SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Forum for JUPITER-80
Post Reply
User avatar
Artemiy
Site Admin
Posts: 19754
Joined: 13:00, 17 April 2003
Location: Ukraine
Contact:

SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Artemiy »

This was posted in another thread but I think it's worth special attention:
http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2011/04/ ... upiter-80/

Sounds quite damn good to my ears! Seems like it has some physical/spectral modeling effects on the acoustic tones, these kinds of effects seem very organic and special.
vxfan
Posts: 42
Joined: 00:49, 18 December 2009
Location: USA

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by vxfan »

I liked watching this video with a perspective from a synthesist.
User avatar
Kristijan
Posts: 190
Joined: 15:56, 20 December 2008
Contact:

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Kristijan »

My compliments to Roland for amazing sound quality.
Parsifal
Posts: 475
Joined: 09:20, 6 March 2008

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Parsifal »

The Plus:

- Polyphony (256?)
- Touchscreen
- Intuitive interface, very easy to use and very friendly
- Lots of buttons (too early to tell if they're hard-coded or they're fully programmable)
- Build quality (except the USB front panel hatch which is IMO crappy looking - also remarked the video cunningly avoids displaying it like the plague)
- Aftertouch (?)
- 76 keys
- supposedly modeled instruments all over the gamut
- SLIGHTLY more flexibility than V-synth in how you put your tones/patches on the keyboard

The Minus:

- The weight (17 kg)
- The mixed-bag design (it's neither 80s hardcoded buttons for each parameter, nor the 90's rompler interface)
- No expansions
- Cutting corners on realtime controllers
- Layer/split Performance functions weaker than on the Fantom
- THE PRICE

My verdict: it's a crossbreed of a Kurzweil PC361 (without the controller bits) and the Yamaha CP1 (but lighter and - obviously - without fully weighted wooden keys).
While (quite) a little more delivering than a CP1 (both in portability and features), it's not as easy to move around as the PC361 (14 kg) and lacking as a controller. I still don't see the particular consumer target it's aiming at.
Were you to buy a CP1 - you might consider the J-80 instead, if you don't care about the non-weighted keys.
Were you to buy a PC361 - you probably lacked the budget to buy a J-80 anyway.
Were you to buy a Virus - better get a J-80.

Should the Stage had these features (and retained the price, lol) then it should have sold like hot cakes.
en76
Posts: 664
Joined: 06:57, 3 June 2008
Location: honolulu' Hi

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by en76 »

definitely need more details on what hardwares are in the this monster. Is it up-datable or just that-row material. 256 is nice and would be nice to have it on the FG.
Cesarsound
Posts: 369
Joined: 04:50, 24 December 2005
Location: SP - Brazil

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Cesarsound »

Wonderful synth pads in this video. But it sounded a lot like Korg's Combis.
Leh173
Posts: 513
Joined: 06:08, 8 August 2010
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Leh173 »

Here's another one with Scott Tibbs.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2011/04/ ... r-80-demo/
Dan Krisher
Posts: 359
Joined: 20:09, 3 May 2008
Location: Los Angeles, CA USA

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Dan Krisher »

The one with Scott is an awesome demonstration of it's potential:
http://sonicmp4.s3.amazonaws.com/messe1 ... _jp-80.mp4

Regarding supposed lack of "controllers": I would argue that you have more control then in any previous synth because the controllers all change functionality via the SuperNATURAL and Behavior Modeling Engine. This is clearly demonstrated in Scott's demo in the link above. Keep in mind too that when you are in the synth engine the knobs and faders are there to adjust parameters both for programming and realtime performance.
Parsifal
Posts: 475
Joined: 09:20, 6 March 2008

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Parsifal »

Well, to be honest, my "review" has been done prior to watching to Scott Tibbs great demo. After watching this, I must confess some of my previous doubts have been shattered but some still remain.
Regarding controllers, it's a subjective point of view. Even if some of the more modern approaches to synths and electronic instrument offer more (and better) control over some / all aspects of a sound, some people might argue that older, verified types of control were more natural and possibly offered more feedback to the player.
I personally consider that polyphonic aftertouch is a very powerful tool and coupled with multitibral tone generator and velocity-switching offers a great expression potential. D-beam and pedals are nice but they require at least a free hand or some foot proficiency :)
I'd have expected at this price to see the comeback of the polyphonic aftertouch. Oh well, maybe another time. And I'm sure others might have wanted 9 drawbars and the like. (ribbon controllers, etc.)
Leh173
Posts: 513
Joined: 06:08, 8 August 2010
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: SonicState JUPITER-80 preview video

Post by Leh173 »

I assume the 4 knobs are freely assignable but are the faders as well? If so, 8 assignable realtime controllers + d-beam, aftertouch, S1-2 and rotary switch, pitch/mod lever and pedals + the behaviour modelling will hopefully provide plenty of realtime control. So far it's looking like a good performance instrument. The Howard Jones video is pretty inspiring for the synth nuts, but Scotts demo shows how far the emulated instruments have come. Interested to play one when it's out.

PS: Controllers changing functionality per patch etc is something I program into Mainstage all the time, this looks like it does that automatically depending on how you play which is cool.
Post Reply