A Closer Look at the Jupiter-8

A closer look at the legendary Roland Jupiter-8, an iconic polysynth from 1981.

Huge thanks to Shadow Child for the generous loan.

The end track is available here: https://alexball.bandcamp.com/track/r...

0:00 Intro
1:10 Demo 1: Ramp & Sync
1:44 Demo 2: Unison Twist
2:04 The Jupiter-8 Concept
3:24 Demo 3: Bells
3:55 Demo 4: Soft Chords
4:17 The Jupiter VCOs
5:00 Demo 5: Drill Wah
5:25 Demo 6: Espen Kraftwerk
6:17 The Jupiter VCFs
6:51 Demo 7: Four By Four
7:23 Demo 8: Filmscore
8:23 Comparison to a Prophet~10
10:25 The Key Modes
11:32 Summary & Thoughts
13:15 Contextual Demo: "The Power"

Social & My Music:
  / alexballmusic  
https://alexball.bandcamp.com/

Shadow Child Insta:
https://www.instagram.com/shdwchld/?h...

The Links I Cited:
https://www.roland.com/uk/promos/rola...
http://www.florian-anwander.de/roland...

Jupiter-8 specs:

General: Master Tune, Automatic Digital Tuning, Master Volume.

Oscillators:
VCO 1: Triangle, Saw, Pulse, Square
Range: 16' - 2'
Cross Modulation (from VCO 2)
VCO2: Sine, Saw, Pulse, Noise
Range: Low to 2' with intervals + Fine Tune
Phase Sync (to VCO 1)
VCO Modulation:
LFO, Envelope, PWM (LFO, Manual Env-1)

Filters: Voltage Controlled Low Pass with resonance and cutoff. 24db or 12db slopes (switchable). Basic High Pass.
VCF Modulation: Envelope 1 or 2 (switchable), LFO and Keyboard.

Amps: Contouring from Envelope 2 with level. LFO Modulation with 3 intensity settings.

Envelopes: 2x ADSR with Key Follow On/Off. Envelope 1 can be inverted.

LFO: 2x (One Upper, One Lower) Sine, Saw, Square, Random. Frequency and Delay.

Mix: VCO 1 / 2 Source Mix and Upper and Lower Balance.

Arpeggiator: Internal or External Clocking. Range 1 - 4 Octaves, Up, Down Up & Down, Random.

Keyboard: 5 Octaves C - C
Assign Modes: Solo, Unison, Poly 1 - 2.
Hold: Lower, Upper.
Key Modes: Dual, Split, Whole.

Performance: Bender (VCO-1, VCO-2, VCF) with level. Switched LFO Mod (VCO, VCF) with level and rise time. Portmento (Upper, Lower) with time.

Memory: Patch Storage and Patch Presets (Combinations). Tape Backup.

Inputs: Arpeggiator Clock, Control of VCF, VCA, Portamento and Hold. DCB.

Outputs: CV/Gate (Highest Note), Headphone Out (with level), XLR Upper & Lower, Jack Upper & Lower and Jack Mix (with optional -20db pad)