The Roland JP-8000 is an analog modeling synthesizer released by the

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fact ...

in 1996.

Overview

The Roland JP-8000 was released in early 1997 as part of the first wave of virtual analog modeling synthesizers (VA synths). Others from that period included the Clavia Nord Lead (1995),

Korg Prophecy The Korg Prophecy is considered one of the earliest (mid-nineties) virtual analog (a.k.a. VA) synthesizers, although its synthesis capabilities went beyond many of its VA contemporaries. Details Along with the Korg Z1, the Korg Prophecy is a di ...

(1995), Access Virus (1997) and

Yamaha AN1x The Yamaha AN1x is a DSP-based analog modeling synthesizer (a.k.a. virtual analog synthesizer), produced by Yamaha Corporation from 1997 to 1998, and was marketed as an "analog physical modelling control synthesizer". Development The AN1x is a f ...

(1997). VA synths had the goal of recreating the sound, functionality and user interface of classic analog synthesizers. The JP-8000 was viewed at the time as the modern digital incarnation of the classic

Roland Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have b ...

, from 1981. The programming interface, synthesis options and general tone is very similar to Roland's Jupiter-6 as well. The JP-8000 sought to digitally reproduce the warm analog tonalities and sheer power of its analog predecessors. Although it lacked somewhat in analog warmth due to its early digital architecture, it added many new features, such as RPS (Realtime Phrase Sequencing), which allowed short sequenced phrases to be assigned to keys, and such as motion control. It also featured the unique Supersaw oscillators and analog-style controllers such as an arpeggiator and an assignable touch response ribbon control. The JP-8000 had several features that differed from other analog modeling synthesizers of the time. Most notably, Roland's unique oscillator types ("Feedback" and "Supersaw") and the use of sliders instead of rotary encoders (''knobs'') to edit

patch Patch or Patches may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'' * Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy * "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962 * "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...

parameters. The Supersaw in particular was the reason why the JP-8000 was particularly successful as a main keyboard (along with the Virus) in the dance music market, especially for

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes. Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute ( ...

. Just like what the

Roland TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

had done for

acid house Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...

and

acid techno Acid techno, sometimes known generally as "acid", is a genre of techno that was derived from acid house and developed in Europe in the late 1980s to early 1990s. It saw younger artists apply the "squelching" synthesizer sound of Chicago acid hou ...

, the JP-8000's Supersaw leads became characteristic of a certain type of trance music that can be roughly called "

Anthem Trance Uplifting trance (often synonymous with epic trance, energetic trance, anthem trance, emotional trance, or euphoric trance) is a broad subgenre of trance music. The name, which emerged in the wake of progressive trance in 1996, is derived from ...

", where a melodic, powerful lead based on a Supersaw patch provided the hook and melody throughout the song. The sound processor is 16 bit. Roland_JP-8080_Rack

In 1998, Roland released a 6U, 19" rack version of JP-8000 called the JP-8080. The JP-8080 combined the analog modeling sound engine of the JP-8000 with additional features such as an internal

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

. The JP-8080 also had three times the number of patches and performances, an additional Noise waveform on Osc 2 and a distortion effect. Due to these changes all JP-8000 patches are compatible with the JP-8080 but not all JP-8080 patches are compatible with the JP-8000. In popular usage however the two synthesizers are usually thought of as identical in regard to sound architecture (often referred to collectively as JP-80x0). The JP-8080 is prominent on the Darude single

Sandstorm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...

. The song is named for the pad patch loaded on boot up of JP-8080.

Supersaw

The supersaw is a

waveform In electronics, acoustics, and related fields, the waveform of a signal is the shape of its graph as a function of time, independent of its time and magnitude scales and of any displacement in time.David Crecraft, David Gorham, ''Electronic ...

created by

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

for their JP-8000 and JP-8080 line of analog modeling synthesizers. It emulates the sound of multiple detuned sawtooth oscillators. The waveform is described as a free-run oscillator whose shape resembles 7 sawtooth oscillators detuned against each other over a period of time. Since production of the JP-8000 ceased, several companies have incorporated "supersaw-like" oscillator algorithms into their hardware and software synthesizers. SUPERWAVE P8 is an example of a

software synthesizer A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the sam ...

inspired by the architecture of the JP-8000, with its multiple sawtooth

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

s. Another is the Supersaw Plus, which has a JP-8000-style interface and a variation on the supersaw waveform that provides 2, 4, 6 or 10 oscillators. In 2005,

Access Music The Access Virus is a Analog modeling synthesizer, virtual analog synthesizer made by the German company Access Music GmbH. It was first produced in 1997 and has since been upgraded frequently, with the company releasing new models about every tw ...

released the TI-line of synthesizers, which feature an oscillator type called Hypersaw that is similar to Roland's supersaw oscillator. Roland also continues to produce other

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, such as the SH-201, the SH-01, the

Roland V-Synth The Roland V-Synth was released 2003 and was Roland's flagship synthesizer at the time. It combines multiple oscillator technologies and a built in sampler. It also features an arpeggiator and COSM filtering to aid the creation of new sounds. Fea ...

, and the Roland V-Synth XT that have the supersaw oscillator type. The supersaw gained popularity in electronic dance music, especially with its use in hardcore,

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

and

future bass Future bass is a style of electronic dance music which developed in the 2010s that mixes elements of dubstep and trap with warmer, less abrasive rhythms. The genre was pioneered by producers such as Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Lido, San Holo and Ca ...

music.

References

Notes

External links

Roland JP-8000
at Vintagesynth.com
Roland JP-8000
JP8000 user comments at Dancetech.com

(archive.org)

(archive.org)

(archive.org) {{Roland JP-8000 Virtual analog synthesizers Polyphonic synthesizers Digital synthesizers

Overview

Supersaw

References

Notes

Further reading

External links