JD 800 sounds in a JD-XA.

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glynbo
Posts: 48
Joined: 20:03, 20 February 2016

JD 800 sounds in a JD-XA.

Post by glynbo »

I have been looking at some JD 800 videos today and there are some great sounds that come out of it, I know that they can`t be recreated in the JD-XA exactly but some could come close I think. I have looked for patch charts ect of JD 800 presets with no luck, has anyone got any ideas as to finding out what waveforms , filter setting ect are used? So I have a starting point.Many thanks, Glyn.
Jdoo
Posts: 216
Joined: 06:19, 19 February 2016

Re: JD 800 sounds in a JD-XA.

Post by Jdoo »

Hey Glyn -

Not what you asked, or really what you're looking for... but an option. Many of the Classic Roland synth sounds are bundled in the Jupiter-8/JUNO-60 pack on the Axial site. http://axial.roland.com/articles/jupite ... pressions/ They're free. . and more importantly, many of the the analog / digital programs are close to many of the JD 800 sounds. At least with a a few changes. In any case, the patches are free, and pretty easy to load one - and check their settings. Tip: Hold down the "Exit" key, select a part.. and twiddle the knobs... you can quickly see the details of the oscillators, filters, and effects that are set for a patch.

j
Coorec
Posts: 33
Joined: 12:20, 23 December 2015

Re: JD 800 sounds in a JD-XA.

Post by Coorec »

The reference manuals hold the waveform lists for both synths.

Here is the 800 one (section V page 34): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxaMB7 ... rp=1&hl=en#

Here is the JD-XA one (page 74):
http://cdn.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/ ... _e01_W.pdf

As you can see most, if not all, JD 800 waveforms are available on the JD-XA. Even the Fat (JD) Saw.

However, there are also differences.
  • JD800 had time/level based envelopes, whereas XA utilizes ADSR. The Pitch Env even is only AD. Thats the biggest burdon when it comes to replicating JD800 sounds on the XA. Loopable Env can help somewhat but is not the same.
  • The digital filter in the 800 had some distortion going on on high resonance levels. The XA is much better in that regard, but on some patches you might miss this characteristic. I use LPF4, since its the closest to it. Surprisingly, eventhough the 800 had 24db/oct filters i came to closer results using the LPF4 in 12db/oct mode.
  • 800 had 4 tones per patch and 5 patches. XA has 3 "tones" and 4 "patches". Wont make much of a difference in practice tho, since you can emulate a "patch" easily by using 2 parts on the XA and with only 24 tones available no one programmed patches with 12 tones on the 800 back then.
  • The 800 had 2 LFO's, the XA has also 2 (for digital parts) but 1 of it is connected to modwheel. You can make up for it with a looped env or crossing over to the analog side where you'd have 2 more.
Overall i had not much problems to replicate my JD800 patches on the XA.
glynbo
Posts: 48
Joined: 20:03, 20 February 2016

Re: JD 800 sounds in a JD-XA.

Post by glynbo »

Thanks guys, that info is very handy, time to start listening and programming I think. Cheers, Glyn.
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