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Re: [microsound] drunken tangents + super Jupiters



> I adore analogs...
> 
> I wish I had always though, for a long time I honestly did not understand the
> difference, and since I am 49, over the years I could have picked up quite a
> few for a song.
> 
> I use an modded Oberheim FVS and I love it. I have always heard the MKS-80 is
> fantastic. Do you need a programmer for that one? I see those on ebay
> regularly.

> Need?  No, but I wouldn't use one without it.  With the programmer it's a
> really fun synth.  Polyphonic (duh) and a huge bank of knobs and sliders.
> It makes some very cool sounds.  Unfortunatly, the programmer goes for as
> much as the synth does, so if you want one buy them together!
> Rob

Correct, it can be programmed from the front panel without the hardware
programmer, but its not interactive at all, it involves lots of tedious
pushing "up" and "down" buttons. 

Certainly minus the hardware programmer one still can use Emagic
Sounddiver software to program from a computer. Less known is that all
the parameters respond to MIDI SYSEX, so a good programmable box of
knobs or sliders, especially something like the Dopfer Drehbank with 64
knobs gives you that "hands on" programming interface (after a couple
hours of figuring out what all the SYSEX is for each parameter or
downloading it if lucky).

As someone who owns one I do want to point out that there are 2
internally different versions of the Super Jupiter that sound different
and neither sounds much like a Jupiter 8 and not exactly like a 6
either. On the upside it does have velocity and basic aftertouch
response, something lacking on a lot of classic synths. 

>  it's funny how
> much it lends itself to particular genres of synth music...  i mean you could
> use it for anything really, but some of those basses, brass patches and string
> pads are crying out for 80s synth pop treatment a la duran duran:-) i'll try
> and curb my impulses though...

I do hear a definite Roland sound aesthetic at work in that the ranges
of parameters are tamed a bit to focus on more "musical" sounds, it's
weak point IMHO is most definitely chaotic and complex FX type sounds
though it does have Xmod and sync. A clear choice here would include
allowing the filter to resonate but not oscillate when driven by its own
feedback. 

It definitely is much better suited for synthpop than abstract forms.
There always has been some give and take so mainstream instruments
weren't too easy to tweak into silence with a little nudge from a new
user or conversely howl and blow speaker cones easily. 

Korg went as far as to early on design slider caps so the highpass
filter level could physically not pass the lowpass filter slider
(preventing all sound to be entirely filtered out if they got too far in
the "wrong" direction - that is until one learned to pry off the slider
caps and turn them 180 degrees so they could pass) 

 So like while the MKS-80 Super Jupiter is darn impressive matched up
against a more basic analog poly synth like a Juno, its far from an "end
all" classic polysynth in terms of sound, more a solid middle of the
road (I tried to sell my Super Jupiter a few times after I bought a
Voyetra Eight, something I felt covered the same territory while going
further and sounding better in comparison -  but I never was offered
near market value as it lacked the programmer).

> so you hear a bit
> of gradation when sliding the sliders, he whole 1-127 thing... not as smooth as
> it could be, 

True though that kind of comes with the territory (analog + polysynth),
while there are exceptions, its really only usually synths before the
era of patch memory or a couple contemporary designs that lag out the
stepping that do NOT have some stepping. The obvious-ness of it varries
overall from model to model and spcifically from patch to patch. As a
general rule  the sound is completely smooth when using LFO or envalope
on all synths, its the manual knobs/sliders that sound stepped. Of
course the infamous woob-woob filter tweak sound is arguably less often
done on a polysynth.

nicholas kent

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