Released in 1985 the JX-10 (Super JX) combines two individual JX-8P's for an outstandingly warm, rich and analog sound which is still used in many modern studios all over the world. This synth was the first Roland Synth to be fitted with a quality 76 note keyboard with velocity and aftertouch. Two DCO's per voice, two ADSR envelope generators per voice, and a resonant lowpass & non-resonant highpass filters are only the beginning. It has a 12 voice polyphony for a total of 24 oscillators and it is by far one of the most programmable synths of its time! However, as on the JX-8P, knobs and sliders have been replaced by low-profile buttons and a nice LCD display. Although this may look sleek and elegant, it makes editing a chore. Assign parameters to the alpha dial for tweaking, one at a time, or get the optional PG-800 Programmer to provide traditional, hands-on, dedicated sliders for editing the JX-10's parameters.

The JX10 has a Chorus effect and a chase-play Delay function. The chase-play function allows programmable delayed repeats of voices by alternating patches of the upper and lower modules. The simple chorus effect is either off, slow or fast. It has two programmable sliders (if you don't use the PG-800) for some real-time control which can be recorded along with other effects and keyboard modes into one of the 64 Program Patches. This is in addition to its standard 50 preset and 50 user patch memory. A simple sketch-pad 1-track real-time sequencer is also on-board. It stores sequence data directly to an M16C card, or an M64C card for Patch/Tone OR sequence data. The M16C has a capacity of 400 notes, the M64C 1440, according to the manual.

The JX-10 also comes in a rack-mount version known as the MKS-70. It's worth noting that the JX-10 can not be edited via SysEx, however the MKS-70 can which is one reason many have chosen the rack version of the keyboard. The JX-10 can make bulk dumps of its sounds over sysex, but only with (discontinued) Roland M64C RAM cartridges. The JX-10 has been used by Jane Child, Pink Floyd, Duran Duran, Angelo Badalamenti, Yellow Jackets and The Cure.

Eddie

July 27, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

Just bought one of these for less than the JX-8p I was also considering. Glad I made this choice.

I did a few odd spacey tracks using modified presets, and first impressions are that this is a DENSE synthesizer. Pads are very pleasing, and it feels a lot warmer than any of the software or digital stuff I'd been using. Definitely a step up. Programming can be obnoxious, but that's what the PG-800 is for.

Steven

July 27, 2011 @ 2:48 am

An amazing killer synth. Its unbelievable how cheap you can get these for what they are! Seriously buy one now because soon people will realize this was the last high end analogue poly monsters, with the programmer PG800 its up there with the Prophet 5, Ob-Xa, OB 8, Jupiter 8 & 6, MKS-80, and Polly Moog. Its more stable robust, and its a great keyboard 76 notes! Its a 12 voice poly 24 oscillators!! Chorus is nice, but without, it rips (that saw tooth). I have one, it was so cheap, the PG800 cost more. They should be selling for over £1000.
Who cares about midi, did a Prophet5 have midi?

Johannes

June 14, 2011 @ 10:28 pm

Hit and miss synth here! Not exactly slender and stylish as it was once advertised. In reality a rather bulky and clumsily thrown together machine. Basic midi is right, and its easy to get lost while programming it too... Roland sure missed the target on this one in a lot of ways... Yet, in a lot of ways they nailed it down too! It has that classic oh so majestic roland sound to it. Much like the Jupiter 8 you can create some pretty wicked chops on here too once you get the hang of it! So nice to layer your patchs and detune the OSCs... yeah yeah, good synth for the Nerdy Professor types.

orangefunk

May 12, 2011 @ 5:36 pm

cont..

The filter is a bit murky; as a Moog owner I think the JX filter of the time is rather coarse with a pretty unattractive resonance and I agree about the noise level... but somehow it all fits together (I think the Matrix 12 is also like that) There are some nice sounding patches on the net for this thing... the piano marimba in 5ths blew me away the first time I heard it.

Overall, a very nice synth for the price and at today's prices you can't go wrong.. esp if the PG800 is included.

orangefunk

May 12, 2011 @ 5:36 pm

I've had a few JX's over the years. Back in the mid 80s I had the 8P, a glorious sounding synth in a world of thin digitals. Later I got the JX10 abut sold it when the virtual synths came along. Just recently another JX10 came up with the PG800 (which I never had before) and now I'm in a better position to program stuff.

One thing I've noted is that the Chorus sounds cheesey these days. Now I prefer to use the LFO on random and put some slight random pitch variations on OSC1 and OSC2., program the OSCs in 4ths or 5ths and add some panned delay and its about as good as it gets.

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