From rare and sought after classics to
exciting new designs, model
expansions put world class Roland
synthesizers in your DAW
and compatible ZEN-Core hardware.
In this video, we're going to look at
the JUPITER-8 Model Expansion.
The JUPITER-8, like other Model
Expansions, is designed for speed and
performance in modern DAWs.
It has a clear re-sizable touch,
friendly interface that's easy to
understand even if you've never used
the original hardware and you'll see
that you can swap instruments and load
sounds instantly with no disruption
to your creative flow.
Released in 1981, the
JUPITER-8 is one of the most revered
and desired polysynths of all time.
Its lush, complex sound is on more
hit songs than you can count.
And its massive analog voice is simply
unmatched when it comes to warm pads,
strings cand lead tones.
So let's hear what it can do.
Let's get started by opening up the
patch browser.
Now, just like other model expansions
within ZENOLOGY, if the original
hardware had presets, you'll find
them near the bottom of the patch list
in all caps.
So let's choose one of these to get
started with. Let's choose Fuzzy Fifths
and we're gonna press edit.
And this is going to open up all of the
parameters that we have to edit and
do our sound design.
Now, the JUPITER-8 had a lot of
interesting modulation capabilities,
which were very powerful for sound
design and very interesting
and big sounding tones.
Let's get a sequence running and
we'll start to have a play.
So this original preset already has
some nice modulation going.
On the right side, you can see the VCO
modulator is where we apply
modulations from the LFO,
the envelope to either or both
of the oscillators.
And right now, we've got some pulse
width modulation going on.
On that square wave, on VCO1,
but on the left, you see
we've got cross-mod and sync.
Now, these are two more kind of extreme
modulations which happen
between VCO2 and VCO1.
Let's take a listen to some cross mod
sounds.
Now, the cross-mod can go from very
interesting harmonics
to some pretty destructive,
chaotic type sounds as well.
Turn that all the way down and
to take a listen to some of the sync
type of sounds, we're gonna lower
oscillator 2 a
couple of octaves because the way that
this works is that the modulations
are modulating and oscillator 1
with oscillator 2.
So let's take a listen to what happens
when we turn on sync first.
And then we're gonna add some
modulation to oscillator 1
using the envelope.
And you get that classic sync sound.
And if we put oscillator 2 up an
octave, everything's going to go
up an octave.
This is what is syncing oscillator 1.
All right, let's turn sync off for now.
And remember to change our pitch
envelope.
Now, let's take a look at the filter.
The JUPITER-8 has two options
for filter slopes.
Which are essentially different types
of characters on the filter.
So we've got a 24
dB 4-pole filter and a 12 dB 2-Pole
filter.
And the 12 dB will just be more open.
It just lets more harmonics through.
And of course, because we're within
ZENOLOGY, we can use
any of the MFX that are available.
So we could grab a bit of delay.
We'll sync that delay with the tempo.
And we've got ourselves quite the nice sound.
So let's take a tour of some more
sounds.
Opening up our browser, we'll start
again with one of the original presets.
Let's grab Mid Strings.
And we'll play a couple
of chords.
That's got that really rich
kind of string sound that the
JUPITER-8 is known for.
I like it, but let's change our
sequence a little bit to make it a bit
more interesting.
All right, let's take a look at some of
the newer presets.
Move up and take a look at
some pads.
Rezo Pad.
That's nice. That's got a really cool,
resonant kind of sound going on with a
CE-1chorus. I
take that resonance away,
kind of beefs it up a bit.
Lets checkout Bright Pad.
Now, this one's a little faster
with more attack.
You know, it's a little more "stabby"
than the previous ones.
I want something a little darker still.
Lets try Dirty Little Pad.
Very cool.
Now, this has we can hear
also Oscilator 2 tuned up
one fifth above Oscillator 1.
Really nice.
And also this has a kind of "tapey"
type sound to it.
That tape warble.
I kind of want more of that.
You know, we've got the CE-1 chorus on
the end.
But what if we had just
a bit more modulation to the
oscillators from the LFO?
And we've turned down our delay time on
the
LFO. There it is. Very nice.
So along with large string pad
kind of sounds, the JUPITER-8 was
really well known for its brass.
Now let's choose one of the original
brass patches from the JUPITER-8.
Lets go to Synth Brass and
we'll run a funky sequence.
It's got that really electro R&B
kinod of sound going on, and there's
really not much change about that.
Brighten it up a bit. Open the filter.
And one more with this sequence.
Let's take a look at Pluck Swell.
I really like that because you can hear
where in the notes that are more
sustained there's a cool kind of swell
at the end.
Wow.
Very neat. And that modulation delay
is really reminiscent of some 80's
throwback.
Let's try Basser PW.
That P.W. will stand for pulse width
and introduce our simple sequence.
Nice. Now, this already takes up quite
a bit of space in the mix.
It's got that Juno-106 chorus,
adding a bit of width to it.
And we've got one VCO down
an octave from the other.
That's a nice big fat square wave kind
of sound. And then CO2 has
this pulse width up an octave.
Almost like it has two layers.
Let's grab another batch.
Saw Unison Bass.
That's got a nice kind of tight attack
and then a low rumble.
I like that.
Let's grab one more Burned Bass.
Whoa.That's got a lot
of aggressive stuff going on in this
patch. Really cool.
Now it's got a warm saturator on the
output, which is going to be adding
that kind of saturation, a bit of
distortion on the end.
But even without that, there's a lot
of cool harmonic material there.
Let's switch up the sequence to be
more like a kick drum.
Let me go ahead and close down that
filter.
It's kind of a hybrid sequence, so it's
half kick, half bass.
And the whole kick part of this
is coming from this aggressive
envelope going to the pitch
of both these VCO's and that's
envelope 1.
Neat. Let's switch up the sequence.
Nice.
The JUPITER-8 and other Model
Expansions are available for ZENOLOGY
and compatible Roland ZEN-CORE
hardware.
Get them today at Roland.com.