Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Forum for JUPITER-80
Post Reply
alex-f.s
Posts: 55
Joined: 10:08, 20 February 2009

Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by alex-f.s »

I am really wondering about the hip about Roland Jupiter-80 and Korg Kronos.
Looking at the Jupiter-80 price, features and finally the size and weight of the 76 keys keyboard, I think when looking in my crystal ball, that the Jupiter-80 will not sell well for Roland.

Don't get me wrong - I would buy a Jupiter-60-Ex with sample option and the possibility to play at least MIDI songs. (I don't need a full sequencer.)

I need a "Live" keyboard which is not too heavy to carry and which fits in a normal car. Are all the cars soo big in Japan? 76 keys are great (I owned a Motif 7 XS) - but when it comes to the point of moving the Synth more often the week - you will learn that you can live with the 61 keys limitation. That's my opinion, of course.

;) One message to the Roland sales guys - if anyone reads this message - why do you concentrate on the reproduction of Trumpet sounds on most of the Roland Jupiter-80 YouTube demo videos. That sucks ... Trumpet and Timpani sounds is nothing that sells keyboards, but maybe I am wrong!

Did you "Roland clan" guys have already ordered yours.

Cheers

Alex (Fantom G + ARX2/3 user)
Devnor
Posts: 696
Joined: 20:22, 27 September 2010

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by Devnor »

If it lives up to the hype, JP80 will be adopted by many players. A year from now we'll either see pros continuing to use Roland boards or there will be many more Kronos boards on stages & TV. If my JP80 doesn't live up to hype, I'm sending mine right back :) Everything has its negatives whether its Yamaha's goofy master mode to control the tone generator or Kronos screen and internal fan. No sampling in JP80 and no fully featured multi mode and limited control surface. Of course all this stuff trickles down there's already a MOX and for sure Kronos LE is just around the corner so 61 & 88 note versions are sure to come. Remember the original Jupiter 8 was bulky & heavy beast. They sure kept that aspect of the board :) Actually I'm a huge fan of Roland chassis...heavy duty design with big metal end caps.
Mystic38
Posts: 1105
Joined: 14:04, 24 August 2009

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by Mystic38 »

you will either listen to the JP80, go "wow" and buy it for how its sounds..or you will not...

the JP80 has a certain feature set. period. accept that it is what it is.. for many live play folks this is enough and there will be some folks for whom the sound is so good, they will overlook the lack of features they want.

and there will be those that want another workstation, so for those its simple...dont bother confusing yourself by listening to the JP80...al you have to do it wait.. a derived workstation will be along in 1-2 years.
realtrance
Posts: 128
Joined: 16:39, 8 April 2005

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by realtrance »

Roland isn't looking to hit a mass market of laptop bedroom studio kiddies with this..... obviously. They have the Gaia for that.

This is obviously a pro instrument for serious musicians and commercial artists/studios, and serves their needs. Good for orchestrators and composers, the church music market, which is massive, film and advertising and tv composers, massive.

And for those who know Roland synths and want the next generation of Roland technology integration.... there's really no need to sell that audience on Roland's extensive synthesizer capabilities.

No instrument does everything. This isn't being sold as a workstation, or sampler. Sampling works best these days on PC. Roland owns Cakewalk now, don't forget that. Huge things probably coming from that partnership. No doubt Roland will hit the workstation market in its own sweet time, when it's ready, not because it needs to "win" some sort of Internet "race" in that area. The one tine in my memory Roland went too fast, they ended up with the Fantom series, and market confusion there. Even so, I'm sure Roland's not crying over its Fantom sales. Hopefully they'll do better, more deliberately, in that market next. They have the luxury now of sitting back, observing and analyzing the response in the market to their competitors' efforts.
User avatar
donutninja
Posts: 178
Joined: 07:43, 19 November 2007
Location: Columbus, OH USA

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by donutninja »

"Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?"

I looked into the future, and the answer is no. Let me know if you need me to answer any other questions about the future.
Image
Vlad_77
Posts: 430
Joined: 18:02, 14 February 2008
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by Vlad_77 »

Love the Great Karnak pic!!

As to the Jupiter 80, I agree with those that have stated that the instrument is targeted to serious live musicians; the price point reflects that. But the acid test ironically comes from Roland's own branding of a legendary synth. The people who will buy the Jupiter 80 are going to have VERY high expectations with regard to the synthesis capabilities of this instrument. Yes it is more advanced than its legendary predecessor due to newer technology which allows for a lot of things that just were not possible back in the day of Jupiter-8.

Will Roland offer after sales support? Obviously this is a question that we can ask of any manufacturer but, four years on and Fantom G owners are still waiting for the OS2 upgrade and Roland have not delivered on ARX. I hasten to add that the FanG is a great instrument but Roland took a hit by not developing the big selling point of their flagship. Perhaps the Jupiter-80 is Roland's attempt to clean up the mess of not supporting their flagship workstation by producing a synth that could be worthy of the Jupiter moniker, or, the very name could be a curse. Time will tell as this is not yet released and all we have really is speculation based on videos and specs. Roland produced the V-Synth GT which is a synth that is amazing and I want one in August - couldn't do it now since I just bought a Kronos but I am THINKING that a V-Synth GT for me is going to be the better instrument than a Jupiter 80.

The Jupiter name will help in the initial run but it will be interesting to see how well it sells to merit a second run. Also, while it is unfair to compare the Jupiter 80 to a Kronos since the Kronos is a workstation, in this tight economy, the Kronos does offer more bang for the buck and that is going to be a MAJOR consideration for musicians who are serious but have limited funds. I think it WILL sell well to a niche market and if it wasn't for the existence of the V-Synth GT, I would consider the Jupiter 80 myself.

It's a cool looking instrument too. I know that some have complained about the colored buttons but, have those people seen pictures of the original Jupiters? Roland are clearly trying capture the look of the earlier Jupiters and I think that's a shrewd marketing plan.

I would offer that if Roland would knock the price down 1000 USD, it would be a more competitive instrument. But I am then making a presupposition that Roland wants to appeal to a wider audience and thus far, the hype speaks otherwise.

Really, it is anybody's guess and any opinion is valid at this stage.

Ahimsa,
Vlad
theshinenz
Posts: 139
Joined: 06:16, 12 August 2005

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by theshinenz »

I think it will be pretty slow selling as it is more of a niche market synth, I will check it out though, Kronos for me for now then will prob most likely wait until Roland release a product that will compete with the Kronos and reassess things then.
User avatar
audioird
Posts: 30
Joined: 17:56, 11 June 2011
Location: Nantes, France
Contact:

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by audioird »

If only we could upload our own pcm waveforms into that synth ...
DJ RAZZ
Posts: 71
Joined: 05:38, 6 April 2011

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by DJ RAZZ »

It suffers form a few key issues. It is a true concept instrument, take the name and appearance out. It has modeling and touch screen, (A first first a roland rompler) buttons on the front dedicated technology, priciness. ect...

Sometimes for Roland concept instruments hit big, The V-synth, the D-50, the JP8000, the JV80, the U-20, the Fantom X color screen.

Some miss the Varios, the VP-9000, the ORIGINAL Fantom, The Fantom G
Mystic38
Posts: 1105
Joined: 14:04, 24 August 2009

Re: Will Jupiter-80 be a slow seller ?

Post by Mystic38 »

DJ, of all the things the jp80 isnt.. a rompler is one of them :)
DJ RAZZ wrote:It suffers form a few key issues. It is a true concept instrument, take the name and appearance out. It has modeling and touch screen, (A first first a roland rompler) buttons on the front dedicated technology, priciness. ect...

Sometimes for Roland concept instruments hit big, The V-synth, the D-50, the JP8000, the JV80, the U-20, the Fantom X color screen.

Some miss the Varios, the VP-9000, the ORIGINAL Fantom, The Fantom G
Post Reply