Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 13:06:43 -0500 (CDT) From: Josh Davison To: Evan K. Stone Cc: "Analogue Heaven (E-mail)" Subject: Re: [AH] JP-8000 (was Old synths, why not?) I've had a JP-8000 for a year and a half now and I have a love-hate relationship with it. Well, more like a love-annoyed relationship. I'd still recommend one for purchase if you're looking for a reasonably flexible synth for (now) under $1000. Let me qualify this with a handy breakdown into good and bad stuff: Good: 1 - never ever ever ever goes out of tune unless you specifically tell it to. digital oscillators dont drift :) (take that, moog rogue) 2 - midi send/receive for virtually every control on the thing ( a little bit weird for the ribbon control ... they could have done this better ) 3 - actual dedicated sliders and knobs for virtually every control. two or three controls are doubled or trippled so you have to select which parameter you wish to modify with the knob (LFO 2), and some knobs/sliders have modes (pan) but overall everything is directly accessible rather than hidden away behind menus and screens. 4 - a fairly accurate analog sound ... you can make it sound like a Juno or Jupiter with relative ease, and it does an okay minimoog impersonation. There are a few presets that attempt to model the 303 but don't really do a very good job, but this has more to do with the difference in the sequencers. Also i believe the 303 had a -18db VCF and the VCF on the 8000 is only -12 or -24db 5 - built in pattern based sequencer. many people will probably complain about the limitations of the sequencer but the way i see it, they didn't have to put in a sequencer at all, so even a puny 2-bar per key sequencer is a nice thing. I use it as a sketchpad and then dump patterns into another sequencer for severe editing. Very nice. :) Bad: 1- only 8 voice polyphony. Note: the new JP-8080 rackmount has 10 voices i believe ... it also has a vocoder and other neato stuff so if you're seriously considering an 8000, even more seriously consider an 8080, as it still has all the sliders and knobs, and just lacks the actuall keyboard itself. 2 - since sliders are confined by the 128-step limit set by the MIDI Continuous Controller spec, many controls produce audible "notches" between these CC values. This is especially noticable when the VCF resonance is set very high, or anytime you use the cross modulator. 3 - some of the waveforms disable other features ... the feedback oscillator is only monophonic, and the "super-saw" (seven detuned saw-wave oscillators) and white noise oscillators disable the cross-modulation. 4 - slightly misleading statements about "dual LFO's" ... there are indeed 2 LFO's but one is slaved to the modulation control and is only active when you jack that little lever to the top. Also the LFO's can only be assigned to controls that Roland deemed proper to be modulated. I could go on and on about how the 8000 could be better. actually making it into a modular type design with assignable routings lke the Nord Modular would be awesome. But it would be great if the thing would cook me breakfast too. You have to draw the line somewhere. I've had it for a year and a half and haven't gotten sick of it yet... it's reasonably flexible and you can find 'em for under a grand nowadays. or get that 8080 for about $1000 and get vocoder action :) Hope this helps. Josh On Wed, 19 May 1999, Evan K. Stone wrote: > > The JP-8000 is their only real "modelling" attempt if > > that even counts. > > I'm curious as to people's opinions on this unit. They seem to be split > either way - either you love it or you hate it... > > What I would like is some data indicating exactly *why* you love it or hate > it. I'm looking for some good, old fashioned constructive feedback here (not > "it sucks" vs. "it rules"). Comparisons & contrasts against similar units in > it's price range would be useful as well (sounds almost like a high school > essay, doesn't it? :). > > Thanks for your time - I appreciate it very much! > > :: e v a n k. s t o n e > :: p e t a l u m a, c a l i f o r n i a, u s a > ------------------------------------------------ > :: mailto:estone@knowledgepoint.com > :: http://www.knowledgepoint.com > ------------------------------------------------ > > > >