The Roland Alpha Juno series consisted of the Juno 1, the Juno 2 and later on, the MKS-50. They had a programmer which worked for all three models; the Roland PG-300.

The Alpha Juno synths were of 1-oscillator construction, the oscillator being rather powerful with a sub oscillator as an add-on. It could sound three waveforms at once and could also add noise. It had pulse width modulation. Add to this real analogue filtering and a simple envelope generator common for the VCF and the VCA. Being able to fatten the sound a bit, the chorus was quite effective.

The Juno 2 was my second synth and I got it as a 16-year old struggling beginner. I used to make tracks using an analogue sound-on-sound recorder, with reel tapes. When I wanted to be serious I took the commiter train for 25 minutes, took a 15 minute walk and ended up at Tälje Musik where I used to rent (!) a Roland TR-626 rhythm programmer. Those were the days. I programmed Yazoo patches on the Juno and Prince rhythms on the TR. Together, it sounded just fantastic! ;)

As for 2008, I'm currently using an MKS-50 for bass on a track I'm working on and it's doing its job just as good as it always was. Round and round it goes.

This little synthesizer blog will cover a wide range of instruments, but one of the questions I'm asking myself, or you, is why Roland divided the Jupiter synthesizers into two paths; the JX and the Juno. Combined, they could make all of the Jupiter's sounds, but not on their own. Was this a plan? :)

  
 

The Fairlight was an Australian construction, having started out as a mid 70s attempt to create a digital, additive synthesizer instrument. The notion was that additive layering (of sine tones) could create sounds nothing else could. Prototypes were built and demonstrated to a small portion of the music industry, but gained little interest. The instruments were built around a computer design that became more advanced as more components became available. The development costs were astronomical.

When RAM memory came down in price (not to be confused with today's giveaway RAM prices) and floppy disks came about, the Fairlight team began thinking of storing sound recordings. Somehow, they figured out that the instrument should be able to sample sounds. As this was a quite lenghty process, at least for making playable instrument patches, a factory sound bank was a necessity. And rightfully so; I think the instrument wouldn't have been as popular if it hadn't had the factory sounds. Those sounds were pretty good, and got to be used on many albums. Art Of Noise's Moments In Love is almost a pure Fairlight demo track, including the almost pan flute-like voice preset.



Fairlight inventors Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie pictured on the wall, behind two of the most popular Fairlight models polished to perfect shape, exhibited at some music fair, probably AES. I wouldn't say no to a creative session with one of these classy old machines.

Early on in the 80s, the Fairlight II was introduced, and it could sample sounds at an 8 bit ratio. Sound freaks began picking it up, although it costed more than a luxurious summerhouse. Pioneers on the Fairlight were, for instance, Peter Gabriel, Herbie Hancock and Vince Clarke of Yazoo. The IIX came with additional features, and by this time, the Fairlight was becoming popular as a workstation (with its Page software, featuring sequencing and FFT sound analysis).

Today, it's quite easy to spot the Fairlight II's in a mix. For instance it's available in Scritti Politti's "synth solo" played on Green Gartside's sampled voice in the track Absolute, from Cupid & Psyche '85, an absolute classic album for anyone interested in synthesizer history and qualified electronic pop production.

Vince Clarke's adventures with the Page R sequencer are on live transmission from Youtube, don't miss out. I would love to know about how You And Me Both was programmed, but I guess it'll keep a secret. But I imagine the Fairlight must have been used for that, to some extent. It had a CV/Gate output option for controlling analogue synths. Vince's own (series II) machine was sold on Ebay in 2007 after his re-location to USA. It was very battered, so I assume he must have used it quite a bit.

The Fairlight III was much better, but lacked the "samply" character. Howard Jones used some fabolous sounds from the III series on his One To One album, including strings and sounds he produced in the studio, such as vocal layers with his own voice. Fairlight remains an institution of 80s hifi and sampling itself. It set standards and was surrounded with a sense of stardom. Magic, even. Still today, I can enthuse about things made with the Fairlight. A lot! :)

Further reading: The Fun Of The Fairlight - Sound On Sound

 


The giant japanese electronics manufacturer Casio once had a large-scale project synthesizer - which I am unaware of if it ever got sold as a product or only was handed out to select people, to collect views and opinions. I know Isao Tomita had one. It looked like a PC and I guess it also came with peripherals like a screen and a computer keyboard - perhaps even a keyboard for inputting notes. However, this was the Cozmo Synthesizer.

Later on, the series of commercial Cozmo Synthesizers came about and one of the two small ones (namely CZ-101 and CZ-230S, a more keyboard-oriented version) was my own first step into the world of synthesis. I had been very ambivalent as of if I should choose a Yamaha keyboard (with drums and other cool things, presented in a cool fashion with a huge "scrollbar" for different modes, anyone recognizes this?) or the CZ-101 but finally I decided on the better choice, which of course was this wonderful little 4- or 8-voice digital synth.

It was in a time when Howard Jones' Human's Lib album was fresh and new and I was mad about these new sounds. The CZ-101 actually had possibilities to do a huge amount of different sounds. After programming it for months, reading the manual from inside and out, and back, I found a quote which interested me: "In the supplied Sounds manual..."... I had no Sounds manual. So I wrote a letter to Casio in Japan. Several weeks later, a thick envelope landed in our mailbox, to the entire family's fascination, all those japanese stamps and all. It was the sound book. Numbers representing changes in the sound, all needed was to power the beloved 101 up and enter DATA! :) Some sounds were cool but the coolest sound I got was from some other guy in Sweden; he had managed to get the CZ to talk. A patch went: "KAAR CEE OH!", Casio! Very Kraftwerk although I hadn't knowingly heard Kraftwerk by then.



Synthesizer pop maestro extravaganza Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure) during the mid 80's, armed with an armada of CZ synthesizers and his ubiquitous BBC Micro computer, stuffed with a custom-built sequencer app he used up until recent days, when he suddenly switched to Apple and Logic Pro - and sold most of his synth gear on eBay! Person behind synths: Unknown. Perhaps a visitor from outer space named Cozmo, temporarily landed in Vince's spaceship studio (also abolished now).

The CZ-101 had a number of siblings; CZ-1000, CZ-3000 and 5000, and the CZ-1. Apparantly there was a MIDI programming bug in the entire range of CZ synths which never got fixed. The somewhat funny rumour is this: the CZ development team resigned due to embarrasment for this fault. We will never find out about this I guess, but anyway, the CZ series faded into silence.

After a while, the Casio FZ samplers came about and after that, the VZ series were born. I guess the VZ synths never succeeded due to the fact that they came in a D-50 and M1 era, and sounded like the DX era. Anyway, the VZs were fantastic synthesizers and I've used them a lot. I've programmed a complete VZ bank which I'll probably put online again some day.

I wonder if Casio will ever produce a synthesizer product again... oh well, there were some cheapo synths made in these days as well, I guess they made two different. They were quite cool as well, although quite noisy and cheap looking. I know their names, do you? ;)

 
 


The Oberheim Matrix 12 has always been a major analogue synthesizer in my world of analogs. It's not only a huge polyphonic synth; it's also a huge analog modular system. Albeit it's a "digitally controlled" one again; with the operating system being designed to use several displays and "soft knobs".

The Matrix 12 can produce sounds not usually thought of as analog synth sounds. I've heard superb strings that more sounded like a better version of perfectly sampled real strings. With a bit of added noise on top, for a very grainy and massive impact. I've heard choir sounds so "real" I almost had to look for a MIDI cable to see if the synth controlled something else. It didn't. Interesting LFO patches, like the intro to Propaganda's Your Wildlife, from 1234.

Matrix 12 is a huge beast to operate, it's almost like sitting in front of a pretty large mixing console. The only synthesizer I've played that touches the Matrix 12 is the Alesis Andromeda. Hard to tell if either one of these are "better", but I guess the Andy is much easier on the wallet. The Matrix 12 also does ultra fat analog "standard" sounds like brass. But watch out for Matrix 12's (or Xpanders, being the same synth really, only with fewer voices and no keyboard) with too many brass sounds. That usually means they were used in a hard rock band and you'll have to start diggin' the internet to find sysex banks to be able to hear what a powerful synthesizer the Matrix architecture really is.

Knowing many people judges the smaller Matrix 1000 and Matrix 6's to be "almost on par" with the bigger brothers Xpander and Matrix 12, I must say there is a huge difference even though the mini matrixes can do interesting sounds as well, no doubt. But there is a certain quality to the sound of the bigger models... it's just not doable with the emsixes and emthousands. For any synthesizer afficiando, sitting down in front of a Matrix 12 with a couple of big monitors is a real treat. Even better if a good FX unit is added, as a little bit of outboard processing sometimes is a necessary move, bringing the life back into old synthesizers.

The Jupiter synthesizers originally consisted of four models; chronologically the JP-4 (1978), the JP-8 (1980), the JP-6 (1983) and the MKS-80 Super Jupiter (1985). At their time, they were Roland's flagships. About ten years after the last MKS-80 had seen the daylight, Roland added two virtual analog (as opposed to real analog, in case with the Jupiters) models; the JP8000 and the JP8080. I won't discuss those here, but perhaps in a later blog post.

1978 was a year for milestones in the history of sound synthesis and while Ikaturo Kakehashi's Roland Jupiter 4 perhaps wasn't as important in this book as Dave Smith's Sequential Prophet 5, it sure holds its own legends statue, being one of the few first synths to feature both polyphony and programmable memory (or sound storage, to put it more simply). Even more importantly, the Jupiter 4 got to be very popular among certain bands, which must have helped its sales a bit. Human League said quite recenly that the JP-4 always was their all-time favourite synth and maybe it's not that strange – Don't You Want Me was a worldwide smash hit and the JP-4 played a major role in the track, being the synth for the famous lead part, forever recognized by anyone older than 10. I've spotted the unison sound of the JP-4 on Yazoo tracks as well. So, if the Prophet was all over the place, the JP-4 was on some high mountains, making sweet noises on certainly sweet and synthy tracks.

Toying with the Jupiter 4 today is very satisfying. It's not because it's certainly fat or anything like that, it's more that it's very personal and somewhat lifelike. The keyboard mode where it's unison if you play one note or not if you play a chord, is especially nice. It allows for a quite esoteric performance, where the sound is fat when playing a melody line and just wide when you play chords. The arpeggiator is sweet and it's pretty easy to allow the JP-4 to play on its own, just twiddling with the controllers. Sound-wise, the JP-4 is very 70s. It moves, it's alive. Spec-wise, it's also quite close to a Juno 6/60 really.



The JP invaded on records from all over. Howard Jones still adores his Jupiter 8, even though it was a while since it was new, likewise since the song was new.

The JP-8 is another story, and it really made way for Roland into even more luxurious studios. Since it was one of the first synths ever being able to layer sounds (where tones 'upper' and 'lower' could be split or layered), it was able to produce ridicously fat sounds, and this is an area where it still shines, to this day and beyond. From recent JP twiddling, I have been able to re-create the opening "ultra fat digital bell" sound of Michael Jackson's Beat it. I always thought that was a Synclavier, but regarding the feel I got from the JP's character, I'm quite reluctant to say it must have been a JP-8 doing the sound. Just doing the maths is quite fun; the JP-4 was fat when played in the unison mode. The JP-8 is able to sound two JP4 equivalents at the same time. Put this in unison mode and you're hearing a stacked sound so big, it's up in the Evil-Of-The-Thuriiller league. Mohahahahaha. Not kidding!

Enter MIDI and Roland came up with the quite oddly numbered Jupiter 6. It was released in a time where the success JP-8 still sold by the truckloads, but it filled a gap by being less expensive (google for old price lists if you like, can be quite fun on a rainy day). Here's where japanese mentality is a little strange when it comes to electrical equipment, or put better, here's another example of it – that list could be pretty lengthy really. I mean, the JP-6 replaced the JP-8 in one specific area and this was MIDI. There was some MIDI retrofits for the JP-8 but they should have put the little DIN contacts on the 8 as well; why didn't they update it? Perhaps they were still unsure about whether MIDI would be a success or not. Not adding to the success stories of MIDI though, the JP-6 had a quite rudimental spec of it as well. It was the early days. I think the JP-6 sounds quite cool, being able to pass its oscillators through a bandpass filter. So, what, is it as fat as the mothership JP-8? No. It's a somewhat cheaper construction overall, with its lilacy colour scheme, reminiscent of 80s fashion in general somehow. The JP8 feels more timeless. Having both would be cool though.



A sweetbox of ear candy, the MKS-80 sits best besides its almost-as-expensive programmer brother, the MPG-80, which can be racked or used "as is", in a tabletop fashion. They allow for quite user-friendly creation of huge, stacked sounds, as well as splitted things. The sound is clearly Roland, and is similar to the much cheaper JXs and Juno synths, but more like a combination of these. Which is kind of... a Super Jupiter combo.

But, having said this, for me the rack-mount MKS-80 is the real behemouth of the analogue jupiters, especially when paired with the MPG-80 of course. Like a Yazoo record title, the MKS-80 is to the JP-8 and the JP-6 a You And Me, Both. Or why not You And Me, Behemouth. The MKS-80 is one of the best analogue polyphonic synthesizers ever made and I only hold it second to the JP-8 for one reason, and that's the interface of it: programming the JP-8 is easier no matter how one twists it; one would have to build a custom rack / keyboard stand to be able to play the MKS & MPG package like a real JP should be played. But in a studio situation, with plenty of time on your hands, the MKS performs so well, it doesn't matter. Close your eyes and place it in the track; it delivers ear candy. I currently have a MKS-80 set up for sound patching and programming, and perhaps it's the newly refound shimmer of it that makes me so positive, but I hope not. After all, playing this beside a virtual analogue synth will for sure provoke instantly turning the VA synth off, since it becomes a bit like a cariacture, being overly general, clean and clear where the MKS more reminds me of a fine whiskey, being round and deep, full of characteristic personality. People saying the MKS-80 is a racked JP-6 are incorrect. For me, it has always been more of a racked JP-8; thus bearer of the Super Jupiter moniker. Now, my first goal will be finding out how Scritti Politti made some of their sounds, see they had The Combo.

So, that's my views on the analogue jupiters; I adore all of them, but I do prefer the JP8 and the MKS-80. To be placed in the finest wine room of aging analogs, with Oberheim Xpander / Matrix 12 and the Mini & the modulars. But, since I'm a gear lover, I wouldn't be able resisting placing an Alesis Andromeda or Minimoog Voyager in the same room. They're all sweetly synthethic in the Class AA-classical manner.

 
 

Korg's Mono/Poly was introduced together with the Polysix. These were similar in appearance but quite different in terms of... terms! ;) The Mono/Poly is a really powerful 4-oscillator mono synth which can be run in a quite whack poly mode as well, where each oscillator acts as a separate voice, somehow similar to a low-budget version of the Oberheim 4-voice.

I find the Mono/Poly fantastic for strange modulated sounds thanks to its really amazing possibilities in this area. It's like you can change the sound from the programming panel in so brutal ways you'd think you were switching presets, but you're just turning the modulation on or off. This can be controlled in various ways and all in all, the instrument is purely fun to use.

Just a few years ago, Korg made a brilliant move and re-packaged the Mono/Poly into a software version, marketed as Korg Legacy. It's neat but not at all as tactile as the original version. With an instrument like this, even a software lover like myself realizes the boundaries of a mouse (or even controller) driven interface. Having said this, being able to have those sounds at hand is very neat.

I think the Mono/Poly is useful for a quite large range of sounds, from soft 4-voice strings (careful programming and it can sound pretty fat even this way, PWM being a good help) to ultra fat bass sounds absolutely on par with Minimoog or Pro One bass sounds. It's also good for various FX sounds. And various FM-like sounds with bite and anger.

A couple of years ago, too, the Mono/Poly was quite cheap (around €400 or even less) but as it seems, the prices are climbing upwards now. 

 


The JX series took over where the Jupiters went back into space and where the Juno's still stood steady on ground. This was in a time when Roland still used space terminology; having created instruments with names like Saturn, Planet and so on.

Midi had just entered the playground and Roland JX-3P was one of the first synths to feature this strange musical instrument's digital interface kind of thing. The first public demonstration of midi involved the JX-3P and a Sequential synth, this took place at a NAMM conference somewhere back in 1983 or 84.

The JX synths all had a somewhat similar sound structure as the Jupiter's had had, only that the JX's had digitally controlled oscillators and were a bit more simple. At least until the Super JX made a bold landing - but even the JX-10 lacked pulse width modulation, which is a very strange omission. The JX-8P was quite similar to the 3P, but could produce fatter sounds. The JX-10 was a dual JX-8P construction with somewhat weaker filtering and inferior LFO design. For instance, the LFOs restarted in a digital manner on the 10. On the 8P, they looped in a more analogue fashion.

JX-10 was an attempt to get back at Yamaha's dual architecture FM synths, such as the DX1 and DX5's, but it also was a way of nodding back to the JP-8, which also had had the dual tone structure, divided into "upper" and "lower".

The entire range of JX synths can produce classy bell sounds as well as Jupiter-style pads. But it lacks some of the earlier Jupiter's esoteric analogue character. It wins back by featuring chorus - and most importantly; by costing significantly less money. The difference is so huge now between a JP-8 and a JX-8P or JX-10 that it's mad; one can buy 10 JX synths for the price of one JP synth today. Even if the JP is a bit fatter and more interesting, it's not THAT big a difference. If you're on the run for a good synth, grab a dirt cheap JX!

I spent one entire summer programming the trousers off the JX-10 and made some quite cool patches with it. Today, I  somewhat miss both the 8P and the 10. The JX-10 later came in a MKS rack fashion, dubbed the MKS-70. The Roland PG-800 Programmer could make life easier with an 8P, MKS-70 or JX-10 while the PG-200 took care of the Planet P (MKS-30) and the JX-3P. So all in all, five subtractive JXs were produced inclusive the rack models. Later on, Roland came up with strange digital synths carrying the JX logo in their names, but that's just silly, isn't it?

 
 

The Sequential Prophet VS must be my all time favourite [hardware] synthesizer. Not really a complicated one either, but such sounds it could make, oh my god. A wide spectra, from the Prophet 5 to the PPG, but still with its own character.

I totally enjoy going backwards in my record catalogue back home, diggin' up Erasure's Circus album and hearing the VS's voices. Such intros, such sounds. Very digital yet very warm and interesting. Another favourite group of mine, Scritti Politti, also used the VS, as well as some other cool bands of the 80s, but I think Vince did the best job on this particular synth.

So what's up with this +20 year old Sequential Sequel to the mighty 30 years old Fiver? The VS is basically an 8-voice analogue synth, but it uses 4 stone-cold digital oscillators. With its joystick, one can fade between the osc's. Here's where the V's and the S's get their explanation; it's a vector synthesizer. A four direction vector.

A fun feature is the VS' ability to randomize patches. Although those sounds usually end up being eerie and creepy, strange noises mostly. But the design and feel of this keyboard is just elegant. The rack is bold and beautiful as well. Steel can tanks!

Perhaps I should get a Dave Smith Evolver, but it lacks so much polyphony. I think I'll stick to programming fake VS sounds with Reason for a while. A fun detail about Reason is that the Malström synth has one waveform containing all the waveforms from the Prophet VS! ;) Trying to create something meaningful with it is a bit harder though. I usually find it easier doing VS-type'o'sounds with two Subtractors combined in a combinator.

There is another software solution though, and it's Arturia's Pro V software, which combines the VS with its granddaddy Prophet 5. Highly interesting, and I'll make sure to check it out. Some day. Soon.