ROLAND JUPITER-80 PREVIEW
Posted on Fri 15 April 2011 in entries
The Roland Jupiter-8 is perhaps my favourite synthesiser of all time! If you listen to some of the demonstrations on Youtube then you will understand why. It just produces such a beautiful, warm and distinctive analogue sound, and it can create a huge variety of different timbres from dynamic pads to in-your-face basses. It provides you with that real 80’s sound, and has been used on a countless number of hit records by artists ranging from ABBA to the Prodigy, from Michael Jackson to Jean Michel Jarre and Enya, and it is even a popular instrument today (despite being introduced in 1981, featuring no MIDI connectivity, and later being discontinued), with artists such as Lady GaGa and Alicia Keys making use of it’s great flexibility. And just to prove how massively popular this instrument is, I just checked on ebay and there was a second hand one going for £4,500! That's more than most brand new synths!
So, as you have probably heard, at the recent MusikMesse festival Roland have announced that the all new Jupiter-80 is set to be released! To me, this is very exciting news, and I just had to find out more information… so come with me on a journey through time and space, to the world of the Jupiter-80…
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – THE REINCARNATION OF A LEGEND
Ideally, I would have liked Roland to have re-introduced the original Jupiter-8, but add in MIDI connectivity, and a few modern features, but realistically that was never going to happen, and even if it did, I very much doubt that I would be able to afford it… the original Jupiter-8 retailed for over £4,000 back in the 1980’s, so goodness knows what it would cost in todays climate! Nevertheless, because Roland have decided to name this synthesiser after such an iconic synth, people are naturally going to draw comparisons between the two. It’s a risky move by Roland, but will it pay off?
So, I should probably begin by introducing exactly what the new Roland Jupiter-80 is. As you can probably guess, it is a live-performance synthesiser, and Roland state that it ‘pays homage to its legendary namesake with road-proven hardware and massive sound, yet blasts into the future with advanced SuperNATURAL technology’, which gives it an expressive and organic approach to synthesis that sets it apart from it’s rivals.
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – THE LOOK
When I first saw the new Jupiter-80, I thought it looked quite cool. It had the colour scheme of the original Jupiter-8, and it also employed those iconic coloured rectangular buttons. I was a little disappointed though. Despite offering a full-colour 800 × 480 touchscreen, it did not offer the same number of immediate hardware controls as the Jupiter-8. I love the almost cluttered look of the Jupiter-8, with all those buttons, faders, switches, and knobs, and so at first the modern interface of the Jupiter-80 annoyed me a little. I will definitely stick with it though. After all, appearances aren’t everything, and Roland are obviously looking forwards, not backwards, which I guess is a good thing.
The Roland Jupiter-80 features a 76-note semi-weighted velocity sensitive synth keyboard with aftertouch and 256 polyphonic voices. It also employs a heavyweight design, complete with metal side panels, and I do admit that it’s controls look simple and intuitive, making it ideal for the live performance purpose that it was mainly designed for… although it would also be fantastically suited to the studio as well with it’s built-in USB-MIDI/Audio interface.
ROLAND JUPITER 80 – THE SOUND
Roland claim that the Jupiter-80 does it’s past form justice by being capable of creating huge, multi-layered vintage sounds. However, to give the Jupiter-80 that future-thinking twist they have also equipped it with a load of essential high-quality sounds, such as Roland’s famous SuperNATURAL grand pianos, strings, brass, and more! Now, I’ve listened to some of the Jupiter-80s sounds on numerous demonstration videos, and I think they sound pretty good! I especially enjoyed Howard Jones demonstrating a patch that he had created himself, as it had a really nice retro feel to it. However, from what I have heard, it doesn’t quite possess the true analogue character of the original Jupiter-8… mainly down to the fact that Roland Jupiter-80 is not an analogue instrument. Like I say though, the Jupiter-80 does appear to be capable of creating some really inspiring sounds, and I am looking forward to hearing it in person when I will really be able to pass judgement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt1N_FP5HSU&feature=channel_video_title
ROLAND JUPITER 80 – TONE BLENDER
The Roland Jupiter-80 offers a flexible, stackable SuperNATURAL architecture, allowing you to create extremely complex sounds, and it even offers a unique feature in the form of the Tone Blender, which tweaks values of multiple presets simultaneously and lets you capture any new combination and save it as a Live Set. By using the Jupiter-80 Tone Blender, you can create hugely dynamic sounds that react and evolve in a completely unique way. You can even assign it’s multiple parameters to the D Beam, which allows you to get extra creative for live performances! It all sounds good to me… but again, I will reserve proper judgement until I have used it for myself…
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – LIVE SETS
The Roland Jupiter-80’s sound engine handles four tones, each with dedicated DSP. You can even layer upper and lower Live Sets to create a huge nine-tone-stacked sound, and you can save all your settings to be easily recalled during live performances.
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – OTHER FEATURES
The Roland Jupiter-80 also features a number of in-built effects such as a selection of reverbs, delays, compressors, and EQs, so you can add extra spice to your sounds! The Jupiter-80 also features a rather cool USB Memory Song Player/Recorder, which is extremely handy if you want to play along with a backing track (in WAV, AIFF or MP3 formats) or inspiration hits and you need a quick way to capture ideas.
The Roland Jupiter-80 also features an arpeggiator with 128 preset patterns, and a rather cool (and futuristic) D Beam controller, which allows you to control parameters such and pitch and modulation (and more) by hovering your hand over the invisible ray!
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – CONNECTIONS
Just for those of you who are after the full Jupiter-80 specs, I thought I should include this brief section. The Roland Jupiter-80 features a 1/4" stereo headphone output jack, two XLR main out connections (Left and Right), two balanced 1/4" jack main out connections (Left/Mono and Right), two Sub Out 1/4" jack connections (Left and Right), a stereo Audio In mini-jack socket, a coaxial digital audio out connection, three 1/4" jack connections for optional foot pedal controllers, standard MIDI In, Out, and Thru connections, a USB Audio/MIDI socket for connection to a computer, and a USB Memory port AC IN jack connection.
ROLAND JUPITER-80 – SUMMARY
As I’ve said a couple of times before, I will reserve proper judgement on the Roland Jupiter-80 until I have heard it in person for myself. However, my initial reaction is that apart from looks, it isn’t really like a Jupiter-8. Yes, functionality-wise, it does MORE than the Jupiter-8, it’s cheaper, and it's a brilliant product in it's own right, but for me, it doesn’t appear to have that completely unique character that the Jupiter-8 had. In fact, from what I can make out, it is more closely related to the Roland V-Synth than it is the Jupiter-8.
I would have probably preferred it if Roland had named this product something a little different, rather than use the famed ‘Jupiter’ name. Yes, the Jupiter-80 looks like a brilliant product, especially for live performance, and it does offer a few unique features… but as I said at the beginning of this post, by branding this product with the 'Jupiter' name, I can't help but draw comparisons. Had it been called something else I would probably be raving about it a lot more! I am really looking forward to trying one for real, but as of yet I am struggling to see at as a true ‘Jupiter’ product… or perhaps I’m just being a sentimental old fool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMYJefb6PWI&feature=channel_video_title