Vintage synth demo: Roland Jupiter-4
Vintage synthesizer demo track featuring the Roland Jupiter 4
all sounds: Roland Jupiter-4 Analog Synthesizer (1978)
drums: Roland TR-808 (1982)
recording: multi-track without Midi
fx: delay and reverb
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can be heard in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
J4 Synthesizer for Kontakt 5.2.1 – Jupiter 4 emulation
Inspired by a legendary 4 voice Japanese analogue synth of the late 70s.
All sounds in this video made with the J4.
Purchase at www.synthmagic.co.uk or www.tronsonic.com
Full version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.2.1 or later required.
Features:
- 2 sets of samples – one recorded ‘DI’, with a NEVE* style pre-amp/eq and boutique valve mixer at 48khz/24 bit. The second set uses the same method as well as being recorded to brand new ‘old-stock’ tape at 15ips on a Studer* A807 quarter inch reel-to-reel recorder.
- Over 330 patches
- Single oscillator analogue style synth with 6 waveforms, sub square wave and noise generator.
- Syncable 16 step sequencer system with Filter, Resonance, Velocity and Chord sequencer
- Syncable Arpeggiator
- Syncable main LFO and VCF S/H LFO
- Overdrive function via relationship between ‘Volume’ and ‘Level’ controls.
- Sub LFO
- Dual Polarity Keytrack
- Unison, Portamento and Mono mode
- 4 Voice or Full Polyphony
- Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel routing system
- Delay, high quality ‘Mixbus’ Compressor, ‘Tape Compressor’, Ensemble and choice of 3 Reverbs.
Pricing and Availability:
£19.99 limited offer until May 1st (normally £29.99)
Roland Jupiter-4
All sounds from the 1978 Roland Jupiter-4 analog synthesizer. One of the best sounding analog poly synths ever built.
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can be heard in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
Time machine: Roland Jupiter-4 performing “City By Night”
Vintage synthesizer demo track
all synthesizer sounds: Roland Jupiter-4 Analog Synthesizer (1978)
drums: LinnDrum
recording: multi-tracking without midi
fx: reverb and delay
More on this machine:
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can be heard in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
Roland Jupiter 4 Self Oscillating Filter and Strymon TimeLine ICE mode
Nice video featuring the first Jupiter synth from Roland.
All sounds from Jupiter 4 are produced by its self oscillating filter with VCO waveforem set to “OFF”. Modulating filter with ENV-1 and LFO and adding a little noise from time to time. Strymon TimeLine is being used in ICE mode with 1.5 octave interval.
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter-4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
Time machine: Roland Jupiter 4
“This is a little demo i’ve made with the Jupiter 4. Since the first two albums from The Human League, this synth is well known. And i can say, this synth has a very special timbre. The Jup4 is not midified. All lines were played by hand. Only the bassdrum, snare and the HiHats are sampled from the Jupiter 4 and were played by a sampler. I’ve also used the internal JP4 arpeggio. As always a multitrack recording with some fx.”
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter 4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
Time Machine: Roland Jupiter 4
A voyage into the heart of the Roland Jupiter-4 from the year 1978.
The first Jupiter synth. It was among one of the first poly synthesizers (4 individual voices which could be synced together for one fat monophonic lead), it had a pitch wheel that could be assigned to the VCA, VCF, VCO or all together, there are 8 memory locations and a cool arpeggiator – the arpeggiator can in the Duran Duran classic, “Rio”. It also has a very slow LFO for those ever-so-long filter sweeps. Pretty good for 1978!
Not so cool however, are the 10 preset sounds which sound nothing like the piano, brass or strings they claim to be. The placement of all the preset buttons below the keyboard can be inconvenient, especially while playing it. And as with most old analog synths, the Jupiter 4’s tuning can go out often. Still it is a nice analog synth for creating weird trippy analog sounds.
4 Voice Polyphonic and Unisono Mode
1 VCO I 1 Sub-VCO
LFO – 1 LFO
Filter – lowpass with ADSR envelope
2 Envelopes
Arpeggiator
Chorus
It has been used by Vince Clark, Depeche Mode, Vangelis, Human League and many more!
Early days of Human League pt. 2
I have to say I really respect Human Leagues consequent decision to only use synthesizers. At the time (late 70s) synthesizer was not considered proper instruments by many. No many bands was that hard core but Kraftwerk paved the way. Most new wave artists used guitars and drum in combination with synthesizers. All sounds on Reproduction and Travelogue are made by 3 synthesizers; Korg 770, Roland Jupiter 4 and Roland System 100 (not to be confused with Roland System 100M) and then vocals.
Listening through the two albums Reproduction and Travelogue there are many fat bass lines. How are they made?
Now you’ve might heard of Roland Jupiter 4 http://www.bluesynths.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=30 as the little brother of the mighty Roland Jupiter 8 http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/jupiter-8v/intro.html. Looking at the spec of the Juniper 4 is appears to be very poorly equipped. It has ONE single oscillator per voice. No where near the Minimoogs 3 oscillators or the Prophet 5 two per voice. But all those fat basses are made by the Jupiter 4 set to unison mode! And the arpeggio is made to good use on several songs too. Also many melodies are played on the Juniper 4 as well in the polyphonic mode. For most drums and percussion the System 100 with it’s sequencer is used. Note that the sequencer is 2 times 12 steps but it can be chained up to 24 steps. Otherwise there would have been lots of waltzes on those albums…
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