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In-depth Feature:
Roland XV-2020
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I'm not going back to the old rack, and my (formerly) aching back, thanks to the XV-2020.
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Introduction
What's next, synths you can wear on your wrist? How about a credit card sized synth with 64-voice polyphony and 4 outputs? While Roland's new XV-2020 hasn't broken these miniaturization barriers yet, it is about the size of a hardbound copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's book "Treasure Island". And if you happen to be stranded by pirates on a desert island you'll find a veritable treasure of musical sounds buried within the XV-2020, especially if it has a couple SRX boards in it. No need to get dirty digging for gold.
Roland's XV-2020 packs all the sample ROM of the bigger XV-5080/5050 models, with full programming of internal parameters possible through the included software editor on CD-ROM for Mac/PC. The two SRX expansion slots allow the XV-2020 192MB of memory with both boards installed. Now that Roland is re-releasing the SR-JV expansions on SRX boards (essentially the wave memory of four JV boards fitted into one SRX), it will be possible to have the equivalent of eight JV boards in one XV-2020.
Lets Get Physical
Physically, the XV-2020 is the direct descendant of the JV-1010, sporting the same front panel controls, plus a USB port. From the left these are: the USB port, headphone jack, Volume control, Part/Patch receive channel control, three segment LED, Value/Mode knob, Category/Bank knob, and power switch. Due to the extra space taken up by the USB port, the knobs are positioned closer together than on the JV-1010. As a result, I found it slightly awkward to reach the Volume/Audition knob when both the headphone and USB jack are in use. I would have preferred the USB jack be positioned on the rear of the unit.
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