Roland S760 vs XV 5080

Sagar

New member
Hi Gang.

Hoping you can steer me with some good advice. I remember about five years ago getting some killer orchestral sounds from a Roland S760 sampler. I was able to layer sound upon sound to create precise ensembles playing my orchestral music.

Well, time has gone by, and now I am wondering whether I should invest in a Roland S760 myself, or whether I should get one of the new XV modules. I don't know why, but for some reason the S760 just sounded so damn good, and the JV modules, while offering nice pads, never really captured the realism of the 760.

Any advice? I am doing a lot of orchestral stuff, and it seems that every composer I meet has a rack of 760s somewhere in his studio.
 
I think they both have the possibility to play back samples (that aren't burnt in memory)? If you can load in samples you can get whatever sounds you like on sample-cds...

Wasn't the S760 a sampler in the strict sense of the word? No sounds burnt in ROM? Which would mean it sounded good, because it was playing back good samples...

Anyway, the most versatile module you can get is something with real sampling capability (load in samples from CD). Don't fix to much on roland only if you go for a real sampler. Akai and yamaha have some nice toys...
 
I don't know about the XV, but if you think they're lacking, while the 760 sounded great, then I think you probably almost answered your own question. I'd go for the 760 just because I always liked the Roland samplers, good sound, easy to get around on, and a sampler can, within reason, sound like damn near anything you want it to sound like. I'm gonna be looking into getting a used 760 at some point in the near future.
 
And the verdict is...

Hi Everyone.

Thanks to those who contributed to my post. After doing some digging around, here's what I found out--

1. The XV-series not only has built-in sounds burnt in ROM, but can also import older Roland samples (like the S760), as well as Akai S1000 series via a SCSI connection.

2. Used 760s are fetching prices around $1000 still, owing to their huge popularity.

3. David Newman is replacing his 16 S760s with four XV-5080s, according to the latest issue of Roland Users Group magazine.

4. The 5080 offers a total of 32 MIDI channels, not just 16-- it has *two* MIDI inputs. So it is like having two samplers in one unit.

Give all this-- and especially the fact that the XVs are backwards-compatible with the 760 library, I think I'm going to save up for a 5080.

Thanks again for all of your help. I am curious if anyone has any further thoughts on this.

Cheers,
Sagar
 
Wow, I didn't know all that, sounds like the way to go. How much is the 5080 going for pricewise? And does it have the external monitor capability and sample editing like the 760?
 
XV vs 760

Hi Bill.

No external monitor support on the XV. Goes for around $2500 new, although I'm sure you can find them on eBay for less.

Cheers,
Sagar
 
Robert,

Stop beating around the bush and tell us what you really think. ;) Seriously, what makes you say that about Sweetwater? (...getting way tangential to the nature of this thread)
 
Sweetwater

Hmmm... I've always had good experiences buying from Sweetwater. I've picked up an ESI-4000 sampler, and an MTP AV from them over the past year. Their tech support leaves a lot to be desired, but their sales folks know what they're talking about.

my 2 cents,
Sagar
 
Well, I just got my esi 2000
Mars music- $499
sweetwater-$599

And I got a gr 33 with gk2a
bpm music- $650
sweetwater-$ 795.97

The digi 001-
bayview pro audio-$750
Sweetwater-$849

So, I have saved around $350 the last few months by avoiding sweetwater.Now if I was to add up the money Ive saved shopping for the best price the last 2 years, avoiding sweetwater is almost the same as getting a small raise at work.

As for the roland xv 5080?
the keyboard shop-$1,620.00: www.keyboardshop.com
sweetwater-$1,995.97

I just saved somebody a few hundred more dollars WOW!?

Id say gearprice.com is worthwhile. It pays to shop around cause a few hundred here, a few hundred there REALLY adds up over the long haul.
 
I used to have a 760, now I have the xv 5080. I don't usually, sample, just use other people's (I'm not interested in bouncing a basketball and using it for a kick drum and I don't know any orchestras that will play and hold d min chords for me either!) A tremendous advantage of the sv, aside from the number of built in samples, effects, increased polyphony is that it will take 128 meg of ram, the s760 only 32. Plus you can store samples on smart media cards if you have to with the sv. Enjoy
 
I'm thinking of getting the XV-5080. It doesn't have an arpeggiator which I think is tons of fun. If I don't have any keyboard MIDI stuff yet, can someone recommend a MIDI master keyboard controller with an arpeggiator?

I don't play piano so 88 keys and weighted keys are not important(another guitar player jumping into the world of synths and ROMplers for the first time).
 
did someone say that sweetwater sucks?

They have the most expensive prices anywhere

They try and get you to buy stuff you don't need.

They try and sell the less revered gear to newbies, even though it costs the same

They are rude when you ask them to match a price. try to tell them that everybody else matches prices to no avail

The salesmen try to put you in your place by telling you that they have ten thousand dollars more gear than you.

It is really bad when you think you have scored a great deal at sweetwater only to find out later that everybody else has it for $500 less.

They push certain products to the detriment of value for money.


So did somebody say that sweetwater sucks?
 
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