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.

Maison Vague

December 26, 2009 @ 5:31 am

The Jupiter-4 is by far the most interesting and unique Roland synth I've ever played. It is also the most temperamental and unpredictable. Some days, it sounds glorious. Other days, dreadful. In fact, it's downright moody! Fortunately, it's a relatively easy synth to maintain, even for technically challenged persons such as myself. On mine, the front panel screws are permanently off because I invariably need to get inside and tweak a poti or two before every session. I also like the fact that I have to tune the instrument, just like a bass or violin. Keeps my lazy keyboard player's ears sharp! I hope the editors at VSE will go back and give this synth another review. What's written here does not do justice to this classic synth... and rating it only three stars is entirely missing the point of its hauntingly beautiful sound.

Art Cool

December 2, 2009 @ 5:05 pm

great synth...i used one back in the 80's and still remember it's sound and particular keyboard feel with those piano like keys...and i used it allways in manual/panel mode...forgeting the presets :)

Big Chris

December 1, 2009 @ 8:38 am

AnalogRenaissance1: The chorus on the Jupiter 4 is stereo. It has no controls for rate or depth, but seems to sound great on anything. Hmm, I wonder if custom controls for the chorus could be added ...

Cheyney

September 2, 2009 @ 6:05 am

Also used by Tears for Fears on their first album
I know because I still own the actual one bought from Ian Stanley (Their co-writer) and includes the operation manual with a couple of their songs mapped out

Draxx

August 4, 2009 @ 11:03 pm

I love the Jupiter 4. I've had 2 and a Jupiter 6 which I liked less. I had a OBXa and a Jupiter 4 at the same time in the early 90's - The JP4 got 10x more use. The arpeggio, LFO and Unison are best. Using the closed hi hat from an Alesis HR16B as a clock input for the argeggiator I got many cool and sometimes unpredictable results.

My main synths now are Kenton Pro 2000MKII x2, Roland Jupiter 4, System 100, TR909 - Korg MS20 x2, SQ10, VC10, WavestationA/D - Waldorf Blofeld and the great U-He Zebra2

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