Boss has always been Roland’s sub-brand geared towards guitars. They weren’t acquired by Roland, they’ve always been Roland.
6 Likes
Is Vintage Roland one of those oxymorons? Serious question.
All I know is all my Roland Gear looks and sounds vintage af. Even the brand new stuff.
At any rate, I’m a very satisfied user/consumer at the moment. I’ve yet to feel like I’ve wasted or misspent a penny on anything Roland/Boss.
1 Like
I think the JP-8000 is already “vintage” according to some people.
1 Like
I think most truly vintage Roland gear 70s/80s era for me, is pretty cool. They have quirks, some have awful sequencers, some have strange control panels or physical controls, some have color schemes that I’m not fond of, but I think they all have interesting features, nice sounds, some are more fun to use than others, but the ones that are fun, are very fun.
I personally (as I’ve mentioned in other threads) kind of have a policy against owning vintage gear. I just don’t want the responsibility of a caretaker for these pieces. I’m capable of repairing them myself even, but it’s something that I don’t need as part of my musical personal life I guess. 
I have in the past owned several vintage Roland pieces. Also some more modern pieces (JDs, JVs, XPs, etc.) and have owned plenty of the truly modern ones (MX, TR-8, TR-8S, TB-3, and others.)
I really loved my Juno(s) (owned a 106, but had an extended loan 60) as one example. Very simple synth, but it sounded quite good within its limitations. I got a lot of use out of mine until the voice chips started going south. I didn’t want to repair it, so it went some place else. Still really enjoyed it.
I’ve also always wanted a Jupiter 6 or MKS-80. These two I would probably own under the right circumstances.
Jupiter 8, while as amazing as everyone thinks, isn’t on my list. I’m not sure why, but I’ve personally always liked the 6 and MKS-80 better for lots of reasons. I’d probably take an ISE-Nine though. 
I’ve also had a TR-505, TR-606, and a 626. Never liked them when I had them, but now I fondly remember some of the sounds, and keep sample packs around with them, because I find them more useful these days.
I’ve had friends with every TR, TB, model ever made, and I’ve played them all extensively, and made music on all of them with these friends. So, enough to know how to work them well when I got clones later on. Still wouldn’t want even an 808 at this point. I had one on extended loan for years, as I was fixing a few things for a friend of mine. It sounds as good as one would expect. Which is to say exquisite. That said, I’d take the RD-8 MkII, TR-8S, or some of the more boutique clones around these days over the real one any day. They’re all infinitely more fun to play, and the sound is close enough to where it’s within the margin of error between two REAL 808s.
I’ve been spoiled for modern conveniences in modern clones, and as long as they sound good, I’d pick them every single time. I’ve even cloned some of the circuits myself for use in some modular setups I had in the past.
I may be in the minority, but I really did enjoy my XP-80 for years. I had a couple of expansions in it, got pretty good on the sound editing side, so playing it, or sequencing it from an external sequencer or software was great. I absolutely DETEST the internal sequencer though, and while I used it here and there, generally avoided it like the plague.
Had a ton of other Roland gear too over the years, and generally enjoyed all of it, give or take this or that feature. (like the XP-80 sequencer… )
I really enjoy all the modern stuff. (mostly ACB stuff and not ZEN) Love the TR-8S. It’s probably my favorite. Loved the MX, TB-3, TR-8S combo actually. I made a ton of music on those together. I really had zero complaints with any of these newer guys. I just like Elektrons a bit more, so I lean that way. Still pick up a TR-8S once in a while on a whim, make some tracks with it, then sell it again. Generally around firmware upgrade timeframes.
I guess all that qualifies as love hate…
5 Likes
I should note that in addition to the above synths I mentioned, I also own semi-clones of the 606/DR-110 and 808 with the Acidlab machines. and a clone of the 909 from Steda Electronics. so yeah… even if it’s not the original machines… more love here 
not sure I would own the originals of these, other than the 909 (if I found a super deal that is…). I like to sequence them from a Cirklon and for the original 606 and 808… I’d either have to find modified ones, or get them and pay to have them modified.
also as far as maintenance goes… all analog synths/machines will eventually need this. at this stage, if you buy a vintage Roland machine, just make sure the major/notorious issues have been cared for relatively recently. then likely you’ll be good to go for about as long as if you’d bought a brand new analog synth. there are exceptions, and “problem child” synths/machines that just need continuous care. but in my experience, this is pretty rare. YMMV, of course…
2 Likes
the older roland analog stuff has magic stuffed inside it
I started off my synth studio journey with the Juno-106 and over a few years added the JX -8P, MKS-70, TR-606, 727 and 808.
Of course they sounded great and were nice to play with, but as time went on I appreciate newer gear that was easier to sync/control and took up less space. If I had a huge studio space and unlimited funds then of course I would have kept everything, but that wasn’t the case. I only miss those items slightly, since I can get similar sounds with modern gear that is good enough for me. But overall, 80s Roland is legendary and reigns supreme in terms of influence on electronic music genres.
1 Like
I had an R 70 back when they were new, though at the time I liked it more for the acoustic drum samples on board - I really disliked synthesized drums in the 90s (probably because I didn’t have the gear I needed to process them, and acoustic samples with ambiance baked in sounded ready to go - funny, that). I used to spend hours programming patterns in that thing and playing the performance slider.
I had an XP-30 for awhile too that I miss, it was my first keyboard with decent after touch and, for the time, felt like it had a ton of control (ah, the days when four assignable sliders was a “ton” of control).
Some time after that I had a JV 2080, and in the middle of all the above I had an MKS-50. The MKS wasn’t fun - software editors over midi existed but sucked, I spent some time with a Juno106 around the time and just wasn’t feeling it. It felt cheap, sounded boring, and could not understand why the person I knew that had been chasing one was even interested total rip-off at the $400 asking price (at the time). I’m still not a fan, but I’d buy one at $400 to flip.
I feel like Roland got pretty close with the System-8, if they could manage to release something like that with more sliders and some of the goodies from the jd800 (call it new-LA synthesis or something) they would have quite a synth.
The leds need to be orange, though.
1 Like
is the real vintage space echo stereo in?
Nope. Mono rules.
2 Likes
I’d love it if Roland reissued the Jupiter 4 (my favorite) and the Jupiter 8. I used to own both.
The former head of Roland, who passed away fairly recently, was firmly against reissuing old synths/gear.
I’m hoping that now that he isn’t running Roland anymore, and given the huge success that all of the old legendary analog synth builders are having doing this, Roland will actually start reissuing their classics.
1 Like
JV1080 is one of my all time favourite synths…
Digital ROMpler i know, but great sounding lush pads like nothing else on the planet.
5 Likes