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.

BarneyT

December 4, 2011 @ 6:51 pm

Jupiter 6's are an aquired taste. I had one for about 3 years and quite frankly never got on with it and it just ended up collecting dust getting in the way.( Wish I'd of kept it to cash in on the collectors market though...£1500!? what a joke!) I've got a Korg EX8000 worth about £200 which sounds much better than the JP-6 :)

james barclay

November 18, 2011 @ 6:30 am

Woops! forgot to say that I installed a Europa chip mod and that made all the difference.

james barclay

November 18, 2011 @ 6:23 am

I owned a JP6 and used it professionally for ten years. Among synths it was the sweetest and fullest sounding and the easiest to program, even on-the-fly tweaking. It still performs flawlessly and is friendly to the widest range of outboard gear, esp. Boss SX boxes (I had 2 + 2 Oberheim 1000 modules, dual Boss stereo volume pedals. My amps were 2 Peavy 15" 100W.) Best strings, ADSRs, VCOs, VCAs and dual tuners. I could emulate a B3 and did so. If you find one of these treasures grab it and hang on tight; literally and otherwise.

ianski

November 10, 2011 @ 2:08 pm

I recently got hold of one of these and im getting more and more into it.
If you can't get decent soounds out of it you obviously can't program a synth very well.
Very nice filtering, lots of character, it is definitely "Roland" in every way. Personally I don't find it thin at all, in a number of cases it's been very FAT and capable of serious volume / oomph. Use some decent FX to make it sing!
I particularly love the blippy percussive arpeggio stuff coupled with nice pads and sweeps. The main problem is it's so tweakable it's hard to stick to just one sound without noodling!

slippast

November 10, 2011 @ 1:34 pm

I figured out how to cure the lacking bass on my JP-6. EQ! Seriously folks, just get a cheap EQ pedal, crank up the bottom of the curve at about 80mhz and forget about it. You'll have your punchy polysynth.

I've done extensive side-by-sides with my Juno 106 (which is arguably much more bassy than the JP6), add ~+7db at 80mhz and they become nearly indistinguishable. There's no doubt that the Jupiter is lacking low-end tone.

From there the filter on the JP6 still isn't as 'thumpy' as the Juno but you won't complain about the Jupiter 6 sounding 'weedy'. For what it's worth...

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