Roland Jupiter-4
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| Jupiter-4 by Roland | |||
| Synthesis type: | Analog subtractive | ||
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| Polyphony: | 4 voices | ||
| Oscillators: | 1 VCO + 1 sub-oscillator per voice | ||
| Multitimbral: | None | ||
| VCF: | 1 resonant lowpass, 1 highpass | ||
| VCA: | 2 ADSR | ||
| LFO: | 1 triangle/square/sawtooth/reverse sawtooth | ||
| External control: | None | ||
| Memory: | 10 presets/8 user patches | ||
| Onboard effects: | chorus | ||
| Produced: | 1978 - 1981 | ||
| Original price: | Approx. US$2000 | ||
The Roland Jupiter-4, released in 1978, was not only the first of Roland's Jupiter series of synthesizers, but it was also Roland's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer. The Jupiter-4 was the lowest-priced polyphonic synthesizer during its time (around US$2,000), but it was never as popular as other polyphonic synths such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and the Oberheim OB-X. The Jupiter-4 remained in production until 1981, when it was replaced by the more famous Jupiter-8.
The Jupiter-4 had 4 voices of polyphony with a single oscillator per voice (in addition to a simple sub-oscillator, which only emitted a square wave that was shifted an octave down from the main oscillator). The Jupiter-4's most famous feature is its arpeggiator, which has been used by many Jupiter-4 users to great effect. The arpeggiator has a choice of 4 patterns; up, down, up/down, and a random mode. The arppegiator can be prominently heard in Duran Duran's 1982 hit single "Rio." The Jupiter-4 also featured a chorus effect and 10 preset sounds, which many claim do not sound at all like the instruments they represent. The Jupiter-4 also featured 8 memory locations for user-created patches.
Despite not being incredibly popular, it did manage to find its way into the hands of some musicians, most of which were associated with the New Wave and synthpop music scenes.
[edit] Notable musicians/bands known to have used the Jupiter-4
- Devo
- Duran Duran
- Gary Numan
- Meat Beat Manifesto
- Stevie Wonder
- The Cars
- Thomas Dolby
- Level 42
- David Bowie
- The Human League
- Heaven 17
- John Foxx
- Simple Minds
- Moog Cookbook
- Depeche Mode
- Yazoo
- BT
- Spandau Ballet
- Saint Etienne
- Nick "Neil" Diamonds, The Unicorns
