now i got one

Love this synth. You can layer Jupiter 8's, use a Moog filter on a Juno, set a monophonic SH01 as poly, the RD pianos sound great, EVERYTHING SOUNDS GREAT, hundreds (edit: thousands) of PCM sounds, hundreds (edit: thousands) of other Zencore patches, EVERYTHING SOUNDS GREAT.1 Month update:Still 5 stars. I wanted to take on the criticism about menu diving-- The classic VA models, the Jupiter 8, SH101, Juno 106, and JX8p are all programmed through front panel controls and you can stack, layer, and mix them from the front panel without ever looking at the menu.The PCM stuff, like the XV5080, does require that you sort through the samples in the menu, but that's also what the original XV5080 was, a sample ROM, and so programming is more about picking out samples to layer and then using the panel to dial them in. I think most people would just pick out an existing violin or guitar patch and tweak it a bit rather than try build one, but you can get some wild results here (space flute flugelhorn).Now the base Zenology engine is way more nuanced than everything else, and whereas you can control the same sections (osc, LFO, filter, envelope, effects) from the front panel, it is a menu dive of options. The thing is, you have 4 oscillators in this engine, they can be standard VA waveforms or they can mix and match with PCM samples and each has it's own filter, envelopes, special sauces, modulations sources, etc.. And each of these oscillators (Roland calls them 'partials') has it's own menu page with like 200 settings. There are some nice shortcuts to copy/paste and navigate, but the main obstacle is just learning what and where things are because there is so much.So, menu diving is sort of a yes and no criticism. If you're looking at the XM for the classic VA engines, they sound amazing, the controls are high resolution (i.e. instead of sweeping through 128 bits on each encoder, it's 1023, very buttery) the poliphony and stacking is awesome, there's no menu diving, they're very playable as live instruments-- this is the life. But if you wanted to live in the Zenology engine and patch from init you'll have to spend some time programming, it's a deep engine and the menus are what they are. I get a lot of mileage out of these presets though. They replicated over a thousand patches from the Fantom, AX Edge Keytar, Integra 7, Supernatural and FA synths.You could probably pick up an XM and never touch the Zen engine beyond the presets and be thrilled with the Jupiter 8 and Juno 106 sounds and poliphony. I tend to save the Zen engine for when I'm on the couch in the evening, TV on in the background, tweaking things to see how they work.Also correcting the other reviewer-- There is a 64 step sequencer on board. It's integrated with the arpeggiator. If you've ever seen a step sequencer, you'll recognize how to input a pattern on that bottom row of 16 buttons. The idea is that you have 5 parts (1 drum + 4 synths) that you can either sequence directly with the step sequencer or let the arpeggiator roll through it with some algorithm, and if the arp does a pattern that you like, you can grab it and save it in the step sequencer where it can be edited. It's basically a groovebox in this context.6 month update:Roland released an editor for the XM. I think if you're tied into using your computer for this sort of thing, you'd be just as happy using the Roland Cloud emulations. No judgement. It's a nice visual structure.That said, I'm in my backyard every weekend stargazing and drenching pads with onboard effects; Dimension D, Juno, and SDD-320 choruses are . I get about 3.5 hours out of the batteries with speakers and bluetooth off and I keep a stack of rechargeables around to swap out as needed. It's just cool being able to enjoy a nice day without dragging an extension cord out. I am envious of the full keybed on the Jupiter X, but the portability of the XM has been worth it.Other features that I use a lot at this point: Assignable buttons and sliders, using expression and sustain pedals to control parameters like cutoff, vibrato, mixing volume, paging through patches, etc., connecting everything with USB MIDI/audio, bluetooth-- I haven't had any hassles here. I connected a USB hub to the back so that I could sequence in/out/sync with other gear (it can also power/charge that gear from the USB, like a Keystep or an OP-Z) and sometimes I'll have 3 other keyboards connected so there's a different synth engine/voice on each controller. But, mainly I'm charging my bunked phone while sitting on the couch and playing.I still use the classic VAs all of the time, and I think that should be your focus if you're looking at this deck, but I've also really enjoyed the Vintage Keys expansion pack which is a bunch of PCM based sounds for electric pianos, organs, clavs, etc.; I think it was around 400 patches/stems for $20 and it came with extra effects like a rotary speaker sim. They sound good. It won't replace a clonewheel organ or high quality Rhoades, but I like them side-by-side with one. I also bought the JD800 expansion for the classic crystal pianos, adding a bunch of digital sounds that aren't really present, and it came with a premium trial on the Roland Cloud. I like being able to swap out and try different patches, but there's so much on the XM as is, that I haven't spent a lot of time here.Out in the yard or travelling, I use the groovebox design where you store all of the parts of your song in the 'scene'; at home in the studio, I use an external sequencer and drum machine, and I treat the multi-timbral 'scene' design as a quick way to queue up voices rather than storing complete songs. It's kind of like having a shortcut for grouping sounds you frequently.It's a flagship synth-- high build quality, high sound quality, excellent feature set. Don't expect the 2" tweeters to shake the walls and don't plan on working only in Zencore, ignoring the readily accessible Jupiter 8/Juno 106/JX8P/Vocoder/SH101 VAs and you'll love it as much as I do.

To start with; I thought from the get go that Roland is the Apple of the music instruments, with Moog. They are overpriced for what they offer, and most of the time it is mainly due to the brand.But I went in with high hopes for this synth, and sadly got burned. Beside a delay on delivery (which forced me to buy it from a different vendor and return the one I originally purchased), it was mostly disappointment.Construction is solid but feel cheap at the same time; it is light and portable but feel like a toy in some cases, and the mini keys are horrible. Not due to their size, which I can live with, but because of how they play.Knobs and buttons are fine; the screen is too small and really hard to read; and the controls on the device are not enough to do most of the more complex sound design operations, which bring me to the main negative: menu diving.You are forced to go through a plethora of options, because there are not enough controls like on the X, nor you have a large screen like the MC707; and this means that if you just play sounds, you are good, but if you want to design sounds; forget about it.Sounds are great; although the ZEN core is what it is; so don't expect miracles. I found that the modeling in software is OK; but then we go into the second issue: integration with a DAW is really limited and there is no editor to use on a computer, so it is like to use a device from the 90s.I-arp, the artificial intelligence feature is BS; as software engineer that write machine learning software, I always get a laugh when someone talk about AI making it sound like it is actually intelligent. There is really nothing intelligent in what i-arp does. It is a set of midi patterns that adapt themselves to the way in which you press the notes and their sequence. It is better than similar products made 10-15 years ago, sure; but if you expect to get some sort of intelligent process to make your music better, forget about it.Tried different settings and the outcome was always hard to control; to the point where I have to modify in my DAW the sequence, so it is cool to play live to surprise people and make you look like Jean Michel Jarre, but in studio is close to useless, since you can't predict reliably what you get once you play.Those 2 issues are a deal breaker for me; I just keep the Xm because I am hoping that Roland will improve DAW integration and release a better software update to fix the menu diving issues, and possibly, an editor for Windows so you can use this as USB device. If you just need sounds, you can get the MC101 that cost 500 dollars, and has the same ZEN core of the XM; minus the capability to edit sounds extensively. If you want to spend 1K, you can get the MC707, which is fundamentally like the XM minus the keyboard and i-arp.The 101 is small and battery operated; the 707 is larger and has a full editor for the engine; but no keys and it is a groovebox not a synth, but you can use USB to control it from a computer or midi keyboard, and it does more than what the XM does.If the XM was 600-700 I would say it is a great device, but at 1500 dollars, its feature set is pretty lackluster. If you have money to burn, get other products, seriously.