Sundown Posted Sunday at 07:18 AM Share Posted Sunday at 07:18 AM Hey all, The time is 1990-ish and after mowing countless lawns, I saved up enough cash to buy a Korg Wavestation. It was popular, it was fawned over in the music press, and plenty of pros were using it. I spent hours on it in a music store at 15 and I bought into the marketing hype. This was an instrument that was limitless, only bound by imagination. After a few weeks with it at home, I began to know its crippling limitations. And then this board dropped … Roland took their sweet digital filters and sample libraries and added the physical controllers you could only get with purchased modules (e.g. PG-800 and PG-1000). And with the JD-800, they were real-time controllers, not just parameter changes. Nobody produced a ROMpler or digital synth in 1991 with a front panel like this… It was a real shock in a world that generally leaned toward minimalist front panel buttons and sliders. Would my life be different or would I have made different decisions had I bought a JD-800 instead of a Wavestation? No. Keyboards are just tools and there will always be one that got away. But that experience gave me a burned-in disappointment that cautions me against marketing promises and new gear, and for that I can be thankful. But make no mistake, the JD-800 was a heck of a board and a real groundbreaking invention on Roland’s part at a time when the industry was headed elsewhere. Todd 3 1 Quote Sundown Finished: Gateway, The Jupiter Bluff, Condensation Working on: Driven Away, Eighties Crime Thriller Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361 DAW Platform: Cubase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberGene Posted Sunday at 07:58 AM Share Posted Sunday at 07:58 AM I hadn’t realized it until recently but some of my favorite music from my teen years was made on the JD800. For nostalgia sake it can be purchased for $399.99: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JD08--roland-jd-08-boutique-series-jd-800-sound-module Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted Sunday at 08:52 AM Share Posted Sunday at 08:52 AM I’ve had two. Sold one to RedKey and have another I need to refurbished. It has the dreaded red glue problem and a few broken keys. They are cool for sure. But I love the Wavestation as well. To me it is the pinnacle of digital synth aesthetics. Super clean lines, minimal controls, sleek curves. I think it’s beautiful. 4 Quote Keep it greazy! B3tles - Soul Jazz THEO - Prog Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamPro Posted Sunday at 12:06 PM Share Posted Sunday at 12:06 PM "But make no mistake, the JD-800 was a heck of a board and a real groundbreaking invention on Roland’s part at a time when the industry was headed elsewhere." OK. But if memory serves, the JD-800 was a one-off. Roland made it and sold it for a while, and then dumped it. The only follow-up was the JD-990 keyboardless module, and the entire line was discontinued for the JV workstations. I remember playing them in stores and thinking it was a cool keyboard, but Roland dropped it like a hot potato. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfD Posted Sunday at 01:49 PM Share Posted Sunday at 01:49 PM 1 hour ago, JamPro said: "But make no mistake, the JD-800 was a heck of a board and a real groundbreaking invention on Roland’s part at a time when the industry was headed elsewhere." OK. But if memory serves, the JD-800 was a one-off. Roland made it and sold it for a while, and then dumped it. The only follow-up was the JD-990 keyboardless module, and the entire line was discontinued for the JV workstations. Spot on. It definitely helps to remember the times these KBs were released. It doesn't invalidate the KB as an instrument or tool for making music. Just provides context for how and why a KB like the JD-800 came and went. I clearly remember Roland being all-in on the JV/XP/XV lines. 😎 Quote PD "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcgoo Posted Sunday at 02:31 PM Share Posted Sunday at 02:31 PM I worked in a music store when it came out. It was expensive and wasn't a workstation. Its programmability wasn't important to the majority of customers (hobbyists), so it was a tough sell. When they were discontinued, Roland sold them to retailers at a heavily discounted price. We bought 10 of them. I snagged 1 for myself. Sadly I don't have it anymore. Quote Custom Music, Audio Post Production, Location Audio www.gmma.biz https://www.facebook.com/gmmamusic/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted Sunday at 02:50 PM Share Posted Sunday at 02:50 PM I'm enjoying the JD800 modeled sounds in the Fantom. Gives a completely different sound from the other modeled synths in there. I'm not sure I know any tunes done with one--I mostly listened to grunge in the 90s, seemed like keyboards were extinct on the rock side of things! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfD Posted Sunday at 02:54 PM Share Posted Sunday at 02:54 PM 2 minutes ago, Stokely said: I'm not sure I know any tunes done with one--I mostly listened to grunge in the 90s, seemed like keyboards were extinct on the rock side of things! The JD-800 and JD-990 were all over 1990s R&B music.😎 Quote PD "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted Sunday at 03:00 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:00 PM Ah that explains it Not a genre I dip into much, though if it was ever on the radio I'm sure I heard it. Anyway, I like the "digital-ness" of the RD800 if that makes sense. It has clarity and in a band I could see those sounds being useful on some songs. The guitar-ish leads are a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberGene Posted Sunday at 03:08 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:08 PM Not just R&B, it was used by EDM, electropop, synthpop, dark wave, etc artists too. But what hooked me was the Chronology album by Jean-Michel Jarre where there’s a lot of JD-800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed A. Posted Sunday at 03:54 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:54 PM 6 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said: I’ve had two. Sold one to RedKey and have another I need to refurbished. It has the dreaded red glue problem and a few broken keys. I remember that the aftertouch on the JD-800 was terrible too. I had to really force the keys down to get any aftertouch response at all. The Wavestation was my favorite, I had one for over ten years, which was a record for me. 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.F.N. Posted Sunday at 04:12 PM Share Posted Sunday at 04:12 PM The AT was always s problem, I recall there's a fix for that. Instinctively I would say it was way too expensive for what you actually really got, nevertheless very appealing look, and most of us indeed have a certain appreciation for some sweet knobs to fiddle with... Quote "You live every day. You only die once." Where is Major Tom? - - - - - PC3, HX3 w. B4D, 61SLMkII, SL73, Prologue 16, KingKORG, Opsix, MPC Key 37, DM12D, Argon8m, EX5R, Toraiz AS-1, IK Uno, Toraiz SP-16, Erica LXR-02, QY-700, SQ64, Beatstep Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorayM Posted Sunday at 09:21 PM Share Posted Sunday at 09:21 PM It's a bucket list synth for me, there's just something about the look and sound that I love. Plus I love Chronologie and the early Dream Theater albums. One day! 1 Quote Cephid - Progressive Electro Rock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Emm Posted Sunday at 11:19 PM Share Posted Sunday at 11:19 PM My main music store impression was of a D-50 with sliders for everything up front. That seems to have held up over time. I can't recall a JD-800 patch that was hugely different from the D-50's goods. What impressed me most was the built-in random patch generator. They're more common now, but back then, it felt wonderfully alien and damned near as desirable as the synth proper. I've often spoken well of Roland's Cloud. I'm not wild for subscriptions or repeated calls to sign in, but you take what's offered if the passion is there. I'm a bit puzzled as to why someone would want to wrangle the JD-800 with a mouse when the sound data is so present in the D-50. For sheer fun, probably. I find it easier to jiggle the included PG-1000. I keep sampling the arse off the D-50 because its one of the best layering synths around. Even though its basic tone is now hard-core synth history we all recognize, tweezing it into partnership with newer synths is a real pleasure. This is the point at which I show mature restraint and don't refer to synths in sexual terms. 2 Quote "Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons and necking in the parlors! Play, Don!" ~ Groucho Marx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Emm Posted Sunday at 11:31 PM Share Posted Sunday at 11:31 PM 14 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said: But I love the Wavestation as well. To me it is the pinnacle of digital synth aesthetics. Super clean lines, minimal controls, sleek curves. I think it’s beautiful. True! I passed on it because programming it through that stingy display made the 01W feel downright cozy. The sound, however... mmm. I struggled with Korg's first soft version, which made things notably easier, but not exactly welcoming. I got fair value from it. The Wavestate is the Wavestation for which we were aching, though. I find that to go double for the native version. Its interesting to balance that against my memories of 80s GAS. Quote "Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons and necking in the parlors! Play, Don!" ~ Groucho Marx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RABid Posted Monday at 12:54 AM Share Posted Monday at 12:54 AM I remember seeing one in the store. I really wanted it but it was too expansive for a spontaneous purchase. Went back a few months later and it was gone, and discontinued. I now have it on my Jupiter X and my computer. Quote This post edited for speling. My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyS Posted Monday at 04:15 AM Share Posted Monday at 04:15 AM Totally regret selling mine ( with an ATA case),,,, now enjoying it on my Jupiter X........sounds way good!... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoB3 Posted Monday at 06:56 AM Share Posted Monday at 06:56 AM 23 hours ago, Sundown said: Hey all, The time is 1990-ish and after mowing countless lawns, I saved up enough cash to buy a Korg Wavestation. It was popular, it was fawned over in the music press, and plenty of pros were using it. I spent hours on it in a music store at 15 and I bought into the marketing hype. This was an instrument that was limitless, only bound by imagination. After a few weeks with it at home, I began to know its crippling limitations. And then this board dropped … Roland took their sweet digital filters and sample libraries and added the physical controllers you could only get with purchased modules (e.g. PG-800 and PG-1000). And with the JD-800, they were real-time controllers, not just parameter changes. Nobody produced a ROMpler or digital synth in 1991 with a front panel like this… It was a real shock in a world that generally leaned toward minimalist front panel buttons and sliders. Would my life be different or would I have made different decisions had I bought a JD-800 instead of a Wavestation? No. Keyboards are just tools and there will always be one that got away. But that experience gave me a burned-in disappointment that cautions me against marketing promises and new gear, and for that I can be thankful. But make no mistake, the JD-800 was a heck of a board and a real groundbreaking invention on Roland’s part at a time when the industry was headed elsewhere. Todd I have a good friend/tech guru restoring one now. Just repaired the AT. Oof,I want it. A wavestation would be cool too but the immediacy of this board is phenomenal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tapes Posted Monday at 01:56 PM Share Posted Monday at 01:56 PM Now that I also have the JD-800 model inside my Jupiter-X, as well as the Roland Cloud plug-in - I have to say, I don't really "get" the hype over JD-800. Sure, it is gorgeous, but the sounds are...harsh, digital, and nothing special. I get that it was an oddity back then, a truly programmable button heaven digital synth among a sea of sleek black ROMplers with 2 buttons. The most famous JD-800 usage example I know is the Wailing Guitar patch, programmed by Eric Persing and used by The Prodigy on their track "Voodoo People". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.F.N. Posted Monday at 02:12 PM Share Posted Monday at 02:12 PM 34 minutes ago, tapes said: Now that I also have the JD-800 model inside my Jupiter-X, as well as the Roland Cloud plug-in - I have to say, I don't really "get" the hype over JD-800. Sure, it is gorgeous, but the sounds are...harsh, digital, and nothing special. I get that it was an oddity back then, a truly programmable button heaven digital synth among a sea of sleek black ROMplers with 2 buttons. The most famous JD-800 usage example I know is the Wailing Guitar patch, programmed by Eric Persing and used by The Prodigy on their track "Voodoo People". I always experienced it to be seriously overrated, and I really wanted to like it, great aesthetics with the full on button set up etc. however, I found it to be way too limited, shallow, and as you mention, kind of harsh digital, almost metallic. Quote "You live every day. You only die once." Where is Major Tom? - - - - - PC3, HX3 w. B4D, 61SLMkII, SL73, Prologue 16, KingKORG, Opsix, MPC Key 37, DM12D, Argon8m, EX5R, Toraiz AS-1, IK Uno, Toraiz SP-16, Erica LXR-02, QY-700, SQ64, Beatstep Pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoB3 Posted Monday at 03:07 PM Share Posted Monday at 03:07 PM 54 minutes ago, tapes said: Now that I also have the JD-800 model inside my Jupiter-X, as well as the Roland Cloud plug-in - I have to say, I don't really "get" the hype over JD-800. Sure, it is gorgeous, but the sounds are...harsh, digital, and nothing special. I get that it was an oddity back then, a truly programmable button heaven digital synth among a sea of sleek black ROMplers with 2 buttons. Well there are a few constants that seem to be masked by today's ease: - Live performance, immediate control with a hardware synth. I get folks love the price of synths comprised of 1's and 0's but in the end you are getting what you're paying for. - Your/any plugin can be made obsolete in an instant. - forced to enjoy working within the parameters of and Rolands/internal fx 👎 - it doesn't really exist. Hardware exists (can be repaired, some more easily than others). - most controller feel today blows compared to vintage or pricier but quality controllers (and this definitely includes Rolands system, a common build quality and keybed feel offender today. They are NOT alone however. There's worse). Definite positives: sitting with ease at a daw on the cheap, not having gear taking up any more space, avoid standard maintenance/repair. It is easier and there's a bang4buck factor in that. Companies like Spectrasonics and several others finally give compelling argument for VST sound and function. Some amazing is found out there now. * however 'easier' rarely equates to originality and uniqueness (live perf). It more often fosters 'preset playing'. Just some reasons. There are more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpl1228 Posted Monday at 03:52 PM Share Posted Monday at 03:52 PM On 9/15/2024 at 8:50 AM, Stokely said: I mostly listened to grunge in the 90s, seemed like keyboards were extinct on the rock side of things! It did bring back electric pianos and organs to a whole new hip audience but yeah, unless you were doing techno or trance, synths were OUT. I whipped out the keytar once, and a bunch of grunge guys laughed and high-fived each other. That's when I knew. In the late 90's were even worse....I went from being very busy covering synth parts to instead dressing down and faking rhythm guitar parts on keyboards and banging a cowbell or something for some Goo Goo Dolls or Creed song, just so I could stay employed in bar bands. Not my thing. JD800 is a solid well-built board you could still gig with today if you needed a 2nd or 3rd board for pads, strings, synth leads, etc. I swear, regardless of the model or year of synth, every Roland has a very unique one-of-a-kind lush synth string sound that seems to be on all their keyboards (think Duran Duran). Quote Roland RD-2000, Yamaha Motif XF7, Mojo 61, 2 Invisible keyboard stands (!!!!!), 1939 Martin Handcraft Imperial trumpet "Everyone knows rock music attained perfection in 1974. It is a scientific fact." -- Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJoB3 Posted Monday at 04:12 PM Share Posted Monday at 04:12 PM ready. set. create. https://www.facebook.com/reel/3748007388778268 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundown Posted 14 hours ago Author Share Posted 14 hours ago On 9/15/2024 at 10:31 AM, mcgoo said: I worked in a music store when it came out. It was expensive and wasn't a workstation. Its programmability wasn't important to the majority of customers (hobbyists), so it was a tough sell. When they were discontinued, Roland sold them to retailers at a heavily discounted price. We bought 10 of them. I snagged 1 for myself. Sadly I don't have it anymore. Very insightful… For me, that programmability and the ability to “play the panel” was my dream. At that point in my journey I was watching old Wakeman Minimoog clips and I had become pretty adept at programming my own sounds. The JD-800 was a playground waiting to happen in my world. But your point is very interesting and insightful, as one of the primary consumers of high-end keyboards is churches. From that lens, big polyphony and general MIDI is more important than programmability, so I understand why sales might have been slow. Todd 1 Quote Sundown Finished: Gateway, The Jupiter Bluff, Condensation Working on: Driven Away, Eighties Crime Thriller Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361 DAW Platform: Cubase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundown Posted 14 hours ago Author Share Posted 14 hours ago On 9/16/2024 at 9:56 AM, tapes said: The most famous JD-800 usage example I know is the Wailing Guitar patch, programmed by Eric Persing and used by The Prodigy on their track "Voodoo People". The Wakemans used that patch heavily (Rick and Adam), particularly during the Wakeman with Wakeman era. That was their signature lead sound, perhaps with some tweaks. It could have been a JD-990 which had a near-identical patch, but it was that basic sound. Todd Quote Sundown Finished: Gateway, The Jupiter Bluff, Condensation Working on: Driven Away, Eighties Crime Thriller Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361 DAW Platform: Cubase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundown Posted 14 hours ago Author Share Posted 14 hours ago On 9/15/2024 at 4:52 AM, Jim Alfredson said: But I love the Wavestation as well. To me it is the pinnacle of digital synth aesthetics. Super clean lines, minimal controls, sleek curves. I think it’s beautiful. Hi Jim. Aesthetically the Wavestation was a cool design for that era, but sonically it was harsh and the edit buffers and shared memory were a nightmare. There was so much Tone/Patch sharing among Performances that any change could affect countless other sounds, and if memory serves, Wave sequences didn’t have any edit buffer at all … If you made a change, it stuck. The filter was also really disappointing. I was surprised and delighted that Korg implemented resonance with the VSTi re-issue. The original non-resonant hardware LPF was weak compared to Roland at the time. My original hardware WS with the EX expansion board is dead (the PSU board failed), but I do have the VSTi version. I haven’t played a Wavestate but I’ve always believed in the basic idea of vector synthesis and wave sequencing. I just found the original WS’s ROM to be terrible … It was single cycle waveforms and a huge portion of the ROM was tied up with the Prophet VS waves and “time slices” of resonant filter sweeps. The Prophet waves were crunchy and harsh and had no business in a 1991 synth. The Wavestation deserves it’s spot in history as a really unique instrument, but I feel like it could have been so much more with a different ROM baseline and a bit more RAM for patch management. Todd Quote Sundown Finished: Gateway, The Jupiter Bluff, Condensation Working on: Driven Away, Eighties Crime Thriller Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361 DAW Platform: Cubase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AROIOS Posted 11 hours ago Share Posted 11 hours ago On 9/16/2024 at 9:12 AM, JoJoB3 said: ready. set. create. https://www.facebook.com/reel/3748007388778268 That Jupiter-6 bass is grooving HARD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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