Roland JD-Xi Hybrid Analog + Digital Synthesizer First Look

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This video, via Electronic Musician Magazine, captures an overview of the new Roland JD-Xi synthesizer at the 2015 NAMM Show, with direct audio from the synth:

The Roland JD-Xi Interactive Analog/Digital Crossover Synthesizer is an interesting new mini-synth and it also signals the beginning of the company’s return to analog keyboards.

The JD-Xi is a mini-synth that offers true an analog monosynth, dual digital synths, 808-style drum sequencing and a digital effects section. The JD-Xi is designed to give musicians the best of both worlds: the ‘warmth’ of classic analog and the power and flexibility of digital synthesis.

The JD-Xi is the first in a planned line of hybrid analog synths. A full-size flagship hybrid analog & digital synth, the JD-Xa is also being previewed at the show.

The Roland JD-Xi is expected to have a street price of about US $500. See the Roland site for details.

67 thoughts on “Roland JD-Xi Hybrid Analog + Digital Synthesizer First Look”

  1. IDK, I guess it’s a worthy competitor to the Mininova and such, I’m not in the market for either. I guess they could have thrown in a couple of VCOs for that kind of money though. But Roland prefers to stick to the “groovebox” narrative they’ve been in for the last 20 years or so, which just makes their machines age so badly while their vintage gear does the opposite because it was not really meant for anything specifically. The more I think about vintage Roland, the more it looks to me like it was a happy accident and a curse at the same time.

    1. All their vintage successes were “happy” accidents for us, not them. Virtual/rompler/acoustic modeling/facimilies of “real” instruments on workstation keyboards was always what they were aiming for. The evidence is all over their vintage gear and how it was marketed. It’s only in recent decades that they’ve been able to avoid the “happy” accidents and produce what they were going for all along. Their refusal, for so long, to bring back classic designs is further evidence of their true mission.

      However, it seems they may, finally, be creating something worth buying again. Fingers crossed.

      1. Kind of agree but look at Korg, they look like a successful version of Roland: they hit the workstation market big time with the Kronos, they pay homage to their classic legacy (although I wish for something besides infinite versions of the MS 20) and they have the time to explore new playful toys and look a bit into the future. I wish Roland was more like them, it’s a bit sad.

        But then Korg dones’t have the huge pressure from their legacy that Roland has, always with their fans waiting for them to redefine (again) the history of electronic music, the next big thing. So I think they feel obliged to come out with these ridiculous “groove”, “aira”, and endless collection of bland machines geared towards whatever the flavor of the month is. They don’t make timeless music instruments. They did that once in a series of lucky strikes that weren’t meant at all, that were perceived as successes a decade after they were introduced. That kind of magic is impossible to repeat, they should just stop trying.

        1. I was disappointed to the point of being pissed by the new Odyssey.

          Who wants an 86% scale model of a keyboard?

          Just give us a full size keyboard and shrink the controls a bit if needed to keep the cost down. But they didn’t even do that. $1400 for a mini synth? WTH?

          The Odyssey may be cool for nostalgia freaks, but this looks like a much better direction. Just make a JD-XL and give it full size keys!

          1. Not really, the $1400 was a rumor. It’s $999 suggested, street will be lower. As for the size of the keys, I think it’s a good decision. Try one in person before judging because it’s perfectly usable, there wasn’t a single complaint at the NAMM floor in that regard. I’m more concerned about build quality, definitely.

        2. Roland did nothing to define/re-define electronic dance music, their most revered products from that era (raves, etc.) were huge disappointments/failures, with few exceptions. Its because those 303s, 808s, etc, were considered failures and sold for peanuts at the end, the cheapo DJs/producers could afford it and used it in electronic dance music, and that’s how Roland got its name in the electronic dance community. There was no electronic dance music market from Roland to aim for – they fluked it and that’s it, they didn’t know what they were doing then, and don’t know what they’re doing now, their actions show that, which has nothing to do with analog/digital, but with their design methodology.

  2. Not really what I’m in the market for, but it looks like good fun and useful for certain types of projects. I used to perform entire shows back in the day with just an MC 505, and this seems targeted in that direction. This looks about 100x more useful than a Timbre Wolf and Rhythm Wolf combined.

  3. I’m liking this thing more and more, despite these demos.

    Look, man. You can tell the kid is a robot by the way he uses no inflections or punctuation whatsoever.

    “hi this is a synth the x means crossover lets pull up an oscillator now down an octave for more sub let’s add a sub now a compressor that’s warm ok now a flanger”

    Maybe for next NAMM Roland can hire a human being who can apply pitch modulation to the oscillator AND their own voice.

    2. Aw, give the poor guy some cred, heh heh. He needed 2 cups less of espresso beforehand, but he did okay. I GET the compliment of goods in the thing and that beats a lot of bad-MTV-style vids that tell you nuttin’. I’m synth-y, so I learned what I wanted to know. He was nervous, but also gets points for being informative.

      The fact is that this was never intended as a keyboard-PLAYER’S synth. Its a production station with courtesy keys. If you want a bigger keybed, use it as a module, same as many other mini-things. Fanboy hollering aside, I always found my Roland synths to sound a bit too clean. That’s why they’ve been layers or effects more often than leads. This JD has a little more rough-edging to its character. It seems like a very acceptable Swiss Army synth aimed at dance. You could probably also do a creditable ambient or Klaus Schulze number on it, but its obviously more immediate to use than a bigger synth with bigger sound design duties. $500 seems in line with reality for its goals. Since it has a brother with full-sized keys, let’s see how they compare. So far, so good.

      1. It interests me, but it might do too much or not enough. It should have leaned to one side more.

        As a VA synth, Vocoder, Analog Synth, Drum Machine or Sequencer, none of the elements are mind-blowing on their own (nothing screams Pro or Premium Tech) nor do they combine into a great-er-than-the-sum supermachine.

        It does not sample, it can’t do lots of effects at once, it has a lot of menu diving, it does not have a ton of knobs, there’s only 3 octaves of keys and they’re small, there’s only 2 poly synth engines, vocoder kills one engine.

        We don’t even know if the filter self-oscillates or what it’s based on – no one bothered asking that simple basic question at NAMM.

      1. The Micron is an excelent piece of gear! Sadly I sold mine and many more synth, to get a Kronos 73. The Kronos RH3 and OS was a desaster. Now I have an Ultranova and MacBook Pro instead.
        Roland is a great keyboard maker and the Aira line is fantastic. I love analog and digital but the analog hype and sentimentality are to much to bear at the moment.

  6. Not bad actually, though I noted when he had the Arp going then brought in the drums, it was out of sync. Anyway, it seems to be able to access or the Axial sounds, so might be ok.

  7. The downside: Minikeys

    The upside: This completely blows away any minisynth ever.

    The JD-Xi is a much more powerful digital synth than the MicroKorg or the Mininova. It’s got a better analog sound than the MiniBrute. Plus it’s got a nice drum machine built-into it. And it’s got two, not one, digital synths, in addition to the analog synth.

    When people start getting their hands on this, I think a lot of people are going to look at it as the current king of the mini-synths.

    1. I don’t know – this is more like a grab bag of things that work well together coupled to a 4-track sequencer, but not really specialized in any one area.

      The Novation MiniNova has some pretty advanced synthesis and effects. It’s just one voice at a time, no drums, no analog. But from the info and demos, the MiniNova outmuscles it in terms of VA.

    2. Mini keys ? why ? I hate mini keys, I think they are a big insult.

      Imagine Gibson of Fender making a guitar with mini frets and tiny strings ? why the synth makers put those tiny keys ? mini keys = shit

        1. Ah, the old Minikey Impossibility Test. Nothing passes it.

          You can also drive cross-country in a subcompact coupe where your head nearly hits the ceiling, wearing shoes one size too small and a very tight hat.

        2. With that rationale, why not make every synth with mini keys?

          Mini Prophet 6, mini Sub 37, mini V-Synth, etc.

          To many people, mini keys = cheapo, lower build quality

          In my (subjective and ultimately meaningless) opinion, a professional instrument should not have mini keys.

          1. just because you don’t like them it doesn’t mean they are no good – realize that most people nowadays play mini keys at some point as they most likely have an lpk, mpk mini, nanokeys or some other form of mini key controller not to mention things like the microkorg, microbrute etc that have them. and in general – mini keys are better in a lot of ways than no keys which is what a lot of these would be w/o them – some kind of groove box or module.

      2. Easy, fender jaguar has a really short scale neck. They made the mando-strat a mini strat that copies a bit a mandolin, and if i’m not wrong it’s not even tuned like a mandolin.
        What you say is like saying ukulele is shit cuz it’s just a toy, and you know what it’s a GREAT LITTLE TOY!!!
        For me of course 😉

          1. Yeah, actually most might be from 24.75 to 25.5″.
            The baby taylor then, less than 23″. Definitely mini, it plays nice and sound impressive.
            I’m not really a keyboard player, but I guess it can be scale down and retain a decent feeling IF it is made of nice stuff.
            Crap feels crap, but if really cheap it can be acceptable.

      3. fender and gibson do make them – strat mini from fender and squier and the LP minis from gibson and epiphone – I actually have one of the les paul expresses which is like an LP special only with a slightly smaller than 3/4 scale – just a little bigger than my baritone uke – super useful for travel and to sit at my desk w/o taking up too much space.

      4. how hard is it to hook up your full sized keys to it. bam. that why its called a MASTER KEYBOARD. get a proper one if your that key-savvy – full-sized weighted hammer action keys on any synth that comes thru your door.

        push with a basic 1×1 midi interface is glorious. oh, and the buttons on push are small, imagine that.

  8. That guy can demo! He plays, he speaks well, and he practiced his demonstration. Roland wins namm for best planned demo.

    I like this synth. Someone compaired it to the mininova as a competitor but they are very different. This one seems multi timberal, has a sequencer, drums, analog and digital osc. Nine of which the mininova has. I thought the vocoder sounded horrible and sounds like it has 4 bands. I have been waiting for something from namm like this. I am about to purchase a mininova but now I think I need to study this synth a little more.

  9. Yeah this looks pretty cool, lots of useful features, and it sounds quite nice as well.

    I’m cool with 3 octave mini keyboards – 2 octaves is too little, 3 octaves is much more useful, and the mini makes it more portable. I would like to see more instruments with the 3 octave format.

    1. Except the Bass Station has a way deeper analog engine with way more parameters, 2 oscillators plus sub, multiple filter types and poles, etc.

      And the poly engines on this thing are not in MicroKorg 2/MiniNova territory.

    1. That is a pretty good video, though the camera man seems to be on a boat or downhill skiing.

      Focus on the board and quit moving so much.

  17. this may well be a result of kakehashi san retirement.
    still cant bear looking at the roland stuff. this is the sort of marketing driven esthetics that aims for “futuristic” and “bold” and ends up looking like plastic shiny garbage.
    ironic, since in the golden era of gaudiness, roland made beautifully understated synths.

    do a straight remake of sh101 and start counting the cash.
    or not.

    1. Old synths are cool, but why would anybody want an SH101, which is a really limited synth, over a modern analog?

      The only downside I see on the JD-Xi is the keys. And, if the mini-keys are a problem for you, you know that they’re testing the waters and will introduce a larger version at next year’s NAMM.

      The SH101 is a very limited synth by today’s standards. The JD-Xi basically offers a similar monophonic analog synth voice, but adds a pretty powerful step sequencer and an effects processor.

      And THEN it adds two more digital synths, with 127 voice of polyphony, a drum machine and a vocoder. And it records directly into your DAW.

      If they offered a $600 version of this, with full-size keys, it would be a complete no-brainer for me. As it is, it looks like the best value available in the mini-synth format and is pretty tempting.

      1. i dont see synths in terms of features but sound and sh101 has a classic tone.
        the ebay prices are steadily rising as a result and roland could be having that money.
        its as simple as that. without any R&D cost really.

        i do think it would be nice if some synths would be preserved through history as korg did with the ms20 and odyssey. 101 deserves that status as it is iconic in electronic music.

  18. Sounds incredible, looks like shit.

    If anyone at Roland marketing would like to use that sentence as a tagline for ads, please get in touch with me for further arrangements.

  19. Looks like a lot of fun, and at the right price point. It looks like all 3 parts share the same outputs, which is limiting. I also can’t really tell if each part is good enough to warrant buying it as far as modulation and the depth of the digital synth. For someone looking for their first piece of hardware, this seems killer, but that person is not I.

  20. I’ve read that, unlike the hybrid DSI Evolvers, digital and analog cannot be combined on this new Roland synth to form a combination digital/analog sound. Is this true? If so, it’s game over, a deal breaker.

    1. The guy I talked to said that the JD-Xi has four independent engines – the analog synth, two digital synths and the drum machine.

      Not sure how it makes sense to compare an Evolver to the JD-Xi, though. The Evolver is a more powerful monosynth, but it’s $100 more for a module.

      The Evolvers also have a complete different hybrid architecture. Instead of a real analog synth and digital synths combined in one keyboard, the Evolvers combine analog and digital elements in each voice. Purists have been griping about them not being ‘true analog’ since day one.

      1. So, what you’re saying is that this Roland synth has four independent synth engines that cannot be simultaneously combined?

        An Evolver can combine its digital and analog oscillators simultaneously. That’s the comparison (or lack thereof with the new Roland).

  27. There is a better demo with Scott Tibbs on Ronald US YT channel. http://youtu.be/Qf-fvBcomZo
    I think it’s a nice machine that you can use in addition to a microkorg or mininova. Korg and Novation have very good VA engines, while this is Supernatural sample based puls real analog. The supernatural engine is very bad at PWM square wave simulation and produces tons of aliasing in the high octaves. My Integra is superb but PWM is shit on this machines. Let’s face it, it’s not about replacing something but adding to your setup!

  28. Will wait for the JD-XA… I have enough on my ‘to buy’ list – Korg ARP Odyssey, Korg SQ-1, Sequential Prophet 6, and possibly the Roland JD-XA (if its good) – this is too much of a plasticky minikeys beat box for my tastes.

  30. I think everyone is going to enjoy the vocoder once they really have an opportunity to check it out. I was fortunate to have a lot of time to check them out and I felt that I could easily use it on gigs as soon as I get mine.

    As far as playing with the minikeys, they are very easy to play and actually feel pretty good. Give it a shot and I think you will really like it.

  31. the word EASY sounds so many times in these demo… is these an instrument to attract people that only wants everything EASY? Does Roland forgot all the professional musicians that needs professionals instruments like V-Synths, JD800s, Jupiter 6?

    1. Yup, a lot of us are still waiting for these guys to come out with what we’ve been waiting for.
      Meanwhile the likes of DSI are leaving them standing on the pro-synth front.
      Maybe Casio has secretly bought-out Roland…ya never know.

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