This 90-ties classic has it's limits, but is still useful for atmospheric pads

When I first heard this synth back in 1994 all those patches mimicking 'real' instruments, like strings, piano's, organs and synths seemed pretty impressive. Nowadays these sounds seem outdated and a bit cheesy.

However, the JV-1080 is still a good buy for the absolutely fantastic pads this thing can do. Listen to the youtube demo of Don Solaris' JV-1080 sound set and you'll know what I mean.

Why the JV1080 can create such huge pads is evident as soon as you understand all that can go into a single patch. A patch consists of up to 4 tones. Each tone has it's own oscillator, multi mode filter, amp-, filter- and pitch envelopes and 2 lfo's. The envelopes are not simple ADRS's but are multi segmented. The LFO's have 8 different waveforms and can be synced to internal or external midi clock. There are 448 waveforms to choose from for each oscillator. The tones share an 1 insert effect plus reverb and chorus send effects. There are 40 insert effects to choose from.

PRO's

• lot's of presets

• lot's of sampled raw waveforms, both oneshots and looped multisamples.

• really deep sounddesign possible

• expandable

• many soundsets still available

• 64 voice polyphony

• 16 parts multitimbral

• cheap

• Unique character

CON's

• I'd have preferred simple ADSR envelopes over complex multisegmented ones, for ease of programming.

• It's not easy to edit patches, because of the complex voice- architecture and the 2 line display.

• Only one bank for user presets, and you can't overwrite the factory presets.

• the filter is rather lame.

• realtime control is limited.

• the effects are not that good, luckily you can switch them off globally and use an external effects processor instead.

From Gear Setup

Workhorse

I've had mine since 1995. It appears in my work more than any of my outboard equipment. The classic 90's patches are now dated. But there are some real treasures if you're willing to program your own patches. The durability of this unit is outstanding. I've never had a single issue with it.

The effects have long lost their luster. But sending the dry signal to modern (or good vintage) effects fixes that in a hurry. Not easy to program, but again, worth the effort.

ROMpler paradise

100% of its time, for better and worse. Some of its sounds are classics (run its strings and pianos through a good reverb and they're as good as much more expensive modern units), and some are horribly dated. You can get a lot out of it, but programming it takes an advanced degree in computer science. Expandable, but the expansion cards are way too expensive on the used market. I'm not the person to write a comprehensive review of a synth like this, but I can say that for all its faults, I find it impossible not to love, just like the decade that spawned it.

From Gear Setup

An awesome box of sounds!

I've been using the JV in my music ever since I started in 2018 (though via the VST). Since then it has been my #1 go to for authentic and stylistic 90s sounds that I think go amazingly with the ol' Korg M1. It wasn't until earlier this year I saw a JV1080 for £150 that I thought I would have a go at using the hardware and it's been nothing more than fantastic. Absolutely iconic sounds and the DAC is so warm on this thing!

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best price to performance ratio unit I've found.

I just added this synth to my rack, it wasn't that much money and I needed something for my SR-JV80 Cards as I was getting tired of swapping them out of the JD990. Wow I really didn't expect much from the synth engine on this unit but I'm very impressed. I've been using it for a lot of disco house basslines because it is so snappy and sits just right when I'm mixing with all the my other tracks. This is proving to be a real swiss army synth and probably the best price:performance ratio purchases I've ever made.

Good but the Roland JD is way better

I was a bit disappointed with this one. I got this synth after I read that Janne Wirman from Children of Bodom used one of these live. The display is small for a 2-unit rack and it is really not that easy to navigate through the functions. Also, the manual is near to incomprehensible. Interestingly enough, both my JV-1080 and my JD-990 have the vintage synth expansion card on board, but when I compare the same patches, the JD sounds so much better, even though it's an older synth! In all honesty, this rack does have some great sounds for electronic music and some drums loops are killer.

Outstanding

This is an excellent piece of kit and very versatile, I have added two extra cards inside for added sounds. Even though it’s some age it still sounds fresh. I particularly love the Roland pianos and strings.

One of the best synths ever.

I love my JV-1080 because it's one of the most popular synths ever. One of my favorite features for it is to expand it with expansion boards.

My first Synth Rack

I use this synthesizer a lot in my covers and remixes, i consider it as a favorite of mine.

I use 4 expansion cards, Vintage, Pop, World, Orchestral, in which my favorite VG Composers Grant Kirkhope and Graeme Norgate use it on there work a lot in the early to mid 2000s.

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Orchestra Machine !

I used to have up to four units, full of cards plus the JD990 and VP9000. Today, you find all of this inside the Roland Cloud, but ... please ... do your homeworks, Roland.