From rcurlee@ucsd.edu Mon Jan 22 13:42:25 1996 22 Jan 96 16:42:20 +0500 22 Jan 96 16:13:29 +0500 Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 12:33:33 -0800 (PST) From: bzzzt robot blrrrt Cc: machines@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: jup. 6 (v. jx 10)...opinions? X-Pmflags: 34078848 Hrm, JP-6 vs. Super JX? Not really much of a comparison there, esp. if all you really want are knobs and sliders. If you like the Super JX then get a PG-800. I picked up mine for $100 and it makes a WORLD of difference to program! Lesse here. Differences between the two? (I do have both BTW) Let's start with the base sound (instead of features). I liken the JX to a beefed up Juno (by beefed up I mean with TONS more features). The JX has DCO's instead of VCO's which means they are analog but are much more accurate than the Jupiter's. Most analog gurus lean towards VCO's because their inaccuracy lends to more natural and interesting harmonic undertones. The DCO synths are cleaner and crisper sounding (like between analog and solely digital). Both have VCF and VCA but I could never live without the filter of the Jupiter, esp. because it switchable between LPF, HPF, and BPF (oh wait no features yet, sorry). Now I'm not sure about the envelopes on the JX but I'd venture to guess they were digital as well. I'm not a stickler for analog envelopes though so the JX's env's are just fine by me. OK, FEATURES! The range on the Jupiter's oscs are wider (2' to 32' on VCO1 and even wider on VCO2 with a low and high range whereas both the DCO's on the JX are 2' to 16') and also the JP has finer adjustment of the range opposed to the JX's which are ONLY 2', 4', 8', and 16'. Here's the BIG difference bwtween the two synths osc features though: the JP can be sign, saw, pulse, and square for VCO1 and sign, saw, pulse, and noise for VCO2 BUT these waveforms are COMBIGNABLE! (pretty cool huh?). The poor JX has only saw, pulse square and noise on both DCO's with NO Pulse Width Modulation (another strong feature of the JP). The JX does allow for some extra modulation possibilities by separately assigning LFO and ENV modulation to the DCO's and giving some varying Dynamics to pressure sensetivity (I'm sure the Europa will make up for the lack of the JP in this feature). Oh yeah the JX also has tune adjustment on both oscs with fine tume on DCO2 wheras the JP has a tune feature only on VCO2. The JP has more extensive Cross Modulation and Sync features like osc sync in either direction (and BOTH directions when Europa is out!) and adjustable cross mod manually and modulated by env-1. The filters (BIG DIFFERENCES HERE FOLKS!) JX: only 3 (that's right just THREE!) settings for the frequency of the HPF (and ONLY a HPF). Both have the normal LFO, ENV, and Key Follow modulation control but again the JX offers more with Dynamics (velocity). The JP has the wonderful resonant, switchable HPF, LPF, and BPF which is one of my all time favorite filters. The VCA on both are similar being controlled by env-2 but the JP also allows LFO modulation of the VCA. Both synths have the standard ADSR with adjustable Key Follow (but the JX only has 3 settings) and both have similar LFO with a lag time adjustment and saw, square, or random settings (the JP also has a saw setting). XTRAS: The Jupiter has an Arpeggio and an extra left hand LFO. The BIG advantage of the JX over the Jupiter is that it has TWO BLOCKS. This means that there are actually two speperately programmable synths for each patch. You stack the blocks in different ways to create sounds which evolve or you can stack identical blocks to create a synth with 4oscs and 2filters etc. You'd have to have two Jupiters to match this. Personally I like them both for different reasons. I think the sound of the Jupiter-6 is extraordinary (heavy, juicy, strong, and at times very liquidy) whereas the Super JX is smooth and washy but packs a good Juno style bass as well, so it's hard to say. I don't think I'd give up either but with the Europa on it's way I'd be hard pressed to ever give up the JP-6. The Europa features are going to make the JP-6 the hottest analog MIDI instrument EVER! Like I said though, if it's knobs and slider programmability the get the programmer. You'll unlock the features of the JX in minutes and it'll become simple to program. Whew that was a serious post. I hope it helped. This might be a good candidate for the MM pages. I'll cc Mike. __ -robert | |___ ____ ____ _____ | |_ \ / -__/ / _/ | _ \ __________ |_____/ \___\ |_| | |__/ / -studio- \ _________________________________ |_| http://icse1.ucsd.edu/~rcurlee/ \