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Got the Roland Jupiter-X here!


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Congratulations on your new Jupiter-X guy's. I actually received mine today also! I was on the fence about it to be honest since I've had the Jupiter 80 for a few years already and thought that the synth sounds on that board would be good enough, especially since that board also has Supernatural sounds. But, after watching a demo from Andertons and listening to the default sounds, I was sold!

 

You all were mentioning integrating the Jupiter-X with Mainstage and also using Bluetooth. Since I also want to get into software live and in studio, can you point me in the right direction where I can learn more about this option?

 

Any info would be really appreciated, since I'm more of a hardware guy than anything else...... at least at the moment.

 

Thanks,

Anthony

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I agree with Dave that Scenes are not like presets on a rompler. There are so many ways to shape LFO, OSC, filters, ENV and effects, plus wheels, that you can spend hours just morphing a scene.

 

It's not a "patch". It's something that has a life of its own.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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Anthony, welcome to the Jupiter-X brotherhood!

 

Bluetooth pairing is right in the SYSTEM parameters. I just set it to Bluetooth on and paired it with my iPad and hit the WRITE button so that the default state when I power on is that Bluetooth comes on and automatically pairs to my iPad. I have lots of drum machine apps and do some cool stuff by matching the tempos on my Jupiter arps and beats to the tempo of my drum apps. I have spent hours with Lumbeats stuff like Middle Eastern Drummer and Brazilian Drummer with some of the TR-808 beats... because I can. :-)

 

If you use a MAC, the driver installation and Mainstage profile was just following the setup instructions in the documentation for installation, setting the driver to VENDOR in the menu, not a whole lot of effort. When I start up Mainstage or Logic, it automatically knows if it's connected to my Jupiter X, Fantom or Komplete Kontrol. It's pretty darn easy.

 

One of the things I found with Mainstage is that you don't have much functionality to map all of the control sliders and knobs to MIDI out. If you are trying to make this a mapped controller for Omnisphere or a Komplete Kontrol thing, it isn't built to be that kind of controller.

 

However, one of the tricks that I found with Mainstage was that I could have the AMP slider send MIDI to Mainstage to ride the output level in Mainstage up and down as a fader. This is really nice to mix the Mainstage volume up/down from a fader on the keyboard instead of doing a swivel chair to a mixer, interface box or laptop while you are playing. It's a pretty glorious world of sonic delight. I feel like we are some kind of badasses because we have this capability now. :-) lol

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! I appreciate the info. I am a novice Mac user, having an iMAC 27" that was originally intended to be the centerpiece of a Studio and Live Rig. But having never seen one personally, I underestimated the size. So, I am now looking at a Mac Mini with a small external screen for live, and want to investigate if it would make sense to use the iMAC i5 for the Studio PC. Unfortunately, it only has the standard 1 TB HDD, so I would have to upgrade that to internal SSD, or boot from an external drive. Also, I would have to purchase a seperate SSD for samples - as Mainstage and Logic cannot share out the sound library.

 

What I didn't know before though, was that you can export a Concert file to be used with other MAC's. I don't know how to do this exactly, but will leap into the application and tech head first. I also hear that a LOT of people use Ableton Live when performing which has functionality that Logic does not. So, I need to look into this as well. Fortunately, I've found some really great online sources via YouTube, which point to very detailed courses for Logic etc.

 

Thanks Again,

Anthony

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Depends on what one calls good and what one"s need is, I suppose. The physics side is a factor - they"re not very big, the onboard amps are not very powerful and the enclosure the drivers are in isn"t exactly ideal.

 

I have several other speaker systems I would probably rather use.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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It's a bigger enclosure...maybe better able to reproduce bass? :idk:

 

I like the speaker system in my SX-P1000...but what I like about that is that I can take it outside and play anywhere (it uses batteries as well). I'm not sure what/who the Roland folks had in mind when they put speakers in the JP-X.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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I think on the JP-X it is more an "I-play-a-real-instrument-feeling-generator" than a sound-system....

Studio: Hammond XK5-XLK5,  Roland Fantom 8, Kurzweil PC3A6, Prophet 5, Moog Sub37, Neo Vent, HX3-Expander, LB Organ Grinder

Live: Yamaha CP88, Yamaha Motif Rack ES, Hammond SKX Pro, Hammond XB2-HX3,  Kurzweil PC3-61, Leslie 251, Roland SA1000, Neo Vent2

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Jeff, your excitement makes me want to buy one! Awesome!

M-Audio Hammer 88, Yamaha MODX6, Yamaha ReFace CP, Korg D1

MacBook Air 13" M1 (2021) Logic Pro X 10.5, Mainstage, Roland Cloud (Ultimate), U-He DIVA, Arturia V-8

JammSammich, Peoria, Illinois

 

 

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I am now ready to make my final decision on the 30 day window. Do I keep it or do I send it back?

 

I have decided to keep it. I realize that there is a risk that a Fantom and a Jupiter X may be "too much Roland", but they are different and my pulse is to keep both of them for my uses.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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...I was on the fence about it to be honest since I've had the Jupiter 80 for a few years already and thought that the synth sounds on that board would be good enough, especially since that board also has Supernatural sounds.

I'm a fellow Jupiter-80 owner, as well, and considering a Jupiter-X. The synth tones in the Jupiter-X definitely appear to be a notch (or two, or three...) above those in the Jupiter-80, but I tend to prefer the Supernatural pianos in the JP-80 over the RD pianos in the JP-X, and the Supernatural acoustic instruments in the JP-80 over those in the XV-5080 engine in the JP-X. Organs might also be better in the JP-80 verses the JP-X, not sure. The Zen-Core sounds might be the wild card; from what I hear, they sound fantastic. After that, it boils down to the touch screen in the JP-80 verses the sliders in the JP-X. Don't really care about computer/DAW integration. Keyboard actions are likely to be similar. Currently sitting in your vacated spot on the fence.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

According to the Jupiter-X demo on the Sweetwater site, the SuperNatural Piano is at least the basis for one of the pianos in the Jupiter-X. Not sure if the engine itself is part of it though.

 

It's the strangest thing; I could have sworn I saw a top-of-list Jupiter-X discussion on the forum earlier today. Then I looked at my AMS catalogue during dinner and spotted it, and thought maybe I should look it up (I had previously been unaware of this model and didn't know it was new). So when I come back to the forum just now, only an older topic shows up, about the builkt-in speakers, and this one which is older still.

 

This looks like Roland's best synth since the J80, in terms of construction and the overall user interface and workflow. The ZenCore engine might just take it over the top. $2500 in today's dollars seems reasonable (especially considering it's Roland) for what all it does, as long as the keybed is nice. The Xm version has mini-keys so that's a no-go.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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This looks like Roland's best synth since the J80, in terms of construction and the overall user interface and workflow.

Fully agreed. I love mine.

 

The ZenCore engine might just take it over the top. $2500 in today's dollars seems reasonable (especially considering it's Roland) for what all it does, as long as the keybed is nice.

It is.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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Good to hear, Dave. Once things improve around these parts, I'll have to see if GC in Concord or SF carries this model. And if not, I'll check the keybed specs to see what other models use the same keybed. I almost bought a J80 way back, then the J50 had some better features but missed some of what I liked most about the J80, so I played my usual waiting game with Roland. This time, they came out with one that seems to check ALL of the boxes!

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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This is hilarious: the cork-sniffers over at GS are calling this the worst synth that Roland has ever made! They say the workflow is especially a nightmare.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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This is hilarious: the cork-sniffers over at GS are calling this the worst synth that Roland has ever made! They say the workflow is especially a nightmare.

I can't understand why. The core engine has a simple work flow that's exactly what expected, having owned a JP8 and most of the synths in it....and I just love the additional real time controillers and effects. Choose a slot, pick an engine, tweak the engine, dial in the effects. I haven't had to look to hard to find anything I've wanted. What's the problem? :idk:

 

Maybe they don't like that it comes with less than half of the programs slots full? I love that...makes me wanna write programs.

 

Frankly, I think it's a player's dream. Big ol' heavy power synth with a great feeling keybed and a ton of sonic options. My kind of good time. :cool:

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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This is hilarious: the cork-sniffers over at GS are calling this the worst synth that Roland has ever made! They say the workflow is especially a nightmare.

I can't understand why. The core engine has a simple work flow that's exactly what expected, having owned a JP8 and most of the synths in it....and I just love the additional real time controillers and effects. Choose a slot, pick an engine, tweak the engine, dial in the effects. I haven't had to look to hard to find anything I've wanted. What's the problem? :idk:

 

Maybe they don't like that it comes with less than half of the programs slots full? I love that...makes me wanna write programs.

 

Frankly, I think it's a player's dream. Big ol' heavy power synth with a great feeling keybed and a ton of sonic options. My kind of good time. :cool:

 

dB

 

There's a guy I randomly found on Youtube who says if you've owned an original Jupiter 8, the layout of the new Jupiter X will be confusing and not intuitive. Huh?????

 

I replied and told him I used to own an original, and when I sat down at a friends new Jupiter X, everything was where I expected it to be. Plus, I added, if you know synthesis, and the parameter you want, it doesn't get easier than the big block letters above each section :)

 

"The presets are lacking" was another comment he made. Okay, make your own... if you want to be a preset jockey (and nothing wrong with that) don't spend $2500 on this.

 

FYI, I had been considering the System 8, but 49 keys is not enough for the way I would use it.

 

I am currently seriously looking at either the Jupiter X or stretching a bit and going full on Fantom 6 :) I can get a good deal on both.

 

 

Lastly, musicians I respect both here and locally, have sung the praises of the new Jupiter.

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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From what I can see, it looks even more intuitive than the Super J8000, or whatever it was called -- I had the rack edition for a while, and liked its control layout better than other VA synths at the time, but ultimately didn't find it to be very strong in MOST areas (except for that famous SuperSaw, which made for some nice custom patches). I never really regretted selling it, but always held out hope that they would one day come out yet again with a synth with as good of a workflow and interface and as robust of a build. And here we are!

 

Some on GS say the Integra from ten years ago, has a far better engine than the stuff that has come along since then. I didn't buy into that series simply because I got burned bad by my limited investment in VariOS rack, which never worked well on macOS (which was unfortunately required as you couldn't do much with it in standalone mode) and whose software got abandoned quickly. It seems that Roland are doing better in recent years in honouring customer loyalty and maintaining continuity of support with appropriate upgrade paths, hardware-wise and regarding the software.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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So, can any former owners of the actual analog versions comment on how good are the Jupiter X(m)"s emulations? Personally I have always loved the Jupiter 8 and the MKS-70 (JX-8P x2), so having them in one unit would be awesome. Not holding my breath for anyone (even B) to clone one.
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So, can any former owners of the actual analog versions comment on how good are the Jupiter X(m)"s emulations?

 

 

I'm not sure I can answer that. I was a former owner of the JX-8P, but... well that was from 1986-1988 that I owned it. I also played an original Juno 106 a number of times, but I don't have an exact replica of what I heard 34 years ago in my head.

 

I have never in my life played or even touched an original Jupiter 8 or SH101, so I can't answer that part at all.

 

I think the JX8P and Juno106 are very good on this instrument. Since I don't really know exactly what an original analog Jupiter 8 is supposed to sound like, I can't really give you much to go on.

 

If you had a blind sound test of the original Jupiter 8 and an emulation of the same sound on a Jupiter X not knowing which is which, would you really be able to tell the difference between the original, a Jupiter X, a System 8, a Zenology plug in? I don't know how you would.

 

You may be able to look at waveforms between an analog original and Jupiter X on a scope and see a difference, but that is by far below a level of relevance for me. I think it's a huge sounding synth with polyphony and layers, so how much it is an exact replica of something I owned 34 years ago is kind of irrelevant to my use.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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... the Jupiter 8 and the MKS-70 (JX-8P x2), ...having them in one unit would be awesome.

 

I didn´t find anything synth architecture special when I owned the MKS70.

It was it´s overall lush sound for pads I liked,- but that came from "upper" and "lower" sections being detunable in "DUAL-Mode" and dedicated ROLAND (!) stereo chorus for upper and lower sections incl. individual stereo outputs for these.

 

I´d say, when you´d got 2 Jupiter-8 voice-/filter & modifiers sections, "DUAL-Mode" and same chorus-/output configurations, that sounded even better than MKS70.

B.t.w.,- in the MKS70 I hated the LFO being not freerun as also it had the simpler Roland IR chip doing both filter and VCA.

The Jupi-8 IR3109 dedicated filter sounded much better.

 

I also think Martin Lueder´s PG8X nails JX8P very good, even reads sysex patches !

And w/ 2 instances you can mimik lots of MKS70 patches very well

 

clonk

 

:)

 

A.C.

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I think the JX8P and Juno106 are very good on this instrument. Since I don't really know exactly what an original analog Jupiter 8 is supposed to sound like, I can't really give you much to go on.

 

 

At least the JX8P filter typically is not self oscillating !

Do they mimik that behaviour and change when it comes to Jupi-8 "emulation" ?

 

It´s all about the orig. Jupi-8 filter IR3109 behaviour vs the other chips.

 

A.C.

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So, can any former owners of the actual analog versions comment on how good are the Jupiter X(m)"s emulations? Personally I have always loved the Jupiter 8 and the MKS-70 (JX-8P x2), so having them in one unit would be awesome. Not holding my breath for anyone (even B) to clone one.

I owned a Jupiter 8 for years, and a Juno 106 for a while, too. I also had a JX8P and still have an MKS70. Big fan of all of them.

 

I have not done a direct parameter for parameter comparison of the two. I've never done anything like that ih my ife because that's not how I evaluate gear...but as far as I can tell with the limited A/B I've done, the JP-X sounds every bit as good as the MKS-70.

 

More importantly, the JP-X sounds the way I expect it to....and with the additional parameters, even better in some cases. SO cool to be able to dial up a fat variable chorus, or drive, reverb, delay, etc...and then tack another engine on top of it, rinse, repeat. It's actually hard to stop with just two...and then you can add the XV-5080 stuff or an RD piano on top of that!

 

Did you read Gordon Reid's review in SOS? He's a serious synth snob, and even he said some surprisingly positive things about the emulations in the X.

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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