Roland VS 880 Digital Multitrack

By the late 80s and through the 90s I was using my Macintosh IIci for midi composition using outboard synths and modules. But integrating live audio recording into the process was still beyond my financial means. The best I could do was sync my four track tape recorder to the midi sequencing software and record audio on tape. Full-on audio recording wasn't available until the Roland VS 880 digital multitrack arrived.

Like the Tascam TEAC 144, the original cassette Portastudio that revolutionized home recording, the VS880 was a giant technological leap for musicians. I'd purchased the 144 when it came out with faith that it could help me manifest the songs I'd only imagined in my head, and I was right. I'd experienced the revolution first-hand. The VS880 was no different. Finally 8 tracks of digital hard disk recording with automation, digital effects, editing and totally pristine audio quality were available at a reasonable price. And the VS880 shared that Portastudio feeling with its integrated mixer and all-in-oneness.

Its strengths were the sound quality and the effects board. The board was extra, but oh, so worth it! Everything from compression to chains of guitar effects where available, editable and programable. Oceans of reverb and even mic modeling. I would still recommend the VS with the effect board to anyone to use as an effects unit alone.

Weaknesses: Lack of storage space. It had a small drive and the outboard drives were proprietary and expensive. Editing was complex, as was the user interface. The faders were not only faders, but midi faders and input devices for effects and other parameters. The routing was all illustrated in the teensy display window.

None-the-less it was inspiring to use, and exciting to have swaths upon layers of super high quality vocals and guitars. After some time though, the very non-visual editing became too much of a distraction from my musical flow. I sold the thing and got a used power mac on ebay for 60 bucks, a Newer Tech G3 upgrade card and a copy of Cubase VST.

I still wish I had my VS880, however, if only to use as a mixer, effects box and musical scratch pad. Perfect for a vacation from the computer screen and a relief from mouse driven carpal tunnel syndrome.

Roland XP50 Workstation

Every keyboard has it's moment as the "flagship" of the product line. There was a version of the XP-50 with more keys, the XP-80, but essentially this represented the state of the art in Roland "romplers" (ROM sample playback synths) in 1995.

MAYBE I'M CHEAP because I rarely buy gear when it's brand new. But something else was coming out so the XP-50 was on sale for about $500 by 1998 or 1999 or so. My midi studio was getting out of hand, with lots of modules and drum machines, a big mixer and tons of cables. I was spending half my time getting all the bank change and program change messages right in my computer sequencer, and laboring over saving all the various drum patterns and program setups or my modules. Trading all that for this "workstation" seemed like a great way to consolidate, and I knew it sounded really nice, having spent many a lunch break in Sam Ash.

The store's advertising claimed that an expansion card was included, but after I'd plunked down my credit card and the expansion card wasn't appearing on the counter, I complained. Loudly. The salesman was on his first day and couldn't find a record of the special deal anywhere. I was insistent, because I knew I was right, and didn't want to get ripped off. Finally, he looked both ways and threw the card in the bag saying, "O.K. just take it, go!"

MY MISSION was being served: to move away from a spaghetti of cables and the complexity of being nursemaid to a dozen tiny LCD screens in the direction of writing good songs and capturing great performances.

I was simplifying, getting back the music.

OR SO I THOUGHT. While the XP-50 had a great soundset, a nice feel and all that expandability, it was not exactly simple to use well. It required lots of button pushing to program new sounds and get around the sequencer and to program patches on-board.

Also, the 64 voice polyphony was very easily eaten up by a few tracks, because a lot of sounds used up to 4 voices. Play your biggest chord and do the math. Pretty pointless to have a 16 track sequencer with so few voices.

CONCLUSION: I loved this keyboard anyway because of the variety of patches. I wish I'd never sold it a few years later in favor of the VST synths my computer was too sluggish to take full advantage of inside Cubase VST. In addition, I wish I'd not gotten rid of some of the other modules because they could have provided some expanded polyphony.

I think the sounds are still good today. Mangle them with your recording software. In 2008 I'd tell folks on somewhat of a budget (read: can't buy a $4000 tricked out mac with a quad processor) to record straight audio on a more basic machine and not worry about the ever increasing horsepower you need to run more than a couple of virtual instruments. Instead, buy one of these or it's rack-mount siblings (jv1080 jv1010 or later models) used and you'll have thousands of sounds ready to go.

OH YEA, When I got home from the store with my XP-50, I looked it up and actually the price with the included card was from another store, and a hundred bucks more.