It looks like a formidable performance synth with lots of ready to go sounds. However, I'm glad you pressed him on some of its shortcomings. He would have come off better if he'd just said, "Look, it's for classy sounding live playing and studio use at a push. However, it's not designed to be used as true workstation or a sound creation platform." Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure that many players would rather have quick access to tweakable standard tones.
Nick does a good job of being direct yet respectful; Gareth was honest and polite. ...And excellent conversation. ...I do wish there was a bit more of a *demo* of the synth with a bit *less* of the conversation, that said. ;) I miss Nick's run-throughs of presets. :D
I think they stopped updating the iPad app around when you wrote this comment. I had to buy a really old iPad to continue using the app(which was a selling point for me) because it wasn’t compatible with iOS after version 10 or whatever. Never get a Roland product that will require long-term support.
Last week I visited a NAMM/Musikmesse expo in Moscow and I must admit, after checking out the Jupiter-50 in a crowded environment, I wasn't impressed... I gave up trying to understand why they used the Jupiter name, but a sloppy presentation contributed to the impression, but after seeing this... I want to express my thanks to Gareth for such an amazing presentation! It really did change my outlook on those two machines!!! Roland needs more people like him!
I am waiting on the Jupiter negative 50. It will not have an LCD display or even MIDI but it will sound crispy harsh and dated just like the Jupiter 80.
(2) Nick says "I think what's happening is a lot of people are expecting it to be the full-on kind of sound-sculpting" - I think he was getting back to a preconception based on the name. But I bet most people who walk into a store have never played a Jupiter 8 and know little if anything about it. As Gareth basically said, Jupiter was Roland's flagship performance synth of its era, and I think it is fair to say the new Jupiters fill that role today, better in some ways even if lacking in others.
Nice informative piece. But I think Nick objects based on it not being something it isn't supposed to be, like asking why a car doesn’t have a propellor. He got it right when he said, "so it's very much a performance oriented tool." Not a workstation, or knobby VA synth, or a boat. It doesn’t have the 88 weighted keys/speakers of a comparably priced FP-7F or CP300 either. The question is how well it fills the role it is designed for, not how well it fills a fictional role you created for it.
By object, I mean that Nick seemed to focus on what the board doesn't do, and so many of Gareth's answers seemed to be along the line of "well no, it doesn't do that, but it does what it's designed to do, which is this," ...and Nick seemed largely unconvinced. Which performance oriented boards (however you define it) with deeper synthesis would you suggest at $2k as a good alternative? I'm thinking Kurzweil PC3LE, maybe Korg M3. All good, but I definitely see some unique JP-50 strengths.
you are answering to the comment from youtube support...not mine... i am sad because ipad are taking the market without any rivals... so about tablets we are almost forced to go with ipad... because all the good music apps are on ios
No - It looks good initially, then the manufacturer drops the ball in updating their app to work with the newest IOS version. Don't expect the functionality to work a couple of years down the track!
synth capability seems similar to my Roland SH-01 Gaia except there is no bunch of knobs/sliders making it a pain to program without the ipad app, acoustic tones sound good but they're not really editable, 3 part multi and no sequencer built in..n the end it's more of a covers band giging rompler with some synthness thrown in.
I've watched every review many many times on the Jupiter 50 and this one seems to be the most critical. If you want a truly analog synth, invest in the Jupiter 8. For a mere $7,000 to $10,000 used I'm sure you'll get what you want. A piece of history that is analog. But if you want to make music, which is what this is supposed to be about, try being a little less critical of the lack of sliders and focus on the sounds. I ordered this keyboard on Saturday and proudly await its arrival. :)
Bought one few years ago. The biggest waste of money in my life ($1,400). I decided to buy Roland because they replaced the LCD display of my old Juno-G for free and this Jupiter-50 is Made in Japan. Very disappointed. Supports sucks. Yes, there are sounds and lots of layering of supposedly Natural sounds but that's it. To try to use sound or manage the whole keyboard is impossible dued to dumbest logics and shortage of numeric keypad and missing shortcut. Let me give you some examples: 1- There is no Rythm, No Drum or Metronome. The Tempo can be used only for Arpegio. Beat will not start when pressing Tempo because it is controlled by residing Arpegio clock. Therefore, 1st beat always delays. No way to synch with outside audio. 2- Group of instruments are so poorly put together. Start with MANUAL to the Left then press a colorful group. Looking for subgroups have to press 2-3 different kinds of buttons or dials to the Mid-Right. Many times have to ENTER first. Then Right or Left Arrows (without labels). Same Arrows may be Sub-sub elements or may be Main groups. DECrease or INCrease sometimes same as Up & Down Arrows, sometimes NOT. 3- Under the tomb of Main group of patches (Roland calls sounds and few more different terms), I discovered hidden chambers of many more patches of UNRELATED to Main but link to other group . And it is hard to go back and dig it because there is no consistent steps to follow. 4- Some of the control buttons are to the left and I have to press some to the right. And this has to do with the biggest and dumbest in Design and Production: The BANK. There are 8 BANKS with 4 subgroup and with 4 patches under each subgroup (like [Set01] 1-4 to [Set01] 4-4, but this stupid keyboard has only 4 white lighted buttons that can choose only 1 to 4 of the sub-sub set. It will NOT activate [Set02], NOT [Set03] NOT all the way to [Set08] because if I press 3 then 2 it will do only [Set01] 3-2 and that's it! Out of 8x16=128 selections, I can directly do 4. Well, may be 16 but I have to go back and hit BANK first! There is No direct way to get to [Set02] 1-1 to [Set08] 4-4. Have to begin with BANK hit ENTER then Right or Left Arrow then Up or Down or DEC or INC or Dial. By the time I reach the perset I want, the time is GONE! 5- All preset sounds that are supposed to be showcase sound so terrible (lowest taste in music). Output levels are not uniform, mostly too low. Took me a year (on/off) to try to standardize before gave up. I wanted to use for simple Arrangement but soon told myself "Forget about it". I put a blanket over it and went back to JUNO-G.
Great demo, Thanks. One thing I have found is that I never see a Jupiter 80 in any stores. I would really like to try one before buying but they are MIA at all the stores in my area. Usually people are excited about new Roland keyboards but this one just does not have that feeling. I wonder why?
Because there is no Lower part in JP50, as there is into the JP80. The Solo and Perc parts are one sound only. A part is up to 4 sounds together (And I'm not talking about OSC).
Wow Roland, you did it again. When are you ever going to release an instrument that isn't a complete turkey? I don´t understand how anyone would invest in a brand new instrument in 2016 that still sounds like the age of General Midi. When I think of the R&D department at Roland, I imagine the radio tuned to a crappy golden oldies station, and a bunch of fifty year old guys in 80s sports jackets sitting around it, wondering how to make every song sound exactly as fresh as "Tell it to my Heart" by Taylor Dayne.
"..fresh as "Tell it to my Heart" by Taylor Dayne." - nice, one of my fav tracks!! I know what you mean though, things do move on, I'm not convinced this Roland offering is anything new though, this demo is rather uninspiring. I tend to switch off when phrases like "it can do anything you want" are used, mostly as they are being lazy in not giving proper detail. I am sooooo tired of hyperbole.
Great presentation Nick! I think I understand what the 50 is a bit more now. Not the keyboard for me but some of the expression options on the acoustic instruments are stunning! Think I will be waiting for the release of the SH1010 :-)
Why did Roland downgrade the endcaps on the Jupiter 50 to silver spraypaint rather than the nice aluminum of the Jupiter 80???? Is the cost of a few pieces of aluminum so great? How tacky. Just make them black if you must drop the aluminum.
What guff about the Jupiter 4 lineage there LOL! Simply, Roland used 'Jupiter' for their top-of-the-range synths in the analog days (with Juno for the cheaper ones, and SH for their mono synths, and so on...). Roland are saying this is their top-of-the-range synth. Well... that trumpet was better than the 4. This is a keyboard, for keyboardists - not a synth for synthesists.
He keeps talking around the point trying to confuse the viewer I think, it is a workstation it seems just with the look of the Jupiter and a nice synth engine. The JD-XA seems to be alot closer to an actual synth.
No IT IS the most power synth. Ridiculous levels of polyphony and layering galore. It's sound engine is unmatched. People get pissy because it's not analog but don't understand that you can't have an analog machine and it be as powerful at the JP-80. The rep answered his questions Nick was just arrogant about it. Like dude it has a s-load of synth sounds you have to play it to see for yourself. The rep basically told him about 3 times while Nick tried to make this thing look like it was a casio or something.
@@187onasimp For a digital it only has the basic waveforms. He didn't go into detail about modulation matrix, does it have ring mod (I guess it has cross mod from the demo). He's not selling it to the Sonic State crowd
Upper and Solo? Why didn't they call it Lower and Upper? Also, no aftertouch is inexcusable on anything over $1,000. I would trade the D-Beam for aftertouch any day.
(3) He says, "we're not talking about a whole lot of synthesis capabilities; we've got oscillator, filter, amplitude & pitch envelope, maybe a couple of LFOs." How much more is on the comparably priced Prophet 08? (Though it has its own virtues!) He says "It's not an inconsiderable amount of money,” maybe still reacting to the JP-80? The 50 seems reasonably priced for what it is. But yes, as a high end performance synth, it should have had aftertouch, even if the price had to be a bit higher.
USB connection to an iPad for editing and a PC DAW integrated? I don't see where they're going with that idea. If the customer wants the full benefits out of the system they'd need both an iPad and a PC. It sounds nice, though. And I don't really mind the missing aftertouch.
After much research (Feb 2018), I bought this keyboard brand new at one quarter the price of a Nord, and 6 years out of date, so its interesting for me to revisit the demos on UA-cam. The Piano and strings and choir, and other acoustic sounds, are excellent, and you can get great piano sounds singly or by layering several pianos in the live set. Personally I don't use farting synth sounds, (I'm not a pet shop boy) so I don't care about oscillaters, filters, etc, but you can use them to get your perfect piano sound, and the pianos are way ahead of the Nord. Uileann Pipes sound is a sound to die for. Roland were doing 30 years ago, what Nord are charging a fortune for nowadays. I'm a live player, and this 'synth' is great, quality fat sounds, and it's light and sturdy, has a joystick, great key action, and outputs can be split to separate amps or channels. And, oh yeah, it's easy to programme. And it's a Japanese Roland. Quality.
When someone says 1900 sounds I cringe. I bought a 20 year old Ensoniq TS10 for $30 that makes me happier than this would. It has polyphonic aftertouch and plays six voices per patch. With the $1970 I saved (and a little patience) I also picked up a Jupiter 6, MicroWave Rev I, PolySix, Juno 106, Wavestation, DX7, Rhodes 73, etc. Unfortunately none of them feature USB playback...
Really, the Juno-G was almost a great budget workstation, even had sampling. Yamaha's MOX and Korg's M50 still don't measure up. Trade the D-Beam for aftertouch, and it would have been unstoppable. They screwed up with the Gi, removing the sequencer and even the tone editor software.
re: "Ipad connectivity over aftertouch" - unlike AT, iPad connectivity adds $0 manufacturing cost (it would have had USB anyway) re: "a bit over priced" - what's better at $2k w/ 76 keys, piano, clonewheel, VA synth, good acoustic sounds, good live interface for patch selection and on-the-fly splits/layers, under 25 lbs? Closest is probably Kurz PC3LE7, each has its strengths, but JP-50 is competitive. But yeah, it should have aftertouch, even if it had to be a little more expensive.
This demonstrator always starts with piano sounds on a damn synth demo. Come on dude, nobody watching this is hoping to get a great piano sound out of this machine. Lol. Turn some filters and program the Oscilators.
I don't really get the host's skepticism about the Jupiter's editing/synthesis capabilities. When you have an upper, lower and solo tone within every live set, EACH comprised of four fully changeable elements, and each of those elements is in turn built from three fully editable partials (including oscillator, filter and amp controls), WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?! The Jupiter is about as 'modular' as it gets, without digging out a 70s system replete with patch bays/cables for signal routing. Come on dude, just admit this is one BADASS board...
Nicks reviews can be pretty redundant when he doesn't understand a keyboard he gets nit picky. Like he's upset this thing isn't a Prophet or something.
The problem is that the analog revival is going back to the 70s - lots of monophonic stuff, and modular is bigger than ever. Meanwhile, there is no 1-osc budget poly. Maybe DSI could make a Six-Trak successor like how the Mopho is internally the "Pro-One II", or Korg could pick up where they left off with a "Poly-600".
Really, why is it so difficult to put aftertouch in keyboards like this. I have an Alesis QS6 of a billion years ago that I bought 2nd hand for 150 euro and it has aftertouch. It can do things this fancy thing can't.
The real reason? Because the sound programing allows you to do the features you would get from aftertouch right on the sound panel. Using after touch again makes it unnecessary. It's really only a feature you find now on premium keyboards only unless it's like a controller. Now aftertouch is just one of those things people ask about to make themselves seem like they know about keyboards when in reality most people that are keyboardist understand it's not always a necessary feature unless your playing an Analog keyboard.
I consider myself an EDM guy and I agree with you. Sure I would like Roland to make a real analog synth, but I am not losing sleep over the fact that they aren't and do plan to. I just take my money to another company that is making real analog synths. I also like typical band music, and digital synths too, unlike my hardcore EDM "analog or die" colleagues.
I don't want to be too harsh on the reviewer, he is obviously a piano player and not a sound designer. I'm certain Nick could just sit down and program sounds on this without problems, and at the same time find all of its capabilites.
Great sound and feel, but the 16 live set key pads on middle only allows the titled family tones i.e., piano in the piano pad.. If we want to put some accordian, flute, lead guitar saxophone, brass, sitar santoor, violin, strings.. etc can we store it or save it or register it??... As it is in XP series and XPS series... If not it is just waste of best resources. The XP 60, XP 30 was and after these 30 tears still King of keyboard in live and stage orchestra, and XPS 30 is takinp its place as Prince, only because of these feature, and it does not have vaccume while shifting from one tone to other...or latency issue,, Can anybody guide me on this Why Roland is not considering the requirements of Indian Musicians?
A great instrument that indeed has its audience, but those things aren't "synths proper" - at least, not intended to use as such. It's an electronic instrument meant to offer the player a bunch of "useable" sounds for a number of musical genres and which works well in a scenario. The range of sounds includes both sampled sounds from mechanical ("acoustic") and electromechanical (e-pianos, organs, etc) instruments, as well as the usual bunch of "synth" sounds (pads, leads, etc). Thus, a rehash of the "performance keyboard" theme, which, again, is very convenient for probably most working musicians. But it's not intended as mainly a *synthesiser* for the *synthesist*. Makes perfect sense from a commercial POV since the market for those is comparatively tiny, but I wish this distinction wasn't overlooked so often. This is no critic to the capabilities of the synthesis engine, which seem (and sound) great, but the need for an external editor clearly marks this as an instrument not mainly aimed at the synthesist, as opposed to the "occasional tone tweaker".
For those of you who want Roland to produce proper hands-on analog synth - TELL THEM! There's no use whining about it on here. A friend of mine sent an email to Roland which I drafted as a joke. Next thing I know I had Roland on the phone wishing to discuss my email. So we did. I also had explained to me the use of the Jupiter name and that the company are a forward thinking company and analog would be a backward step. I was told that a real analog synth is not on the table. Get writing folks!
@@joachim595 They actually had to get an external company to design the SE-02 for them. All Roland did themselves was create limitations by sticking it in the Boutique format. And then Behringer released the model D which is cheaper, an emulation of a true classic, and provides eurorack compatibility. I think that will keep Roland from trying again for at least another decade. It's a shame, because in terms of vintage analog, I think Roland made some of the most amazing sounding synths of their time. The SH series had such a lovely fluid sound to them, the JUNO's define early dance music, as well as of course the classic TB303 (not that amazing by comparison, but undeniably a classic synth).
It's not a fact of liking EDM or not. The point is that Roland's new gear is just so uninspiring. It looks like in these last years they've kind of changed their philosophy and market base. Their products now tend to stay on the safe side (just the fact they get named as the old products is a really bad choice imho) and they seem to be oriented mainly to piano players, keyboard players in bands, newbies, etc. They lost the cutting edge spirit that made possible so many great products in the 80s.
Nice in-depth look at a contemporary keyboard. Very impressed with the Supernatural technology. If they were to update the AP synthesis of the GT with Supernatural that would be quite a keyboard. Not so impressed with the demonstrator's eagerness to sell the unit. "Again its analog MODELLING" Yeah we got it, and it doesn't have a built in interface woopee, move on.
aside from the huge miss of being multi-timbral, the SH-01 is pretty good, the coming (?) SH-02 should add infinite pots w memory, multi-timbral, original Roland Vintage synth patches from every SH, Jupiter, Juno etc synth PLEASE Roland - we do not want techno rave hoover patches!!
Kind of feel a bit sorry for the demonstrators of the latest Jupiter keyboards... Bit like they're being asked to promote a dud - Sure, there are lots of the usual standard sounds which most of us have already got in other keyboards and they sound nice in the Jupiters... but it's nothing new. The voice architecture is just a step on from the JV/XP range with a few added bells and whistles. Roland really need to go back to the drawing board and develop a *brand new* synth.
It’s strange watching this in 2021 to see that Roland developed all this technology yet I don’t know where exactly it went. I can see some similarities between this and the Jupiter X yet some of the performance features seem to have been abandoned.
I think they made Jupiter X to satisfy those who were kind of disappointed with the concept of Jupiter 50/80 performance synths. Jupiters 50/80 don't have all those sliders on panel like old analogs did. Jupiter X and Xm have that kind of hardware interface. I also think that all those SuperNatural engines were finally less successful than they expected, excluding pianos. But the concept of all that keyboard splitting and parts layering was very original I must say. Up to 4 parts in the main area of the keyboard with the possibility to add something for left or right hand only. That's clever. And build quality seems great, metal housings, good feeling keybeds. 80 has the same like old Fantoms which was excellent. Haven't played the new Fantom.
If you can't afford this and want realistic acoustic instruments, you should check out stuff by Sample Modelling, Spitfire and VSL. For analog sounds, checkout Diva.
This is funny. Nick keeps bringing up the fact that it is called a Jupiter but doesn't really even have a good VA section and The Demonstrator keeps saying "ahh but it is a Jupiter, Jupiter doesn't mean Analog Synth, it means cutting edge technology." Well maybe it means that to Roland but to Everyone else it means Analog. This is just a rompler with a Gaia thrown in but with no interface. People were ripping DSI about the Prophet 08 but at least it is in the same category as the old Prophets
It is actually a great synth BUT... Now the natural sounds sound good, very good actually but the knobs for the "analog" hands on approach are gone. A reverse Jupiter, Inverted Jupiter...Jupiter Menu Diver. At Roland they didn't understand what they were making at the time. None the less, if you dive a bit into the menus it is a great synth.
Roland f^&ked up. This is too much money for what they offer in 2014, no aftertouch is mindblowing, my £500 Blokeys has Poly aftertouch ffs. Another nail in the coffin Roland as regards to this market ? Not to mention the unexceptable aliasing in PWM on anything past the Jps. You have been alseep to long, you're the North Korea of the modelling synth world.
Let me know how that goes. Big companies love to give smart assed replies like your demographic is a small portion of our sales. Yup, they look at their sales to see how much you spend on synths.
I must be doing something wrong!!!! Somebody please help me tweak this keyboard before I throw it out the window!!! After this demistration I was sold,Dude (Gareth) got a beautiful tone on his piano alternate… I got the Jupiter-50" home and couldn't believe how horrible the pianos sound!! My Casio cost $200 and got a more richer even tone on the pianos then this $2000 Jupiter-50! "ANYBODY PLEASE HELP!!!
I don't have this keyboard but I do have an older XP-50 so I know how anemic their pianos can sound. They are good for new age and trance stuff though and do sound great when part of a mix, rather than in isolation. In contrast your Casio would probably need quite a bit of eq to make it sound good in a mix. A lot of Roland's patches don't sound good in isolation but in the context of the mix they just seem to blend really well. Anyway in response to your question, I would use the onboard FX and put a compressor and equalizer on the piano, and reverb. Add some multi-tap delay for the Robert Miles sound.
Meld Magic Thanks so much Meld for the insight! I do appreciate your reasonable advice; but at this point and time, I have decided to trade it in for the "Kurzweil SP4-7" ... Primarily I'm not very knowledgeable or that technical with engineering under the board for tweaken. I just want to play and get a basic balanced rich piano sound when I pull it out the box; for $2000. It should to be cooking! Geee:( Oh well, the fact that both of these keyboards are super light (21pounds) 76 keys, Split/Layer is what I was primarily shopping for. Maybe I jumped to far ahead of my level with the JUPITER-50", so I'll come down half way and settle for the Kurzweil until I can hang with the big dogs:) but thanks again!
Roland is known for having bad sounding pianos on synths. The exception is their dedicated digital pianos. The problem with demos is even cheap gear has been changed to sound good. A demonstrator could easily hide problems in an expensive synth through a variety of sound modification methods.
Thanks Marcus Trancoso, but I have long ago sold the Jupiter 50~ I'm finished with hardware keyboards; I have entered in to the VST world of software pianos and love it...
I just replaced my intermittent AT on my XV88, for a total of €31 including shipping and this thing is €2000 but NO bloody aftertouch? What The Bloody Hell???? "Oh hey, let's keep the pitch mod lever and that damned D-beam, but let's not incorporate something that enables you to keep both hands on the keys" UNnatural designers phylosophy
Frankly, I disagree. Analog is dandy and all, but in a mix, no one has been able to tell my analogs from my VAs. And frankly, hardly anyone has pointed to anyone's isolated tracks and been able to tell what is what over the past few years. VAs have become superb chameleons. And Nick is wrong that the Jupiters DO have full blown VAs in them, only lacking OSC sync. If you want an analog, do like I'm doing and save for one. But I want a JP too, because it does things I currently can't.
So for $2000 you can buy this synth(?) and be able to play the last note of love cats. I can wait. If Roland is continuing to make keyboards that just end up being given away, why don't they make them smaller? That would be a great way to make this dud less annoying.
Strictly speaking of the sounds of this machine and not the talents of the guys doing this presentation, many of the synth sounds I've Heard in this presentation sound like garbage to me, with a couple of exceptions. They just have that horrible, grainy, digitally simulated pulse-mod sound that became so popular in the 90's. The physical-modelling nuances (um, I guesss what Roland calls SUPERNATURAL?) actually sounds pretty good. Pads sound decent too. But I guess I'm just not much impressed with the leads. I'm trying to feel out my impression here and convey it the best I can. It actually seems to me that some of the older Roland digital synths sounded better for leads than this. I'm talking JV, XP and XV series. And I guess what frustrates me about actually going out and buying a J50 is that I wonder how deceiving the "bad" sounds are. For example, my Kawai K5000 additive synth sounds like thin 80's cheese one minute...and then sounds so incredibly deep and lush that a member of the Kurzweil K2XXX series ought to mind it's place in the "deep synthesis" category. Indeed, I love my Kawai...and I'm kind of looking for a board which can overlap with it's surreal realm...while producing a far more acoustic edge. I also want to hear more about the tonewheel organ properties of the J50. I consider the B-3 organ a staple of much of the music I like to do. I've looked at the Hammond XK series, the Voce modules and Nord Electro/Stage racks and keyboard. Drawbar -type control is intriguing but not imperative. I'm not a B-3 purist. I just love the sound. Overall I'm very attracted to the J50, but I'm also tempted to fall back on Yamaha Motif/EX series or Korgs cheaper Kronos derivativesm, like Krome. Currently I use Roland JV90, Access Virus B, Roland XV5050, and Kawai K5000S. I'm considering replacing the Rolands with a Roland VR760, J50, Yamaha SY99 or EX5. I'm really into synths that use modeling and pure synthesis at least as much as they use samples, although acoustic sounds (like 12str guitar are paramount) to my composition style.
Wow a ton of info!! I have a Kawai K4, like your K5000, it can do amazing things when programmed up. I have a real Hamm C3, my info is, they tend to sound different esp. by year. Leslies too. Mine is early 1960s which sounds different from a later model.
Hmmmm.., 10 people don't know what it means to MOVE FORWARD with technology rather than take a 30 year step back. Don't get me wrong.., I love that classic analogue sound.., but for Christ's sake people it's 2012. There ARE other options out there for real analogue purists.
good luck with that - haven't bought a brand new hardware synth for years - why bother when we have online auction sites? There are plenty of independent companies producing real analog synths in affordable packages - buy these other products instead, it's as simple as that.
Whilst the name is really irrelevant but given Rolands Heritage they Should have been more respectful to their own lineage and called it a Fantom GT because it really is only a Fantom G on steroids!!!!I had a JP80 for a few years but never got on with the Patch structure,its all well and good having layer upon layer for huge stacks but it's chaotic to navigate and frustrating to use,I've used many Roland Products over the years so am comfortable with there OS and decades of keyboard and live experience but found the JP80 frustrating to say the least.
re: " it should have a proper VA section instead of some weak ass global 2 pole LPF" It does have a proper VA section. The simple global filter is just for the acoustic tones. The VA section gives you 4 kinds of low pass filter, bandpass, high pass, peaking. Also, switchable 2 or 4 pole.
False, I love this synth. It was the first synth I ever bought. Is it my only synth? No but that’s not the point, too many people are overly critical of synthesizers because they expect a one size fits all solution to their sonic needs. You wouldn’t have a cello play a trombone part. Every synth has a unique flavor and with that a unique set of uses.
@@avemwall yes, but this is trying to be cello, trombone and the whole orchestra but ends up sounding generic. My initial statement meant it doesnt satisfy the needs of those who love rich synthy sounds.
Roland doesn't get it. With all that it can do, it should have a proper VA section instead of some weak ass global 2 pole LPF. As an owner of two vintage Rolands (Juno 60, Alpha Juno 1) it's just depressing. If you want analog spend for it. But Roland could help us out a little. Prophet 08's are $2000, I'd take that any day..
Roland are a joke! The grand farther of analog synths but too old to take part in the new analog revolution. "You need to spend quite a long time with this synth" is not what people want to hear. Nor the 500 pianos when only 1 is needed. The Demo was .. I felt embarrassed for him. Good job nick faded out! Electronic music now is built up with a lot of powerful drums/beats. And this demo used Rock Kit 1! The guy is a keyboard expert too. It puts off everyone that isn't. Derrrr! Disappointing.
He does have a point though. A real instrument will always sound better than an emulation. Listen to that outtro. I know 90s porn music that sounds less plasticky and artificial than that. Isn't it icredible how few one-man-band disco-roadshows ever make it to the big league, eh? Even though they clearly can emulate so many more sounds than actual bands who wasted their time learning to play boring old instruments. Seems there must be some weird thing that prevents the general public from diggin that fake trumpet as much as you do, Pete. I don't know what it is, I guess you could call it a desire for authenticity maybe?
To me after the Jp8000 Roland never actually did anything new, this one and the Jp 80 are looking and sounding like one of those keyboards that you hear playing in a Marriage ceremony :/
I love the way Nick slowly unveils all the shortcomings of this synth. Especially the lack of aftertouch, near the end of the video, had me laughing.
listening to this in 2020 quarantine
sounds pretty gorgeous. i'll need to try one of these babies out.
It looks like a formidable performance synth with lots of ready to go sounds. However, I'm glad you pressed him on some of its shortcomings.
He would have come off better if he'd just said, "Look, it's for classy sounding live playing and studio use at a push. However, it's not designed to be used as true workstation or a sound creation platform." Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure that many players would rather have quick access to tweakable standard tones.
Damn the demo at the end was awesome
Nick does a good job of being direct yet respectful; Gareth was honest and polite. ...And excellent conversation. ...I do wish there was a bit more of a *demo* of the synth with a bit *less* of the conversation, that said. ;)
I miss Nick's run-throughs of presets. :D
It comes with a PC software (Cakewalk), and you need an iPad to use the sound editor... That makes perfect sense to me, said no one ever.
I think they stopped updating the iPad app around when you wrote this comment. I had to buy a really old iPad to continue using the app(which was a selling point for me) because it wasn’t compatible with iOS after version 10 or whatever. Never get a Roland product that will require long-term support.
Last week I visited a NAMM/Musikmesse expo in Moscow and I must admit, after checking out the Jupiter-50 in a crowded environment, I wasn't impressed... I gave up trying to understand why they used the Jupiter name, but a sloppy presentation contributed to the impression, but after seeing this... I want to express my thanks to Gareth for such an amazing presentation! It really did change my outlook on those two machines!!! Roland needs more people like him!
I am waiting on the Jupiter negative 50. It will not have an LCD display or even MIDI but it will sound crispy harsh and dated just like the Jupiter 80.
(2) Nick says "I think what's happening is a lot of people are expecting it to be the full-on kind of sound-sculpting" - I think he was getting back to a preconception based on the name. But I bet most people who walk into a store have never played a Jupiter 8 and know little if anything about it. As Gareth basically said, Jupiter was Roland's flagship performance synth of its era, and I think it is fair to say the new Jupiters fill that role today, better in some ways even if lacking in others.
Nice informative piece. But I think Nick objects based on it not being something it isn't supposed to be, like asking why a car doesn’t have a propellor. He got it right when he said, "so it's very much a performance oriented tool." Not a workstation, or knobby VA synth, or a boat. It doesn’t have the 88 weighted keys/speakers of a comparably priced FP-7F or CP300 either. The question is how well it fills the role it is designed for, not how well it fills a fictional role you created for it.
By object, I mean that Nick seemed to focus on what the board doesn't do, and so many of Gareth's answers seemed to be along the line of "well no, it doesn't do that, but it does what it's designed to do, which is this," ...and Nick seemed largely unconvinced.
Which performance oriented boards (however you define it) with deeper synthesis would you suggest at $2k as a good alternative? I'm thinking Kurzweil PC3LE, maybe Korg M3. All good, but I definitely see some unique JP-50 strengths.
there's always an ipad on music gear videos.....i'm sad about that
tiboliebymusic I agree.
yeah, which must use an accessory! camera dongle, to simply accept industry standard usb. smh. screw you apple, you fail
you are answering to the comment from youtube support...not mine... i am sad because ipad are taking the market without any rivals... so about tablets we are almost forced to go with ipad... because all the good music apps are on ios
No - It looks good initially, then the manufacturer drops the ball in updating their app to work with the newest IOS version. Don't expect the functionality to work a couple of years down the track!
synth capability seems similar to my Roland SH-01 Gaia except there is no bunch of knobs/sliders making it a pain to program without the ipad app, acoustic tones sound good but they're not really editable, 3 part multi and no sequencer built in..n the end it's more of a covers band giging rompler with some synthness thrown in.
did sonicstate ever do an in-depth on the j80? i didn't see it in a quick search on the sonicstate channel....
I've watched every review many many times on the Jupiter 50 and this one seems to be the most critical. If you want a truly analog synth, invest in the Jupiter 8. For a mere $7,000 to $10,000 used I'm sure you'll get what you want. A piece of history that is analog. But if you want to make music, which is what this is supposed to be about, try being a little less critical of the lack of sliders and focus on the sounds. I ordered this keyboard on Saturday and proudly await its arrival. :)
Bought one few years ago. The biggest waste of money in my life ($1,400).
I decided to buy Roland because they replaced the LCD display of my old Juno-G for free and this Jupiter-50 is Made in Japan. Very disappointed. Supports sucks. Yes, there are sounds and lots of layering of supposedly Natural sounds but that's it. To try to use sound or manage the whole keyboard is impossible dued to dumbest logics and shortage of numeric keypad and missing shortcut. Let me give you some examples:
1- There is no Rythm, No Drum or Metronome. The Tempo can be used only for Arpegio. Beat will not start when pressing Tempo because it is controlled by residing Arpegio clock. Therefore, 1st beat always delays. No way to synch with outside audio.
2- Group of instruments are so poorly put together. Start with MANUAL to the Left then press a colorful group. Looking for subgroups have to press 2-3 different kinds of buttons or dials to the Mid-Right. Many times have to ENTER first. Then Right or Left Arrows (without labels). Same Arrows may be Sub-sub elements or may be Main groups. DECrease or INCrease sometimes same as Up & Down Arrows, sometimes NOT.
3- Under the tomb of Main group of patches (Roland calls sounds and few more different terms), I discovered hidden chambers of many more patches of UNRELATED to Main but link to other group . And it is hard to go back and dig it because there is no consistent steps to follow.
4- Some of the control buttons are to the left and I have to press some to the right. And this has to do with the biggest and dumbest in Design and Production: The BANK. There are 8 BANKS with 4 subgroup and with 4 patches under each subgroup (like [Set01] 1-4 to [Set01] 4-4, but this stupid keyboard has only 4 white lighted buttons that can choose only 1 to 4 of the sub-sub set. It will NOT activate [Set02], NOT [Set03] NOT all the way to [Set08] because if I press 3 then 2 it will do only [Set01] 3-2 and that's it! Out of 8x16=128 selections, I can directly do 4. Well, may be 16 but I have to go back and hit BANK first! There is No direct way to get to [Set02] 1-1 to [Set08] 4-4. Have to begin with BANK hit ENTER then Right or Left Arrow then Up or Down or DEC or INC or Dial. By the time I reach the perset I want, the time is GONE!
5- All preset sounds that are supposed to be showcase sound so terrible (lowest taste in music). Output levels are not uniform, mostly too low. Took me a year (on/off) to try to standardize before gave up. I wanted to use for simple Arrangement but soon told myself "Forget about it". I put a blanket over it and went back to JUNO-G.
Great demo, Thanks. One thing I have found is that I never see a Jupiter 80 in any stores. I would really like to try one before buying but they are MIA at all the stores in my area. Usually people are excited about new Roland keyboards but this one just does not have that feeling. I wonder why?
Because there is no Lower part in JP50, as there is into the JP80. The Solo and Perc parts are one sound only. A part is up to 4 sounds together (And I'm not talking about OSC).
Wow Roland, you did it again. When are you ever going to release an instrument that isn't a complete turkey? I don´t understand how anyone would invest in a brand new instrument in 2016 that still sounds like the age of General Midi. When I think of the R&D department at Roland, I imagine the radio tuned to a crappy golden oldies station, and a bunch of fifty year old guys in 80s sports jackets sitting around it, wondering how to make every song sound exactly as fresh as "Tell it to my Heart" by Taylor Dayne.
Taylor Dayne=Forever Fresh
"..fresh as "Tell it to my Heart" by Taylor Dayne." - nice, one of my fav tracks!! I know what you mean though, things do move on, I'm not convinced this Roland offering is anything new though, this demo is rather uninspiring. I tend to switch off when phrases like "it can do anything you want" are used, mostly as they are being lazy in not giving proper detail. I am sooooo tired of hyperbole.
You make a full assessment on an instrument based on the sounds of 3 presets this guy played?.... good job.
Great presentation Nick! I think I understand what the 50 is a bit more now. Not the keyboard for me but some of the expression options on the acoustic instruments are stunning! Think I will be waiting for the release of the SH1010 :-)
Why did Roland downgrade the endcaps on the Jupiter 50 to silver spraypaint rather than the nice aluminum of the Jupiter 80???? Is the cost of a few pieces of aluminum so great? How tacky. Just make them black if you must drop the aluminum.
What guff about the Jupiter 4 lineage there LOL! Simply, Roland used 'Jupiter' for their top-of-the-range synths in the analog days (with Juno for the cheaper ones, and SH for their mono synths, and so on...). Roland are saying this is their top-of-the-range synth.
Well... that trumpet was better than the 4.
This is a keyboard, for keyboardists - not a synth for synthesists.
He keeps talking around the point trying to confuse the viewer I think, it is a workstation it seems just with the look of the Jupiter and a nice synth engine. The JD-XA seems to be alot closer to an actual synth.
No IT IS the most power synth. Ridiculous levels of polyphony and layering galore. It's sound engine is unmatched. People get pissy because it's not analog but don't understand that you can't have an analog machine and it be as powerful at the JP-80. The rep answered his questions Nick was just arrogant about it. Like dude it has a s-load of synth sounds you have to play it to see for yourself. The rep basically told him about 3 times while Nick tried to make this thing look like it was a casio or something.
@@187onasimp For a digital it only has the basic waveforms. He didn't go into detail about modulation matrix, does it have ring mod (I guess it has cross mod from the demo). He's not selling it to the Sonic State crowd
Upper and Solo? Why didn't they call it Lower and Upper?
Also, no aftertouch is inexcusable on anything over $1,000. I would trade the D-Beam for aftertouch any day.
(3) He says, "we're not talking about a whole lot of synthesis capabilities; we've got oscillator, filter, amplitude & pitch envelope, maybe a couple of LFOs." How much more is on the comparably priced Prophet 08? (Though it has its own virtues!)
He says "It's not an inconsiderable amount of money,” maybe still reacting to the JP-80? The 50 seems reasonably priced for what it is. But yes, as a high end performance synth, it should have had aftertouch, even if the price had to be a bit higher.
I didn't notice any onboard speakers.....do I need external speakers for this?
No , headphones would do.
USB connection to an iPad for editing and a PC DAW integrated? I don't see where they're going with that idea. If the customer wants the full benefits out of the system they'd need both an iPad and a PC. It sounds nice, though. And I don't really mind the missing aftertouch.
so its only midi interface...can I use and connect it to the focusrite sacrlett 2i4 as audio interface to record????? I need help.... Any ideas
Thanks a lot :)
00:45 Nick...a true gentleman 😢
So when its time to record into a DAW how may track can you record simultaneously......
After much research (Feb 2018), I bought this keyboard brand new at one quarter the price of a Nord, and 6 years out of date, so its interesting for me to revisit the demos on UA-cam. The Piano and strings and choir, and other acoustic sounds, are excellent, and you can get great piano sounds singly or by layering several pianos in the live set. Personally I don't use farting synth sounds, (I'm not a pet shop boy) so I don't care about oscillaters, filters, etc, but you can use them to get your perfect piano sound, and the pianos are way ahead of the Nord. Uileann Pipes sound is a sound to die for. Roland were doing 30 years ago, what Nord are charging a fortune for nowadays. I'm a live player, and this 'synth' is great, quality fat sounds, and it's light and sturdy, has a joystick, great key action, and outputs can be split to separate amps or channels. And, oh yeah, it's easy to programme. And it's a Japanese Roland. Quality.
i hope... in the near future Roland will make a classic analog synth, just like @ the good old times
I have a question.
Is the app only for Ipad?
When someone says 1900 sounds I cringe.
I bought a 20 year old Ensoniq TS10 for $30 that makes me happier than this would. It has polyphonic aftertouch and plays six voices per patch. With the $1970 I saved (and a little patience) I also picked up a Jupiter 6, MicroWave Rev I, PolySix, Juno 106, Wavestation, DX7, Rhodes 73, etc.
Unfortunately none of them feature USB playback...
Ok 6 layers, Question How many splits?
3
3 in 1 4 1 style.
What's Nick constantly looking away at? :)
Really, the Juno-G was almost a great budget workstation, even had sampling. Yamaha's MOX and Korg's M50 still don't measure up. Trade the D-Beam for aftertouch, and it would have been unstoppable. They screwed up with the Gi, removing the sequencer and even the tone editor software.
re: "Ipad connectivity over aftertouch" - unlike AT, iPad connectivity adds $0 manufacturing cost (it would have had USB anyway)
re: "a bit over priced" - what's better at $2k w/ 76 keys, piano, clonewheel, VA synth, good acoustic sounds, good live interface for patch selection and on-the-fly splits/layers, under 25 lbs? Closest is probably Kurz PC3LE7, each has its strengths, but JP-50 is competitive.
But yeah, it should have aftertouch, even if it had to be a little more expensive.
This demonstrator always starts with piano sounds on a damn synth demo. Come on dude, nobody watching this is hoping to get a great piano sound out of this machine. Lol. Turn some filters and program the Oscilators.
a great piano sound could be interesting to many as most of our Synths cant do that at all
I don't really get the host's skepticism about the Jupiter's editing/synthesis capabilities. When you have an upper, lower and solo tone within every live set, EACH comprised of four fully changeable elements, and each of those elements is in turn built from three fully editable partials (including oscillator, filter and amp controls), WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?! The Jupiter is about as 'modular' as it gets, without digging out a 70s system replete with patch bays/cables for signal routing.
Come on dude, just admit this is one BADASS board...
It sounds nothing like a modular synth.. I'll admit it has it's place in some music but certainly not as a replacement to a modular synth
Nicks reviews can be pretty redundant when he doesn't understand a keyboard he gets nit picky. Like he's upset this thing isn't a Prophet or something.
How much have you paid for this demonstation?
The problem is that the analog revival is going back to the 70s - lots of monophonic stuff, and modular is bigger than ever.
Meanwhile, there is no 1-osc budget poly. Maybe DSI could make a Six-Trak successor like how the Mopho is internally the "Pro-One II", or Korg could pick up where they left off with a "Poly-600".
Really, why is it so difficult to put aftertouch in keyboards like this. I have an Alesis QS6 of a billion years ago that I bought 2nd hand for 150 euro and it has aftertouch. It can do things this fancy thing can't.
The real reason? Because the sound programing allows you to do the features you would get from aftertouch right on the sound panel. Using after touch again makes it unnecessary. It's really only a feature you find now on premium keyboards only unless it's like a controller. Now aftertouch is just one of those things people ask about to make themselves seem like they know about keyboards when in reality most people that are keyboardist understand it's not always a necessary feature unless your playing an Analog keyboard.
I consider myself an EDM guy and I agree with you. Sure I would like Roland to make a real analog synth, but I am not losing sleep over the fact that they aren't and do plan to. I just take my money to another company that is making real analog synths. I also like typical band music, and digital synths too, unlike my hardcore EDM "analog or die" colleagues.
Nice tshirt Nick :)
I don't want to be too harsh on the reviewer, he is obviously a piano player and not a sound designer. I'm certain Nick could just sit down and program sounds on this without problems, and at the same time find all of its capabilites.
This is new sound engine (super natural)..The other keyboard still uses sample sound on MB or GB like kronos
Great sound and feel, but the 16 live set key pads on middle only allows the titled family tones i.e., piano in the piano pad.. If we want to put some accordian, flute, lead guitar saxophone, brass, sitar santoor, violin, strings.. etc can we store it or save it or register it??... As it is in XP series and XPS series... If not it is just waste of best resources. The XP 60, XP 30 was and after these 30 tears still King of keyboard in live and stage orchestra, and XPS 30 is takinp its place as Prince, only because of these feature, and it does not have vaccume while shifting from one tone to other...or latency issue,,
Can anybody guide me on this
Why Roland is not considering the requirements of Indian Musicians?
A great instrument that indeed has its audience, but those things aren't "synths proper" - at least, not intended to use as such. It's an electronic instrument meant to offer the player a bunch of "useable" sounds for a number of musical genres and which works well in a scenario. The range of sounds includes both sampled sounds from mechanical ("acoustic") and electromechanical (e-pianos, organs, etc) instruments, as well as the usual bunch of "synth" sounds (pads, leads, etc). Thus, a rehash of the "performance keyboard" theme, which, again, is very convenient for probably most working musicians. But it's not intended as mainly a *synthesiser* for the *synthesist*. Makes perfect sense from a commercial POV since the market for those is comparatively tiny, but I wish this distinction wasn't overlooked so often. This is no critic to the capabilities of the synthesis engine, which seem (and sound) great, but the need for an external editor clearly marks this as an instrument not mainly aimed at the synthesist, as opposed to the "occasional tone tweaker".
Why with all these synth reviews do people go on about after-touch. After-touch is a quite rare thing to find on keyboards anyway.
It should not be rare. Modern aftertouch is a very lazy and cheap implementation, it's just a monophonic resistive strip across the whole keybed.
in other words,
its not a system 8
being reviewed on analogstate
No, that wasnt out at the time of this review....
For those of you who want Roland to produce proper hands-on analog synth - TELL THEM! There's no use whining about it on here. A friend of mine sent an email to Roland which I drafted as a joke. Next thing I know I had Roland on the phone wishing to discuss my email. So we did. I also had explained to me the use of the Jupiter name and that the company are a forward thinking company and analog would be a backward step. I was told that a real analog synth is not on the table. Get writing folks!
5 years on and Roland appear to have seen the light...
Lee Greveson Which light? With the SE-02?
@@joachim595 They actually had to get an external company to design the SE-02 for them. All Roland did themselves was create limitations by sticking it in the Boutique format. And then Behringer released the model D which is cheaper, an emulation of a true classic, and provides eurorack compatibility. I think that will keep Roland from trying again for at least another decade. It's a shame, because in terms of vintage analog, I think Roland made some of the most amazing sounding synths of their time. The SH series had such a lovely fluid sound to them, the JUNO's define early dance music, as well as of course the classic TB303 (not that amazing by comparison, but undeniably a classic synth).
It's not a fact of liking EDM or not. The point is that Roland's new gear is just so uninspiring. It looks like in these last years they've kind of changed their philosophy and market base. Their products now tend to stay on the safe side (just the fact they get named as the old products is a really bad choice imho) and they seem to be oriented mainly to piano players, keyboard players in bands, newbies, etc. They lost the cutting edge spirit that made possible so many great products in the 80s.
Nice in-depth look at a contemporary keyboard. Very impressed with the Supernatural technology. If they were to update the AP synthesis of the GT with Supernatural that would be quite a keyboard. Not so impressed with the demonstrator's eagerness to sell the unit. "Again its analog MODELLING" Yeah we got it, and it doesn't have a built in interface woopee, move on.
aside from the huge miss of being multi-timbral, the SH-01 is pretty good, the coming (?) SH-02 should add infinite pots w memory, multi-timbral, original Roland Vintage synth patches from every SH, Jupiter, Juno etc synth PLEASE Roland - we do not want techno rave hoover patches!!
Nick seems a bit annoyed by this keyboard. 😁
A monitor, I'm switching cameras
Kind of feel a bit sorry for the demonstrators of the latest Jupiter keyboards... Bit like they're being asked to promote a dud - Sure, there are lots of the usual standard sounds which most of us have already got in other keyboards and they sound nice in the Jupiters... but it's nothing new. The voice architecture is just a step on from the JV/XP range with a few added bells and whistles. Roland really need to go back to the drawing board and develop a *brand new* synth.
It’s strange watching this in 2021 to see that Roland developed all this technology yet I don’t know where exactly it went. I can see some similarities between this and the Jupiter X yet some of the performance features seem to have been abandoned.
I think they made Jupiter X to satisfy those who were kind of disappointed with the concept of Jupiter 50/80 performance synths. Jupiters 50/80 don't have all those sliders on panel like old analogs did. Jupiter X and Xm have that kind of hardware interface. I also think that all those SuperNatural engines were finally less successful than they expected, excluding pianos. But the concept of all that keyboard splitting and parts layering was very original I must say. Up to 4 parts in the main area of the keyboard with the possibility to add something for left or right hand only. That's clever. And build quality seems great, metal housings, good feeling keybeds. 80 has the same like old Fantoms which was excellent. Haven't played the new Fantom.
If you can't afford this and want realistic acoustic instruments, you should check out stuff by Sample Modelling, Spitfire and VSL. For analog sounds, checkout Diva.
This is funny. Nick keeps bringing up the fact that it is called a Jupiter but doesn't really even have a good VA section and The Demonstrator keeps saying "ahh but it is a Jupiter, Jupiter doesn't mean Analog Synth, it means cutting edge technology." Well maybe it means that to Roland but to Everyone else it means Analog. This is just a rompler with a Gaia thrown in but with no interface. People were ripping DSI about the Prophet 08 but at least it is in the same category as the old Prophets
It is actually a great synth BUT...
Now the natural sounds sound good, very good actually but the knobs for the "analog" hands on approach are gone.
A reverse Jupiter, Inverted Jupiter...Jupiter Menu Diver.
At Roland they didn't understand what they were making at the time.
None the less, if you dive a bit into the menus it is a great synth.
replaced with a touch screen approach. Kind of like how cellphones no longer have physical buttons to press numbers.
Roland f^&ked up. This is too much money for what they offer in 2014, no aftertouch is mindblowing, my £500 Blokeys has Poly aftertouch ffs. Another nail in the coffin Roland as regards to this market ? Not to mention the unexceptable aliasing in PWM on anything past the Jps. You have been alseep to long, you're the North Korea of the modelling synth world.
Let me know how that goes. Big companies love to give smart assed replies like your demographic is a small portion of our sales. Yup, they look at their sales to see how much you spend on synths.
I must be doing something wrong!!!! Somebody please help me tweak this keyboard before I throw it out the window!!! After this demistration I was sold,Dude (Gareth) got a beautiful tone on his piano alternate… I got the Jupiter-50" home and couldn't believe how horrible the pianos sound!! My Casio cost $200 and got a more richer even tone on the pianos then this $2000 Jupiter-50! "ANYBODY PLEASE HELP!!!
I don't have this keyboard but I do have an older XP-50 so I know how anemic their pianos can sound. They are good for new age and trance stuff though and do sound great when part of a mix, rather than in isolation. In contrast your Casio would probably need quite a bit of eq to make it sound good in a mix.
A lot of Roland's patches don't sound good in isolation but in the context of the mix they just seem to blend really well.
Anyway in response to your question, I would use the onboard FX and put a compressor and equalizer on the piano, and reverb. Add some multi-tap delay for the Robert Miles sound.
Meld Magic Thanks so much Meld for the insight! I do appreciate your reasonable advice; but at this point and time, I have decided to trade it in for the "Kurzweil SP4-7" ... Primarily I'm not very knowledgeable or that technical with engineering under the board for tweaken. I just want to play and get a basic balanced rich piano sound when I pull it out the box; for $2000. It should to be cooking! Geee:( Oh well, the fact that both of these keyboards are super light (21pounds) 76 keys, Split/Layer is what I was primarily shopping for. Maybe I jumped to far ahead of my level with the JUPITER-50", so I'll come down half way and settle for the Kurzweil until I can hang with the big dogs:) but thanks again!
Roland is known for having bad sounding pianos on synths. The exception is their dedicated digital pianos. The problem with demos is even cheap gear has been changed to sound good. A demonstrator could easily hide problems in an expensive synth through a variety of sound modification methods.
The difference is in the speakers. Try use a pair of good monitors and you will hear the real sounds.
Thanks Marcus Trancoso, but I have long ago sold the Jupiter 50~ I'm finished with hardware keyboards; I have entered in to the VST world of software pianos and love it...
Not that convincing is it?
The controller is for iPad and the software is PC.
Nice Roland.
I just replaced my intermittent AT on my XV88, for a total of €31 including shipping
and this thing is €2000 but NO bloody aftertouch?
What The Bloody Hell????
"Oh hey, let's keep the pitch mod lever and that damned D-beam, but let's not incorporate something that enables you to keep both hands on the keys"
UNnatural designers phylosophy
+1 inexcusable!!! My $500 (actually paid $400) MiniBrute has aftertouch!! Bollocks to Roland!
Frankly, I disagree. Analog is dandy and all, but in a mix, no one has been able to tell my analogs from my VAs. And frankly, hardly anyone has pointed to anyone's isolated tracks and been able to tell what is what over the past few years. VAs have become superb chameleons. And Nick is wrong that the Jupiters DO have full blown VAs in them, only lacking OSC sync. If you want an analog, do like I'm doing and save for one. But I want a JP too, because it does things I currently can't.
So for $2000 you can buy this synth(?) and be able to play the last note of love cats. I can wait. If Roland is continuing to make keyboards that just end up being given away, why don't they make them smaller? That would be a great way to make this dud less annoying.
Strictly speaking of the sounds of this machine and not the talents of the guys doing this presentation, many of the synth sounds I've Heard in this presentation sound like garbage to me, with a couple of exceptions. They just have that horrible, grainy, digitally simulated pulse-mod sound that became so popular in the 90's. The physical-modelling nuances (um, I guesss what Roland calls SUPERNATURAL?) actually sounds pretty good. Pads sound decent too. But I guess I'm just not much impressed with the leads. I'm trying to feel out my impression here and convey it the best I can. It actually seems to me that some of the older Roland digital synths sounded better for leads than this. I'm talking JV, XP and XV series. And I guess what frustrates me about actually going out and buying a J50 is that I wonder how deceiving the "bad" sounds are. For example, my Kawai K5000 additive synth sounds like thin 80's cheese one minute...and then sounds so incredibly deep and lush that a member of the Kurzweil K2XXX series ought to mind it's place in the "deep synthesis" category. Indeed, I love my Kawai...and I'm kind of looking for a board which can overlap with it's surreal realm...while producing a far more acoustic edge. I also want to hear more about the tonewheel organ properties of the J50. I consider the B-3 organ a staple of much of the music I like to do. I've looked at the Hammond XK series, the Voce modules and Nord Electro/Stage racks and keyboard. Drawbar -type control is intriguing but not imperative. I'm not a B-3 purist. I just love the sound. Overall I'm very attracted to the J50, but I'm also tempted to fall back on Yamaha Motif/EX series or Korgs cheaper Kronos derivativesm, like Krome. Currently I use Roland JV90, Access Virus B, Roland XV5050, and Kawai K5000S. I'm considering replacing the Rolands with a Roland VR760, J50, Yamaha SY99 or EX5. I'm really into synths that use modeling and pure synthesis at least as much as they use samples, although acoustic sounds (like 12str guitar are paramount) to my composition style.
Wow a ton of info!! I have a Kawai K4, like your K5000, it can do amazing things when programmed up. I have a real Hamm C3, my info is, they tend to sound different esp. by year. Leslies too. Mine is early 1960s which sounds different from a later model.
You are so wrong dude
Get a JP80 and see what your missing. U really do not know what the hell unare talking about
Hmmmm.., 10 people don't know what it means to MOVE FORWARD with technology rather than take a 30 year step back. Don't get me wrong.., I love that classic analogue sound.., but for Christ's sake people it's 2012. There ARE other options out there for real analogue purists.
Still doesn't sound like a trumpet mate.
You EDM guys need to understand that dance music isn't universally loved, any more than DJs are. In fact I rather dislike most dance music.
Gaia Line.
good luck with that - haven't bought a brand new hardware synth for years - why bother when we have online auction sites? There are plenty of independent companies producing real analog synths in affordable packages - buy these other products instead, it's as simple as that.
Somebody please gift me one of these. I promise to make good use of it, hehe.
Whilst the name is really irrelevant but given Rolands Heritage they Should have been more respectful to their own lineage and called it a Fantom GT because it really is only a Fantom G on steroids!!!!I had a JP80 for a few years but never got on with the Patch structure,its all well and good having layer upon layer for huge stacks but it's chaotic to navigate and frustrating to use,I've used many Roland Products over the years so am comfortable with there OS and decades of keyboard and live experience but found the JP80 frustrating to say the least.
re: " it should have a proper VA section instead of some weak ass global 2 pole LPF"
It does have a proper VA section. The simple global filter is just for the acoustic tones. The VA section gives you 4 kinds of low pass filter, bandpass, high pass, peaking. Also, switchable 2 or 4 pole.
Who wants 1900 presets on something that's supposed to be a synth, that would take me forever to wipe them all so I could design my own sounds
Sounds quite plastic to me. Poor guy having to defend such a rubbish piece of shizzle.
No aftertouch!!!!!!!!!!!
It's not a synth lover's synth
False, I love this synth. It was the first synth I ever bought. Is it my only synth? No but that’s not the point, too many people are overly critical of synthesizers because they expect a one size fits all solution to their sonic needs. You wouldn’t have a cello play a trombone part. Every synth has a unique flavor and with that a unique set of uses.
@@avemwall yes, but this is trying to be cello, trombone and the whole orchestra but ends up sounding generic. My initial statement meant it doesnt satisfy the needs of those who love rich synthy sounds.
Roland doesn't get it. With all that it can do, it should have a proper VA section instead of some weak ass global 2 pole LPF.
As an owner of two vintage Rolands (Juno 60, Alpha Juno 1) it's just depressing. If you want analog spend for it. But Roland could help us out a little. Prophet 08's are $2000, I'd take that any day..
some one should tell the rep that patronising the people watching is not probably the best way to sell overpriced keyboards.
CRAPPY REVIEW
This thing is ridiculously over priced and has many limitations. Omnisphere and a macbook air is better cheaper and more flexible.
yeh sorry anther waffing demo.
Roland are a joke! The grand farther of analog synths but too old to take part in the new analog revolution. "You need to spend quite a long time with this synth" is not what people want to hear. Nor the 500 pianos when only 1 is needed.
The Demo was .. I felt embarrassed for him. Good job nick faded out! Electronic music now is built up with a lot of powerful drums/beats. And this demo used Rock Kit 1! The guy is a keyboard expert too. It puts off everyone that isn't. Derrrr! Disappointing.
"rock kit 1" 😅
huh. if i wanted trumpet sounds i'd learn to play the trumpet. a lot cheaper too.
He does have a point though. A real instrument will always sound better than an emulation. Listen to that outtro. I know 90s porn music that sounds less plasticky and artificial than that. Isn't it icredible how few one-man-band disco-roadshows ever make it to the big league, eh? Even though they clearly can emulate so many more sounds than actual bands who wasted their time learning to play boring old instruments. Seems there must be some weird thing that prevents the general public from diggin that fake trumpet as much as you do, Pete. I don't know what it is, I guess you could call it a desire for authenticity maybe?
gladtobeangry we know that but we don’t have the time to learn it all the piano honestly is the best instrument ever created
To me after the Jp8000 Roland never actually did anything new, this one and the Jp 80 are looking and sounding like one of those keyboards that you hear playing in a Marriage ceremony :/