Thank you to Peter S for the explanation of the digital stepping. It was a reply so I can't pin it, so here it is copy pasta: _The digital stepping is from the panel control microcontroller, a.k.a. the uPD8048C-012. It digitizes the panel controls with 6 bit resolution, allowing only 64 different values for any knob and then control voltages are generated with a low resolution 8 bit DAC to send to the voice circuits, allowing only 256 potential settings across the entire range at a maximum for any parameter. Fun facts: the firmware that runs the Jupiter 4 Compuphonic control panel is only 342 bytes long with 160 bytes of preset data, and the ROM contains hidden features that appear to be left over from development; namely 198 bytes worth of routines that read and write Compuphonic preset data to and from tape, although many will notice the Jupiter 4 does not have a tape port. Wink, wink. Interestingly, the firmware supports 16 ROM presets but only 10 are wired up to switches and the ROM only has 10 of the 16 positions filled with preset data. There is also a build option in the firmware that allows either a 256*4 bit RAM or a 128*8 bit RAM to be used for user presets. When using the 128*8 bit setting, the routines seem to allow access to 256*8 RAMs for 16 potential user memory locations._
I’m no tech but it seems that Midiopolis must have made use of this with their Io midi kit and programmer, sadly no longer available (but apparently not very reliable in some cases).
@@alistairsteadman3765 Thank you for that reference! It appears that Midiopolis created a complete replacement for the two microcontrollers in the JP4 to add MIDI because they go well beyond the original capabilities. I am building a monster synth from scratch and Nick Rhodes burned the JP4 arpeggiator's magic into my brain as a teenager so in this effort I need to recreate the arpeggiator perfectly, especially the random function. The only sensible way to do that is to reverse engineer the actual code and port it to the my new key assigner chip. Luckily, the chips Roland used can be dumped and inspected. I can listen to that arpeggiator for hours and still be smiling from ear to ear.
Only 342 bytes of code for the firmware??? Wow. I have difficulty fitting flashlight firmware into 1024 bytes, and it only needs to handle one button and a couple PWM signals for adjusting LED brightness.
@@ToyKeeper Raw assembly was the only way to fly. Us old-timers (8048 was my first microcontroller) existed in a world where unless you employed Zen, you simply couldn't make it exist. I've had to optimize code more than once to fit in memory and been left with one free byte of ROM. There's an 8048-011 JP4 key assigner microcontroller sitting next to me so now just waiting for a hacked together reader to extract the arpeggiator code. Once I post the disassembly for both the -012 and -011 uCs, I'll try to leave a path to it on the web here if you are interested.
@@alistairsteadman3765 some dont believe in the mods but adding this midi kit has been pretty great. For one you can edit any preset ... change the noise level and synch to midi. and of course sequence it. Id recommend it to J4 owner (I wasn't aware it was discontinued). It's opened mine up. The Arp on this machine is the best I've used. One of those synths that sits in the mix so well.
@@AlexBallMusic I find it comes in really handy when you're playing that stadium gig and you really need the people in the back row to know what you're playing.
When drooling over synths in the early 80's in the music store, I ignored the 70's era synths, because they had the buttons on the front and cheesy sounding presets. I thought of them as fancy organs. Only much later I realized my mistake. The ones I wanted was a Jupiter-8 or a Korg Trinity. Those were the kings in that store. Obviously both way too expensive for me. I got a Polysix at the same store though, not a bad choice. I think it was probably the cheapest poly they had.
Sounds lovely... started dozing off (got a newborn at home - being tired not related to the video here). Will have to listen more when I am less tired..........
wickedest synth that came out of Roland in the Jupiter Era. I remember many a synth connoisseur & film composers picked them up and kept it close to noodle with them endlessly discovering synthesis and sound design in the confines of their homes, and offering an inspirational palette that's a sound designers delight, each with a clear and distinct character
Little known fun fact: a company called Smedger Symphonic had a competing product called the Uranus 42. Their slogan was "Make great sounds with Uranus!" Critical reception was pretty negative though. The consensus was that it stank.
This synth just has "That" sound. It has a warm, romantic feeling and just the right physical texture to the sound itself. Like golden afternoon sunlight through the window of an ancient library. "Rose-tinted sound" indeed Alex. One unmentioned artist here is Thomas Dolby. The Golden Age of Wireless album in particular (and a good part of ones that followed) has this all over it. To their credit, Roland Cloud do a pretty good VST of their Jupiter 4 too. After all, how much money and technical repair knowhow do most of us have spare to spend on such vintage wonders?
Back in 1979 when I was living in the UK I remember attending a concert of 332 The Rhumba of the Beast . IIRC back then the main guy was Ken Danger and he was using one of these bad boys live through like 4 different fuzz pedals.. that was POSH
Ah def one of my dream synths. Fell in love with it after seeing an I Break Horses video with it. Glad it's getting the attention it deserves from a dedicated Alex Ball vid!
@@AlexBallMusic well maybe then you’re just a very creative musician. Anyway, your tunes inspire me at least as much as the synths you talk about. Always some obscure old library soundtrack vibes resonating there and it just makes we want to sit down and record.
I bought one new in 1979. Tuning was pretty unstable, especially when stage lights were turned on... I kept a jewellers screwdriver handy during gigs so I could reach over to the recessed screw heads and individually tweak each oscillator. I traded it for a new jp8 and naturally wish I kept both...
The exponential converters in the JP-4 are not temperature compensated, instead using tiny heaters to raise the exponential transistor pairs above room temperature to a constant temperature in order to stay stable. If the room temperature (and/or radiation from multiple spotlights) pushes them above what the heater normally raises them to, you're right back to everything drifting. Roland switched to using standard temperature compensation resistors in the JP-8 and the CEM3340s used in the JP-6 are "fully" thermally compensated internally.
I had the same issue with tuning playing live under stage lights. Our guitarist came running over and adjusted tuning during a performance once....That said a fantastic sounding synth with a totally unique character. I deeply regret selling mine back in the 80's...
Wow, what a great demonstration of the best sounding Jupiter. Thanks again for doing this. Two years ago I did a one hour symphony with the JP-4 on RUclips.
Your demo song sounds like it could be from "The Golden Age Of Wireless". I played one new for years from 1981 or 1982 (been a while), and the thing that was so unique to me was the voice stealing. I've read where that was the core element in some of Thomas Dolby's work as well. When using a lot of decay/release it is evident in a good way and keeps things from being so layered. Nothing sounds like the JP-4.
Very true, you can use it to your advantage. I know Sequential added a setting to deactivate 5 voices on the new P10 for the original voice grabbing behaviour. Seems mad, but people wanted it! I personally never use that setting.
Thanks Alex, great video. Love my JP-4 (first “proper” synthesiser I owned). Recent prices have reminded me of this quote from Peter Forrest’s mid 90s bible (The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers) “I can foresee a time when a JP-4 will be worth as much as a TB-303. Or am I just imagining things?” Typical prices in 1996 were £250 - £370!
@@AlexBallMusic I bought mine in ‘87 for £200 and then saw it’s price drop over the next few years. But I always valued the JP-4. (I suppose it’s everyone’s unique opinion: the difference between price and value)
Fantastic video. You really made it sing. Also best presentation on the Jupiter 4 so far on the Inter web. Amazing how you always make it stick at about the 10 min mark!
Great overview! Stuns me that Roland haven’t made a Boutique version. Loved the ensemble effect!.... seemed have an ever greater effect on the sound than the 106 chorus!I enjoyed the presets ( never heard them reviewed before!)- funny you mentioned Duran Duran as soon you played “the voice” pretty certain that exactly what’s on “to the shore” off their first album.
Thank you so much Alex, I'm sure your videos will turn out to be an invaluable historical treasure for the next generations. 🙌 (Geert Van Schlänger's works of art included...) 🤓
This ... in my eyes .. being a service engineer back in these days.. was the best .. they hit the formula square and center....I could make it sound like a Monopoly, a Trident, a Trilogy, a Mini700, a Minimoog, ...an ARP.... I have one in my studio .. it's the most devine instrument ever created.
Thanks for talking about the original price. As an old guy, comments sections filled with comments saying a new analog poly synth priced at $1299 is way over priced makes me scratch my head. Absolutely no frame of reference. We live in amazing times.
Oh for sure! It's eye opening to do the conversions. The early modular synths were tens of thousands. Even the Minimoog was the equivalent of about £6k - £7k. The expectations have certainly changed!
The JP-4 and 8 are so different if it wasn’t for the name they’d probably never be compared to each other, in the same way that no one compare a Jupiter 6/8 to a Juno. The LFO is probably it’s strongest feature which can create some seriously slow sweeps. Clocking the filter mod is on my list to do. Time to order another cable so I can use the beatstep pro to do the arpeggiator and filter at the same time. Thanks Alex. Another great video
Yes, this is the sound of late 70's, simply wonderful. Thank you for this, I hope Behringer get this sussed. A big part of my fave Simple Minds era '78 - '81. Love it :)
Hey Alex, another great video! The Jupiter 4 is a beautiful sounding synth. No doubt that the Jupiter-8 is a superior, more versatile instrument. Though I do prefer the sounds of the 4 and 6 over the 8. But I don't have access to any of them so it hardly matters. Anyway, I much appreciate your videos on these old machines. Thanks!
I have the 6. With its added complexity it sounds absolutely awesome at times, and not so great at other times. So it sings out to be touched in a special way. The 8 I’ve never played, although I’ve heard rumours that you can pretty much flick the the switches and sliders anywhere you want and you have a ready made patch. I need someone to confirm or deny. ...Alex, it’s your cue.
JP4 (midi) , JP6 and MKS80 (with mpg here)..... I love my analog.... (Shouldn't of sold the JP8.. my only regret) .. Bought The Cherry and love it..... Still aint the same... in cant be... But for The price... whose complaining? I aint.
Maybe sacrilege to some hardware purists but there are some very nice VST versions of the JP4 and JP8 out there, though my favs are the Cherry audio's Mercury 4 and Arturia's Jup8 they sound close enough to the real thing for a pittance, so am not complaining.
I owned this synth once in the past and it's absolutely awesome. The sound is really powerful and the high speed LFO is very useful for experimental sounds.
@@AlexBallMusic I exchanged it for a Doepfer modular system which I later sold to buy an AD/DA converter. I'm mastering engineer not a musician. Playing synths is just my hobby :)
I had a Minimoog, but the Jupiter 4 was my first polysynth when it came out. They were songs & sounds I created on it that just don’t sound the same on anything else. It was amazing,
Fantastic as usual Alex! One thing you didn't mention is the VCA overdrive which can get into some additional strange gnarly territory. With some big washy reverb to blur the voice stealing the pads and strings on this thing are superb. JP4 is the absolute god-tier synth for late 70s/early 80s UK synthpop fans. Buying one for £400 in 2008 was the smartest (ok, luckiest) thing I ever did.
04:45 - In a strange way, I actually like the digital stepping (osc's, filters, LFO's) of late 70's/80's synths. It's super lo-fi and reminds of a time when I was first exposed to synthesisers & synth music and when life was so much easier. 😊
@@bitspacemusic There was a conversation about specifically this and I've pinned the informed answer at the top of the comment section. It's quite interesting.
@@bitspacemusic The JP4 analogue controls are digitized to only 6 bits, resulting in 64 possible settings and the steps which can be easily heard. I think some of the real magic of these machines is the interplay between the filter latching on harmonics as you note and these "posterized" or de-rezed steps. The synergy between them is awe inspiring for me.
Oh, listen to that creamy sound. Jupiter-4, the synth that lays so creamy in the mix. And don’t forget. That sub oscillator is synced to the VCO which makes it sound so unique and powerful in Unison.
It's a lovely thing. Sub - phase synced? I thought it would divided from the same oscillator and so share the same phase anyway? But then I have no understanding of electronics. How does that work?
@@AlexBallMusic I don’t know if my answer got censored because of my link to a company who described it. But as the later person wrote, it is made by a flip flop unit. Thus in practice, it can not divide down the waveform presented. But can only provide a square wave based on the starting pulse of the oscillator. As such it is in perfect sync. I am sorry if I can’t describe it better. I love your videos and your music presented.
@@jlindborg1105 I had to block links due to the growing problem of bot generated spam. Unfortunately, whilst some go to the filter section that I can approve, many just get removed by RUclips without ever appearing. Thanks for the info with the sub oscillator from a flip flop.
Just wanted to say your "COMPUPHONIC" voice scared the shit out of me. I put on a bluetooth sleep mask that I have a habit of relaxing to so i can just focus on the sound. Sounded like it was in my bedroom lol.
I think I like the sound of the Jupiter 4 because of its simplicity. All those hits from the 80’s from Depeche Mode, Human League and the like often had very catchy simple tunes. That’s why I bought them!
One of the greatest synths out there! There's a trick I discovered years ago if you want to play chord hits or simple bass lines you push any of the arpeggio buttons and unison together. Now when you send a trigger from your drum machine it will play it as a chord or single note!
@@jeshkam Vince Clarke used one for the Speak & Spell album, then later for Upstairs at Eric's when he left DM to form Yazoo. The first Yazoo singles, Only You and Don't Go were basically created using one of these.
Roland’s synths are amazing Especially the Jupiter series. Those beasts can make so many unique sounds. I’m not biased as a thomas fan (they used one) I think they are awesome
its interesting how all the jupiters, especially 4/6/8, differ from each other in various ways other than the voice count, it's the only synthesizer series i know of (or at least none other come to mind typing this) that have the differences; great video as usual! you really make these old synths shine
@8:41, in the photo with Vangelis not only the JP4 is visible, but also the Promars. I believe this photo was made around or just before the recording of Blade Runner.
Used on Dare and many others in the early 80's when the price may have actually been starting to drop too, then the analogue gear went out of fashion in 84 started ending up secondhand for next to nothing. Doh!! bought my first TB303 for $50 in 1986 before acid house took off.
@@steviewondek On man you wouldn't believe the synths I owned back in the early 80's.When I think how much I paid then as to how much they are worth now I really, really wish I still had them. I paid £60 for a Pro-One and £80 for a JX8P... 😭
I hold the slightly controversial view that the JP-4 is the first but also the best synth to bear the Jupiter name. There is just something absolutely magical about the sound. And as both of the two versions with (slightly) different filters sound amazing, the secret sauce might just be in the oscillators, which to my knowledge weren't carried over to the JP8.
It is lovely.. I personally prefer the 8, but can see the appeal. The VCOs on both are discrete, but I don't know how closely related they are (or aren't).
The JP-4 VCO design is unique to Roland and synthesizers generally. Whilst the JP-8 reused the filters and LFO, the JP-8 VCO was from the Roland 100M. The JP-4 is a square wave oscillator based on a 555 chip which then generates a slope stepped swatooth and then a pulse waveform. This all makes for lots of tone dynamics which is why people love the JP-4 oscillator, its rich sounding! Tuning is good in the studio but harder work on tour with big temperature changes, with air wafting up across the chips in the voice card rails. The volrage controlled ADSR’s are also unique and very complex CMOS chip designs that do the job of two CEM3310 but with 10x the chips. Never seen in any synth since, thank god! This all makes the JP-4 special and very hard to replicate as a hardware clone cheaply, which is why we may never see a Bupiter4. The secret sauce is in the oscillstors ☺️☺️
@@amsynths Thank you for these gold nuggets of information! One other thing that adds to the magical, organic and blatantly analog nature of the JP4 is the nearly impossible task to calibrate every voice to sound exactly the same. And fans of Oberheim OB-X know this to be a good thing.
Oooft juicy opener Alex! Quite a cute machine, even though the filter is a bit thin and clinical. I was hoping you’d play some notes when you were demoing some of the FM sounds! Ah well :) I know how those kinds of sounds sound when you play them so it wasn’t strictly necessary, but y’know. Really liked the energy in your piece at the end! The drums really tied the whole thing together. I liked how you just leaned into the simple and stereotypical sounds!
Cheers. Yeah, I was trying to get the different flavours of modulation but in hindsight, playing different notes would have changed the ratios and showed it off more. Ah well.
Someone just called the JP4, which is by far the most emotive sounding synth I've ever owned, thin and clinical. I officially want off the internet. Goddamn.
Great stuff!! In terms of the filters, I think I slightly prefer the early filter (The one that starts with the B). It sounds smoother and there is a better curve on the resonance in my opinion, but both sound excellent!
The IR3109 is in the Jupiter-8, Juno 6/60 and JX-3P and is a nice filter but it's really stepped on the Jupiter-4. The pinned comment explains why. Without that there's only subtle differences between the two. I'm told the IR3109 was basically a set of BA662s in a single IC to save them having to buy them. [EDIT] The BA662 was their own chip too. So that's why the IR3109 was basically a version of the same thing.
Great Alex. All your videos are a nostalgia trip. I remember seeing this when it first came out and was super impressed. It is like 4 SH-09's with memory and colours! Christian Henson just did a studio tour and guess what he has in his vintage collection? Great video as usual.
Thoma Dolby, Cloudburst at Shingle Street is like a demo for the Jupiter-4. Those beating chords, from the opening notes... I love the sound and I love the song.
A very unique synth, so simple but so deep in sound... I think that the people love the JP4 more than its descendants are people that have had electronic music imprinting with the new wave/sythpop of the early 80ì's. If you listen to Simple Mind's "Empire and Dance" there are some tracks literally build upon this quirky, old, heavy, clumsy, limited 4 voices mono osc Compuphonc beast! Like me... I really enjoy playing my old JP4
@@AlexBallMusic Unfortunately the Uranus is not mine, I only have the Oberon, but I can borrow both Promars and Uranus! Anyway, great video and GREAT music as usual. You caught the more intimate character of the JP4! Respect and admiration!
Great synth, the VCO sound is unique in certain way, has a limitation in voices but sounds really good, the most interesting part is the arpegiator, I haven't heard a synth of that era with a very distinctive random mode arp. Prices are insane right now but a couple of weeks ago Cheery Audio release a nice sounding VST with Tape Echo emulation and very cheap priced. As always Mr.Ball, excellent video, what can I say! PS. I saw a guest drum machine (Linndrum) or is part of the family now?
I thought I was listening to a long lost Landscape tune in the outro, nice! The JP4 certainly has a special something, even if it is heavily limited by the available technology.
I don't think that's "digital stepping". Resonance emphasizes a certain frequency band, and when resonance is high, the band is very *narrow* and very *emphasized.* Eventually the band is so small it only emphasizes a single harmonic at a time in your sawtooth or square wave. There are no harmonics in-between, so you basically get one harmonic popping out at a time. With a high resonance this popping is extremely pronounced and produces a stepping effect. I think the highest level resonance on the Jupiter 4 is just narrower, but not as pronounced, as on your modular.
Thank you. I did wonder why it was so staircase like when other IR3109 synths aren't. I'll have to ask a tech who's worked on these about the ins and outs.
@@AlexBallMusic It should be pretty obvious. If it steps an even amount as the knob goes up it might be digital stepping, but the sound of stepping increases in density as you turn the knob up you are hearing the harmonics get closer and closer together compared to the octaves.
Listening back I think that might actually be digital stepping. it sounds like the "steps" are evenly spaced over the cutoff range of the fader. Also usually that resonance peaking sound sounds more like one peak fading out and another fading in.
@@AlexBallMusic The digital stepping is from the panel control microcontroller, a.k.a. the uPD8048C-012. It digitizes the panel controls with 6 bit resolution, allowing only 64 different values for any knob and then control voltages are generated with a low resolution 8 bit DAC to send to the voice circuits, allowing only 256 potential settings across the entire range at a maximum for any parameter. Fun facts: the firmware that runs the Jupiter 4 Compuphonic control panel is only 342 bytes long with 160 bytes of preset data, and the ROM contains hidden features that appear to be left over from development; namely 198 bytes worth of routines that read and write Compuphonic preset data to and from tape, although many will notice the Jupiter 4 does not have a tape port. Wink, wink. Interestingly, the firmware supports 16 ROM presets but only 10 are wired up to switches and the ROM only has 10 of the 16 positions filled with preset data. There is also a build option in the firmware that allows either a 256*4 bit RAM or a 128*8 bit RAM to be used for user presets. When using the 128*8 bit setting, the routines seem to allow access to 256*8 RAMs for 16 potential user memory locations.
Thank you to Peter S for the explanation of the digital stepping. It was a reply so I can't pin it, so here it is copy pasta:
_The digital stepping is from the panel control microcontroller, a.k.a. the uPD8048C-012. It digitizes the panel controls with 6 bit resolution, allowing only 64 different values for any knob and then control voltages are generated with a low resolution 8 bit DAC to send to the voice circuits, allowing only 256 potential settings across the entire range at a maximum for any parameter. Fun facts: the firmware that runs the Jupiter 4 Compuphonic control panel is only 342 bytes long with 160 bytes of preset data, and the ROM contains hidden features that appear to be left over from development; namely 198 bytes worth of routines that read and write Compuphonic preset data to and from tape, although many will notice the Jupiter 4 does not have a tape port. Wink, wink. Interestingly, the firmware supports 16 ROM presets but only 10 are wired up to switches and the ROM only has 10 of the 16 positions filled with preset data. There is also a build option in the firmware that allows either a 256*4 bit RAM or a 128*8 bit RAM to be used for user presets. When using the 128*8 bit setting, the routines seem to allow access to 256*8 RAMs for 16 potential user memory locations._
I’m no tech but it seems that Midiopolis must have made use of this with their Io midi kit and programmer, sadly no longer available (but apparently not very reliable in some cases).
@@alistairsteadman3765 Thank you for that reference! It appears that Midiopolis created a complete replacement for the two microcontrollers in the JP4 to add MIDI because they go well beyond the original capabilities. I am building a monster synth from scratch and Nick Rhodes burned the JP4 arpeggiator's magic into my brain as a teenager so in this effort I need to recreate the arpeggiator perfectly, especially the random function. The only sensible way to do that is to reverse engineer the actual code and port it to the my new key assigner chip. Luckily, the chips Roland used can be dumped and inspected. I can listen to that arpeggiator for hours and still be smiling from ear to ear.
Only 342 bytes of code for the firmware??? Wow. I have difficulty fitting flashlight firmware into 1024 bytes, and it only needs to handle one button and a couple PWM signals for adjusting LED brightness.
@@ToyKeeper Raw assembly was the only way to fly. Us old-timers (8048 was my first microcontroller) existed in a world where unless you employed Zen, you simply couldn't make it exist. I've had to optimize code more than once to fit in memory and been left with one free byte of ROM. There's an 8048-011 JP4 key assigner microcontroller sitting next to me so now just waiting for a hacked together reader to extract the arpeggiator code. Once I post the disassembly for both the -012 and -011 uCs, I'll try to leave a path to it on the web here if you are interested.
@@alistairsteadman3765 some dont believe in the mods but adding this midi kit has been pretty great. For one you can edit any preset ... change the noise level and synch to midi. and of course sequence it. Id recommend it to J4 owner (I wasn't aware it was discontinued). It's opened mine up. The Arp on this machine is the best I've used. One of those synths that sits in the mix so well.
I dunno how but every synth sounds like it's the greatest synth when it's under this guys fingers. How does he keep making bangers every video?
I KNOW RIGHT?!?!
Thank you both.
The JP4 is the greatest synth! I’m taking mine to the grave.
Because he is a Jedi Synthmaster
Formal training?
My favorite Jupiter.
And one of my fav synths.
I have the early JP with the BA662 filter. The sound is outstanding
...plus it has that massive 3D Roland logo on the back that makes you feel like a badass when playing it.
@@AlexBallMusic that too!!!
@@AlexBallMusic I find it comes in really handy when you're playing that stadium gig and you really need the people in the back row to know what you're playing.
The 70s had great sounding synths..2600, Minimoog, Odyssey, Polymoog, Prophet 5, CS-80, Jupiter 4,OBX.. Just amazing
They were bloody expensive back then- cost no object type designs!
Simply one of the greatest sounding synths ever made
It's not bad.😉
When drooling over synths in the early 80's in the music store, I ignored the 70's era synths, because they had the buttons on the front and cheesy sounding presets. I thought of them as fancy organs. Only much later I realized my mistake.
The ones I wanted was a Jupiter-8 or a Korg Trinity. Those were the kings in that store. Obviously both way too expensive for me.
I got a Polysix at the same store though, not a bad choice. I think it was probably the cheapest poly they had.
Lol I was about to write this same comment.
So odd that the most famous JP-4 user Vince Clarke had severe regret over his.
So much a feature of early Duran Duran. Truly classy instrument. Clarity, depth & power
Yes, Nick Rhodes loved his Roland synths, right to this day.
Sounds lovely... started dozing off (got a newborn at home - being tired not related to the video here). Will have to listen more when I am less tired..........
The joys of parenting. Hope you get some shut eye.
wickedest synth that came out of Roland in the Jupiter Era. I remember many a synth connoisseur & film composers picked them up and kept it close to noodle with them endlessly discovering synthesis and sound design in the confines of their homes, and offering an inspirational palette that's a sound designers delight, each with a clear and distinct character
Oh the 'voice' preset took me straight back to Night boat from the first Duran Duran album
yeah man switch on that arpeggiator. Such a good preset.
And I believe The Force is used at the end.
The 'voice' reminded me of you angel you, MMEB.
Awesome video as always. I love my JP4, it has a very special tone, I don't know how to describe it, but it's magic.
It sounds like a record out of the box.
Little known fun fact: a company called Smedger Symphonic had a competing product called the Uranus 42. Their slogan was "Make great sounds with Uranus!" Critical reception was pretty negative though. The consensus was that it stank.
Haha!
Funnily enough there was a synth made by CRB in Italy called the Uranus 2.
Hopefully I'll see it in the flesh one day. That sounds wrong.
@@AlexBallMusic is the keybed made by Fartar?
This just makes me laugh every time. We havent even scratched the surface of Uranus jokes yet. A hole lot of them.
@@SpikesStudio3 toot many to count is what you're saying?
Jay Kaufman rectum, you're right. Oh stop it. Lol
This synth just has "That" sound. It has a warm, romantic feeling and just the right physical texture to the sound itself. Like golden afternoon sunlight through the window of an ancient library. "Rose-tinted sound" indeed Alex. One unmentioned artist here is Thomas Dolby. The Golden Age of Wireless album in particular (and a good part of ones that followed) has this all over it.
To their credit, Roland Cloud do a pretty good VST of their Jupiter 4 too. After all, how much money and technical repair knowhow do most of us have spare to spend on such vintage wonders?
Yes! I was thinking "Thomas Dolby!" straight away during this video's intro, too! 😀👍
Love this "golden sunlight thru the window of an ancient library"
Back in 1979 when I was living in the UK I remember attending a concert of 332 The Rhumba of the Beast . IIRC back then the main guy was Ken Danger and he was using one of these bad boys live through like 4 different fuzz pedals.. that was POSH
Love the JP4 to bits. If it didn’t exist we would have missed so much good music
An essential synth by all means
Ah def one of my dream synths. Fell in love with it after seeing an I Break Horses video with it. Glad it's getting the attention it deserves from a dedicated Alex Ball vid!
It's a classic for sure.
agreed, it is a classic & as always a great demo...of all the synth channel folks I follow, you are by far the best keyboardist Alex.
Thanks Randy. Ironically I'm pretty ropey on keys, I'm a guitarist really.
@@AlexBallMusic well maybe then you’re just a very creative musician. Anyway, your tunes inspire me at least as much as the synths you talk about. Always some obscure old library soundtrack vibes resonating there and it just makes we want to sit down and record.
I bought one new in 1979. Tuning was pretty unstable, especially when stage lights were turned on... I kept a jewellers screwdriver handy during gigs so I could reach over to the recessed screw heads and individually tweak each oscillator. I traded it for a new jp8 and naturally wish I kept both...
Interesting. The tuning on this was very stable right from the off and it's getting pretty old now!
Cool that you had it _and_ a JP-8 new!
The exponential converters in the JP-4 are not temperature compensated, instead using tiny heaters to raise the exponential transistor pairs above room temperature to a constant temperature in order to stay stable. If the room temperature (and/or radiation from multiple spotlights) pushes them above what the heater normally raises them to, you're right back to everything drifting. Roland switched to using standard temperature compensation resistors in the JP-8 and the CEM3340s used in the JP-6 are "fully" thermally compensated internally.
I had the same issue with tuning playing live under stage lights. Our guitarist came running over and adjusted tuning during a performance once....That said a fantastic sounding synth with a totally unique character. I deeply regret selling mine back in the 80's...
Wow, what a great demonstration of the best sounding Jupiter. Thanks again for doing this. Two years ago I did a one hour symphony with the JP-4 on RUclips.
One hour symphony! Wow. I'll have to look that up.
Basically just Thomas Dolby's 'The Golden Age Of Wireless' album, in a box.
Magnificent sounding synth. Very unique and fresh for its time.
The sound of many early British synth albums interestingly. Perhaps it was the affordable option over here at the time.
That and Jupiter 8
Your demo song sounds like it could be from "The Golden Age Of Wireless". I played one new for years from 1981 or 1982 (been a while), and the thing that was so unique to me was the voice stealing. I've read where that was the core element in some of Thomas Dolby's work as well. When using a lot of decay/release it is evident in a good way and keeps things from being so layered. Nothing sounds like the JP-4.
Very true, you can use it to your advantage.
I know Sequential added a setting to deactivate 5 voices on the new P10 for the original voice grabbing behaviour. Seems mad, but people wanted it! I personally never use that setting.
Thanks Alex, great video. Love my JP-4 (first “proper” synthesiser I owned). Recent prices have reminded me of this quote from Peter Forrest’s mid 90s bible (The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers) “I can foresee a time when a JP-4 will be worth as much as a TB-303. Or am I just imagining things?”
Typical prices in 1996 were £250 - £370!
Ooo he had that right.
@@AlexBallMusic I bought mine in ‘87 for £200 and then saw it’s price drop over the next few years. But I always valued the JP-4.
(I suppose it’s everyone’s unique opinion: the difference between price and value)
Fantastic video. You really made it sing. Also best presentation on the Jupiter 4 so far on the Inter web. Amazing how you always make it stick at about the 10 min mark!
Great overview! Stuns me that Roland haven’t made a Boutique version. Loved the ensemble effect!.... seemed have an ever greater effect on the sound than the 106 chorus!I enjoyed the presets ( never heard them reviewed before!)- funny you mentioned Duran Duran as soon you played “the voice” pretty certain that exactly what’s on “to the shore” off their first album.
Thank you so much Alex, I'm sure your videos will turn out to be an invaluable historical treasure for the next generations. 🙌
(Geert Van Schlänger's works of art included...) 🤓
Maybe only Geert's videos will survive. 😉
This ... in my eyes .. being a service engineer back in these days.. was the best .. they hit the formula square and center....I could make it sound like a Monopoly, a Trident, a Trilogy, a Mini700, a Minimoog, ...an ARP.... I have one in my studio .. it's the most devine instrument ever created.
Killer video! Nice to come home after work and watch this with a nice beer
Thanks for talking about the original price. As an old guy, comments sections filled with comments saying a new analog poly synth priced at $1299 is way over priced makes me scratch my head. Absolutely no frame of reference. We live in amazing times.
Oh for sure! It's eye opening to do the conversions. The early modular synths were tens of thousands. Even the Minimoog was the equivalent of about £6k - £7k.
The expectations have certainly changed!
The JP-4 and 8 are so different if it wasn’t for the name they’d probably never be compared to each other, in the same way that no one compare a Jupiter 6/8 to a Juno. The LFO is probably it’s strongest feature which can create some seriously slow sweeps. Clocking the filter mod is on my list to do. Time to order another cable so I can use the beatstep pro to do the arpeggiator and filter at the same time. Thanks Alex. Another great video
10 minutes and 7 seconds for one cycle at it slowest.
@@Freakydile what about if you pitch bend the LFO down?
@@alistairsteadman3765 this was at standard slow. Will try it one of these data and report back haha
@@Freakydile I certainly will. Nothing could be more important today! 👍🏻
Yes, this is the sound of late 70's, simply wonderful. Thank you for this, I hope Behringer get this sussed. A big part of my fave Simple Minds era '78 - '81. Love it :)
Great that we can enjoy the cherry audio and Roland vst versions for now if don't have the space or cash for the rare and decaying original.
Nice overview ! Glad this video comes out after i found one (-: character galore !
That ensemble is to die for.
Hey Alex, another great video! The Jupiter 4 is a beautiful sounding synth. No doubt that the Jupiter-8 is a superior, more versatile instrument. Though I do prefer the sounds of the 4 and 6 over the 8. But I don't have access to any of them so it hardly matters. Anyway, I much appreciate your videos on these old machines. Thanks!
I don't own any Jupiters and am just fortunate to borrow them occasionally. I think the 8 is my favourite but the others are wonderful too.
I have the 6. With its added complexity it sounds absolutely awesome at times, and not so great at other times. So it sings out to be touched in a special way.
The 8 I’ve never played, although I’ve heard rumours that you can pretty much flick the the switches and sliders anywhere you want and you have a ready made patch.
I need someone to confirm or deny.
...Alex, it’s your cue.
JP4 (midi) , JP6 and MKS80 (with mpg here)..... I love my analog.... (Shouldn't of sold the JP8.. my only regret) ..
Bought The Cherry and love it..... Still aint the same... in cant be... But for The price... whose complaining? I aint.
Maybe sacrilege to some hardware purists but there are some very nice VST versions of the JP4 and JP8 out there, though my favs are the Cherry audio's Mercury 4 and Arturia's Jup8 they sound close enough to the real thing for a pittance, so am not complaining.
I owned this synth once in the past and it's absolutely awesome. The sound is really powerful and the high speed LFO is very useful for experimental sounds.
Nice demo by the way !
Did you sell it?
@@AlexBallMusic I exchanged it for a Doepfer modular system which I later sold to buy an AD/DA converter. I'm mastering engineer not a musician. Playing synths is just my hobby :)
That was truly C O M P U P H O N I C.
In very low resolution
I had a Minimoog, but the Jupiter 4 was my first polysynth when it came out. They were songs & sounds I created on it that just don’t sound the same on anything else. It was amazing,
Just putting the Arpeggiator into random and on hold is a great way to listen to the oscillator drift; never too much but always interesting.
You make these things sing so well man, great video.
I actually thought those presets were pretty fun for old presets lol.
Who doesn't need some synth trumpet in their life? 😉
There is a warmth and depth to the Jupiter 4 and 8 that only a few other non-Roland synths bring to my ears :)
It's so great isn't it!
This deserves the HIGHEST face rating!
I remember thisch wasch the firscht schynth that let you usche four fingersh at a time.
I LOVE my JP-4. Incredible synth.
Fantastic as usual Alex! One thing you didn't mention is the VCA overdrive which can get into some additional strange gnarly territory.
With some big washy reverb to blur the voice stealing the pads and strings on this thing are superb.
JP4 is the absolute god-tier synth for late 70s/early 80s UK synthpop fans. Buying one for £400 in 2008 was the smartest (ok, luckiest) thing I ever did.
Yeah, it does drive really heavily. It's kind of cool but I didn't like using it.
04:45 - In a strange way, I actually like the digital stepping (osc's, filters, LFO's) of late 70's/80's synths. It's super lo-fi and reminds of a time when I was first exposed to synthesisers & synth music and when life was so much easier. 😊
Simple stepping for simpler times.
@@AlexBallMusic Isn't the stepping just the filter hitting a dominant harmonic and not some digital barrier? I think I hear it on your modular too.
@@bitspacemusic There was a conversation about specifically this and I've pinned the informed answer at the top of the comment section. It's quite interesting.
@@bitspacemusic The JP4 analogue controls are digitized to only 6 bits, resulting in 64 possible settings and the steps which can be easily heard. I think some of the real magic of these machines is the interplay between the filter latching on harmonics as you note and these "posterized" or de-rezed steps. The synergy between them is awe inspiring for me.
Oh, listen to that creamy sound.
Jupiter-4, the synth that lays so creamy in the mix.
And don’t forget. That sub oscillator is synced to the VCO which makes it sound so unique and powerful in Unison.
It's a lovely thing.
Sub - phase synced? I thought it would divided from the same oscillator and so share the same phase anyway? But then I have no understanding of electronics. How does that work?
@@AlexBallMusic The suboscillators are divided down using a flip flop circuit, much like on the SH-101
@@AlexBallMusic I don’t know if my answer got censored because of my link to a company who described it.
But as the later person wrote, it is made by a flip flop unit.
Thus in practice, it can not divide down the waveform presented. But can only provide a square wave based on the starting pulse of the oscillator.
As such it is in perfect sync.
I am sorry if I can’t describe it better.
I love your videos and your music presented.
@@jlindborg1105 I had to block links due to the growing problem of bot generated spam. Unfortunately, whilst some go to the filter section that I can approve, many just get removed by RUclips without ever appearing.
Thanks for the info with the sub oscillator from a flip flop.
Trying to remember.....was there some synth anyone ever used that loses it's sub-oscillator's tuning or phase ??
...it is a non-issue afaik.
I have been the happy owner of a JP-4 for many years and it will always have a special place in my heart.
Ah, great!
Video has made my day! What a gorgeous synth, my lord!!
Ah nice to know, thank you Marty.
Just wanted to say your "COMPUPHONIC" voice scared the shit out of me. I put on a bluetooth sleep mask that I have a habit of relaxing to so i can just focus on the sound. Sounded like it was in my bedroom lol.
Beautiful sounding synth 😍
I think I like the sound of the Jupiter 4 because of its simplicity. All those hits from the 80’s from Depeche Mode, Human League and the like often had very catchy simple tunes. That’s why I bought them!
Thank you for the video, this is the first time i can hear a Jupiter-4, i am a fan of Roland Synths.
Arigato gozaimasu
From Tokyo Japan
One of the greatest synths out there! There's a trick I discovered years ago if you want to play chord hits or simple bass lines you push any of the arpeggio buttons and unison together. Now when you send a trigger from your drum machine it will play it as a chord or single note!
Nice hack!
Yes indeed, as used by Dolby on The Golden Age of Wireless.
Oh dude. This video makes me so happy. Thank you.
I'm getting strong early Depeche Mode vibes. Good synth, nice presentation, great musical examples.
Totally "Speak & Spell". I wonder if Daniel had one of these at the time...🤔
@@jeshkam Vince Clarke used one for the Speak & Spell album, then later for Upstairs at Eric's when he left DM to form Yazoo. The first Yazoo singles, Only You and Don't Go were basically created using one of these.
Roland’s synths are amazing
Especially the Jupiter series. Those beasts can make so many unique sounds. I’m not biased as a thomas fan (they used one) I think they are awesome
Enjoyed your video very much!
Cheers!
Bloody marvellous! Thanks :o))
its interesting how all the jupiters, especially 4/6/8, differ from each other in various ways other than the voice count, it's the only synthesizer series i know of (or at least none other come to mind typing this) that have the differences; great video as usual! you really make these old synths shine
I guess the Sequential Prophets are quite different too. Like the VS to the T~8 or the 12 to the 6.
@@AlexBallMusic oh yeah, I totally forgot about the prophets actually
OBs, Prophets and CS-x0s, oh my.
This synth just oozes with the sound of early 80s Doctor Who, and I just love it, this is my dream synth.
Cheers Alex, great to see and hear one in action. Like others, one of the synths that shaped a lot of my early fascination for these sounds.
Love, love, love your videos. Please do not ever stop. 💙
Thank you sir.
Such a deep relaxing Review 🙏❤️🎶 love that synth..
Oh my gosh the arp part sounds so pretty
great synth and superb presentation as always. A real treat, thanks!
A very timely video. I just bought the Cherry Audio vst version of this. Nice to compare the sound with yours.
Excellent stuff! Great viewing as always.
Wow that's cool. Why won't they make things like this anymore? Thanks for sharing your synth journey 😆
Oooh, love that smudgey filter ❤️
Awesome. An educational video and some tasty jams. Who could ask for more?
80s funktastic goodness! Great demo of an otherwise unappreciated vintage synth!
It's a fun synth for sure!
Foot thanks you for including the button clunk sound when switching presets. Just as foot remembers that keyboard. Good job.
Did you used to change sounds with your toesies?
Yeah!!!!!! I Love this Intro !!! Thank you men!
@8:41, in the photo with Vangelis not only the JP4 is visible, but also the Promars.
I believe this photo was made around or just before the recording of Blade Runner.
This video was so cool. I loved it.
This beauty is all over Gary Numan's Telekon album. Very nice indeed 😀
Used on Dare and many others in the early 80's when the price may have actually been starting to drop too, then the analogue gear went out of fashion in 84 started ending up secondhand for next to nothing. Doh!! bought my first TB303 for $50 in 1986 before acid house took off.
@@steviewondek On man you wouldn't believe the synths I owned back in the early 80's.When I think how much I paid then as to how much they are worth now I really, really wish I still had them. I paid £60 for a Pro-One and £80 for a JX8P... 😭
You’re on a roll! I dig it!
I hold the slightly controversial view that the JP-4 is the first but also the best synth to bear the Jupiter name. There is just something absolutely magical about the sound. And as both of the two versions with (slightly) different filters sound amazing, the secret sauce might just be in the oscillators, which to my knowledge weren't carried over to the JP8.
It is lovely.. I personally prefer the 8, but can see the appeal.
The VCOs on both are discrete, but I don't know how closely related they are (or aren't).
The JP-4 VCO design is unique to Roland and synthesizers generally. Whilst the JP-8 reused the filters and LFO, the JP-8 VCO was from the Roland 100M. The JP-4 is a square wave oscillator based on a 555 chip which then generates a slope stepped swatooth and then a pulse waveform. This all makes for lots of tone dynamics which is why people love the JP-4 oscillator, its rich sounding! Tuning is good in the studio but harder work on tour with big temperature changes, with air wafting up across the chips in the voice card rails. The volrage controlled ADSR’s are also unique and very complex CMOS chip designs that do the job of two CEM3310 but with 10x the chips. Never seen in any synth since, thank god! This all makes the JP-4 special and very hard to replicate as a hardware clone cheaply, which is why we may never see a Bupiter4. The secret sauce is in the oscillstors ☺️☺️
@@amsynths Thank you for these gold nuggets of information!
One other thing that adds to the magical, organic and blatantly analog nature of the JP4 is the nearly impossible task to calibrate every voice to sound exactly the same. And fans of Oberheim OB-X know this to be a good thing.
@@amsynths Thank you, that's fantastic!
(PS - I assume you're Rob?)
Sounds lovely, I would also love to try and find a DR-110
Character? Charisma? And some balls? Yes, yes and yes. I want one.
The portamento is sooooo...
All Jupiter!
Your skills are so great.. many thanks for sare!
Thank you
God Damn it sounds beautiful
That snap 👌👌
Oooft juicy opener Alex!
Quite a cute machine, even though the filter is a bit thin and clinical.
I was hoping you’d play some notes when you were demoing some of the FM sounds! Ah well :) I know how those kinds of sounds sound when you play them so it wasn’t strictly necessary, but y’know.
Really liked the energy in your piece at the end! The drums really tied the whole thing together. I liked how you just leaned into the simple and stereotypical sounds!
Cheers. Yeah, I was trying to get the different flavours of modulation but in hindsight, playing different notes would have changed the ratios and showed it off more. Ah well.
Someone just called the JP4, which is by far the most emotive sounding synth I've ever owned, thin and clinical. I officially want off the internet. Goddamn.
Great stuff!!
In terms of the filters, I think I slightly prefer the early filter (The one that starts with the B). It sounds smoother and there is a better curve on the resonance in my opinion, but both sound excellent!
The IR3109 is in the Jupiter-8, Juno 6/60 and JX-3P and is a nice filter but it's really stepped on the Jupiter-4. The pinned comment explains why.
Without that there's only subtle differences between the two. I'm told the IR3109 was basically a set of BA662s in a single IC to save them having to buy them.
[EDIT] The BA662 was their own chip too. So that's why the IR3109 was basically a version of the same thing.
Smashing music as usual. Love it!
Great Alex. All your videos are a nostalgia trip. I remember seeing this when it first came out and was super impressed. It is like 4 SH-09's with memory and colours! Christian Henson just did a studio tour and guess what he has in his vintage collection? Great video as usual.
Ah, and old friend of yours then.
Yeah I heard Christian saying that he got a Jupiter-6 but that it never sounded as lovely as his old 4.
Thoma Dolby, Cloudburst at Shingle Street is like a demo for the Jupiter-4. Those beating chords, from the opening notes... I love the sound and I love the song.
I love this channel! Awesome dude!
Cheers!
Awesome video as usual!
Best synth channel on RUclips!
Thanks!
Bar none.
Thanks for showing us the JP-4 vs. the Jupiter she told you not to worry about
😆
So new wavy… freaking love this synth
The tracks you've made are Der Wahnsinn. Pretty nice video.
A very unique synth, so simple but so deep in sound... I think that the people love the JP4 more than its descendants are people that have had electronic music imprinting with the new wave/sythpop of the early 80ì's. If you listen to Simple Mind's "Empire and Dance" there are some tracks literally build upon this quirky, old, heavy, clumsy, limited 4 voices mono osc Compuphonc beast! Like me... I really enjoy playing my old JP4
Yes, a wonderful thing. You have the Uranus-2 synth also! You just need the Promars for the solar experience. 🙂
@@AlexBallMusic Unfortunately the Uranus is not mine, I only have the Oberon, but I can borrow both Promars and Uranus! Anyway, great video and GREAT music as usual. You caught the more intimate character of the JP4! Respect and admiration!
This really is a classic synth, and this is the best demo of it, I've seen so far. Thanks.
Thank you
Great synth, the VCO sound is unique in certain way, has a limitation in voices but sounds really good, the most interesting part is the arpegiator, I haven't heard a synth of that era with a very distinctive random mode arp.
Prices are insane right now but a couple of weeks ago Cheery Audio release a nice sounding VST with Tape Echo emulation and very cheap priced.
As always Mr.Ball, excellent video, what can I say!
PS. I saw a guest drum machine (Linndrum) or is part of the family now?
Thank God or Thor for Cherry Audio!!!!!
I thought I was listening to a long lost Landscape tune in the outro, nice! The JP4 certainly has a special something, even if it is heavily limited by the available technology.
Where’s Duran Duran’s Rio arp pattern?? lol 😝
I tell you something, you know what we’re thinking 😎
In the section that was copyright struck. 😉
@@AlexBallMusic lmfao
The Jup-4 earns a place among the greatest synths ever built strictly based on that arp.
I've never heard anything that analogue, before! 😂
Just a tad. 😅
@@AlexBallMusic it should only be be played in a room thick with cigarette smoke.
@@FatNorthernBigot 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I wasnt even aware of alot of the roland machines, they all have such a rich sound
I don't think that's "digital stepping". Resonance emphasizes a certain frequency band, and when resonance is high, the band is very *narrow* and very *emphasized.* Eventually the band is so small it only emphasizes a single harmonic at a time in your sawtooth or square wave. There are no harmonics in-between, so you basically get one harmonic popping out at a time. With a high resonance this popping is extremely pronounced and produces a stepping effect. I think the highest level resonance on the Jupiter 4 is just narrower, but not as pronounced, as on your modular.
Thank you. I did wonder why it was so staircase like when other IR3109 synths aren't.
I'll have to ask a tech who's worked on these about the ins and outs.
@@AlexBallMusic It should be pretty obvious. If it steps an even amount as the knob goes up it might be digital stepping, but the sound of stepping increases in density as you turn the knob up you are hearing the harmonics get closer and closer together compared to the octaves.
Listening back I think that might actually be digital stepping. it sounds like the "steps" are evenly spaced over the cutoff range of the fader. Also usually that resonance peaking sound sounds more like one peak fading out and another fading in.
@@AlexBallMusic The digital stepping is from the panel control microcontroller, a.k.a. the uPD8048C-012. It digitizes the panel controls with 6 bit resolution, allowing only 64 different values for any knob and then control voltages are generated with a low resolution 8 bit DAC to send to the voice circuits, allowing only 256 potential settings across the entire range at a maximum for any parameter.
Fun facts: the firmware that runs the Jupiter 4 Compuphonic control panel is only 342 bytes long with 160 bytes of preset data, and the ROM contains hidden features that appear to be left over from development; namely 198 bytes worth of routines that read and write Compuphonic preset data to and from tape, although many will notice the Jupiter 4 does not have a tape port. Wink, wink. Interestingly, the firmware supports 16 ROM presets but only 10 are wired up to switches and the ROM only has 10 of the 16 positions filled with preset data. There is also a build option in the firmware that allows either a 256*4 bit RAM or a 128*8 bit RAM to be used for user presets. When using the 128*8 bit setting, the routines seem to allow access to 256*8 RAMs for 16 potential user memory locations.
@@Peter_S_ Thank you! OK, so it is indeed digital stepping!