EPU hi...
I really enjoy your answer post. I agree with you that new Rolands are far away from the revolutionary D50. I think that you must keep your XP if it's really usefull for you. Also i don't like people run to buy any new synth when it hits the market. But we must be as objective we can when we judge new things. It doesn't matter if we like manufacturer or ... color or name etc. When we speak on electronic musical instruments the sound & synthesis engine it that counts.

On XVs now. Last year, as you know, all big manufacturers introduced new gear. Korg Triton, Yamaha S80/CS6, Kurz 2600 and other. All of them try to bring us the best realistic sound the can. I send many posts with my opinion on some of them i tried in my studio. I bought two of them just for their piano sound and clean output. But what a dissapointment for me when (February) Roland invited me to try XV. I must say that it has the best realistic sound in par with K2600 that costs twice. I also checked XV using a Tek audio spectrum analyzer and found that its output is full of music harmonics but not noice over spectrum. The dynamic range is thirty percent better than K2600. Thats my point when i post my opinion.

I have Classical & Jazz background and i'm keyboard player the last twenty five years. But mainly i'm an electonics engineer and i judge synths testing first their sound but also their tech characteristics.

The best to you and all the friends here...