Syntheziser Synthesizers ---Jupiter 4 / Jupiter 6 /Jupiter 8

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Synthesizers ---Jupiter 4 / Jupiter 6 /Jupiter 8

Jupiter 4



The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator - the arpeggiator can be heard in the Duran Duran classic, "Rio". It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!

Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4's tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds. It's used by Meat Beat Manifesto, Gary Numan, Thomas Dolby, Saint Etienne, the Cars, BT, Simple Minds, Moog Cookbook, Vangelis, The Human League, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Heaven 17, and film-maker Satyajit Ray.

SPECIFICATIONS

Polyphony - 4 voices
Oscillators - 1 VCO per voice (triangle, square, square with PWM) and a switchable on\off sub osc
LFO - 1 LFO (sine, square, ramp up and ramp down)
Filter - HP filter, LP rez filter
VCA - 2 env (ADSR) one for the filter which you can invert, one for the VCA
Effects - Ensemble/Chorus
Arpeg/Seq - Arpeggiator
Keyboard - 49 keys
Memory - None
Control - TRIG IN to control the arpeggiator
Date Produced - 1978/79

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Jupiter 6



The Jupiter-6 is an incredible analog synth. All of the Jupiters have a sound that was unlike any other synthesizer and the Jup 6 is no exception. This sound is due in part to classic analog Roland technology in its filters, modulation capabilities and a thick cluster of 12 analog oscillators at 2 per voice. Easy and intuitive programming via front panel sliders, knobs and buttons for all your tweaking needs.

The Jup 6 is a scaled down version of the Jup 8 in terms of programming and polyphony. However the Jup 6 has some major improvements of its own such as newly added MIDI control and better tuning stability! While the Jup 6 does have MIDI, the implementation is very rudimentary and hard to control. The Jup 6 was one of the very first (along with the Sequential Prophet 600) synths to use the then new MIDI protocol, and the implementation on the Jup 6 is far from complete.

SPECIFICATIONS

Polyphony - 6 voices
Oscillators - 2 VCO's per voice (12 oscillators total!)
LFO - 2 LFO's with 4-waveforms (sine, tri, ramp, random)
Filter - 24 dB/oct 4-pole lowpass/high pass or 12 dB/oct 2-pole bandpass with their own ADSR envelope
VCA - 2 Standard ADSR's with keyboard track and mixer to balance oscillator levels
Effects - None
Arpeg/Seq - 1 Arpeggiator
Memory - 48 tones / 32 patches
Keyboard - 61 keys
Control - MIDI
Date Produced - 1983

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Jupiter 8



he Jupiter-8 was Roland's first truly professional analog synthesizer. The Jupiter-8 features 16 rich analog oscillators at 2 per voice, eight voice polyphony and easy programming! At eight voices you can get some pretty thick analog sounds. Easy and intuitive programming via front panel sliders, knobs and buttons for all your tweaking needs. The legacy of the Jupiter synthesizers is due to their unique voice architecture and design, creating sounds that were so unreal and amazing that they have to be heard! No other synths in the world can create analog sounds as cool and authentic as these.

The Jupiter-8 was the biggest and fattest of them all (Jupiters and Junos)! It was one of the first synths to allow its keyboard to be split and layered - it's eight voices of trance heaven! Cross-mod, oscillator sync, a great LFO and a classic arpeggiator are also on-board. There's also a killer resonant analog low pass filter, same as the Juno-6 / 60, with the added option of choosing 2-pole (12 dB/oct) or 4-pole (24 dB/oct) modes as well as a separate high-pass filter. Unfortunately for the earlier models, tuning was very unstable but that seemed to be resolved in later models. Unlike its smaller counterpart, the Jupiter-6, the Jup 8 does not feature MIDI, only Roland's DCB sync can be found on some models. However, MIDI retro-kit's are available from various companies. Patch presets can store keyboard splits, arpeggiator settings, voice assign mode, hold, portamento and modulation settings.

SPECIFICATIONS

Polyphony - 8 voices
Oscillators - 2 VCO's per voice (16 oscillators's!) switchable between triangle, sawtooth, pulse, and square waves plus noise on OSC 2
LFO - 4-waveform (sine, tri, ramp, random) LFO
Filter - Low pass filter with 2-pole (12 dB/oct) and 4-pole (24 dB/oct) modes, Env Mod, LFO MOd, Key Follow. Separate 6 dB/oct high pass filter.
VCA - Standard ADSR and mixer to balance oscillator levels
Memory - 64 patches and 8 patch presets
Keyboard - 61 note keyboard
Control - DCB Roland to Roland sync/interface on some models
Date Produced - 1981 - 1984