The Jupiter-8 was Roland's first truly professional analog synthesizer. The Jupiter-8 features 16 rich analog oscillators at 2 per voice, eight voice polyphony and easy programming! At eight voices you can get some pretty thick analog sounds. Easy and intuitive programming via front panel sliders, knobs and buttons for all your tweaking needs. The legacy of the Jupiter synthesizers is due to their unique voice architecture and design, creating sounds that were so unreal and amazing that they have to be heard! No other synths in the world can create analog sounds as cool and authentic as these.

The Jupiter-8 was the biggest and fattest of them all (Jupiters and Junos)! It was one of the first synths to allow its keyboard to be split and layered - it's eight voices of trance heaven! Cross-mod, oscillator sync, a great LFO and a classic arpeggiator are also on-board. There's also a killer resonant analog low pass filter, same as the Juno-6 / 60, with the added option of choosing 2-pole (12 dB/oct) or 4-pole (24 dB/oct) modes as well as a separate high-pass filter. Unfortunately for the earlier models, tuning was very unstable but that seemed to be resolved in later models. Unlike its smaller counterpart, the Jupiter-6, the Jup 8 does not feature MIDI, only Roland's DCB sync can be found on some models. However, MIDI retro-kit's are available from various companies. Patch presets can store keyboard splits, arpeggiator settings, voice assign mode, hold, portamento and modulation settings.

The Jupiter-8 has been used by Tangerine Dream, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Moby, Duran Duran, Underworld, Vince Clarke, Überzone, Jean Michel Jarre, Roxy Music, OMD, A Flock Of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, Rush, Meat Beat Manifesto, Banco De Gaia, Josh Wink, Thomas Dolby, Howard Jones, The Cars, Prince, Gary Wright, Jan Hammer, BT, Adrian Lee, Heaven 17, Kitaro, Elvis Costello, Tears for Fears, Huey Lewis and the News, Journey, Moog Cookbook, Toto, Yes, Devo, Freddy Fresh, George Duke, Greg Phillanganes, Jonathan Cain of Journey, Greg Johnson & Kevin Kendrick of Cameo, Stevie Wonder and Simple Minds.

duelVCO

September 18, 2010 @ 6:32 pm

It's nice like an OB8 is nice, but I wouldn't say its the most interesting 80's polysynth, personally I prefer the JP-4 in the sound department, If your after a special sounding 80's synth then try the the synthex or PPG wave series, 70's magic I would say the OBX is the best bet.
The JP-8 looks great and sounds nice, but very overrated and overpriced imho.

paul

September 17, 2010 @ 12:07 am

I always thought the Jupiter * was the best sounding synth out there. I played with it in my teens in the 80's and it created a life long love for the Roland sound. I have a couple Fantoms, V-Synths, Vst's, and expansion boards, but nothing simulates the Jupiter 8 like the org.

Den Solarys

September 13, 2010 @ 8:27 am

Way too cool synth, but pricey these days.
Unfortunately MKS80 only ressembles JP8.
It is one of rare pieces that always sound exactly to sit in mix or to please ears. It's simple and one of kind polysynth.

Reki

August 31, 2010 @ 6:02 pm

Curator, you've missed the point here. It's not always about the most punchy or the most lush. The Jupiter 8 is in my opinion by far the most elegant and musical synth probably ever made. It just works in a track, it elevates and enhances but at the same time is quite understated. Own one and then you will see why the price is high.

Rio

August 16, 2010 @ 4:28 am

Bring back Jupiter 8 ! I have never played on one though,but I heard it a few times and it has a great sounding.I just fell in love with it...I hope I could buy one someday.

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