Roland XV-5050

Name: Roland XV-5050
Brand: Roland

A 64-voice half-rack module that packs the XV sound engine, 1,083 waveforms, and two SRX expansion slots into a single EIA-1U space.

Overview

The XV-5050 conforms to the General MIDI 2 System. It has sixteen parts and 64 voices of polyphony. The preset library holds 1,024 patches spread across eight banks of 128, plus another 256 General MIDI 2 patches. Add 16 preset rhythm sets (two banks of eight) and nine GM2 rhythm sets, and the factory load covers a working composer's whole palette without ever touching a programming page.

Two SRX-series Wave Expansion Board slots sit behind the front panel. The base wave memory is 64 MB (16-bit linear equivalent), and that's just the starting point. The 1,083 onboard waveforms handle the factory sounds, and SRX boards extend the library from Roland's growing catalog of expansion cards. Collectors note that a fully loaded XV-5050 with two SRX boards is a very different instrument from a bare one. The used market prices reflect that - the stock unit is affordable, but desirable SRX cards can cost more than the module itself.

The effects section is generous for a half-rack box. Ninety multi-effect types are onboard. In Performance mode only three multi-effects can run simultaneously, and only 50 of the 90 types are available. Chorus offers three types and reverb five, and there's a two-band system equalizer per each of the four outputs. The front panel carries a 20-character, two-line backlit LCD. It's small but workable. Owners report the backlight is one of the first things to check on a used unit, since uneven illumination points to specific board-level faults.

Connectivity covers what a studio module needs. There's a headphone jack, a USB connector, an A (MIX) output on L/MONO and R, a B output pair that doubles as individual jacks 1 through 4, and the full MIDI trio of IN, OUT, and THRU. The digital outputs are S/P DIF on both coaxial and optical connectors, running 24-bit at 44.1 kHz. That gives a clean digital path straight into a DAW interface or a CD burner. Sound on Sound (July 2003, p.156) listed the XV-5050 rackmount module at £649 in a dealer roundup, above the half-rack XV-2020 at £449.

Physically, the XV-5050 is a proper rack piece: 482 mm wide, 220 mm deep, 44 mm high - EIA-1U rack mount type - at 2.6 kg (5 lbs 12 oz). The metal chassis is shallow enough to fit in a rack bag, and the 1U height means it slots into a rig without eating space. Power consumption is modest: 9 W on AC 117 V, 11 W on AC 230 V or 240 V. The unit shipped with an owner's manual set, region-appropriate AC cords, a CD-ROM, and a rackmount washer set.

Before buying used, know that the XV-5050 stores its program ROM in Flash memory. Roland distributed software updates as a set of three 2HD disks containing 48 SMF files. Updating requires an external sequencer, a MIDI cable, and a specific power-on button combination, followed by a factory reset and a checksum verification. The update process wipes any user data, so owners are advised to save first.

The XV-5050 shares the acclaimed XV sound engine with the half-rack XV-2020, which Sound on Sound (January 2003, p.80) described as aimed at the computer-based musician on a budget. Same engine, different form factor and price point. The rackmount XV-5050 sits between the budget XV-2020 and the flagship XV-5080 in the lineup, and the Fantom S keyboard (also 64-voice) drew on the same family of sounds.