https://tal-software.com/products/tal-j-8

TAL just put out their Jupiter-8 emulation. Thought it worthy of it's own New Products thread.

Haven't had the chance to try it out myself yet but nice to see some competition for the new Arturia and Roland Cloud versions.

Oh my G....

(G for Groove)

Arturia just completely rewrote their Jupiter-8 emulation.

I'll put it to test vs the HW a bit later.

The JP I have has oscillator bleed that I've come to love. It's like a bee hive buzzing with colorful noise. I kinda hope they've modeled this, albeit it could be this particular JP delightful quirk and not shared by other JP8s

Usually if I want a squeaky clean JP type sound I launch DIVA and am done with it.
TBH I use DIVA even more than I use the JP-8... but when I do use it I get some really special sounds from it.

Will be reporting back soon enough.

Reporting back that from the first impressions it's definitely a JP-8 type synth.

Sounds more "real" than the Roland emulation. Has that "further back sounding" feel that HW tends to have.

**** yes!

Thanks for the feedback. I always appreciate when someone gives perspective on how these emulations stack to the real thing (or a real thing seeing as how these old beasts all tend to be a bit different).

The TAL emulation has all the features of the hardware. The Jupiter 8 hardware has multiple outputs.

Oh wut? Didn't know this was on the cards!?

Been an amazing year for VI synths, I can't seem to move for 'em right now but... here we go again.

Have you tried the rewritten Arturia one?

This was an instant buy for me. Love TAL synths.

Beta tester here. Have to say I've thoroughly enjoyed using it so far. Big fan of the Sampler and the 101 emu and now loving this one.

+1 for this if you have time to do a comparison!

Would love to know how it stacks up to the original, DIVA, and other software. Anyone try the updated Arturia Jupiter 8 yet, and this?

Also, can I be petty-jealous that you have an original Jupiter and sad to hear that it doesn't see much use?

Use their Juno synth all the time. Love TAL products. Gonna check this one out!

I did the JP8a 12bit sound wave samples for him

Don't know how much of it he used to calibrate the sound engine, but I know the higher resonance of my synth, and brighter harder driven sound made him add the resonance/brighteness knobs

The synth was modeled on his cleaner 14bit model

Setting the Tone settings to VCO - about 2, drive 1, and reso to 2.5
reminds me of my synth, but I need to do a side by side comparison.
The filter resonance reaction harmonics is not quite the same though

I decided to download the trial and do my own little demo.

The first it the TAL J-8. Octave pulse waves with PWM. Full resonance sweep and Chorus I setting.

The second is Diva on divine mode, with a good amount of Oscillator drift and detune, as well as parameter drifts on the envelopes. To make it a fair fight, I used the TAL chorus (which sounded pretty well exactly the same as the J-8). I couldn't get close enough with the stock Diva chorus (please no hate for using a Juno chorus on a Jupiter... I like what I like!). I also tried the filter in rough and clean mode, but it was on the rough setting for this clip.

Matching the envelopes was the hardest part. The range on the J-8 is much more limited, as is the envelope mod on the filter, but that also makes it much easier to fine tune. The shapes also felt different.

The PWM and the oscillators themselves also just sound (a bit) different. The J-8 sounds a little more hoovery, which I also associate with the 80s Rolands. I haven't played the real deal though so I'm not sure how qualified I am to comment on this.

Would love to hear from the Arturia owners still to hear how it stacks up! (to the re-issue). I like this a lot though. I'm not sure if I can justify spending more money on plugins... for this year anyways, but I think it is on the list for the future. I think it sounds great, and I love having the Juno chorus right on the panel. I haven't tried the delay yet. The GUI also looks fantastic.

Really my only gripe is that noise in the trial is AGGRESSIVELY loud. I respect TAL a lot as a company and I think they make great stuff at a fair price... and of course they have the right to piracy-protect their software, but this is a bit of a turnoff. Silence gaps is much less annoying, or at least make the noise quieter and less frequent.

**Also the AU wouldn't output any audio for me in ableton (mac). The VST worked fine though.

Ok, so I've been playing with this thing for 3 hours straight now with this ridiculously phat, absolutely hilariously over the top arpeggiated pluck sound I managed to create. What can I say? Purchased.

Here's a short snippet from my several hour long recording (looped once).

Yes, this is a single instance of TAL-J-8 -> TEOTE + A bit of Timeless 2 delay and ValhallaSupermassive as the reverb.

He will release a version tomorrow which has less noise (both volume and in length)
rsp

I absolutely love it. The filter on his Juno emulation has been one of my favorite filters for a long time, but the oscillator section on the Juno is just too limited for my tastes; this solves that issue beautifully! Wonderful, classic Roland sound 'in the box'. Instant purchase, incredible price point. I've played with it all day and couldn't be happier. Cheers!

I have not tried it yet, so I'm not going to comment on the sound, but the GUI looks way too dark and it's not easy to distuingish between the knobs and the background. Both the Arturia version and the Roland version are much lighter and much more pleasing and easy on the eyes, according to my opinion and my eyes.

Hah

Well tbh I’d rather you be constructively “jealous” instead of petty. Just like I really wish my current projects would allow more time for using instruments instead of SW so I’m working towards that. Have it for over a decade so yeah it’s only a passing thing.

I do plan to use it extensively in the near future for some custom work. One thing that the HW has, and one of the main reasons I’m not considering selling it yet, are the expression inputs, which coupled with some advanced modulation signals can really allow this massive sounding synth to put out new textures.

For me personally HW is for those special touches that can mainly happen when you’ve got two/four hands on several pieces of gear interacting one with the other.

Whenever I get the chance to use it it always delivers, but given todays choices it wouldn’t be my first. There are so many modern good alternatives.

Regarding the TAL, I’ll do some one to one today with the Arturia one as well.

Realy curious to see how they stack up soundwise

Version 1.1.3

Registration / demo noise volume reduced.
Possible crash fixed when create or delete plugin.


rsp

yes, the arturia shootout is much needed! roland cloud is not there

tried the demo, well it's hard to say that you work on a vintage analog synthesizer) what I like about Tal-Juno that it has its own clean-digital-juno character. something similar seemed to me with J8. I can definitely say that it doesn't sound like an analog synthesizer, but it's definitely a good release.

I really like TAL in general and am excited for this release but am wondering, are there different skins for this? I find this really hard to read.

Hope they make an iOS version!!! The Uno-LX iOS is in heavy rotation in my setup here

Have you run it through a similar effects chain, including a VCA (or at least VCA plugin)? Many times not building a similar chain, even if virtual, can lead to unfair comparisons... or at least thinner sounding plugins. Someone or a company really good at making osc and filter emulations of, say, Roland, isn't necessarily an expert at emulating the rest of the chain. Maybe run the synth out of your interface into something analog and back in?

I also find the Juno one a bit thin (the Jupiter less so), and always add in some additional analog or emulated analog stuff to address that.

Haha! I hope you recognize my comment for the tongue-in-cheek it was intended to be. While I recognize that many vintage instruments posses a certain character and uniqueness, I don't generally want the burden of one being in my care. I have an old Hammond organ, and keeping that in decent shape is already too much responsibility. The Jupiter-8 might be one synth I might be willing to break my "don't buy old gear" rule for though! :p

I generally prefer plugins for the recallability within tracks, but you are totally right that there is something lost with regards to recallability, workflow, and user experience.

Looking forward to hearing your comparison!

I think you are on to something here. I run almost all of my VA softsynth patches through a saturator (usually a Kush omega) and then a Vari-Mu plugin (MJUC, Novatron, AR-1, etc) which usually gets my ballpark for "fake analog". If I wasn't so lazy, I could probably reamp through my UA 4-710d too... but I'm not sure that it is worth the hassle really. Of course after adding some effects (chorus, delay, reverb) I doubt it matters that much for the kind of sounds I use!

I didn't really want to buy another synth plug this year, but this sounds great to me . I tried creating the same patch in both this and Arturia's Jup8, and the TAL J-8 clearly came out in front as far as quality. The stereo spread on Unison and the custom trim controls really help open it up to a better sound.