| Manufactured by | Roland |
|---|---|
| Dates | 1984-1989 |
| Price | Approx. US$1695 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 6 voices |
| Timbrality | Monotimbral |
| Oscillator | 2 DCOs per voice |
| LFO | 1 sine/square/random |
| Synthesis type | Analog Subtractive |
| Filter | 1 resonant lowpass, 1 highpass |
| Attenuator | 2 ADSR |
| Aftertouch | Yes |
| Velocity sensitive | Yes |
| Memory | 64 preset patches/32 user patches |
| Effects | Chorus |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 61 notes |
| External control | MIDI |
The Roland JX-8P was a 61-keyboard 6-note, velocity and aftertouch sensitive polyphonic synthesizer released by Roland in 1984 to compete against the Yamaha DX7. In many aspects, the JX-8P delivers classic "fat" Roland synth sounds just like instruments as Jupiter-8, Jupiter-6, MKS-80 and the Juno-6/Juno-60 for instance. The forerunner of the JX-8P was the more thin-sounding, less MIDI capable, non velocity-sensitive JX-3P / MKS-30. The JX-8P belongs to Roland's last family (to date) of analog synths. Other famous members of this "family" of synths are the Alpha Juno 1/2 synths, the MKS-50, the MKS-70 and the JX-10.
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Programming was achieved either by means of a data slider and a silkscreened data table designating each of the parameters, or by means of a separate unit, the Roland PG-800 programmer. While not difficult to change parameters with the basic JX-8P, modifying a number of parameters without hearing immediate results was often a tedious experience for sound programming enthusiasts. The PG-800 alleviated this by providing sliders and knobs for most of the programmable parameters, with controls resembling those of a traditional analog synthesizer. The PG-800 connects to the JX-8P via a 6-pin DIN cable and a specific "midi-like" port on the back of the synth simply labeled PG-800. The programmer unit did not come with the synthesizer, but was sold as a separate accessory.
Interestingly, the JX-8P cost about $1500 when introduced; the PG-800 cost about $250. Today, on the second hand market, the PG-800 is often more expensive than the JX-8P itself, since it is a more rare item.
It was possible to create monophonic sounds, using a set of oscillators (2 from a patch) or 6 at the same time (with the same patch) to create a 'denseness' effect in the patch.
The built-in chorus effect was switchable from off to two different modulation modes for every patch.
The Factory presets of the JX-8P were created by Eric Persing and Dan Desousa
Memory organization consisted in two internal blocks of 32 'patches', and a similar organization for the external cartridge. Patch memory could be dumped to MIDI with a SYSEX message, with no "handshake" necessary. Initially, the owner's manual offered a programming sheet where parameters could be written on the blank lines. SYSEX memory dumps could be sent or recognized as "one patch" and "one bank". At the moment of receiving a memory dump, the synthesizer would keep all received patches in a memory buffer. In order to write the buffer to memory, the memory write lock had to be switched to "write" mode. The memory write lock was a physical switch in the back of the instrument and could be changed on the fly without the need of turning the instrument off for fear of damaging the memory (which was common on similar synthesizers).
The M-16C cartridge could store 32 more user patches, which could be loaded directly or transferred to the internal memory. The use was the same as the internal memory, including the protection switch. Sounds created on the M-16C can also be read by the Roland JX-10 and MKS-70, with some differences.