The Roland JV-2080 is a

rack-mount A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or ''ears'' that protrude from each side of the ...

expandable

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

sound module A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a piano-style musical keyboard. Sound modules have to be operated using an externally connected device, which is often a MIDI controller, of which th ...

and an updated version of the

Roland JV-1080 The Roland JV-1080 ( Super JV, Super JV-1080, or simply 1080) is a Sample-based synthesis, sample-based synthesizer/sound module in the form of a 2U rack. The JV-1080's synthesizer engine was also used in Roland's Roland XP-50, XP-50 Music wo ...

. Produced by the

Roland Corporation is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefect ...

, released in 1996, and built on a

sample-based synthesis Sample-based synthesis is a form of audio synthesis that can be contrasted to either subtractive synthesis or additive synthesis. The principal difference with sample-based synthesis is that the seed waveforms are sampled sounds or instrument ...

architecture, the JV-2080 provides a library of on-board sample material and a semi-modular synthesis engine.

Main features

The JV-2080 ("2080") is a sample + synthesis synthesizer with support for 768 internal patches, including General MIDI. In addition to the synthesizer, it also includes a multi-effects module, with 40 effect types, of which three can be used simultaneously. The 2080 is expandable via proprietary modules that contain both sample-based waveform data and patch information. The internal memory of the 2080 is divided into five sections. * USER – User re-writeable storage (RAM), initially contains a modified copy of PR-E. * PR-A, B, C, E (Preset A through C and E) – Presets in read-only memory, cannot be modified. * PR-D (General MIDI) – Presets compatible with the General MIDI system. * XP-A through H (Expansion A through H) – Patches and Rhythm Sets from expansion boards, installed in slots A through H. * CARD – Data from compatible memory cards and sound library cards (PN-JV80 series). The JV-2080 can also be 'stacked' with up to eight units ganged together to increase polyphony to achieve a 512 voice multitimbral performance.

On-board demos

The JV-2080 has three on-board demo songs. The demos are: * "Timepeace", by Scott Tibbs. * "Denki", by Ryeland Allison. * "Short Cuts", by Yuuki Kato. Directed by Takayuki Nagatani.

Factory sounds

The core sampled waveforms of the JV-2080 were developed by Roland R&D-LA in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

, California. Some of the factory presets and expansion board sounds were created by

Eric Persing Eric Persing is an American sound designer, professional synthesist, keyboardist, recording artist and music producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instr ...

Spectrasonics Eric Persing is an American sound designer, professional synthesist, keyboardist, recording artist and music producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instr ...

and Ace Yukawa.

Expansion

In common with other

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

instruments, the JV-2080 could be expanded with SR-JV80 expansion boards, and could accept up to eight of them at a time.

Expansion cards

* SR-JV80-01: Pop * SR-JV80-02: Orchestral * SR-JV80-03: Piano * SR-JV80-04: Vintage Synth * SR-JV80-05: World * SR-JV80-06: Dance* * SR-JV80-07: Super Sound Set * SR-JV80-08: Keyboards of the 60s & 70s * SR-JV80-09: Session * SR-JV80-10: Bass and Drums * SR-JV80-11: Techno * SR-JV80-12: Hip-Hop * SR-JV80-13: Vocal * SR-JV80-14: Asia * SR-JV80-15: Special FX * SR-JV80-16: Orchestral II * SR-JV80-17: Country * SR-JV80-18: Latin World * SR-JV80-19: House * SR-JV80-97: Experience III * SR-JV80-98: Experience II * SR-JV80-99: Experience Notice: Due to copyright problems Roland no longer distributes the Dance expansion board.

Notable users and genres

Artists and producers from a broad range of genres utilize the JV-1080 and JV-2080. In 2001,

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

artist

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

once remarked that he didn't find the JV as immediate in usability as his older synthesizers. The JV-2080 has featured in the studios of Tidy Trax Records, a

Hard House UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often features a speedy te ...

record label based in the UK. Australian Electro band

Gerling Gerling were an Australian electronica, alternative rock trio formed in 1993. From early 1997 the members were Darren Cross on guitar and lead vocals, Presser (real name Paul Towner) on drums and Burke Reid on guitar and vocals. Their second ...

used the JV-1080 on their album Children Of Telepathic Experiences.

LTJ Bukem Daniel Andrew Williamson (born 20 September 1967), better known as LTJ Bukem (), is a British drum and bass musician, producer and DJ. He and his record label Good Looking are most associated with the jazzy, atmospheric side of drum and bass m ...

and

Photek Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Photek has contributed music ...

have also used it in music production and film scoring, respectively. Other users include

Midge Ure James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...

Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having writ ...

, Armin van Buuren,

Glen Ballard Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing on Wilson Phillips' debut and sophomore albums, '' Wilson Phillips'' and '' Shadows and Light'', ...

Jimmy Douglass Jimmy Douglass, also known as "The Senator", is an American recording engineer and record producer. Active since 1970, he has been credited on singles and albums for fellow Virginia-based acts including Missy Elliott and Timbaland. Career In ...

London Elektricity Tony Colman (born 28 April 1961), better known by his stage name London Elektricity, is an English electronic musician and co-founded Hospital Records. History The first incarnation of London Elektricity was the duo Tony Colman and Chris Goss. ...

1 Giant Leap 1 Giant Leap is a British electronic music duo consisting of the two principal artists, Jamie Catto (Faithless founding member) and Duncan Bridgeman. Career Based in the UK, the two musicians set out to create a multimedia project that would ...

, David Frank, and Máni Svavarsson.

References

External links

Polynominal JV-2080 page, technical review, manual and audio clips demo
{{Roland JV-2080