can you fall in love with a machine?
Written: Aug 05 '00 (Updated Aug 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: excellent sound quality, weighted keys w/ aftertouch, tremendous array of features in portable form
Cons: none except for infrequent and extremely soft hissing
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| HRogue's Full Review: Roland Xp-80 Workstation |
I have not been particularly active here lately, but I had to start paying attention again when I heard there was a new category for musicians. Nearly three years ago I made the largest purchase of my life, a Roland XP-80 and assorted accessories. The total bill came to more than the cost of my '88 Celica. Nonetheless I was glad to pay it because I was going to start taking my music seriously and careful research told me that this was the gear that would help me accomplish that goal. After a youth spent in front of consumer-grade keyboards and my grandmother's old electronic organ, I was glad to get my hands on something truly state of the art. In the time since my purchase, I have not once been disappointed by this magnificent machine. With the coming of a new generation of hardware, the XP-80 may no longer be the biggest and best of its kind, but it remains a technological marvel and it will always have a special place in my heart.
The XP-80 is billed as a musical workstation, and it is certainly a professional tool. The full-sized, half-weighted keys, sensitive to both velocity and aftertouch, are better than I imagined could be built into a portable synth. Combined with a dual axis lever, assorted sliders, and a wide range of possible control accessories, the keyboard enables one to emulate an astounding variety of performance techniques. However, the machine does much more than enable good live play -- it features a robust sequencer and an amazing array of options for designing new patches and performance configurations. Whether your goal is to add some sweet organ and piano to your local rock ensemble or compose totally original music mingling any number of diverse sounds, the XP-80 is simultaneously a workhorse and a thoroughbread.
To be sure, this is no toy, although even novice musicians may feel a childlike thrill while experimenting with the hundreds of preset sounds the XP-80 offers. However, if you have no intention of working with a sequencer and no concept of patch design, then you may be getting in over your head with this machine. The manual provides some information about every menu option as well as a smattering of example techniques to help the uninitiated understand the full potential of the device. The document is clear and informative but does sometimes assume a certain level of expertise from its reader. Even with rigorous study, it could take someone more than a year to become familiar with the entire staggering array of features on the XP-80.
While I was trying to decide what sort of equipment to purchase, I had the chance to hear a wide variety of high end synthesizers. They all had various strengths and weaknesses, but the Roland line seemed to have the best all-around sound quality as well as the most diverse array of presets. As with any synthesizer, there is some variety in the quality of the patches. However, the XP-80 offered excellent specimens in every category I could think of. What's more, creative mixtures of sounds make it possible to use the instrument to reproduce complex music using fairly simple splits. For example, a preset patch known as "symphonique" combines brass, strings, and timpani in such a manner that I was able to pull off a stunning rendition of Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" (well, the first minute or so anyway) the same night I brought the machine home, without resorting to any sequenced parts or calling upon additional patches.
The piano sounds have been criticized, but I consider three of them to be excellent and I have since successfully created a few others that I also find quite convincing. The organ sounds are downright wonderful, and, when the EFX processor is dedicated to the rotary effect, it becomes possible to create perfect imitations of a wide variety of classic spin organ sounds. Fans of orchestral music will enjoy the wide variety available in that area, including some extremely fine woodwind and brass sounds. Of course, there are also many quality standards, including rich electric basses, versatile strings, and models of many classic analog synth sounds. The onboard library of waveforms features plenty of sounds useful in designing original patches. Also, those who wish to expand the machine can install boards with banks new of patches and hundreds of additional waveforms. Every year it seems like the list of available expansions increases . . . Roland pretty much has the bases covered now when it comes to providing sound data for any type of musical synthesis.
In addition to working with individual patches, the XP-80 has a "performance mode" which supports the simultaneous use of 15 melodic patches and one rhythm kit. This makes it possible to build extremely elaborate sounds that merge several patches together, and it also is the key to devising complex splits for numbers that require a several different types of synthesized sounds. For example, I have one setting which combines a custom square wave variant with muted trumpet, standard trumpet, and woodwind ensemble. Collectively this enables me to play four different parts from Cake's song "Going the Distance" without touching any controls other than the keys themselves. Of course, the sixteen channels of the performance mode are a logical fit with the sixteen channel limitation of standard midi files. Although I doubt the XP-80 is any different from most modern synths in this regard, it is quite easy to download sequences from colleagues or even public Web sites, load them into the XP-80, and then replace the normally miserable GM sounds with much higher quality sounds. Of course, the sequencer also supports a vast array of options for manipulating musical data. As a result, it is almost effortless to clean up mistakes after a recording session or transform some crude midi from the Web into a quality version of whatever song the author originally intended the sequence to resemble.
Although my only collaboration with other musicians involves classic and contemporary rock, I have had some success producing and arranging sequences from a variety of genres. Actually, come to think of it, the informal band I work with has recently pulled together an excellent rendition of Mancini's theme music for James Bond. I play vibes and brass, and sometimes I let the sequencer add in strings and brass highlights as well. The quality is such that I've never heard an amp that did it justice, although a good pair of headphones will reveal just how exquisite the sounds of the XP-80 are. My own standards feature a variety of classic organ and analog synth sounds, each virtually indistinguishable from the instrument it was intended to emulate. About the only class of instruments I've found it challenging to reproduce is electric guitars. While there are some impressive guitar presets and plenty of options for adapting them, I have found it difficult to achieve the precise sound of individual guitar rigs. Of course, with at least half of all rock musicians and rock musician wannabees playing guitar, if you have to have a weak suit in your synth this is probably the most tolerable of them all.
If you should find the need for sounds that are not already available, it is quite simple to begin exploring the world of patch design with the XP-80. To start, one might experiment with the three onboard effects processors. Two of them are dedicated to a single effect (reverb or chorus) but even they offer a broad range of parameters in order to emulate a specific sound or adjust to an unusual acoustic environment. The third can be set to any one of dozens of effects, although it cannot simultaneously produce multiple effects. This is a serious limitation in the context of certain types of music. For example, when arranging a classic rock sequence, I cannot simultaneously apply my best distortion to a guitar sound while also applying the rotary effect to an organ part. The same fact also means that I cannot easily capture the sound of a piece with two different types of electric guitars or two different types of rotary organs. This limitation will rarely be a problem in the context of a live performance, but it does demand some compromises when it comes to developing high quality sequences of popular music from the past fifty years or so.
When it comes to actual patch design, here the only limits are the source data and the imagination. Up to four different waveforms can be integrated into a single patch. This can be used to create exotic sounds, like an instrument that fuses the trumpet with the clarinet, or to capture complex sounds produced by some instruments. For example, if separate voices are used for the thump of a piano keypress and the sound of the actual note, it becomes much easier to tweak one without interfering with the qualities of the other. The patch editor allows for complex manipulation of sounds, such that elements can be looped, compressed, dilated or put through just about whatever other kind of operation one can imagine. Each patch can accommodate up to two low frequency oscillators, and each tone within a patch can be modified in all sorts of interesting ways. In fact, there is even a parameter for introducing a little random quality to the sound, thus making it possible to really capture the quirkiness of some of the more well-known analog synths.
While the quality of the XP-80's sounds and its patch editing capabilities are extraordinary, there is a small problem that I cannot overlook. Depending on the types of sounds you are working with, there may be an extremely soft hiss of white noise which lingers long after any notes have faded away. The whisper is so subtle that it could never be a problem even in the cleanest live performance situation. However, in the studio it could spoil moments of pure silence intended to be recorded in the midst of a tune. This is not the sort of problem that would pose any real challenge for a qualified and properly equipped recording engineer, but it is a surprising imperfection.
I cannot make specific claims about customer service and repair issues, because I have never had any sort of problem that required such maintenance. On the other hand, I can certainly write volumes about its durability and reliability. My XP-80 has been bumped and banged against more doorways and stairwells than a drunk exploring the Pentagon. Although it has never been dropped, knocked off a stand, or intentionally battered, it has sustained enough bumps an dings to assure me that it is exceptionally rugged. Also, it has been exposed to prolonged periods of both extreme cold and extreme heat. Even the LCD display (liquid crystal being notoriously vulnerable to unusual temperatures) has remained unharmed in spite of this treatment. While I do care about this instrument and treat it with tenderness, I also travel with it several times in any given month. It is a tribute to Roland quality that the wear and tear of such adventures has done nothing more than plant a few subtle scratches on the chassis of my XP-80.
Before summing up, there are a couple of features worthy of special mention. One thing that differentiates the XP-80 from its smaller kin is the onboard arpeggiator. This feature makes it possible to simply hold a chord while the machine automatically plays an arpeggio based on the notes held and the parameters input. At first I thought of this as a cheesy alternative to actually playing arpeggios, but recently I have come to find it is actually quite useful. For example, if I were to actually perform every marimba note in Margaritaville, I would get a real workout and need to take it easy on my wrists for the next number or two. With the arpeggiator I was able to perform the number perfectly with a minimum of effort, making it possible to do the kind of hardcore repetition a proper rehearsal requires. The arpeggiator may also be of some help to composers of techno/dance type music, since a feature like that makes elaborate melodic repetition as easy as holding a chord.
Another advanced performance trick available on the XP-80 is "real time phrase sequencing." What this means is that the machine will trigger playback (looped or not) of specific prerecorded patterns with designated keypresses. Playback can by synchronized to the instant of the keypress or to either the next beat or the next measure in a sequence playback. This can be combined with a pedal set on tap-tempo input so insure that RPS calls are perfectly synched to an ongoing performance even if there is no part of that performance that is continuously sequenced. As a result it is possible to drop extremely complex instrumental passages seamlessly into an otherwise simple number. From elaborate orchestral crescendos to jazzy flurries of saxophone, RPS makes it possible to add elements to your set that might normally never be considered by a small band. The system is actually quite sophisticated, featuring mute groups and optional velocity sensitivity.
In this age of dollar-worship, many people allow possessions to change their lives. In the worst cases, it is the status or aspiration to status that makes the owners of precious things feel better about the ends to which they have directed their wealth. Then there are also those items which are precious not because of the way other people view them but because of what they actually do. Sure, the XP-80 was once a prestige piece in the collections of many musicians, and even now that the new XV line is being released, the XP-80 remains an entirely credible tool for a professional performer or songwriter. However, the recognition it may bring is completely subordinate to the fact that this wondrous device remains one of the best sounding and most versatile portable musical instruments available today. If you have unlimited resources you may want to look into the XV-88, but if you have a budget and the XP-80 fits into it, then you would do well to make it your primary synthesizer.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
HRogue
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Member: Jason Stevens
Location: Pekin, IL
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 15 members
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