ARTURIA JUPITER-8V
Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, BY JASON SCOTT ALEXANDER
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Check out these seven MP3 examples of Arturia Jupiter-8V, created by the author, Jason Scott Alexander. Jupiter-8V is a very accurate emulation of of the Roland Jupiter-8 analog synth.
File 1 Random arpeggiator acting on a saw + square dual-voice Patch; real-time demonstration of the 12 dB/octave highpass filter and 24 dB/octave lowpass filter combining to form a bandpass with resonance. The warm analog overdriven ‘dirt’ comes compliments of Jupiter-8V’s “distortion” Voice effect, being slightly modulated by the LFOs and envelope.
File 2 32-step sequence with active Galaxy modulation and live filter tweaks; also demonstrated about half way through is Galaxy modulating both VCO’s pitch (jumping octaves at a time) and frequency cutoff. Again, there’s a healthy dose of distortion, delay and of course flanger and phaser.
File 3 Just a simple little tribute to the '80s created using LFO-driven retriggering.
File 4 One flavor of many classic Jupiter-8 bass patches available in the factory presets.
File 2 A beautiful factory preset called “Dual Spindle,” demonstrating how sparkly and majestic Jupiter-8V can sound.
File 2 Another factory preset called “Elektro Sequence,” putting the 32-step sequencer as well as Galaxy to great use.
File 2 A custom-programmed contemporary club-bass sound, played as a live riff, with dynamics driven by Galaxy’s rotating x-y axis to circularly modulate the filters.
Roland's Juno and Jupiter series are two of the most honored and respected in synthesizer history. Launched in 1981, the flagship Jupiter-8 fell smack dab in the middle of a J-series production legacy — lasting from the late '70s to the mid-'80s — that included the Juno-6, Juno-106, Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-6.
The Jupiter-8 was the biggest and baddest of them all. With 16 rich, true-analog oscillators assigned two at a time across 8 notes of polyphony, killer multipole resonant filters, advanced cross-modulation, oscillator sync, flexible keyboard splitting/layering and adjustable polyphonic portamento, the synth was best known for its punchy basses, lush strings, creamy pads and fresh-sounding leads of both sparkling clarity and fat, panoramic warmth.
In fact, the Jupiter-8 sounded the way it looked: sleek and polished, with a personality as colorful as the rainbow of buttons on its front panel. Artists such as Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, OMD, Simple Minds and Frankie Goes to Hollywood made the Jupiter-8 synonymous with early '80s synth-pop. Its effervescent built-in arpeggiator put the Jupiter center stage on classic Duran Duran hits “Save a Prayer,” “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Rio.” As a side note, the JP-8 (as it became affectionately known) was also my first analog synth.
FIFTH ROCK FROM THE SUN
Powered by an improved version of the company's award-winning aliasing-free TAE engine, Jupiter-8V re-creates every aspect of the original while adding many new editing possibilities and modern functions. More than 400 presets demonstrate the power of these new features, but digging in to “roll your own” is as easy as ever. Like the original JP-8, all parameters are intuitively programmed via the front-panel sliders, knobs and buttons which, unlike the hardware, can now be host- or externally controlled via MIDI. Under Syncrosoft USB key protection, Jupiter-8V works on Mac OS X and Windows XP as either a stand-alone or as a VST, Audio Units or RTAS plug-in.
The instrument consists not only of its trademark photorealistic GUI representation of the original Jupiter-8 front-panel synthesis parameters, but it also has a collapsible expanded parameters window above it featuring tabbed editor pages and an all new Kore-like filtered browser. Situated under the Presets tab, this browser can be used to locate sounds based on search criteria but equally facilitates the assembly of complex new user presets.
In familiar Roland-speak, performance presets (called Patches) consist of an upper and lower tone (called Programs), each playable in three different ways. In Dual mode, upper and lower are played simultaneously across the entire keyboard; Split mode sees them divisible into two zones; and Whole mode plays only the upper program over the full range of the keyboard. Therefore you can edit, save or load upper and lower programs independently within the browser, each assignable as many as three sonic characteristics such as aggressive, ambient, bizarre, bright, complex, hard, soundtrack, etc. In creating or searching for a performance preset, the browser provides two layers of search filtering, allowing you to narrow down choices based on combinations of sonic character, sound type (bass, brass, strings, lead, pad, percussive, etc.), project name or play mode. The toolbar at the top of the Jupiter-8V window features a compact version of those dual browser filters. Too bad that standard file-tree browsing isn't provided.
Expanding on the original's eight notes, each Jupiter-8V instance is capable of 32-note polyphony and three unison layers. VCO1 delivers triangle, sawtooth, rectangle/pulse and square waveshapes, and it can be switched between four octaves. VCO2 has sine, sawtooth, rectangle/pulse and white noise, and its range can be set in semitones with ultrafine detuning. A Low Frequency switch on VCO2 drops it into sub territory or allows it to generate inaudibly low frequencies and act as an LFO. VCO1 itself can drive the sync of VCO2 or adjust the amount of frequency cross-modulation (FM) with VCO2. A PWM (pulse width modulation) slider on VCO1 has a separate switch for selecting manual, LFO or envelope-based PWM. The LFO, envelope or both can modulate oscillator frequency.
The LFO features controls for rate (independent or tempo synced), delay (0 to 7,894 ms) and waveshape (sine, saw, square, random/S&H). The JP-8's real-time LFO modulation and portamento/bend section was incredibly intuitive and powerful for its time, and even today in Jupiter-8V's perfect rendition it offers lots of interaction. Triggered by a large white button next to the pitch-bend/modulation lever, the LFO can be set to momentarily act upon the oscillators and/or filters for accent during performance. A pair of sliders determines the amount of modulation for each destination, while a knob sets the rise time for the triggered effect. Another knob controls portamento level. The pitch bend can send different amounts to VCO1, VCO2 (±2 octaves) and VCF. These — and all other Jupiter-8V controls — can be mapped to continuous controllers with MIDI Learn.
A simple yet flexible filter section that combined two discrete filters is often considered the JP-8's strongest suit. The first filter — a nonmodulatable, nonresonant 6 dB/octave highpass filter (HPF) — stands next to the larger VCF section, which has a resonant lowpass filter with switches to choose between 2-pole (12 dB/octave) and 4-pole (24 dB/octave) operation. Because its cutoff is below the range of the HPF, it's possible to create a bandpass filter. This structure is distinctive of the early Roland sound. The VCF can receive modulation from one of the two freely assignable ADSR envelopes, the LFO or keyboard tracking; sliders adjust the amount of modulation for each of those sources.
Jupiter-8V's envelopes are extremely fast and deliver a punchy sound consistent with the original. Not being specifically hardwired to filter or amplitude duties means freedom to experiment and interchange between their unique features in real time. For example, ENV1 has a polarity switch that inverts its response, and it's simple to toggle filtering between ENV1 and ENV2 on the fly (keep in mind that ENV2 routes directly to the final VCA at all times).
Four assign modes include Solo, where all voices are played simultaneously by one key, producing a rich harmonic mono sound similar to a chorus effect. In Unison, the synth is polyphonic and plays upward of four user-detunable layers at once. Poly 1 is the normal polyphonic mode where envelopes do not reinitialize on every note, whereas Poly 2 is ideal for use with portamento. You can set a Hold for either or both sides of a split/layer.
TINY STEPS
Hidden within the Modulations tab of the extended parameters window is the powerful new 32-step live-oriented sequencer. With a maximum of three destinations at its output, it can create highly complex melodic and dynamic modulations over pitch and pulse width independently for each oscillator; modulate the HPF cutoff; modulate cutoff and resonance for the VCF lowpass; and step the VCA amplitude. Each modulation output has a knob for controlling the intensity, as well as a Q button that quantifies modulations to semitones.
To program, you set the sequence length (1 to 32 steps) and then draw in semitone/step values using the Pen or Line tools. Alternatively, there's a random waveform button that draws in a random sequence that you can keep or tweak to taste. For each step there's a glide (portamento) and accent button, as well as a button for linking the selected step with the following step (legato) when in Envelope Retrigger mode.
The sequencer can start and stop according to Note On/Off, MIDI commands or be left free-running at an internal tempo as high as 240 bpm. It can also sync to the host tempo in half-note to 128th-note intervals, including triplets. Playback direction can be forward, backward, forward/backward or random, and steps can be smoothed out, swung or accented by applying an adjustable attack-decay-level envelope to the cutoff frequency of the VCF lowpass filter.
For a quick fix, the famous basic arpeggiator runs between 1, 2, 3 and 4 octaves and in four directions: up, down, up/down or random. In Split mode, it works on only the lower part of the keyboard.
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