loopop

Roland JUPITER Xm, Review and exclusive video download

Added 2019-12-05 14:33:30 +0000 UTC

Hi!

It has up to 256 voice polyphony; it has virtual analog and PCM/sample-based oscillators; it's multi-timbral; it's portable; but is it usable?

That's the biggest question I address in this review of Roland's Jupiter-Xm.

Setting aside analog vs digital, I can't help but compare the interface of Moog One to the Xm.

When making the Moog One review, I hardly had to read the manual - I did, just to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I discovered very few things that could not be understood intuitively and quickly from the user interface.

I always do that when approaching a new synth - try to see how far I can go without reading the manual, and with the Xm, I have to admit the answer is that it takes much longer and is much harder to understand how the pieces fit together, and the manuals are essential to making the most of it.

The Xm has the same engine as the MC707, but a slightly larger hi-res screen and four soft encoders on the MC707 make the complex engine by far more accessible than the menu format on the Xm.

All this, assuming you want to program your own sounds. However, there's a lot of fun to be had with this synth if you look at it from a different perspective. It has thousands of presets; it's easy to layer and put together scenes, and once you get the I-Arpeggio going, expect a lot of happy accidents (or just regular ones).

Anyway, all that and more in this in-depth look...

All my best,

Ziv (deep-diving into menus on youtube as "Loopop"...)