch it. The shiny fingerprint-magnet surface was a big mistake. This company makes replacement overlays that look quite nice, but they appear to be sold out: www.synthgraphics.com/Roland_JD-XA_panel.html But I do like the design. I also have a System-8 (which people keep saying is ugly) and think that looks fantastic too.
An awful lot of 'herd mentality' comments in on here - because it's new Roland. I've in fact found it a great sounding synth on trying it out, and if you in fact read the comments of nearly everyone who's actually played one - as opposed to everyone who's watched a youtube demo video for the sounds - almost everyone seems to like them.
Well I i finally did get the chance to play with one for a couple of hours, and I have to say, I´m not a fan. The analog synth doesn't sound great compared to other (cheaper) modern analogs (it's not terrible, but it's nothing to write home about either), and the "Supernatural" side sounded very underwhelming compared to other Roland romplers (which is very disappointing, because that's the one area where I'd expect Roland to be brilliant). The effects are okay, but again I have heard better on other Roland gear, and definitely on synths in general. It sort of feels like they had loads of ideas and all wanted to fit them into one neat instrument, which is an admirable ambition. But they ended up with a load of compromises. It's also possible Roland wanted to get in on the "new analog" fad, designed an analog synthesizer, weren't all that happy with the outcome, and decided to sticky-tape it to a stripped down version of their workstation-engine to turn it into a seemingly attractive product. Either way, I just didn't like it. But to anyone who loves this synth: good for you.
Useful review, Nick. Thanks. Sadly, the fact that the JD-XA doesn't deliver as a sequencer has killed off my interest in purchasing one. It's a shame that such an obvious feature has been neglected, especially as we know that Roland possesses the technical know-how from previous workstation products.
The sequencer let it down? Are we not living in the age of EVERYONE OWNS A COMPUTER? I own the JD and I haven't even thought Once about using the sequencer. I'm too busy coming up with some of the best Tones of any synth I own and with EASE. It's beautiful and inviting and the front panel becomes second nature very quickly do to the flirtatious effect of twisting and fiddling. I do have a few small complaints but IT JUST SOUNDS SO GOOD and it's easy to transport. People complain about the plastic. I dropped my moog and guess what, the weight added to the damage. It's all relative
Yeah I couldn't stop rolling my eyes, he's whipping up the most complete and great sounding tracks ever demo'd and every 5 minutes he's disappointed at the sequencer. Just take the extra 30 seconds to record it in your DAW and arrange it with FAR MORE EASE. The aliasing complaints on the WORLD FAMOUS INTEGRA 7 waves like fml. What a gearslutz enabling review.
dirtrobot : don’t get me wrong. I have one and I love it but don’t make the mistake of not wanting more. Roland could have put a better sequencer in there. It’s not difficult technology to implement anymore.
Nick: You may know this already, but they did not fix the gain structure on the analog multimode filter LPF3 and the HPF for the production models (thus far). This is just my experience, and i'm open to being wrong about it--in fact, I hope I just got a lemon that I can switch out. I don't mind it so much with the the low pass being a "character filter" (or whatever colorful language they choose to use), as it can create some happy accidents (and there are the other two LPFs)--but on my unit, the highpass filter is even more finicky and shatter-prone than the unit you demoed. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who has received an XA that does not exhibit the HPF issues Nick's preproduction unit did in part 1 of this review.
Roland, if you can hear me, you guys should really release a synth that just focuses on the analog part. A 4 or 5 voice analogue poly (or paraphonic) that is a more affordable alternative to, say, DSI Prophet 6 would be awesome. A lot of people don't care about a hardware digital synth these days. But the analog engine sounded pretty great.
Thanks for an honest and deep review. I find the sound of this synth to be disappointing, and the lack of a scrolling wheel for preset selection is a buzzkill.
I like this synth, Ive had it for a few years and its one of faves from Roland and Ive had alot of synths in 40 years. I replaced the knobs with clear ones so the light shines thru and looks even cooler. I got mine so cheap though, I wouldn’t pay retail for one.
At first I was thinking it was an Elektron Analog Keys competitor with a digital engine as well. However, the sequencer, materials and implementation keep this out of the league of the AK. That said, this is a great effort and they have certainly come a long way since the laughable Jupiter 80. Good job Roland.
I'd have bought two of these if the sequencer worked properly and if the arpeggiator synced up properly (the SoS review points out that the arps start when you hit the keys, even if they are out by so many milliseconds) .... what ARE Roland thinking man, and what are the alternatives?
The supernatural synth has 2 lfo's per partial ..were the second one is controlled by the modwheel . It's exactly hte same as on the integra and jupiter 80 and more recently the fa
Awesome review Nick. I ve played with it in the store and loved it. The idea is great to combine an analog engine and a digital engine. Only thing that really put me off is the menu diving in the digital part and optical desaster of the interface. Hope they bring a desktop that fix this or a mk2 version
I tested one out for about an hour at a music shop. By the end I had some nice sounds going but I personally felt like it was a nightmare to program. It felt like the presets were fighting against me at every turn. I agree with other comments, they should ditch all the workstation crap, ditch the digital voices and effects, fix the sequencer and release an analog poly like everyone wants. Either a stripped down JDXa for much less money, or an 8 voice version for slightly less.
What I did like about the sequencer was the way you could interrupt the track with live playing then have it return to it's pattern. I can't think of any other sequencer, built in or not, that does that. That glossy finish and price are what kill it for me though.
Mr. Nick Batt. I've watch your part 1 & 2 video on the Roland JD-XA. I need your help please! Is there any type of video dealing with creating sequencer from scratch? Also need more understanding about the Initializing, the Copy a Sound, Saving a Program and the Favorite.The manual not clear enough.
Does Roland sell as an option a bag of nano cleaning robots to wipe the surface clean after each session? They really, really got the surface characteristics of this product wrong. It's a dust and fingerprint magnet!!
Thanks Nick that you told us about the sequenzer "4 bars dilemma"... of the JD-XA...I have noticed that there are pretty much gear out even in 2021 that surprisingly does not do more than 4 bars... no chaining patches ecc...with quite difficult to deal with sequenzers... for example the Novation Mk III SL... the MIDI controller of all MIDI controllers... flagship bla bla bla ... has a sequenzer which is not really user friendly....you only se a 16 step bar flashing aroun all the time.... and "good luck" to create a simple 4 bar patch... strange...
I think the main intent of the JD-XA is to be played in a band with a real drummer, guitar, bass, maybe even some horns. As a main or second keyboard. And to keep your tech busy cleaning the shinny top....lol. The JD-Xi would be more for home studios, DJs and all that.
I just thought of another important question about the JD-Xa. The external sequencer I want to use with it only runs on channels 6-9, so can I customize the channels on the JD-Xa so that I can use those channels as a partial sound module? Thanks again. The JD-Xi cannot do this. - Billy McBride
So does that mean I could set up zones, for kick, snare, toms, hats, cymbals, and trigger them with my old Roland R-70 drum machine on the same MIDI channel?
i own this Thing sice yesterday.. :-) is patter chain now possible or not ? if not, maybe the solution is to buy the xi, make it run as master and the xa in slave-mode.. what do you think.. ?
Thanks, Nick for answering my question about transposition. Maybe with an external midi sequencer going into it that can transpose the sequences is the best way. - Billy McBride
I'm not totally unimpressed, even if it isn't my bag at all. I'm sure I could work with it and come up with good stuff, but I would have to fight against it at every turn. Sometimes that is a good thing, but I'm not sure on something that is over $2000. And I wonder why it is that a company like Roland, who have so many resources, drop the ball on some crucial features? Not having any way to switch between sequences... That is just mind boggling. And then there is the build. How can we expect those kinds of flimsy knobs on a flagship product? It is a bit of a let down. Maybe they need to hire engineers who are passionate about what they are doing, and stop building by committee. Thanks for the review, Nick! So much better than what I had seen previously.
Thanks so much for another brilliant video! Clear and competent explanation. How do you think this synth compares to the DS Prophet Rev 2? I don't mean it features wise, I mean which one do you personally like best? Thanks, Alex
I thought a digital voice had 2 lfos ? one standard and one they call the mod lfo ? Does that just refer to the mod wheel and thus you didn't include it Nick ?
dose sound like some new sounds might be possible out of this puppy recon the sound design guys gona love it, I.m definitely interested in one if I find myself with a few quid spare after I get my new prophet 6 that is. Dose it have a software editor or library ?
Nick or anyone: Can this be made to sound like a piano? Would be great if my elderly mom can also use this to play songs she likes. Am totally new to synths and can't wait for this to arrive. Thanks for the helpful reviews.
Yes, check out the gattobus covers and the sirius patch as an example. Not sure why you'd want to use this as a digital piano of sorts though. I prefer 88 keys for piano stuff.
The glossy front panel will actually help to sell more units. Roland hopes prospective buyers to fall in love with their own reflection and find themselves in a trance handing their credit card to the cashier. Genius! Inspired by the legend of Narcissus.
With this being a monster performance and sound design synth, the one fail I see in the sequencer is that it can't be used key-triggered. That's a huge letdown. Other than that, I love the sound this beast can make.
I like saving everything in one patch. As long as you can copy sequences or whatever between patches. But I tend to work in that way. I tend to find it confusing to share multis and voices, especially when, like on the Korg Micro-X, if you change a synth voice it changes in all the multis in which it is shared! I've completely ruined multis days before a gig with that way of working.
Thanks for the review. The analog and digital parts sound good and have nice routing and modulation options but the cumbersome interface seems to work against creative sound sculpting, there are a number of annoying limitations and the sequencer isn't even up to par with the one on the JD-Xi. Colour me unimpressed.
My opinion is that it would be a good work horse synth, nothing stands out to me like oh that's a JD-XA like a Access Virus does as an example. Certainly it can cover all the basses well so if you're making Pop songs why not.
Nick, what are you going on about those Tones for? The thing I love about the XA is that you don't have all those Tones off in their own memory locations to have to sort through. When you program a patch, everything is right there, including all effects, arps and sequences. And with that incredible control panel. This is actually more than what I wanted Roland to build, so I'm sold. So... can someone spot me $2200?? ;D
I need some advice. I only recently got into synthesizers (about a year now). I've got the Roland JD-Xi and it's the only synth I've ever used, thus I'm not really familiar with all the different types of synths that are out there. The music I play is pretty much metal/industrial/'techno'. My influences are modern KMFDM, Skold, Rammstein, Eisbrecher, etc. This probably isn't enough info for the experienced to go on, but based on this, what would you recommend. My budget is $2000 (US). Thanks.
You can use any synth to make any technological-sounding piece of music, so there isn't a "techno synth" or "industrial synth". Ultimate Patches for the JD-Xi is bound to have lots of techno/EDM sounds including drums if you've run out. Synths don't get easier than the JD-Xi. I'm pretty sure your heroes are using PCs and DAWs, although some could be using real synths. The JD-Xa is not the JD-Xi's older brother; it's different. Buying gear is not the answer until you know exactly what you need, not want. Hope all this helps :)
Oh, Look. Roland Made a Casio XW-p1 for 5 times the price. I think that the Aira S1M might be a more fetching unit... The analog side sounds alright on this...lots of modulation too. Not bad...but I'd never spend 2k on this thing. Check the bargain bin at Guitar Center next year if you want one of these now...I'll bet you'll see a fat price drop...
+James Reeno I changed my mind about this synth. I was just in a salty mood the night I watched this review...it's still too expensive, I think... But...pretty capable. I'm not wild about the sound. But lots of people love Roland's flavor. I'm sure it's great though.
while this thing is pretty damn cool! there are some very odd choices, like the looping envelopes. why on earth would they assume you want all you're envelopes to loop? i wish the jdxi had some of the workflow stuff, like the easy way of tempo locking your time divisions. this thing is a lot cooler than i thought, i didn't realize it had cross mod FM. seems like a fun upgrade from the jdxi!
fantastic review as always. this keyboard though is not for me, the flimsy plastic shell and cheapo knobs and sliders are a turn off for the price at which this is selling for.
oh. the pcm sounds are awful. the synth looks gorgeous i must admit but those guitar sounds and many others skipped through are so poor. i would expect top quality samples for the money. not sure the little jdxi would be proud of its bigger sibling picking it up from school
roland's fancy marketing on their homepage feels kind of sexy but I wonder who will it fool? Why would anyone go for this instead of the analog keys or the prophet 6? Why can't this thing turn me on?
A year later and I've been using this synth for six months. Really, it's a decent studio synth but it really needs a DAW to do the sequencing as the onboard sequencer is very weak and cumbersome. Also, data entry IS a pain so this rig is pretty much useless for gigs.
Oh heavens! The ear piercing digital partial doesn't pwm without aliasing, why did I buy this?! This is the most insane kind of nitpickery that makes places like gearslutz a pit of despair for sane synth owners who aren't into CSI Miami style instrument faffing, as you brits put it.
great review, again. but the synth? don't like the looks, don't like the programming, sound seems to be OK, but nothing super special. seems to be a bit overpriced ...
Love your channel! Great reviews, thank you! The real dissapointement for me of the JD-XA is the poor implementation of the sequencer, especially compard to the JD-Xi. I hope Roland will enhance this via a firmware update. Another thing is the visual look of this synth. I can't beliefe this very poor design decissions. Absolutely stupid to put an instrument which is touched all the time in such a case.
Crappoly sequencer lack of a data entry interface and garish looks deal breaker . Amazing sounds tho. Might grab one when they go on boxing day blow out
Awesome bit of underrated kit, but the tone/patch/group organisation, or lack there of, makes it a hard buy. A real shame. This will probably still become a sought after classic when Roland kill it though, simply because of the analog multimode filter. Something I doubt we’ll ever see again from Roland.
Looks nice but honestly way too much synth for me personally. I pretty sure I would spend all my time trying to figure this thing out rather that playing anything.
well well well, jd-xa won't switch to the next pattern if pattern 001 then pattern 002...what's all that about?..utter fail...total waste of opportunity...just how WRONG is this crippled sequencer is...such a shame. They got the SEq on the FA-06 so right...and then this?...drat..off my list until the firmware fix it and add song mode and chaining.
Kinda disappointed, with a synth in this pricebracket, you really don't wanna feel like they haven't done everything right. It should be an easy fix really, but generally if a synth comes to market with obvious omissions, these are often not fixed as they should've been from day 1. The individual parts, all the nice touches, and the cross-part functionality, all set this up to be a great synth. But with all these small details that just doesn't cut it, unless they're fixed fast, Roland may just have crashed and burned. And up untill now i thought the negativity towards them was undeserved, because they do try to get it right. Just not this time it seems. Sadly. Starting to think they've been in too much of a hurry with this JD-X series.
Even if this thing sounded as good as Andromeda, I could never put up with such an awful design. Who could possibly approve this instrument's design??! I can't even imagine a company meeting where they approved such design.
이런저런 What an odd thing to say *its no furniture*, take a look at vintage synth no beauty's who cares its the sound what important, in the end you only play , listen and twist those knobs.
WulfCry I'll tell you what's odd, seeing only aesthetic side of design is odd. This design is horrible from a practical point of view first and then it's ugly.
Terrible synth, sounds so weak and thin to me. My Virus C sounds way way way better and a million times cheaper. I know you can combine it with the analog side but the whole package is just very underwhelming
@Donal Finn haha you are a stark raving mad lunatic, you are like the antivaxxer of the synth reviews. Such over the top vitriol is usually reserved for those who don't know what they are talking about, I bet you have little to no hands on experience with a JDXA. But please go on and give us your list.
In the context of being like analogue pwm it doesn't sound right. On my JDXi which I believe has the same SN synth engine I get mileage out of it for certain pads, as it offers another colour to the sound. It's acceptable on the Xi as its great fun and value for what it is, but the Xa really should have better pwm on the digital side. Also 64 note poly vs 128?! Why?
I just don't hear any warmth or character at all. Who wants an expensive synth with a horrible unintuitive design and no personality? I'd rather have so many other synths for that money.
+davidevoid JD-800 (used obviously) + Moog Sub 37 is a great combo for the same or less price. And you get way better analog and much nicer keybed on the JD (and 5 octaves) + brushed metal control panel not plastic. I'd love to find a poly that combines my two fav synths in one and thought this may have been it but Roland cheaped out on build, keys and voices (analog)...
It's the worst looking synth ever made. It's going to be covered in finger-fat and dust after the first day of use on that glossy panel. The red text is blurry and the background LED glow is just too much. The knobs just look like they don't match the design of rest of the keyboard. I don't get the concept either. It's half of everything put together into a "cross-over synthesis" synthesizer. If they would have focused on just Analog or Just digital, it wouldn't be so largely compromised with weird design flaws. I'm glad Roland finally did make a synth with hands on control, it's been a while now. I just wish they did it better.
