The expansion cards are a big part of what make the Roland modules so much fun to own, so let's take a closer look at the SR-JV80 cards, which can be used in both the JV-10. It's all over Tame Impala's Currents album, and Kevin Parker has gone on record saying he loves the "romantically nostalgic" sound of the JV-1080.
With up to 64-voice polyphony, plus six analog outputs on the back, the JV-1080 really was a versatile machine.įor the modern musician, the JV-1080 is attractive because of its versatility, its affordable price, and of course the sound. Up to four 8MB SR-JV80 cards could be installed at a time, significantly expanding the capabilities of this already quite-capable workhorse. However, the top of the unit could be popped off and expander cards loaded in, like adding RAM to a computer.
In 1994 memory was still expensive, and so the JV-1080 only came with 400 or so waveforms. And while the JV-1080 could do pretty much whatever you needed it to-bass, leads, effects-it was (and still is) a monster pad machine. It also had some great-sounding effects, including reverb, chorus, and 40 insert effects. Its first big ROMpler hit? The JV-1080.Įach tone had its own sampled waveform, plus filter, amp envelope, and LFOs. Into this PCM fray jumped Roland, and in typical Roland fashion the company had soon gobbled up a sizable share of the market. It's just that the sound source was sample-based. These were synthesizers, with all the editable parameters that you'd expect: filters, envelopes, LFOs, and effects. The key phrase here is sampled-based synthesis.
If you're wondering why you should bother with a piece of hardware when you could just download another sample pack, keep in mind that these did more than just play sounds.
With current musicians still in thrall with analog (and to a lesser extent FM) PCM synthesis has yet to make a full comeback, which means these very useful rack modules are still affordable. They provided a bank of realistic sounds in a specific genre or style and-since many were rackmountable-proved very popular with space-conscious musicians participating in the burgeoning home studio market. Think of them as the sample packs of the '90s.
Most every manufacturer had one or two on the market, such as E-Mu's Proteus series and Korg's 03R/W.
You could work with PCM (pulse code modulation) samples of the real thing.ĭifferentiated from samplers in that they could only play back waveforms already stored in memory, ROMplers were hugely popular throughout the '90s. Suddenly you weren't restricted to sounds that sort-of resembled acoustic instruments. This is what drove the market into the hands of FM in the '80s and sampled-based synthesis in the '90s. These days we take for granted our 30GB multi-sampled orchestral Kontakt instruments, but just a generation ago, you were happy if you could get the sawtooth on your Minimoog to sound vaguely violin-like. There was a time not so long ago when the chief goal of synthesis was realism. So what's the catch? Why are these dream machines still affordable? Let's cast our gaze back to the '90s and have a little chat about sample-based synthesis, shall we? PCM Sounds
They're ridiculously polyphonic and multitimbral, so one can do the work of tens of synthesizers, all in a small footprint that won't eat up precious studio real estate. These modules are also expandable, meaning you aren't limited to just the stock sounds. They're packed with waveforms that run the gamut from acoustic instruments to Roland classics, and in fact the same waveforms are so popular they're still being used in new Roland tech to this day. They've been used by artists as disparate as Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, Hans Zimmer, and LTJ Bukem. Starting in 1994, Roland released a series of rackmount modules that have since appeared on so many recordings it's not even funny. Where should the budget-conscious musician go then? Think Roland. Yes, they sound incredible, and what they do they do exceedingly well, but if you're looking for plenty of bang for your buck, more polyphony, even multitimbrality-while still retaining that classic, inspiring vintage sound-you've come to the wrong place. No knocking the vintage mono- and polysynths of the world, but many are not really what you'd call versatile. There are a lot of vintage synthesizers on the market, many commanding eye-watering prices.