Roland0 String Keyboard synthesizer, 0, Black (JUPITER-X)

Firstly, if there were an option to rate this 4.5 stars, I would. However, it's closer to 4 stars instead of 5. The main point I want to drive home about this synth is this: it sounds AMAZING. The fidelity and clarity is super crisp and clear. Every time I use this synth on a recording it brings a lot of brightness and fullness to the texture of the piece. The factory patches are great, and the ability to edit them and alter them to make them your own is implemented in a classic fashion. The range of sounds this synth can produce is rather overwhelming, but let it be known- they all sound great. The Jupiter 8 and Juno 106 engines in particular really shine. The whole synth kind of feels like a tribute to the 80's, and the layout of it as well as the sounds you can create with it really holds true to that. In addition to the other synth engines, there is an additional soundbank of about 800 of Roland's classic keyboard sounds from the 90's. Some of the piano and organ sounds in this soundbank are downright incredible. The keyboard itself also plays extremely well. It doesn't feel overly springy like my Korg Prologue. The action on the Jupiter X keys is really smooth and feels very fast. One of the greatest hidden features on this synth is the "step edit" function, which allows you use it as a makeshift sequencer. It's particularly useful for sequencing percussion, as you can create very elaborate and complex percussion sequences, or basically anything else you can think of. It just takes a little getting used to how to operate it, which can be said of the Jupiter X in general, leading me to the negative side of the review. So as far as cons go, there are a few. This is a complex synth. The way that Roland chose to implement some of the features is rather puzzling to be honest. At first it can be very frustrating to figure out how to use certain features. The I-Arpeggio feature is strange, it doesn't have a particular use for me and I would rather have a more classic "arpeggio" function. Selecting/switching between the different synth engines is not very intuitive at first glance, and some of the engines have some odd features that you'll have to learn how to adapt to. When editing patches, sometimes the patch will not react how you are expecting it to, and it's very odd because on one engine it will work perfectly but will behave strangely on another. There are also still some bugs in the software, as Roland continuously releases updates on their website. It's easy to do, you'll just need a USB drive. I would recommend keeping the synth updated as often as possible, because the updates do fix some of the more frustrating bugs. So in the end, this is an extremely deep and complex synth. I'm still learning how to use all of its features to the fullest, but after a few months of playing it every day I have a decent working knowledge of how to use it. It's definitely worth the price. The sounds are amazing and it plays great. But just know that while learning how to use it, you will probably have some frustrating moments where you're trying to figure out how to do very basic things. I would recommend this synth, particularly for a studio environment. It's fantastic for recordings. I'm less sure about using it for a professional live rig, unless you plan on leaving it on a single patch all night. Sometimes when switching between patches or engines the synth will malfunction- I've had it layer sounds together on it's own, I've had notes continuously ring out from the previous patch while switching to a new one, and other odd things. In a studio environment it's fine- just turn the synth off and back on again. In a live setting it could be a disaster. Perhaps after Roland has worked more bugs out of the system and updated it enough the synth will perform with a little more stability.