The Aira System 8 got it's own separate forum but it's still in the Aira family. How much different is it from the System 1 Sound wise ? From a hardware point of view you get 4 octave of keys, a sequencer and a vocoder and some sliders and a few more knobs, sound control wise here is a quick summary of comparing the CC implementations
1. LFO Variations 14, 15
2. OSC1 Course and /Fine tune 20,21 and variation 103,104
3. Sub/OSC3 COLOR, TUNING 25, 48 and wave 107
4. Bender Range, Gain , Filter sensivity. 41,68
5. Fitler and AMP Velocity 53,54 level, 108 and type 110
6. Effects, 70,71.7.73.74.75.79 (reverd, delay. chorus)
7. HPF, 79
8. MOD sensivity, 80 and for the filter 109
Most if not all of these appear to be System 8 sounds specific and are not needed for Juno or Jupiter sounds. All these new controls appear to be not that super innovative or add much core functionality compared to the System 1/m as well, they are more small enhancements" of what was already there in the System 1.. Actually it's not unlikely that a firmware upgrade could unlock most of these controls as well. It looks like Roland already had these added controls in mind when releasing the System 1 as the CC's are nested between existing CC's.
Since the system 1 is 4 voice polyphonic and if a Jupiter/Juno plug-in out for the 1/1m would be technically possible and not blocked by Roland marketing (at a reasonable price), the System 1, and specially the 1m with it's CV I/O, would be still very attractive due to it's size and price and an 8m would then for sure not be likely to show up. The System 1 could have a nice upgrade path ahead, specially for those who mix it with modular I/O.
But, even if this does not happen, considering the System 1 price difference versus the 8m and it's core functionality will still a very nice product. Current plug-outs probably will run in the same way on the 8 as on the 1 as well, no added value there as well.
Thus, would you pay that extra 1000 dollars for keys, get a 2nd System 1(m) for the Jupiter/Juno/System 8 voices or spend that $1000 elsewhere ?
System 1(m) versus 8 additions, worth the $1000 ?
Re: System 1(m) versus 8 additions, worth the $1000 ?
I have a system-1 and like it for what it is, it's responding to velocity via midi so I'm fine and from the system 8 demos I've heard so far I don't see a need to upgrade at all since it sounds pretty similar to the system-1 and for $1499 it seems overpriced to me, so I'm going to spend $ 999 for Behringer's DeepMind 12 instead, which is sounding more vintage roland'ish to me than any recent Roland synth.