Giulioz VirtualJV, free Roland JV-880 synth rompler emulator plugin for macOS and Windows - November 10, 2025 Giulioz VirtualJV is a new open-source, free emulator software for macOS and Windows that brings the Roland JV-880 synth rompler to your DAW. DSP emulators are all the rage. Started in the retro gaming world, it has also become a topic in the synth world. The best known are The Usual Suspects, a developer collective that revives virtual analog classics using open-source DSP emulators. Their latest project is the JE-8086, an emulator for the famous Roland JP-8080 Synthesizer. Giulioz is also no stranger to the scene, having already successfully emulated the Roland MKS-20 and MS-80 vintage piano modules, as well as the Microrack Reverb. In a more recent project (VirtualJV), Giulioz is working on another Roland rack unit, the JV-880. Giulioz VirtualJV As a reminder, the Roland JV-880 is a Synthesizer rompler and is a rack-mount version of the JV-80 keyboard. As a sound source, it uses sampled content (waveforms…) that can be layered to powerful multi-timbral instruments. Like a traditional synthesizer, it offers filters (TVF), an amp (TVA), multiple LFOs, onboard effects such as chorus, delays, reverbs, and micro-tuning capabilities. Giulioz uses a modified version of the open-source DSP emulator for the Roland SC-55 sound module, developed by NukeYKT SC55, for his VirtualJV project. This modified version adds support for the Roland JV-880. To make this possible, the engine emulates three ICs: the Roland PCM chip, Hitachi H8/532 MCU, and Mitsubishi M37450M2 MCU. As with other emulator plugins, there’s a built-in obstacle that puts it in a legal gray area. It requires the original Roland JV-880 ROM file. Without it, it won’t work. Before the emulator police start complaining again: no, I don’t distribute ROMs or links on my website. I’m just discussing the emulator and the possibility that it exists. Installation Giulioz offers the VirtualJV emulator with a layered UI that provides access to all the parameters of the original Roland JV-880. And there are plenty. It’s definitely easier to program than on the original hardware. Installing VirtualJV is somewhat tricky and requires patience. Although it comes as a VST3 and AU plugin, it’s not an entirely straightforward undertaking Users in forums like KVR Forum report that one must pay attention to the placement of the folders as well as the VST and AU plugins. Additionally, it is essential to note that the internal sample rate of the hardware unit is 32kHz, which plays better with a DAW configured for a 48kHz sample rate. You will find jitter if you play it at 44.1kHz, say users. During the first run you will be able to open the destination ROM folder. Copy your ROMs there, restart the plugin, and wait for a minute for the first load to happen (waveform ROMs need to be descrambled and copied to a cache, which may take a minute). Have fun! First Impression The emulator wave continues unabated. If this trend continues, in a few years we’ll have revived all the well-known “vintage” digital synthesizers for our DAWs. The Roland JV-880 isn’t exactly a synth I’m passionate about, but it’s great that the option now exists. Giulioz VirtualJV emulator plugin is available for free download from GitHub. It runs as a VST3 and AU plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. You have to find the ROM for the Roland JV-880 yourself. More information here: GitHub Source: https://synthanatomy.com/2025/11/gi...and-jv-880-synth-rompler-emulator-plugin.html
Been using it for a few months now... its fantastic. My only gripe is there isnt a search and recall feature implemented yet. If you have all the roms installed, it is A LOT of patches to sort through. Without tags or search it can be a bit mind numbing to find the right patch to start with. The other issue is loading saved projects with instances VirtualJV. It maintains the original patch you used for the track but it isnt highlighted so youre stuck having to find again the rom it was located in. Not entirely a deal breaker as the sounds are fantastic but it is time consuming. Only work around Ive found is to name my tracks with the rom and patch id if I need to recall it.
Fantastic developer. You can find the ROMs on archive.org, and that includes all the SRJV-80 expansion boards. There is also rdpiano https://github.com/giulioz/rdpiano, an emulation of the hardware that emulates the "structured/adaptive synthesis" (what marketing diarrhea) hardware from the 80s, Roland MKS20 and Rhodes MK80. There is a rumor on the KVR forum that this developer is collaborating with the usual suspects on JD-990 emulation.
I tried the last version and did not get it working under Wine in Linux. Now I have tried it within Bottles and I added the Visual C++ 2022 Redistributable. But still no luck. Obviously this synth needs some very special libraries to make it running!
Search '880' on the sister site and grab it. I did it today (on WIN albeit), after struggling hours with the same symptom you had.
Three things I want to see from this project: Resizable GUI, even on my MacBook it feels like the plugin window is just too big and could hide patches I can’t click on because they can’t reach the screen, I’d like to have it be smaller so I can actually see all the parameters and patches Easy non-destructive saving, I don’t want to make a patch in case is messes with the original patches, there should be an option to create a user bank, then when you modify and create a preset you get a dialog with “Save to (user bank)?” and it goes to the next empty slot Preset categories, the official JV plugin has this, the JV-880 plugin should have a similar system too once I have those available this plugin will finally be perfect
