Roland Jupiter XM, who is the target market?

[RABid]

Watched a YouTube demo of the Roland Jupiter XM. My thoughts were "Nice, but it is probably more than I want to pay for a small keyboard relegated to home studio use." My guess was $800. Boy was I off. $1500 for 3 octaves of undersized keys! Who is the target market? Definitely not me. I'd rather put the money towards Roland Cloud and a computer. Roland is usually good and knowing their market, but between this and the TS-6s I'm starting to wonder. Why would anyone buy a TS-6S when you can get an MC-101 for $100 more?

[Jonathan Hughes]

Yeah, it's a crazy price. At $800, it would be tempting, having access to all those Roland sounds without having to deal with any cloud nonsense. I'm not opposed to mini keys by any means, and the thing looks well built, but it does seem like a (very expensive) solution looking for a problem.

[ProfD]

I've also been wondering why Roland has flooded the market with similar products almost cannibalizing themselves.

 

I think the Jupiter Xm is being marketed as a Zen Core synth including the XV-5080 sounds with keys as an added bonus.

[Marzzz]

I decided to get the TAL-J-8 instead...

[AnotherScott]

I found this very tempting, though was put off by reports of a less than ideal interface.

 

I like the idea of Jupiter 8 and other Roland VA synth emulation without being tethered to a computer. There's the System 8 at the same price, which has a more appealing control surface (and probably a better sounding emulation), but I can't justify another full-sized board for this. There used to be the JP-08 boutique modules, but they're gone, and had some limitations of their own (tiny controls, and needing two for 8-voice polyphony, which was awkward, plus Jupiter 8 emulation is all it did).

 

I saw the Xm as a multi-purpose device. The Xm is a travel companion in a way the System 8 is not, between the small size, battery operation, speaker, and increased sonic variety (adding the rompler side). Unlike a System 8 (or JP-08, for that matter), I'd take the Xm on a vacation, I'd take it for quick casual jams. I wouldn't gig with a S8, because it couldn't serve to displace something else I'd rather have there, but an Xm could possibly be used off to the side essentially as a sound module. The point is, it could be used in a variety of ways. Whether it's worth $1500 may be a tough call, but what else could you get for $1500 that gives you that kind of portability, strong VA, and full set of rompler sounds?

 

(Of course, now no one is traveling anywhere, so that appeal is reduced...)

[ProfD]

The Xm could possibly be used off to the side essentially as a sound module. The point is, it could be used in a variety of ways. Whether it's worth $1500 may be a tough call, but what else could you get for $1500 that gives you that kind of portability, strong VA, and full set of rompler sounds?

I stopped short of calling the X-m a sound module or tone generator but brotha Scott is spot on here.

[Adan]

I had one for 2 weeks then returned it. I liked a lot of things about it, but the amount of menu diving was a deal breaker. My guess is the folks who could get the most out of this machine are using the software editor. For myself, that's not what I look for in a synth.

[Bill H.]

I would have been all over this keyboard back in my touring days - when I would spend endless hours on tour busses and motel rooms. My younger mind back then would have taken it's convoluted UI as a challenge to master, and would have probably considered it a plus.

 

I just don't have the time for something like this anymore. It's almost an anachronism - a product meant for a different era. Hell, I don't even have the time for it's big brother the Jupiter X - with it's deceptive front panel that looks inviting, but is anything but. As a Roland guy, that one I would be buying today if it was easier to use.

[jeffincltnc]

While it's not the primary audience here, it likely checks a lot of boxes for bedroom studio production and portability. We don't have a lot of DJs and electronic chill music makers in this forum compared to others but they are probably the majority of keyboard buyers compared to gigging band folks playing rock and jazz in bands.

[AnotherScott]

I had one for 2 weeks then returned it. I liked a lot of things about it, but the amount of menu diving was a deal breaker. My guess is the folks who could get the most out of this machine are using the software editor. For myself, that's not what I look for in a synth.

I'm glad to be seeing reports of how much people like the operational ergonomics of the Fantom, because this is somewhere Rolands often seem to have a weak spot, as you and others appear to have discovered in the Xm. The JD-XA has tons of great hands-on control, but there are some operations that require a bunch of menu scrolling with increment/decrement buttons where a scroll wheel would have helped long list navigation; the VR-09 is the opposite, it has a scroll wheel, but annoyingly, no increment/decrement buttons to use when you only need to move one line at a time (and a registration "next" button with no corresponding "back" button if you overshoot or want to go back to your previous sound). No numeric entry on these boards, either, which could have helped. AX-Edge is obviously light on front panel controls and display as would be necessary on a keytar, but the only editor is a really terrible phone app. And more recently, I've seen allan_evett's posts about the archaic user interface of the RD-88. The boards have great sounds and features/functions, but sometimes it seems like they really could have put more thought into how users will want to use them.