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 (38)

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Jesper Gorm

Posted 17 hours ago

This is, in my opinion, THE best analog synth deal. The JP-6 gives you so much feedback and deep analog grunt! This is NOT the littlebrother of the JP-8, this is a synth in it´s own right. I have been working with software-synths for a while now and got my hands on a near-mint JP-6 a few weeks ago and im absolutely blown away by it´s raw unpolished sound and the intuitive way you program from scratch. Had one back in ´86 but sold it so i could buy a sampler.......WHAT was i thinking!? This time it´s going NOWHERE.... Love it!!!!!!

Leroy Heap

Posted 3 days ago

Yes the sound will get worse with age if its not kept in regular service, as caps die and other components it behaves like a domino effect, and sometimes becomes very difficult for a tech to pinpoint where the synth is having trouble especially if intermittent behavior occurs.
Still well worth the effort though, software plugins will never sound like a living breathing instrument like this, no matter how good the algorhythms.

nightfur

Posted 15 days ago

I'm curious too about the sound difference between early and late Jupiter 6. I have an excellent condition one, but it does not have midi though. I wonder if it just needs a calibration of sorts to enhance the sound - or if the caps needs to be replaced. Does anyone know if the sound can deteriorate as the components get older?

Gil Sicuro

Posted 30 days ago

I have two Jupiter-6's and one Jupiter-8. One can say it's a JP-8 scaled-down in polyphony, but not in programming. The JP-6 have actually more programming parameters than the JP-8. The JP-8 does sound fatter, however, but each one has its own merit. One curious thing: one of my JP-6's is the earlier model (MIDI in/out only) and the other is the later model (MIDI thru added). The later one does sound a bit fatter than the earlier model.

nodrog

Posted 30 days ago

ok, maybe not to accurate as i don't own a jupiter 6. I own a Jupiter 8 and an MKS 80 (ver4, similar to jp6 in core sound). Jupiter 8 has a wide phat sound and excellent modulation all in front of view (you) you can tweak things as you play and get modular type sounds. My freind had a jupiter 6 for years hard to hit the sweet spots, when a voice went down he fixed it and sold it. He found it never deivered what he remembered his brothers jp8 did. He kept his juno106 though (60 is better for sound, midi functionality ain't great without $). I liked playing with the jp6 filter on his synth. I just don't find that the mks (ver 4) hold much to the jp8. I've often thought i's sell mine, then it surprises me, but thats the mks 80, it's got the ability to layer sounds. Point is not a poor mans jp8, juno 60 has more sound similarities but is way limited.
With outboard who knows?

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