Coming from a Jupiter 4 owner and Abyss admirer:

- Because people like to speak without actual knowledge.
- Because the sound architecture is similar.

Abyss sounds really great. Just different character from a Jupiter 4.

I was wrong!!! So wrong.

I just fired up the JP4 and it turns out that my memory is not what it used to be.
My JP4 distorts pretty much like in the clips that have been posted with the gain slider near, or at, max.

I apologize to everyone i have accused of not knowing what was going on. (in this thread, mind)
I have failed. *frantic bowing icon*

What i did was that i forgot that with the JP4 i apparently just have had the volume-slider sitting comfortably at appr. halfway up, and then never touched it again because i didn't (and still don't) like that distortion.

Sh#t! Now my Jupiter 4 is like everyone’s else and I can’t ask no more an exorbitant starting price if I ever decide to sell it.

Yeah, sorry for bringing up your hopes unwarranted too...

At least you are man enough to admit it. I do think the that while the engineers made this to compensate for level loss with resonance or the weaker saw wave the reality is that it does create a nice crunchy effect when purposely overdriven that is not the same as simply running thru a DS-1 or the like.

And that incredible crunchy sound is why Roland can’t make a plugin or plugout version of the Jupiter 4. Natural, nice sound distortion is the most difficult thing to model right. For every software developer.

Maybe some day...

Mine distorts like that as well.

Well, they did do a plugin version of the ProMars, which also has the same manual VCA Level control but I wonder if that's where the model breaks down. Always heard high praise for the plugin but I wonder if people didn't even realize that internal distortion can be used to shape the sounds. Granted, it's something pretty much unique to the Jupiter-4 family of synths -- though oddly the one implementation where you would think distortion would be welcome (SPV-355 'guitar synth', which is a ProMars in sheep's clothing) the VCA Level control is gone!

The Promars is commonly known as a monophonic Jupiter 4. Having not played a Promars, I can’t verify that, but unless it does also distort like the big brother, it is not a single voice J-4. That doesn’t change what a great sounding synth the Promars is.

The plug-in -which I have- does indeed sound very nice, but also very clean. The VCA level there is just a volumen level. It doesn’t add anything to the basic sound.

Same with the SH-2 plug-in, which is extremely close to a real SH synth, until you try the old Minimoog trick of feeding the headphone output back into the external input and WOW!!!!!!! (I did a demo video with the incredible feedback sound of the SH-09) The plugin doesn’t even have an external input...

The Promars can also be pushed into distorting, but not as much as the Jupiter-4 on account of their only being a maximum of two voices sounding at once on the Promars. If you set the VCA to max, engage the SUB oscillator and second VCO tuned an octave higher, then compare that with a JP-4 with the same panel settings playing an octave interval, the sound and level of distortion is virtually identical: just on the edge of breaking up. Play the remaining two voices on the JP-4 and it distorts heavily. If the Promars had two more voices, my guess is they would sound the same. Architecturally, the Promars and JP-4 are very similar—more similar than they are different, I would say.

I have found some videos with the Jupiter 4 in my hard drive. Not very musical but ideal to listen to the sound of the Jupiter 4.

Just to add another opinion since I just came across this thread and consider the 4 and 8 my two favorite synths, they really sound nothing alike at all so it’s not even worth comparing them directly. The 8 is an airy, ethereal, pretty sound synth that somehow still maintains aassove amount of punch and depth and bigness even though it’s polite in tone overall. It’s a kung fu grand master that KNOWS it is king and doesn’t worry about showing off or impressing anyone, it just always has it.

The 4 is a sad, mournful sounding synth. It always has the sort of uplifting depression vibe of a cure song... it’s a depressed kid with a smile on its face. It is deep and emotional and totally singular in tone- nothing else sounds like it at all, specifically the square wave, which I can pick out of mixes on Spotify. It’s that unique. It’s the Depeche Mode sound- bonky and kinda upbeat but also you know it goes home and cries at night. It’s a ****ing masterpiece and far and away the last remaining bargain in vintage synths. JP8’s have doubled in the last year, 4’s are still pegged at 4k, which is what I sold mine for due to surgical bills in 2017. So.

It’s like asking me to pick a favorite cat or kid. No. They are both the best in their own ways. Neither has any downside- they’re both totally reliable. Just be careful with your 4’s- the rotary switches for waveform and octave are completely unobtainable.

Hi guys, for convenience I made a playlist with my examples of the Jupiter 4:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...Mes2Qpui-6s9ao

There are some more coming in the next weeks. :-)

That’s the beginning of a new video series. Please, please, please read the notes on the video. What you will hear here is an unknown side of the Jupiter 4.

Part 7. Remember that you are listening only to self oscillating filters in the most parts of this video series. Add that to the internal saturation and you get sounds like on this video, which are simply impossible with the Jupiter 8.

How could you forget Mick MacNeil

;-)

Another vote for Mick MacNeil who ran rings around most of the commonly cited "big names".

It's strange - then again perhaps not, considering the taste of the mainstream - that he's so undervalued in the synth scene. It probably also has to do with the drab commercial stadium anthem rock route SM took after 1984.

Remember standing just a few feet in front of Mick MacNeil playing his JP4 -

FAC 51 - Hacienda - Manchester
Early 80's

What an era it was too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More “modularized” Jupiter 4:

4+8=12 so jupiter12

Great to have you back

Very old thread but it's a fun topic. I have a Promars and a JP-8, so I can't compare directly to a JP-4 but the Promars has this extremely vintage voicing. It sounds very old which I find really special and useful. However, a JP-4 with four single oscillator voices barely registers as a poly synth. The JP-8 is super flexible for a vintage poly and sounds fantastic but always has that polite quality. Funny thing is the Promars has the exact same filter and yet sounds so different that it must be everything else adding up. The JP-8 has attained some ridiculous valuations lately that I may be looking to sell mine soon. I'm more into guitars these days, anyway.

Jupiter 8, obxa, Jupiter 4....

Regarding sound… I just get this WOW feeling when playing the 4 that I do not get when playing the 8.