From rroberts@osiris.ac.hmc.edu Tue Oct 25 09:37:51 1994 Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 21:35:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Roy Roberts Reply to: Roy_Roberts@hmc.edu To: map@cs.washington.edu Subject: Roland JX-3P review [Mike: I hope you don't mind that I left much of your 106 stuff unchanged where it applied - Roy] Summary: Roland JX-3P digital/analog hybdrid synth. Limited MIDI but nice sound. Synth: Roland JX-3P Review by: Roy Roberts (Roy_Roberts@hmc.edu) Years Made: ? through ? Polyphony: 6 Multitimbral: No MIDI: yes, but no sysex. Supposedly there is an upgrade to make it respond to MIDI velocity. Other external control: patch change pedal Patch storage: 32 user + 32 presets internal, dumps to tape Voice architecture: 2 X DCO: saw, pulse, (no PWM), square, noise "Cross Mod": A digital ring moulator? two modes: "Sync" and "Metal" LFO: rate, delay; sine, square, or noise-based sample & hold VCF: HPF LPF with freq, resonance, env mod, kbd mod, lfo mod ENV: 1 ADSR, and gate CHORUS: on or off Sequencer/Arpeggiator: limited sequencer, dumps to tape Keyboard/rack: 5-octave keyboard, no velocity, aftertouch or mod wheel Known problems: *My* particular synth has several problems, including no tape dumps at all, the spewing of random MIDI messages, and often failing to work entirely. Accessories: PG 200 programmer, works only with this synth. Allows realtime editing of all parameters except when receiving MIDI. Related synths/gear: Later synths in the JX series were more advanced (i.e. velocity, better MIDI implementation). Comments: Strengths: Selectable output level (3 steps) and pitch bend width (also 3 steps). Good, thick sound. Weaknesses: very simple architecture, editing without the programmer can be annoying Overall: Not too bad a synth, but I sort of wish I got a Juno-106 :-)