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This new editor is the most complex yet in the Patch Base collection, including support for the JD-Xi's 2 digital synths, analog monosynth, sample-based drum machine, and on-board effects and mixing. The hundreds of parameters that the JD-Xi uses are all here, allowing for a sound design experience far beyond what's available using the JD-Xi's. JD-Xi Driver Ver.1.0.0 for Mac OS X. This is the JD-Xi driver for Mac OS X 10.7 / OS X 10.8 / OS X 10.9 / OS X 10.10. Owner's Manuals; Support Documents; If you have questions about operating your Roland product, please check our Knowledge Base for answers to the most common questions.
With its exceptional analog/digital sound and innovative crossover design, the JD-XA has been lauded as one of Roland’s most powerful synths ever. Now, JD-XA owners have access to new librarian software that makes it easy to back up, organize, and archive patches on a Mac or Windows computer. Available as a free download, the librarian also provides an integrated portal to the growing collection of JD-XA patch collections at Roland’s Axial website.
Before you download and use the JD-XA Librarian software, you may need to update the system on your JD-XA. Version 1.10 or later is required for compatibility.
To check which system version is currently loaded in your JD-XA, do the following:
The download includes a manual for the JD-XA Librarian. It provides important information on setting up the JD-XA to communicate with the software, plus complete details on all librarian functions. Please read this manual before using the JD-XA Librarian, and refer to it as you work with the software. When the librarian is open, you can access the manual from the Help menu.
Some of the procedures I’ll be discussing next will overwrite the data that’s currently in your JD-XA, including any custom patches that you’ve created. When you open up the JD-XA Librarian for the first time, you should transfer all the JD-XA’s current patch data to the librarian and save it as a patch collection on your computer. This will give you a backup as you explore working with Axial patches and creating your own custom patch collections in the librarian.
The JD-XA Librarian provides an intuitive interface for building your own custom collections of JD-XA patches. You can create collections for specific projects, music styles, or live performances, and then load them into the JD-XA whenever you need them.
To start a new patch collection, select New from the librarian’s File menu. Next, use the Save or Save As commands to save the collection on your computer. Collections can be populated with patches retrieved from the JD-XA, including factory patches and user patches you’ve created. You can also grab patches from other collections, including those you’ve downloaded from the Axial website.
The Main screen is the JD-XA Librarian’s primary workspace. This area communicates directly with the JD-XA, and it’s where you transfer patches to and from the synth’s patch memories.
To grab all current patches in the JD-XA, click the Read All button in the Main screen. To retrieve one patch at a time, highlight the desired patch number in the Main screen and click the Read Selected button. Multiple patches can be selected using Command-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows).
Main screen in the JD-XA Librarian.
After you retrieve patches from the JD-XA, they appear in the librarian’s Main screen. To save one or more patches to a patch collection, copy them from the Main screen and insert them into patch collections as desired.
With the JD-XA Librarian, you can directly download JD-XA patch collections from Roland’s Axial website.
When you’re connected to the Internet, clicking the Axial button in the librarian’s Main screen will take you directly to Roland’s Axial sound site. The site opens in a separate window. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the Axial home page and select the JD-XA in the “Select Your Synthesizer” dropdown menu. This will take you to all available JD-XA patch collections.
Axial JD-XA patch collection directory in the JD-XA Librarian.
Click a collection to go its dedicated page, where you’ll find a description, audio examples, and download links. To load the collection into the JD-XA Librarian, scroll down and click the “Download for Librarian” button (this is a special .xal file for use with the JD-XA Librarian). When the download is complete, it appears as a patch collection in the librarian. After that, use the Save As command to save the collection to the desired location on your computer.
A Note About INTEGRA-7 Patch Compatibility
The JD-XA’s digital side features Roland’s SuperNATURAL Synth engine, and its architecture is similar to the synthesizer engine used in the INTEGRA-7 sound module. Because of this, the JD-XA can work with some (but not all) Axial patch collections created for that product. The JD-XA Librarian is needed to convert them to the .xal format that works with the JD-XA. During conversion, the librarian loads the data for each patch into Digital Tone 1. After you transfer a patch to the JD-XA, you can use it as is or enhance the sound with analog tones, other digital tones, and effects to create your own new patches.
To download these collections, access the Axial site from within the JD-XA Librarian and navigate to the INTEGRA-7 patch collection pages. Next, click on a collection to go to its dedicated page, and then click the Download button near the bottom of the page. If a collection is compatible with the JD-XA, it’s automatically converted during the download and appears as a patch collection in the librarian. If it’s not, the librarian displays a message that says, “Cannot read files of this type.”
When a patch collection is open, you’ll see that each patch has its own “Temporary Play” button. When you click it, the patch is transferred to the temporary buffer in the JD-XA, and you can play it right away. If you want to immediately save the patch to the JD-XA, use the synth’s Write procedure to save it to the desired memory location.
In a patch collection, click a patch’s Temporary Play button in the left hand column to transfer it to the JD-XA’s temporary buffer for auditioning.
If you’d like to use a tone from one JD-XA patch in another, it’s easy with the JD-XA Librarian. Just right-click on a patch in the librarian and select Copy Tone. Next, select the desired to tone (Analog 1-4 or Digital 1-4) from the dropdown menu. After that, right-click the destination patch, select Paste Tone, and then choose a location for the copied tone.
In the JD-XA Librarian, you can copy tones from one patch to another.
In the librarian’s Main screen, you can write individual patches or entire patch collections to the JD-XA’s internal memory. Just copy the patches you want to use from different patch collections and insert them into the Main screen at the desired memory locations. There are 256 memory locations available, and the numbers directly correspond to the patch numbers in the JD-XA.
After that, click the Write All button in the librarian to send all patches in the Main screen to the JD-XA. To send one or more specific patches, highlight the desired patch number(s) in the Main screen and click the Write Selected button. An important note: these procedures overwrite the current patch data in the JD-XA. If there are any patches you want to save, make sure you first back up the data in a patch collection before proceeding.
For complete instructions on using the JD-XA Librarian, refer to the manual that comes with the librarian download.
For more information on operating the JD-XA, refer to the JD-XA Owner’s Manual and JD-XA Parameter Guide.