Roland JD 800

[DrGonzo]

But that is a quality of its own, and especially today when the quality level is so astronomically high - I absolutely think crappy digital filters have re-regained their place in sound design.

/C

To each their own then... I absolutely think crappy digital filters sound worse than ever and have basically zero redeeming value.

I felt the same five years ago. But after living in a world with creamy analog filters and organic envelopes - linear envelopes and sh!tty filters start to feel appealing again. I remember back in the day when I had my first synthesizer - a Kawai K4. And I tried to make analog old-school house / rave with it. That synth probably have the crappiest resonant filter ever made. Resonance could be set in seven levels and if you put it on max res and modulated the cutoff - the filter totally broke and started crackling. Absolutely awful back then. But today I would be excited about something like that

/C

[S0lo]

Well, that depends on what you expect? IMO, they have more problems than what they're worth and I would not buy one like the OP did for that amount of money. I hope that he has fun with it, but, today, they're not really that cool anymore.

In many ways, I do agree with you. Yet prices for those things and vintage in general are only on a none stop rise!!. I bought my JD back in 2015 for $650. Now they more than doubled the price. And almost every analog an digital vintage I bought did the same thing. Still a bit of a mystery to me with all the current new and much better options we have today in hardware.

I'm becoming convinced that in terms of a pure investment/business. It's almost always a win if you intend to resell latter.

Music wise, my JD has been sitting there doing nothing for all those years because of that glue problem that I just can't push my self to fix.

[pdxindy]

But that is a quality of its own, and especially today when the quality level is so astronomically high - I absolutely think crappy digital filters have re-regained their place in sound design.

/C

To each their own then... I absolutely think crappy digital filters sound worse than ever and have basically zero redeeming value.

I felt the same five years ago. But after living in a world with creamy analog filters and organic envelopes - linear envelopes and sh!tty filters start to feel appealing again. I remember back in the day when I had my first synthesizer - a Kawai K4. And I tried to make analog old-school house / rave with it. That synth probably have the crappiest resonant filter ever made. Resonance could be set in seven levels and if you put it on max res and modulated the cutoff - the filter totally broke and started crackling. Absolutely awful back then. But today I would be excited about something like that

/C

Fortunate for you... cause there are lots of cheap crap digital filters out there you can buy and have fun with

[polysixx]

I've had many synths old and new analogue and digital... jD-800 remains one of my favourite. Ignore the nay sayers who are trying to replace Moogs with it , it sounds gorgeous, not cheesy if you program it away from its typical preset sounds, looks beautiful, is very fun to use program and play and is very well built other than the red glue issue! The slider issue is over stated, I've had two jds and it's such a non issue, they can easily be cleaned and are very well protected by covers in the recesses!

Lastly, the filter is anything but crap! In fact it's seen off various characterless analogs from my studio many times because it has a unique and beautiful airy tone that just records and mixes so well and is perfect to combo with a fat VCO mono like SH2 or similar!

The M1 is a joke next to a JD in context of actual synthesis rather than real world instrument copying. Have also has D50s which are good but JD is way better esp the filter. Genuine space synth that may not be analogue nor even VA (good as I find all VAs generic and flat Inc New Roland cloud/acb) but instead it's a pure synthesized that sounds better than many other synths analogue or digital esp for pads, ambient, spacey, FX and atmospheres!

No it won't sound like a proper analogue doing bread and butter analogue sound, but nothing sounds quite like the JD800 (also had the 990 but preferred the 800 as a whole)

[polysixx]

Oh and tonally on pads and drones (stick mainly to the first 13 pcm waveforms square saw pulse variations) the sound of a resonant sweep or synthy low end drone reminds me of a cross between prophet 5 and Jupiter 8! It's in that ball park of tone, just without the analogue response or bite obviously. It's its own thing but Roland really nailed a great filter for digital. Don't care how much better modern DSP is or emulations have become, sometimes it was already amazing and just right for unique character!

Jarre, Martin gore (Depeche mode), Edgar froesse, nick Rhodes etc all used and loved them, gore and jarre often referring to the JD800 as a favourite even past the 90s! And they had plenty of great analogue gear to go with if they chose! Rick wakemen loved it in mono mode for soloing! Gary Numan often chose it for its emotional quality! Tons of famous users still love it. Take their word over forum nay Sayers, it's proven itself in battle already. It's all over ultra and songs of faith and devotion in a very cool, non cheesy, way! Junkie XL (soundtracks) uses one today, see YouTube, calls it a very special synth, emotional etc! Again he has everything analogue worth having and still loves the JD! Very few digital synths ever had that kind of good word of mouth still to this day! Most were of their time. JD is timeless, it's just a great great synth regardless of the 90s tech it used! It was probably the last truly great synth with character that Roland ever made (yeah that includes jp8000, vsynth and jdxa.. I've had them all only JD800 remains as my only digital alongside my analogs like prophet 6, sh2, polysix etc)

[bibz1st]

Well I have cleaned the keyboard, all red glue gone, luckily none got anywhere else. All key contacts seem to be working ok, I have yet to re-assemble the keyboard and then just need to "manufacture" a new end piece as it didnt survive the journey from London to me.
I was thinking of re-lubing the faders with Deoxit F5 or F100 but others have said not to use anything except a blow out with canned air, to be honest they are not too bad so might not bother.

[ghettosynth]

Well I have cleaned the keyboard, all red glue gone, luckily none got anywhere else. All key contacts seem to be working ok, I have yet to re-assemble the keyboard and then just need to "manufacture" a new end piece as it didnt survive the journey from London to me.
I was thinking of re-lubing the faders with Deoxit F5 or F100 but others have said not to use anything except a blow out with canned air, to be honest they are not too bad so might not bother.

I'd go for some wooden end cheeks! That will make the filters sound better for sure!

[bibz1st]

So you think to finish off I need to get wood first....