Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes On The Roland JD-XA

This video, via RolandChannel, features Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes sharing some background on his history of using Roland synths, and on his current use of the JD-Xa on tour. 

While the video is clearly a promo, it offers some insight into the synths that Rhodes has used throughout his career with Duran Duran and his take on using the JD-Xa as a performance synth.

21 thoughts on “Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes On The Roland JD-XA

  1. Idolized him and his Jupiters and his massive projections of Fairlight screens during arena shows as a wee teen. Can’t even bare to press play on the video. How was it?

  2. Yea, but that Jupiter4 tho, so perfect.. so dreamy
    .. almost like it more than the Jupiter 8 at times.. wish Roland would have just re-issued the original JP4, even miniaturized, no digital effects needed.

  3. I’m a huge fan of both Nick Rhodes and Roland however this was a bit over-the-top and should’ve had one of those paid advertisement disclaimers in front of it that you see before you see an infomercial

  4. Thinking about this, doesn’t he say he is going to tour using 4 of these on stage as midi controllers – i guess that’s how much he loved the sound of them!

    This video sounds and feels like Nick wanted a massive freebie from Roland, and Roland said, pucker up. Sad, 25 years ago they would have been pleased just to have him use those on stage.

    It is already stated here, that video is so staged it needs an advertisement disclaimer.

  5. I always find it funny when people slam those who have made it in the industry, and continue for decades on – unless you have done the same or better then you really have no place disrespecting someone who has, right? If this would have been some ‘rock legend’ that goes organ solo crazy in every tune then you would all hail this video. Keith Emerson and others endorse Moog, and so on and so on, but that’s ‘cool’. But Nick endorses a Roland product and that’s somehow not cool? If you had read Key Mag review he states he will be using it a lot in the future, in this video he says he’ll be using a couple as controllers and some internally (meaning as a stand alone synth). FYI, he used a second V-Synth just as a controller for a Akai S-6000 live until now.

    Have a little respect folks. Others top musician do, why can’t you? He has used a lot of gear in very creative ways. Maybe if you knew more about him you would…

  6. Wondering what Roland paid Nick for being in this video…on the other hand…Nick does not earn money on his music anymore as he has lost his creative talent…so this is another way to make money.

    1. “Nick does not earn money on his music anymore as he has lost his creative talent”

      Wut? This statement is just absurd. Nick absolutely makes money from touring and royalties.

  7. I really don’t see what the problem is with this video.

    Nick has always been very pro Roland and so his using the JD-XA makes perfect sense.

    I wouldn’t say it’s overly corporate either.

    Give Nick a break guys. As synth players go, he’s a bit of a legend 🙂

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