The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator - the arpeggiator can be heard in the Duran Duran classic, "Rio". It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!

Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4's tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds. It's used by Meat Beat Manifesto, Gary Numan, Thomas Dolby, Saint Etienne, the Cars, BT, Simple Minds, Moog Cookbook, Vangelis, The Human League, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Heaven 17, and film-maker Satyajit Ray.

tom

February 14, 2013 @ 8:11 pm

I have JP-4, 6 and 8, and they are quite different from each other. The JP- 4 is quite buzzy and electronic sounding (in a really good way), but I honestly don't think it is as as fat as some make it out to be. The ensemble effect helps the single osc though. I've had 3 over the last 20 years, and my current is the best, it has for some reason a better low end. The JP-6 is more cutting and edgy, while the JP-8 just has some kind of magic that makes it smooth and alive, and almost acoustic sounding. I may prefer the JP-8, but I love the JP-4 too.

Pete

January 30, 2013 @ 10:09 pm

Depeche Mode also used one very early on. It can be seen in alot of live footage from 1981 to 1982.

Sir Dejan Djordjevic

January 19, 2013 @ 4:52 am

I bought my Roland Jupiter 4 in 1979 and played it on almost each of the songs I wrote from 1979,and although the preset sounds were useless,also on songs I co-wrote in January 1982 mainly with Billy Currie and Warren Cann for our ULTRAVOX!! album iNTiMATE COLLECTiON. You can listen for free on www.myspace.com/ultravoxii. A roady left it outside in the rain 1 step from a porch in 1983 and wrecked it. Regards,Sir Dejan Djordjevic,Basement Flat Rear,189SandgateRd,Folkestone,Kent,CT20 2HJ,UK

Jason

December 14, 2012 @ 4:01 am

"JP-4's oscillators & BA662 filter are so rich there's really no modern digital substitute."

How eloquently this comment nails what I'm trying to get at. I'm guessing you've all tried Arturia's soft synth version of the Jupiter 8? If it's good enough for Howard Jones, it's good enough for me. But there is no digital/soft equivalent for the Jupiter 4 (that I've come across), it's a museum-warmth that I'm getting at, an unequivocally early 80s sound that I'm hoping will be an exciting contrast to my modern instruments.

Jason

December 14, 2012 @ 3:52 am

Fascinating, reading the ping-pong of comments here :D practicality vs passion. My experience of the Jupiter 4 is zero as I write but day after tomorrow I take delivery of one!!! So, I guess I'll have to feed back. I've bought it for the arp. I'm going to get Kenton to add MIDI as I want it to work alongside my modern kit (Prophet 08, Tempest, Mopho) My expectation is that it'll be a smidgen unstable, but that distinctive arpeggiator will add such an authentic sound to my music that I won't care. Equally I might hate it :) I'll let u all know!!!

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