It is a great feature but the JD-Xi has very bad presets built in. The sounds u are hearing are not from the JD-Xi but rather from the external gear listed. One cool feature does not sell a keyboard in my opinion. The other weird thing is that this JD-Xi and it's "supposed" big brother, the JD-XA, which I do own, are absolutely nothing alike. Completely different sounds.

Hi Woody. You will probably find that you have to fiddle with the original key setting if you start trying to get fancy with your chord progressions. It really is more of a simple root note "EDM" tool.

Woody Piano Shack same here wow I’m excited

🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🧐

Hi Paul, yep, this is a cool feature. Enjoy your JD-XI :)

You're welcome!

Hi agerven, thanks for watching - good luck with the upgrade :)

Amen

Hi Thomas Kropf! Yeah, it was added in firmware 1.5 update - so there'd be quite a lot of JD-XI's out there which haven't been updated yet.

Yeah I never liked the black "fingerprint" edition much

THOM AlphaXIII it sure is!! I'm now starting to think of cool ways to implement this. maybe use the keystep and CV ... Thanks for watching!

ranzee av yep, i remember your video about the keystep and some setup ideas, could be great to do some tricks with the jdxi. The keystep also got some cool chords features also am i right?

that is true - it does - hmmm that really gives me an idea ... thanks!

Hi Ralph! Thank you so much for your comments - it means a lot. Hoping you are having an awesome time with all your jams! Love watching them :)

This very video gave me some ideas for using my JD-Xi in future jams. At the risk of repeating myself. This tutorial is awesome!

Indeed!

The thing sold itself to me! Incredible sequencer! It's all there and user friendly (With some prior knowledge) but still understood the thing rather quickly!

Hi pcuimac :) I love playing with this feature - it is cool, and makes building up sequences and chord progressions easily. Thanks for taking the time to comment too - appreciate it :)

Hi René Zierenberg, thanks so much for the nice comments. Enjoy your week!

JD-XA really should've had all the feature of the JD-XI including this and the drums. Roland missed the mark a little on that

Great stuff DJ Statyk :)

Have fun!

Glad you enjoyed it

Hi J König - glad you liked it :)

Hi L77kim77l :) You're welcome!

indeed :)

Hi Loay, I think in this particular setup I was using a MIDI solutions Quadra Thru box (which is just a 4 port MIDI through).

Hi Pulse2AM ! Yeah, I don't know if I would have got the JD-XI in black :/

@@ranzee Haha I'm back! Just bought one today, black and it's hard to see but has those templates in white they made, I'll need them. I'll be watching all your videos for sure so thanks!

Congrats :) It's a great little synth.

@@ranzee Here's my first song with it, I used bass, arps, vocoder, and a string from the XI - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eMyIdsmQmZq6gn0.html

Hi Roland, thanks! and yes - just use the MIDI DIN connections (I also use a MIDI Thru box) - and by default the Streichfett will respond to Digital Channel 1 sequences.

@@ranzee Thanx for the response! Stay save my friend and keep making those great video's

Yes, the SH-201 can take MIDI notes via MIDI IN. So you can use the JD-XI to play the SH-201 :)

Hi Geoff! There's some good sequencers out there - but for hardware, the best ones are Akai MPC Live, Elektron Octatrack, and Deluge ... the cheaper ones are BeatStep Pro, Korg Electribe, Elektron Digitakt etc. Or you could look at some older used/2nd hand technology. I have an MPC Live and and Octatrack ...

@@ranzee Many thanks for the advice. I will check them out. Cheers!

I read somewhere you can plug a iPad (guess iPhone too?) Running cubasis into the jdxi and use that as a sequencer. Worth a try? Could work maybe. Great tutorial...!!! I've been wondering how the interactive chords worked for over a year now. Thanks for the explanation.

Hi Nsera, Yes I had the Roland MX-1 setup as the master and everything else was connected via USB or MIDI DIN - including a Roland TR-8, Waldorf Streichfett and Korg Minilogue. You can set the JD-XI to external MIDI clock in the system setup (through the menu).

Hi Andrew Slugantz :) Thanks for the Q ... I'm thinking this maybe where that original key setting comes into it. In the menu, under chord edit, you can adjust the original key. See if this helps? Good luck.

Hi Valdis, it's been a while since I did this now - but if I recall it sends out all tracks on their respective MIDI channels. Someone else might want to verify this. If I get a chance I'll plug in my JD-XI and check it for you.

ranzee Thanks! That’s would be a really great feature if true - 4 internal track and 4 external tracks - powerful.

Hi Nsera, it is Digital Part 2 and just a bass sound with a sequence. It is one of the factory patches - I will turn on the JD-XI and let you know in the next few days.

Hi Ranzee, really appreciate you getting back to me. Can I ask you with midi files which DAW you use?

Hi ​@@nsera9462, I wasn't using a DAW in that video. However, I use Ableton Live and Studio One. I'm spending a lot of time sequencing using my MPC Live - so I don't really need a DAW to produce - more to master and do final mixes etc. Cheers, Ranzee

hi vicachcoup :) thanks!

The 808 sounds are part of the super natural synth engine.

Hey j joker, no it doesn't take external input unfortunately. This is something we've asked Roland to implement. Thanks for the support :)

Hi Jose. I'm fairly sure the answer is no to both your questions. Have an awesome day.

ranzee Thanks! ;)

Hi Tucker Harper :) Thanks for watching! As far as I know, only via the JD-XI keyboard. You could experiment with turning MIDI local OFF and see if that does anything - but I couldn't get it to work.

That's too bad. That is the first thing that I wanted to do after watching your video.

Hi Yalcin Lacin :) Thanks for watching and the nice comments! I'm not a Logic user unfortunately - so I'm handing this one over to someone else here on the channel who uses Logic! If nothing happens - I'm happy to put your Q up for my next Q&A video in a week's time.

Thanks!

Hi Pure Ambient Drone :) The MIDI channels are as follows: Digital Part 1 = MIDI Channel 1, Digital Part 2 = MIDI Channel 2, Drum Part = MIDI Channel 10 and Analog Part = MIDI Channel 3.

LOL I am just reading that. I should have figured the drums where 10 I do this stuff enough duh. :) Thx though!

Indeed. I think if you disable the chord mode the sequencer behaves within the guidelines of the user manual.

@@ranzee I tested it out and it appears that the interactive chord setting is by Program so would affect all parts when on or off rather than allowing you to select which part (D1,D2, AN) makes use of the interactive chord follow when active. Still, that's very cool and I'll make tons of use of that feature!

it shows it if you enable it - is your firmware up to date?

@@ranzee Thank you so much. Youre right i just needed to enable it and they show up. Lol.. my goodness. 🙏🙏🙏

Hi, yes you can mute individual parts and record them separately into your DAW.

ranzee ohh thats nice. Even as midi?

Hi Roger Bonner, I got mine from StoreDJ here in Australia. They were a limited edition, and it was just sitting in the store! I didn't like the black version at all - so if it wasn't for Roland releasing this, I'd probably not own a JD-XI :)

Hi kalpesh panchal! Thanks for watching! I'm fairly sure you can't. However, you could give it a try - you'd need to turn "local off" on the JD-XI. I might try this out when I'm back at home next.

ranzee av hi thank you so much for your quick reply. Appreciated. It would be great if you can try and let me know. I will try in the weekend. It would be great if that is possible so I use my FA06 like an arranger. 😊.

Did it work?

@@kalpeshkpanchal Yea same problem here apparently the interactive chord feature works only on the jd-xi mini keys. Maybe with some serious sysex midi implementation

I'm fairly sure it's for local keyboard only.

@@ranzee Thank you for the reply. I need to get used with the small keys then when playing some commercial songs live. But I will keep searching for hacks (whether hardware or software hacks) to make this work.

Sounds like an ordeal there Tang! Not sure what we can do here on this KZfaq channel - but if you're really wanting to get your point out - I'm happy for you to come onto our live show and join the Ranzee's Rant segment! This is for my patrons - but it might be worth it, at least for your wellbeing ;)

Hi Petr ! Thanks mate :)

Hi Eddie, you can change the root note in the setup menu (shown in the video) - play around with this to get it working the way you'd like. Check out the chord wheels to see how major and minor chords relate to another - this sometimes helps with selecting the right root note.

@@ranzee thanks. Just now I program E1, E2 etc, then use favourite to bring them together. Is there a way to stay on E1 and store different patterns in favourite to save user space? Eg- E1 / fav 1 E1/fav 2 E1/fav 3 All done with different patterns without leaving E1?

Not that I'm aware of.

@@ranzee hopefully an update would sort this

Hi Mikkel! Thanks so much for being on the livestream! Next saturday, I'm happy to chat about your setup if you like. Sounds like you've got a few ideas you want to bounce around. The JD-Xi is definitely worthy of being in anyone's setup!

I had to look that up! hehe

@@ranzee He's chill as hell. He did the ost to Need for speed 1, 2, 3: hot pursuit and porsche unleashed on ps1

check which MIDI channel your MiniNova is running on - it needs to be either 1, 2 or 3 to receive the digital or analog parts of the sequence.

ranzee will try it when i got home. Thanks.

I connect midi in from jdxi to output midi of mininova. It works. But is it not possible to use the sound of mininova to be used and sequence it to jdxi ?

MIDI out of JD-XI to MIDI in of mininova

ranzee it works. 😊 Another thing is i guess the mininova is monotimbral and when i sequence 2 channels at the same time the other synth is turn off. When i assign channel 2 in midi the synth , the midi channel 1 sound is off.

Hi Diederick Cock, Yes, you have to use the internal keyboard. We've asked Roland to add external keyboard as a feature ... still waiting.

Hi Uneventfully Eventful! Yes, I didn't like the black glossy standard version - when this came out it was a insta-buy!

@@ranzee The black one comes with skins that are matte black. I chose the black one because most of my pianos are following a theme

Hi GreenHoleSun - you can always use it as a sound module and connect up a better keyboard - thus opening the JD-XI up to more hidden features like Aftertouch, SYSEX param controls etc - check out this vid I did (a little technical, but doable with a bit of learning and patience): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/g81mi6yJtsq6mYk.html

@ranzee Wow, JD-Xi even receives aftertouch :) thanks again... @GreenHoleSun Built quality of the keybed: agree, but the JD-Xi itself, the buttons and potis feel quite sturdy to me

Hi L77kim77l - yep - I've done a video on it recently - the one on custom sysex programming, you'll see aftertouch in action.

After lots of research I purchased a JD XI. I read everything I could on it and other similar caliber and similarly priced synths. Most every reviewer or write up I read pointed out it's limitations, which they should as potential buyers need to know if it has the functionality they're looking for before dropping what usually is going to be anywhere from $500 to $2000. However, anybody who has been in the market for a synth, be they analog, digital or a bit of both, knows that every synth has it's limitations. One unit that you consider may have a feature that's important to you and another unit may be lacking that particular feature that you want in the synth that you end up settling on. The #1 complaint across the board, that really seemed to be THE deal breaker for people. The big problem that I noticed being sighted across all forums and reviews. The black mark that kept the JD XI in "baby's toy" status and not in the "versatile, portable, nice sounding, uniquely creative professional tool" category, was the simple fact that JD XI was designed with smaller "cheap" feeling keys that caused several reviewers to proclaim something like, "If your a beginner this is a great synth for you, if your experienced in synthesis and music production probably not for you." This is kind of frustrating. Yes the keys are small, but if you've actually used this synth you know those keys are sturdy and adequate for what the JD XI was meant to do also, there's nothing wrong with the build quality it feels sturdy enough. If they made a metal casing with full sized keys it may cost hundreds more. They also listened to peoples gripes and pretty much immediately corrected the dark red lettering on the control panel with a black and white mat overlay. Here's the thing... I was recruited as a vocalist for an industrial metal band in the late 90s which opened me up to electronic music. I bought a Roland 505 Groovebox so I could compose beats for the songs my guitarist and I composed together. It was digital, the sound quality was not the best, which actually worked very well with the gritty, industrial, electronic hell fire sound of our band. The notoriously poor sound quality of the 505 was not totally impossible to remedy somewhat. It was sample based digital analog emulation (the technology has definitely improved) It was a sound creation playground adsr sliders LFO's, ENV, low/high pass cutoff filters. More effects than you can imagine compared to most of today's digital synths, multiple wave forms and modulation options. thousands of instrument samples, all the roland classic drum kits, synths, strings, brass, base tones for creating endless totally custom pads, instruments and sounds from scratch which include a base tone from all the wave selections built into it. Along with it there was a 16 step TR 909 style pattern sequencer which doubled as keys which allowed real time recording as well. The reason why I went through all of that was because to me the JD XI is a great sounding modern take on what Roland was shooting for in those mid to late 90s grooveboxes done right and simplified. With a real analog option, digital analog emulation that's light years beyond those old groovebox's and the ability to sequence patterns, sculpt sounds and compose a track from start to finish. little tweaking in the daw and, BANG... A pretty quality produced track. All these synth snobs and connoisseurs are missing the point because from past experience with roland hardware and producing electronic music and beats... the jd xi is not a digital synth or a drum machine or an analog synth. it's just enough of all these things to easily get ideas, produce and create. In essence jd xi is a high quality groove machine. there really isn't a synth that comes to mind that doesn't require other pieces of gear or a daw to make a beat, leads, Bass, and effects. Sequence everything, record multiple ways, create an infinite number of unique sounds of your own. Even with bad reviews it's selling well to amateur and pro alike, price staying steady at $499. I wish the synth snobs (The I need a full piano worth of keys and it has to weigh 120LBS or it's a toy, crowd) Would just put a sock in it or review it as something that's not exactly a synth but a little bit of everything you might need to produce a dance track that sounds banging in one place. it's great for EDM/IDM performances it's great to have in a studio to a little something extra. JD XI does not meet everybody's standard of perfection and functionality, but don't basically come across like it's useless just because it's not the size and weight of a grand piano. In conclusion love the keys because if they did put full size weighted keys and a big heavy metal case, I probably wouldn't be able to afford it. They did a solid job with the keys and build they ended up with, i'm fine with the compromise.

Indeed - but perhaps the Partials might have a work-around with that :)

believe me - we've asked, and asked and asked .... .... waiting :)

@@ranzee nsert meme of skeleton on park bench :D ......It is very stupid letting out of the equation the possibilitiy to trigger chords from the midi iinput of the unit. Very SAD!!!

Hi Daniel, can you please explain what you mean by "slow"?

@@ranzee im here for kool sounds and the persons voice makes the presentation boring

Completely different synth to be fair. The JD-XI is a groove box style synth. The XA is a flagship synth. Yes the sequencer isn't the best. But you can always use something else to sequence your synth :)

@@ranzee I think the sequencer needs to be brought up to where you can at least transpose and have cord recognition at this point all the stock beats that are in the JDXI I guess you can call that’s what makes get the title of Groovebox but I think it’s an amazing Synth too I just obtained a JDXA and I am trying to see why this unit is so much more expensive retail and even on the used market because without a proper function and sequencer at least on the level of the other one it does have a coral option for the Volkoder And a lot affects so that vocoder I’m just finding it a head scratcher that there’s not an update to make this unit more fun instead of having to tell myself that if I itemize all the great chipsets in there it just seems that it’s hard to get it going, and I wish Roland would fix it

I would like to see interactive chord, and I do appreciate the ability to play chords into the vocoder

There are many internal beats on the little guy I love the beauty of the four analog engines in the digital engines in the Volkoder and the effects but I also don’t mind to have a little bit of creative conscience already included and sequencer that is at least as good as the little guy currently and I think it can be squeezed in there fairly easily and I guess if you had to worry about running out of room, I guess you could forsake the constant but I don’t think that really Hass to happen especially with maybe even a USB supplementation and download option in the Roland support website were not only sounds are available, but some pretty nice beach contact as well It’s a pricey keyboard and I think it needs some updated support.