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The Roland JX-1 was a performance and budget keyboard with some
editing capabilities that came out in the early '90s. Its
sounds are classic of that era and many are reminiscent of other
classic Roland synths like the D-50, the U-20 and the D-70.
While it can't be considered a full synthesizer, it offers easy
access to the most important editing parameters, and
sports the classic Roland bender/mod paddle. |
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The Roland JX-1 is a PCM-sample-based keyboard and doesn't offer any way of expanding its sound set, but still offers some classic sounds for a very little price. Especially useful are its editing sliders, allowing quick and hands-on editing of several important parameters like filter cutoff & resonance, envelope attack & delay, LFO etc., and the ability of layering two patches for a thicker-sounding, interesting dual-mode sound. It's also very light and perfect for live gigs. |
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Factory patches
| A typical, short-looped piano patch of the early 1990s. Not great for Chopin, but fantastic for the Italo-House of those years. | |
| Nice, typical Yamaha DX-7 FM-style electric piano | |
| Very good and typically Roland, warm Hammond organ patch | |
| All drawbars out for the classic 1970s rock organ sound | |
| As initiated by the venerable Sequential Prophet Prophet-5, a nicely synthetic Hohner Clavinet patch. | |
| French style, very nice | |
| Beautiful patch that reminds of the super-classic Yamaha DX7 and Fairlight CMI marimba sounds | |
| Wonderful digital bell, similar to many classic Roland D-50 patches | |
| Nice, straightforward marcato strings | |
| The quintessential Roland Jupiter-8 analog strings | |
| A bit thin but usable | |
| The quintessential Roland Jupiter-8 analog brass | |
| Yep - and also works as trombone in the lower registers | |
| Nicely sampled saxophone | |
| Very good, hypnotic oboe/reed instrument | |
| Realistic | |
| Wonderful patch that greeted users upon turning the classic Roland D-50 on. | |
| Another classic Roland D-50 and my personal favorite patch ever: the "Staccato Heaven" patch | |
| As found on the classic sequel to the D-50: the Roland D-70 Super L.A. sythesizer | |
| Gorgeous synth pad | |
| One of the most famous patches of the 1980s - the Fairlight CMI "ARR1" syn vox. | |
| More D-50-style beauty | |
| Awesome, expressive and haunting oboe/bassoon/english horn/wooden-style instrument | |
| Another fantastic sound reminiscent of the classic D-50 | |
| Yup | |
| Nice, round early analog synth recreation | |
| Digital pad | |
| Could be fatter but it's usable. | |
| Standard patch | |
| Standard patch | |
| Expressive, Minimoog-like solo synth patch | |
| Variation on the above with sampled oscillator-sync effect | |
| One octave lower than preset A | |
| Brighter version of the classic e. piano sound | |
| Dance organ, very cool | |
| Was this patch used for Felix's "Don't you want me"? | |
| Variation | |
| Italian-style variation | |
| Nice variation with filtered & modulated envelope | |
| variation with a bit of vibrato | |
| nice | |
| Beautiful variation with slow vibrato - excellent for electronic styles | |
| yep | |
| The ubiquitous Van Halen Jump/Oberheim OB-Xa-style synth brass sound | |
| Variation with Harmon mute | |
| More aggressive version | |
| Nice clarinet | |
| Wonderful shakuhachi patch that was still in vogue in those years | |
| Gorgeous variation on the D-50 Fantasia patch, this is a wonderful sound. | |
| More synthy goodness | |
| Excellent, evolving, resonant-filter pad. | |
| Underwater pad | |
| The classic version of the syn vox, Roland style. | |
| Nice | |
| Excellent orchestral patch | |
| Interesting and optimal for New Age music | |
| Hard Clavinet-type sound | |
| Cool, "quack" synth patch | |
| Tomita-style syn vox | |
| Beefier version | |
| Like high-pass filtered. | |
| Simple but classic | |
| Rich solo-synth with the built-in delay | |
| Metallic version |
Dual mode patches
Patches on the Roland JX-1 can be set in dual mode
Additional patch examples
Felix Don't You Want Me JX-1 Rock Organ B
Syn Lead 1 A & Syn Lead 2 A - layered
Roland JX-1 ROCK ORGAN B samples in .wav
Roland JX-1 ROCK ORGAN B - dry.wav
Roland JX-1 ROCK ORGAN B - with reverb and chorus.wav
| Roland JX-1 specs | |
| Year of release: | 1990 |
| Polyphony: | 24 |
| Sound generation method: | PCM |
| Preset memories | 64 + 32 |
| MIDI: | in, out, thru |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | no |
| Sequencer | no |
| Arpeggiator | no |
| Velocity | yes |
| Aftertouch | no |
| Dimensions | |
| Weight | |
| Keyboard | |
Freely available at Roland's website
| SITE | Type of resource | DESCRIPTION |
| Manufacturer site | home page | |
Roland JX-1 review with audio demo - October 27, 2011