Members droolmaster0 Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 Ok - currently researching, but there are some people here whose opinions I value highly. I've been offered a trade of some sort with a Jupiter 4. Thus far what I'm encountering are opinions that you can get some pretty crazy sounds out of it - but that midi and/or cv/gate have to be retrofitted. Does anyone know about those options - are they readily available, do they need to be installed professionally, and how expensive? And what is your overall opinions on this synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tspit74 Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 I have a friend whose trying to get me to buy his. Unfortunately, part of the filter isn't working currently and I don't know who would fix it around here and how much it would cost. It's a cool synth. Very old school. The arpegiator is totally cool. Listen to the first 2 Duran Duran albums. All that great random arpegiator stuff is the JP4. It sounds like 4 SH-09's in one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 Of course, as soon as I started expressing interest, the guy seems to be backing down, but how much do these usually go for? The only sale I see is a completed listing on Ebay for $499, which seems low (?). If I were to get it, I'd have to try to get the midi retrofit, or at least the cv/gate retrofit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mytee2.0 Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 http://www.kentonuk.com/kenton/retrofit_kits.shtml 316 pounds, or euros... whatever the hell those squiggly dollars are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Acid Hazard Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 I don't know why these sell for so much. The sound isn't anything real special, really. They often go out of tune, and break down. I'd rather buy a Juno-60. But they sell for too much too =o. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 http://www.kentonuk.com/kenton/retrofit_kits.shtml316 pounds, or euros... whatever the hell those squiggly dollars are. Actually, 275. We don't pay vat here. However there is probably some import duty, and shipping - plus I'd have to pay to get it installed. So, that'd be probably about $700 off the top of my head on top of the price of the synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Don Solaris Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 Ok - currently researching, but there are some people here whose opinions I value highly. I've been offered a trade of some sort with a Jupiter 4. Thus far what I'm encountering are opinions that you can get some pretty crazy sounds out of it - but that midi and/or cv/gate have to be retrofitted. Does anyone know about those options - are they readily available, do they need to be installed professionally, and how expensive? And what is your overall opinions on this synth. No much help from me, but You could ask Clusterchord (now on gearslutz). I know he played friend's JP-4 many many times even along with his JP-8 and knows this synth inside out. He was also mentioning some bizarre experiments where you open the unit (pretty easy) and change filter cutoff, reso and pitch of each individual voice board. Then you start playing short fast sequenced notes. Result: instant organic modular sound from the 70's! Synth can be brought back to original state within a minute thanks to these simple trimmers. Oh, and i'm getting a free JP-4 in January (just the PSU doesn't work). So i'll let you know from the first hand how it sounds with some high quality mp3's. OT: Gearslutz is really a great forum. I've moved there too. Many people over there know the gear, are actually in the business (Flood, Dave Morley, Rob Acid etc...). One thing i know, they have way more experience than some local clowns who can't tell a difference between a real SSM Polysix filter and its software version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgearguy Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 I have a couple of Jupiter-4's here. I'm going to sell one or both at some time, but I need to go through them firat (think February timeframe). The cv/gate mod is trivial -- remove the multi-pin connector between 2 boards, cut it in half, solder wires to 8 1/4" (or 1/8" if you prefer) jacks, mount the jacks along the back of the JP-4 and you're done. The downside is that you then have to use 4 cv/gate connections to control the voices. You can get crazier with a master jack to drive all 4, using an external source to drive 1 voice and play the others, etc. It's a very simple system inside, ripe for additions. External pulse input to sync the arpeggiator. Which, BTW is one of the coolest arps built into an analog synth. It automatically transposes up and down the octaves, based on where you play the notes. it results in a very organic movement. One finger never sounded so good as with a well calibrated JP-4. The JP-4 sound is great - very sweet and musical. It's not something I'd consider first if I wanted harsh aggressive sounds. Once again - there's something very satisfying about having all the basic controls right there in front of you to tweak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 The cv/gate mod is trivial -- remove the multi-pin connector between 2 boards, cut it in half, solder wires to 8 1/4" (or 1/8" if you prefer) jacks, mount the jacks along the back of the JP-4 and you're done. The downside is that you then have to use 4 cv/gate connections to control the voices. I'm not sure if I followed this correctly but, it makes more sense to use normalled jacks that keep the signals flowing inside the synth until you plug a cable in to the jacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members oldgearguy Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 I'm not sure if I followed this correctly but, it makes more sense to use normalled jacks that keep the signals flowing inside the synth until you plug a cable in to the jacks. Yes, that part's a given. It's more about how you want to set it up if you want to control more than 1 voice externally --- either stacked up or polyphonically. Since the cv and gate are separate, you can do things like externally control the pitch while letting the apreggiator control the gating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 No much help from me, but You could ask Clusterchord (now on gearslutz). I know he played friend's JP-4 many many times even along with his JP-8 and knows this synth inside out. He was also mentioning some bizarre experiments where you open the unit (pretty easy) and change filter cutoff, reso and pitch of each individual voice board. Then you start playing short fast sequenced notes. Result: instant organic modular sound from the 70's! Synth can be brought back to original state within a minute thanks to these simple trimmers. Oh, and i'm getting a free JP-4 in January (just the PSU doesn't work). So i'll let you know from the first hand how it sounds with some high quality mp3's. OT: Gearslutz is really a great forum. I've moved there too. Many people over there know the gear, are actually in the business (Flood, Dave Morley, Rob Acid etc...). One thing i know, they have way more experience than some local clowns who can't tell a difference between a real SSM Polysix filter and its software version. yeah - gearslutz is a great forum. I was dissuaded from the jp4 last night - came to the conclusion that all in all, I'd find it to be too limited in terms of its 'sonic palette'. It also seemed like as soon as I expressed interest, the person pretty much decided to keep it. But I'm still curious about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frico Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 there's a much cheaper retrofit from these Czech republic dudes:http://www.chd-el.cz/index.php?id=403 I got mine about 2 months ago and installed it myself (and i barely know one end of a soldering iron from the other). Works flawlessly. I love the J4, amazing for liquid arpeggios, not so great for classic polysynth sounds but it has so much character what it does well it does exceptionally well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grumphh Posted December 18, 2008 Members Share Posted December 18, 2008 I don't know why these sell for so much. The sound isn't anything real special, really. They often go out of tune, and break down.Mine just lost my user patches. All 8 of them! Apart from that mine is beat up, dented and looks like it has seen all sorts of general abuse and still works... As for the sound - it sounds very 70's , that is the only way i can describe it. Analog 70's fatness, even with just one osc. Whether that is a sound you can use is a different matter. And i never use the chorus, but that's just me... Some sounds from the JP 4 (If you can take all 12 minutes of me manipulating the synth over a random arpeggio there are quite a few sounds in there - all JP4 with only a little reverb added iirc) ) Some more sounds And as the background arp to a JX10 solo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jemgel Posted December 20, 2008 Members Share Posted December 20, 2008 That was my first real synth...and I miss it.I used to have problems with it coming out of tune, though, but if I could get one again for not too much cash I would grab it.It does great early 80's Vangelis-like solo lines... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cydonia Posted December 21, 2008 Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 I was dissuaded from the jp4 last night - came to the conclusion that all in all, I'd find it to be too limited in terms of its 'sonic palette'. I owned one in the 80s that I bought $1000 back then. It's indeed very limited and ridiculously overrated nowadays. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than $300 for one in perfect condition. Nothing truly exciting about this synth or its sound, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stikygum Posted December 21, 2008 Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 It also seemed like as soon as I expressed interest, the person pretty much decided to keep it. But I'm still curious about it... Tell him he needs to add more in the trade. From what I've heard, it sounds pretty good. Cool things can be had using the LFO. I know BT used one and liked it. But from what I hear, It's fairly limited. Never really cared for it except for it's deep pads and fx. Might but fun to try out, but I'd pass on it (unless you plan to sell it ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 Tell him he needs to add more in the trade. I think that this was the assumption. I hope that I didn't imply otherwise. But it looks like I have a trade for an xpander. From what I've heard, it sounds pretty good. Cool things can be had using the LFO. I know BT used one and liked it. Doesn't he publicly like everything? But from what I hear, It's fairly limited. Never really cared for it except for it's deep pads and fx. Might but fun to try out, but I'd pass on it (unless you plan to sell it ). I'm not a dealer, and I never buy a synth that I play to sell. It's way too much work, both trying to sell it, packing it up, lugging to the ups store. I'll occasionally buy a synth at a good price that I'm not sure about and can't try easily - so I won't have to lose money on it. But, aside from scum sucking venusians like Diametro, no one has ever accused me of {censored} like that. But, he's proud to be an American,so it's ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted December 21, 2008 Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 You know, I didn't accuse you of ANYTHING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 Did it ever occur to you to actually accept responsibility for the {censored} you churn out? of course I responded to your malicious little post, as anyone would have, and as you would have had it been done to you. And as I responded when you posted a quote falsely attributed to me, and refused to take responsibility for it either. You have no ethics, son.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted December 21, 2008 Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 Did it ever occur to you to actually accept responsibility for the {censored} you churn out? of course I responded to your malicious little post, as anyone would have, and as you would have had it been done to you. And as I responded when you posted a quote falsely attributed to me, and refused to take responsibility for it either. You have no ethics, son.... Yeah, right ... keep spinning out your rhetoric, Drool ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members droolmaster0 Posted December 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 Facts, not rhetoric. You posted false info about me, and you insisted that it must be correct for quite awhile and didn't take it down. Then you accused me of being unethical and greedy for posting a damn good price for a great condition prophet 08. You subsequently admitted that it wasn't unethical, and I would say that calling someone unethical and then admitting that it wasn't true would warrant a rather abject apology, but none was forthcoming. Instead, you blamed the whole thing on me for responding too quickly. When I refer to the facts, I'm engaging in 'rhetoric'. You owe me a big apology, and you know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted December 21, 2008 Members Share Posted December 21, 2008 There's no point in engaging you any further with this ... Arguing with you is like debating the devil ... but without any of the interest ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members minime123 Posted December 30, 2008 Members Share Posted December 30, 2008 i really like the jp4. there are more flexible synths but its got an excellent tone. if you modify it for 4 cv and gate ins, you could always use it with midi with a roland mpu101 in 4 voice mode.mini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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