The Roland XP-50 shows us that we haven't come all that far in 30 years

A monster workstation in its day (mid 90's) the Roland XP50 shows us - without the help of optional JV cards which can be installed - that great synths are really only limited by your imagination.

[niveketihw]

Amazing! This is the best one yet. I feel like I heard sounds in this vid that are part of my consciousness through hearing them for so many years.

[johnny]

You always manage to find such delicious old keyboards some how. That unit to me still stands out even at it's age. It's like fine wine. I can't get enough of these videos! Always waiting for new ones every day. Stay safe and God bless.

[alteredworks]

I bought a used one and recapped it a few years back during the lockdowns. I had originally owned one in the mid 90's. I ended up adding weights the the keybed and re-felted it; now it's lovely to play. The aftroutch strip is kinda toast on mine sadly.

[ryanem]

My Dad gave me this in the early 2000's and I used the string sounds A LOT to enhance my massive wave of emo writings lol. Super touching tones.

[marcuspatzer]

Great ! Very Nice Video my Friend. Best Rgds... Marcus 🕊️🙋‍♂️🎹

[DecadesEntertainmentUK]

I've owned the xp80 for the last 10 years, brilliant range of workstations and still adaptable to any music, still great on stage and given Roland's flimsy new range of keyboards the xp range is really well built. ( note quite a few xp50s tend to suffer screen problems )

[UDPride]

XP-50 was my first serious keyboard in the mid-1990s. For the period it was the cat's meow, but most of the patches do sound quite dated by today's standards without a lot of movement and sonic accuracy. My favorite patches were the D Stack and Tone Wheel. I found a lot of the sounds were so niche they were basically unusable. I had an expansion card in mine for some addl sounds but again but every mainstream patch you'd use that anyone would want to hear, you got 7-8 that were just weird goofball ones you'd never find any use for. And the sequencer required a degree fro Cal Tech to use. Still, I played it as performance keyboard for a good 10 years before selling it. The tech has come SO far since then its unreal. The new patches with either sampling or modeling are so good you can hardly tell they arent the real thing.

[CannedFunkMusic]

This brings back so many memories... I miss mine!!! 😢😢😢

[dennisbrianalcaidemodina]

I’ve owned XP-10, the most basic of the XP series, and for me, the XP-10 is pretty great, only drawback is the 28 note polyphony which can really be felt with full on power chords and specially on dual or x-dual mode. If I would be given an opportunity to get an XP series, I would no doubt get one. Very great boards.

[marcbrasse]

It indeed still sounds impressive. My favourite synth of all time, the Technics WSA-1, is also from the 90ties. It actually offers acoustic modeling features and thus it bombed like the now sought after Yamaha VL’s. The problem however also lies with the market. Most people simply don’t get their head around the more complex stuff. But in case of the WSA1 even Technics marketing department and preset programmers didn’t get it. This thing is soo deep!

[wyshwood]

Still using my XP for composing. Immediate, no distractions and no crashes. I transfer finished tunes into DAW layering the XP sounds with modern samples . Sometimes replaced, but always the start point. I have a few template banks I prefer for different genres which never fail to get me started. One or two of the piano sounds do sound of their time, but still useable, certainly to get down the ideas. This in conjunction with several expansions and the JV2080 gives me a huge scope for any challenging commission. I wrote the entire game score for Clive N Wrench on this beast. Like an old friend, I will never abandon it.

[Joar-Addam-Nessosin]

I just came across this video and I can't thank you and everyone else posting XP-50/XP series content enough. It brings back so many great memories...I still have a XP-50 that I bought in 96 or 97, I forget it's been so long ago. It barely works now as the LCD is failing, the lithium battery is probably dust and the disk drive is a bit wonky. I also own a Fantom G6 and FA-08 (listening to a song I wrote on the 08 as I type this, about to work on a new project) and as much as Roland makes quality gear most times, My heart always goes to the XP-50. Even the Demos for that were mind blowing and I can honestly say that the demos in every Roland keyboard I've heard since the XP-50 may be better on a technical level but...

The overall quality of the songs of the XP-50 I still prefer over the Fantom G/FA and some of the BOSS stuff. Prince of Peace almost brings me to tears even thinking about it.

[cperlifox]

I visited Manny's in NYC in 1996 and I tested the Ronald XP-50, however for the price I preferred the Korg X3. Both are very great synts

[barryward]

Thanks for the demo Gearfacts, very good, I have had one for 3 years now and replaced all smd's capacitor's as they leak electrolyte and cause serious damage to the pcb, I have also purchased 5 expansion cards which are very good, cheers from New Zealand.

[monksee]

My dad bought this keyboard in 1999. He made beautiful music with it. He also had got a copy of Cubasis AV at the time and I had so much fun with it. My first original song that I produced in 1999 with this keyboard (it was a rave/trance type song) was called "Analectro". I named it at the time after one of the presets that I had used. The Analectro preset sounds a bit like the TR-303 I think. I still have this keyboard but unfortunately it just stopped working two years ago. I was wondering what do people think is a reasonable price to pay to get it fixed? Thanks

[alborzmousapour]

I still have it, with 4 JV Expansions, this is one of masterpieces of film scores production

[adamsorber]

I used a Roland XP-50 for years on tour. It was a great keyboard. It replaced my Korg M1 around 1997

[nonameavaliable]

what visual effect is being used at 3:09

[ytpremium]

Had the XP80 and sold it, and now I miss it. Love those SA and U220 flavored pianos. The only thing I didnt like were the effects. Wish Roland had included the MKS-20 effects

[Jhihmoac]

This was the only synth workstation I ever purchased completely brand new in 1995 when it came out... In two years, I had all four expansion slots filled with SRJV80 cards... I had the World, Vintage Synth, AMG Dance, and the Techno... This had become the main keyboard in my rig, also controlling an old JV-880 module... I spent a whole lot of time with this monster... I regretted having to part with it about 7 years later in order to make an overdue house payment, but it had to go! Hopefully, I can get another one (or the 76 key XP-80) someday, provided it isn't so beat up, and the price is right!