Vintage Synth Explorer

Roland • JUPITER 6

The Jupiter 6 is an incredible analog synth. All of the Jupiters have a sound that was unlike any other synthesizer and the Jup 6 is no exception. This sound is due in part to classic analog Roland technology in its filters, modulation capabilities and a thick cluster of 12 analog oscillators at 2 per voice. Easy and intuitive programming via front panel sliders, knobs and buttons for all your tweaking needs.

The Jup 6 is a scaled down version of the Jup 8 in terms of programming and polyphony. However the Jup 6 has some major improvements of its own such as newly added MIDI control and better tuning stability! While the Jup 6 does have MIDI, the implementation is very rudimentary and hard to control. The Jup 6 was one of the very first (along with the Sequential Prophet 600) synths to use the then new MIDI protocol, and the implementation on the Jup 6 is far from complete.

Synthcom Systems, Inc. offers the Europa firmware upgrade for the Jupiter 6 which gives it an up-to-date and comprehensive MIDI implementation. All parameters are controllable via Continuous Controller or SysEx. Europa also features an extensive arpeggiator which will sync to MIDI clock with programmable clock divisors and rhythms, and has about 50 more playback variations than the JP-6's original Up, Down, Up/Down, and Down/Up. A Europacized Jupiter 6 is a thoroughly modern synth with a classic sound.

The Jupiter 6 is an excellent for ambient drones, pads, blips, buzzes and leads. The Jupiter 6 is known for being a very reliable, programmable, polyphonic, analog monster of a synthesizer! It is used by Orbital, Moby, Überzone, Devo, BT, The Prodigy, Vangelis, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, ZZ Top, Duran Duran, Moog Cookbook, and Blur.

VISITOR COMMENTS (28)

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Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

Bill

Posted 8 days ago

My original message was as follows:
Quick question.....I am thinking of getting a Jupiter 6. I already have a MKS-80 and the MPG-80. If I do get the Jupiter 6, if I midi'd them together, will the arpeggiator work with the MKS-80 sounds, even including layering them? I was thinking of having a 12 voice synth monster that would blow away the Jupiter 8. Can this work?

Now what if I had done the Europa upgrade? Will the arpeggiator work with the MKS-80?

zerstoerer

Posted 109 days ago

It cost me one year of repairing, but at last i had my JP6 with Europe Upgrade - I had all Jupiters from 4 to 8 and all MKS ones and this is the best of them all. soundwise and midiwise - to be able to control nearly every aspect of the board is fantastic and very creative, for e.g. change the lfo speed with cc or the adsr curve while playing, just a bomb

Richard Wiffen

Posted 112 days ago

My JP-6 went pearshaped earlier this year, it was a great synth while it was working but be warned i had to wait 6 months !!! for the right parts to surface for my tech to fix it !
I sold it shortly after, because the repair cost me over $600 to get it fixed ! Its not even like the synth was gigged it was perfect condition, but i guess this is what you expect 25 years down the line.
Anyway I have a Virus TI now, havent missed the JP-6 much since i got that :)

Bon Ton

Posted 112 days ago

Dark Knight has it right, it's a nice synth but a bit limiting and especially not at the prices they are costing now.
Back in the late 90s VA's couldnt touch analog, but the gear available now is indistinguishable from CEM based synths, especially in a mix.
Get yourself a Radias or a Virus Polar both capable of a lot wider sonic palette and sounds more powerful, and not likely to crap out on you costing you an arm and a leg to fix either !

Vampire Bill

Posted 112 days ago

I bought a JP6 in 1984! But I sold it in 1992 as the newer synths were offering a lot more for your money. The Midi spec was very limited. No channel select, no sys-ex, only duo-timbral. No built in effects! Only 6 note polyphonic. And quite large! However it does have some excellent capabilities! Great for synthetic sound creation and experimentation. All those sliders and knobs give instant feedback on your edits! It is excellent at creating rich string and pad type sounds, deep thick analog basses, fat synth brass, flutes, organs, synth percussion, plinks, plops and fizzes! However it will NOT produce believable pianos, sax, or very percussive type sounds (a la DX7). I am considering buying another but the current prices seem very silly. I have seen some advertised for £1600 ($2600). They are NOT worth that sort of money. You can get similar sounds from soft synths and other modern synths and as the Dark Knight points out they could be difficult to service and maintain in future.

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