Members Dr. Tweedbucket Posted October 25, 2012 Members Share Posted October 25, 2012 Do they have good piano sounds .... I mean something as good and realistic as a Kurzweil?How good and editable are the synth patches? How easy is the thing to figure out to edit patches? Do they sound at all like any Roland synths from the past? .... or are they just milking the Jupiter name for all it's worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Keys76 Posted October 26, 2012 Members Share Posted October 26, 2012 I have an 80, and I would not trade it for anything. If I thought the 50 had the same keybed , I would get one cause of the wieght and size. I've got a kronos 61 also. They compliment each other very well. The jupiter has very nice controller feature's also... guess ya just gotta play one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted October 28, 2012 Members Share Posted October 28, 2012 Just got the 50 2 weeks ago and it is a great board. No complaints yet except 16 live sets? Correct me if I'm wrong. Also I want to use the colored buttons to select sounds of my choosing within the category as they are all ready labeled. That would be great for accessing sounds live along with the live sets. The transpose is a little hard to get used to, not quite as responsive as my Juno GI was. Although I do like that the 50's interface is similar to the GI's, just a personal liking of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Keys76 Posted October 30, 2012 Members Share Posted October 30, 2012 I believe the # of live sets on the 50 is 2560, by the specs. Is it a nice semi weighted keybed like the 80 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted November 4, 2012 Members Share Posted November 4, 2012 Originally Posted by Keys76 I believe the # of live sets on the 50 is 2560, by the specs. Is it a nice semi weighted keybed like the 80 ? You are right. I guess I was talking about the registrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members keybdwizrd Posted November 4, 2012 Members Share Posted November 4, 2012 From what I've heard of the 80 it is a fine sounding instrument. But when I played one in a store, I couldn't figure out how the damn thing worked. And I've been playing synthesizers since 1974. They're expensive. And are meant for performing, so they don't have a 16-part multitimbral mode. Despite the color scheme, the 80 has nothing to do with the original Jupiter-8. All this being said, I have no doubt that if I could understand the logic behind these things, and could properly audition one, I'd probably REALLY want one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted November 4, 2012 Members Share Posted November 4, 2012 Originally Posted by DJ RAZZ No complaints yet except 16 live sets? Correct me if I'm wrong....I guess I was talking about the registrations. 128 registrations. Originally Posted by DJ RAZZ Also I want to use the colored buttons to select sounds of my choosing within the category as they are all ready labeled. You can do that. See page 78 of the manual. You can define those sounds to default to any sound you like within the labeled category. And if you enable the ALT button, you have a complete additional set of sounds you can assign to those buttons, which I believe can be anything at all (they don't have to be within the same category). Originally Posted by Dr. Tweedbucket Do they have good piano sounds .... I mean something as good and realistic as a Kurzweil? How good they are is a matter of opinion... as is how good the Kurzweil pianos are. Roland's SuperNATURAL Acoustic and Kurzweil Triple Strike piano sounds both have their fans and detractors. But there are youtube demos you can check out to get an idea. Originally Posted by Dr. Tweedbucket How good and editable are the synth patches? How easy is the thing to figure out to edit patches? The free iPad app helps a lot, especially on the 50. Originally Posted by Dr. Tweedbucket Do they sound at all like any Roland synths from the past? .... or are they just milking the Jupiter name for all it's worth? The VA synth section is pretty diverse... they have 7 pure synth waveforms and over 350 PCM, and a selection of 4 filters, including classic Roland. Whether it should be called a "Jupiter" has been the subject of debate among purists, but what hasn't? ;-) Originally Posted by Keys76 Is it a nice semi weighted keybed like the 80 ? Yes. I haven't played them side by side, but they seem very similar to me. One of the nicest unweighted actions I've ever played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted November 5, 2012 Members Share Posted November 5, 2012 Originally Posted by AnotherScott 128 registrations.You can do that. See page 78 of the manual. You can define those sounds to default to any sound you like within the labeled category. And if you enable the ALT button, you have a complete additional set of sounds you can assign to those buttons, which I believe can be anything at all (they don't have to be within the same category). How good they are is a matter of opinion... as is how good the Kurzweil pianos are. Roland's SuperNATURAL Acoustic and Kurzweil Triple Strike piano sounds both have their fans and detractors. But there are youtube demos you can check out to get an idea.The free iPad app helps a lot, especially on the 50.The VA synth section is pretty diverse... they have 7 pure synth waveforms and over 350 PCM, and a selection of 4 filters, including classic Roland. Whether it should be called a "Jupiter" has been the subject of debate among purists, but what hasn't? ;-)Yes. I haven't played them side by side, but they seem very similar to me. One of the nicest unweighted actions I've ever played. Thanks very good info and good news for live! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vintagekeys Posted January 23, 2018 Members Share Posted January 23, 2018 Sorry Gents to revive this old thread but I am in the market for a Jupiter 50 or 80 and need to know if the keybeds are the same between the siblings. This is a critical factor for me, given they are discontinued I cannot drop by a GC and test drive so want to be sure before pushing the button on the lighter 50. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JazzMastaJim Posted January 29, 2018 Members Share Posted January 29, 2018 The 50 has 76 semi-weighted keys and the 80 has 88 fully-weighted keys, if that's what you're asking. The 50 weighs <25 lbs and the 80 weighs around 80. :-) I have a Jupiter-50 and love it, but if I didn't have to lug it around, I'd probably look for an 80, due mostly to the keyboard and the additional Live Set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crazyfoo Posted January 30, 2018 Members Share Posted January 30, 2018 I bought an 80 when it first came out and I couldn’t figure out the interface to save my life.trying to get support from Roland and the store was an exercise in futility, seemed nobody knew how to operate this thing.i eventually got so fed up and frustrated I sold it at a loss after about two months and vowed never again.still a sore point with me ... love the sounds but why did they have to make it so darn complicated to use ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 I bought an 80 when it first came out and I couldn’t figure out the interface to save my life. trying to get support from Roland and the store was an exercise in futility, seemed nobody knew how to operate this thing. How was the manual? They used to have nearly unreadable manuals, but they got much better about that with several products, although the "manual" for the JP-03's and TB-03 that I purchased recently were on fold-out sheets that were written in nearly microscopic text... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kbeaumont Posted January 30, 2018 Members Share Posted January 30, 2018 The Jupiter 80 does NOT have 88 keys nor hammer action. It is a 76 key semi-weighted action and not the same one as the jupiter 50. It has after touch and has some of the nicest semi-weighted keys I have played especially from Roland who make some real awful actions. I have a VR-09 and would love to have the keys from the Jupiter 80 on that. The Jupiter 80 is no longer available from most retailers it has been discontinued. As for the interface I would take that over any of Yamaha's workstations any day. Plus Roland has videos showing how to use it at https://www.roland.com/us/rtv/product_support/jupiter-80_tutorials/ There are 24 videos showing every aspect of the interface. It also does NOT weigh 80 lbs it weighs 39 lbs. The specs are clearly listed here https://www.roland.com/us/products/jupiter-80/specifications/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JazzMastaJim Posted January 30, 2018 Members Share Posted January 30, 2018 I was guessing about the 80, since I don't have one. Only 76 keys? And it weighs a lot less than I thought, so I probably would have bought one if I could have afforded it! As for the interface, it took me quite some time to get the hang of it (on the JP-50), but having done so, there's a lot of versatility there. The big drawback that I've found is that, although it's supposedly designed for live performance, it takes too many steps -- and therefore, too much time -- to change sounds from one song to the next (unless you play a limited number of songs and use the same setlist every time). I use an old Alesis MMT-8 hardware sequencer to send program & patch changes to the synth instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crazyfoo Posted February 2, 2018 Members Share Posted February 2, 2018 I was guessing about the 80, since I don't have one. Only 76 keys? And it weighs a lot less than I thought, so I probably would have bought one if I could have afforded it! As for the interface, it took me quite some time to get the hang of it (on the JP-50), but having done so, there's a lot of versatility there. The big drawback that I've found is that, although it's supposedly designed for live performance, it takes too many steps -- and therefore, too much time -- to change sounds from one song to the next (unless you play a limited number of songs and use the same setlist every time). I use an old Alesis MMT-8 hardware sequencer to send program & patch changes to the synth instead. The part that frustrated the heck out of me was there was no easy was to access and call up a patch. Most keyboards will have ABCD and a keypad, want to bring up A-76, easy, press 'A' and then 76 + enter, done. With the roland, might as well bang your head against the wall and the manual wasn't helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paolo Di Nicolantonio Posted February 5, 2018 Members Share Posted February 5, 2018 IMHO the JP-80/50 is (will be) one of those sleeper synths like the V-Synth, that people will acknowledge later... it originally got a lot of slack because "it wasn't a Jupiter-8". I got the Jupiter-80 brand new at a very good price when they discontinued it and it's a very, very expressive board. Quality sounds, and the keyboard feels very well to the touch. There's touch-screen, so it's not that terrible to navigate, although there are a lot of functions. Some of those sounds absolutely nail the real deal... some not so much - but overall, it was a top of the line synth, I think that needs to be taken into consideration... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JazzMastaJim Posted February 7, 2018 Members Share Posted February 7, 2018 The part that frustrated the heck out of me was there was no easy was to access and call up a patch. Most keyboards will have ABCD and a keypad, want to bring up A-76, easy, press 'A' and then 76 + enter, done. With the roland, might as well bang your head against the wall and the manual wasn't helpful. Exactly! That's why I use the old MMT-8 sequencer. I made an Excel spreadsheet into which I enter the Registration or Live Set numbers, and it gives me the control & program changes to enter into the MMT-8. That's all saved as part of a 1-measure "Song." When performing, the Song & Track are at the top of the lyric sheet (even if there are no lyrics), as in, "Song 83/Track 4," which happens to be the setup for Deep Purple's "Lazy," I select the Song & Track, it sends that MIDI data to the keyboard. The whole process of selecting & sending the MIDI data takes no more than 2-3 seconds. But you shouldn't have to do any of that with a keyboard ostensibly designed for live performance, and I suspect that's one reason that these otherwise excellent instruments didn't catch on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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