The JD-800 is Roland's answer to half a decade of hard-to-program synthesizers. Covered in sliders that act as dedicated editors just like a classic analog synth, the JD-800 is an extremely programmable and hands-on digital synthesizer. It is also an interesting and great sounding digital synth with incredible flexibility and control. Internal ROM based waveforms are combined to build your sounds. The sounds are based on Roland's D-50, but updated for the nineties with multimode filters - uncommon but welcome at the time.

The JD-800 came in a tough metal case capped off on the sides with large plastic covers. Programming may be a little too flexible for some users, but once you know what you're doing with it, almost any sound you can dream up can be dialed in and stored.

It has been used by William Ørbit, Emerson Lake & Palmer, 808 State, Ken Ishii, Astral Projection, Rabbit in the Moon, Depeche Mode, Underworld, Tangerine Dream, LTJ Bukem, Apollo 440, Jean Michel Jarre, ATB, Vangelis, Pet Shop Boys, Faithless, Luke Vibert, Mouse on Mars, Laurent Garnier, MC Hammer, Bushflange, Genesis, and Eat Static.

Steve

May 29, 2012 @ 9:37 am

Always wanted one of these and finally grabbed one on ebay for around $800-900 in 2008. I did find the internal presets pretty dated sounding, but remember it came out in the early 90's so that's expected. I started pushing sliders around, and also used the amazing program MidiQuest to jumble up and edit sounds...it became a whole new synth and I am super stoked to have one. I have a MS20, SH101, SQ-80, MS2000, JP8000, etc but this Roland is near the top of the list (after the analogs of course!). Really flexible and basically 4 oscillators per voice, how many other synths have that!

Admiral General Aladeen

May 28, 2012 @ 10:29 am

Don't get this synth it's aladeen, get the D-50 instead which is aladeen! :)

Lamster

May 20, 2012 @ 4:17 pm

Disagree with F A's comments.
The JD800 is a monster synth that produces string pads better than almost any other synth IMO. The Glue on the keys is a known problem as are the sliders doing their own thing. Mine is fine touch wood but I know people who have had these problems

chipcurtis

May 20, 2012 @ 7:58 am

I have to disagree with comments that say this synth's sound is dated and tied down to its internal ROM sound (that you have to like the internal samples and that the synth only sounds like these samples). That's just silly. It's a full-blown synth with resonant multimode filters, dual LFOs, complex 8-segment envelopes, and great effects. Just sticking with the basic saw, square, pulse, sine (etc.) waveforms, you could create new sounds way beyond the factory presets. Also, most of the evolving sounds are created in synthesis (which you can alter with the sliders), not sampled loops.

Ron B

May 2, 2012 @ 8:45 am

Bought this syth last week off eBay and was a bit apprehensive after reading f a's comments. Synth was delivered yesterday and I spent hours finding my way round it. Really love it - admittedly it's the first synth I have owned in years and always wanted a JD-800 so still in the novelty and discovery stage.

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