Roland XP-80

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Roland XP-80 and its smaller variant the XP-60 are music workstations with 64-note polyphony, now discontinued. The XP-80 has a 76-key semi-weighted keyboard. The XP-60 has 61 keys.

Both models were sold with full GM instrument sets, plus a good range of additional instruments to give 512 instruments ("presets" in Roland parlance) in total. Additional user space is provided for making copies of any 128 presets and then editing their parameters.

Combinations of presets are "performances" in Roland parlance; 64 performances are built in, with user space for 32 of them to be copied and modified.

Eight rhythm presets are included, with two extra presets for user editing.

There are four empty slots in the underside into which SR-JV80 series expansion modules can be plugged. This allows the suite of sounds to be extended according to personal taste.

The inclusion of a competent sequencer enables theses instruments to be used to replay sequences as well as being used for live performance. The sequencer resolution is 96 ticks per crotchet (quarter note). A quantize algorithm can be applied to recordings if required, although if you don't play precisely along with the metronone, the quantization often has undesirable effects.

A standard 3.5 in floppy disk drive provided removable storage space for up to 1.44Mb of sequences.

External connections include stereo mix outputs and stereo direct outputs. Instruments are normally routed to the mix outputs but can instead be routed to the direct outputs when required. There is a stereo headphone jack, a jack for the sustain (hold) pedal and a jack for the click track output, useful when playing along with the sequencer. Four control jacks have programmable functions, e.g. stepping through the patches. Finally, there are three 5-pin MIDI ports.