Tal J-8

[EvilDragon]

Ha, it's the same in U-NO-LX. Patrick not very much into skeuomorphism (IMHO for the better)


BTW I am really not a fan of the chorus buttons. Why not just lift them from U-NO-LX? Ditto FX lock and Sync. As is there could really be a bit more contrast overall in the UI.

[zvenx]

looks kinda odd that the pb/mw graphics are not wheels.... very minor, but caught my eye

I think another of his synth has that.
I hide the keyboards so I guess personally I never really noticed that.
rsp

[Niowiad]

There's no universal reference point for the "real thing"

Well, there kind of is. It's called the Roland Service Manual. It's fairly specific about scope settings / timings.

When OB-Xa V was released, there were complaints because the filter didn't scream, resonance was too tame, Arturia once again not knowing what they were doing...

In the meantime they plublished some SW/HW direct comparisons which were pretty much spot-on, and when Obsession (which I have complete faith it sounds "right") was launched shortly after, the filter also didn't scream and had similarly tame resonance. Still, they sound different, and they're modelled after different 40 years old units.

Oberheim's service manual tells users to calibrate it to just before the point of self-resonance. However, a fair number of users figured out that ignoring this, and setting the calibration to use the full range of the hardware, results in a sound they prefer.

It changes the filter sound before it reaches self-resonance too, and is the prime reason (rather than 40 year old magic unicorn dust) that you can easily find audio examples which are different. It's a relatively simple synth to calibrate, and I think the pan trimpots almost kind of encouraged its users in that direction. By contrast the Jupiter 8 is (by many reports) a longer process, where they expect you to do things in multiple steps, and I doubt very many Jupiter 8 users have attempted to calibrate their own synths..

Unless calibration on a specific unit to be modelled is complete shit, I personally think it's good to emulate it in that current state.

A part of what makes (vintage) hardware gear interesting is how it deviates from ideal calibration over time, besides inherent component tolerance and aging issues.

Developers purposely code imperfections and idiosyncrasies into their emulations, according to what they find in their vintage hardware units, which is desirable for the user.

Emulations like Repro even offer different filter types, modelled after different hardware units they bought for the analysis and modelling, which came in different conditions.
I'm not surprised different emulations from different companies end up sounding different. It's a good thing.


Assuming different units could sound exactly the same right out of the factory in the early 80's, after 40 years of wear and tear at different temperature and humidity levels, I'd definitely and honestly be interested in seeing if two synths could be calibrated to sound and look the same under testing/analysis equipment. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I wouldn't bet on it.

[v1o]

The chorus buttons are a bit weird. They could do with a bit more contrast.

[e-crooner]

Is PAK short for PAtrick Kunz?

[mholloway]

Note to the dev / patrick -- the VCO Frequency Modulation does not update correctly in the display as you slide the switch through the options. When I slide the switch to VCO-1, the display still says "BOTH" even with the switch visibly set to VCO-1. If I *keep* sliding upward, the display eventually updates to display VCO-1. There is no display at all for the XMOD choice (it displays VOC1 when XMOD is selected).

I'm not sure, without testing yet, what is *actually happening to the audio* -- e.g. is this just a display issue, or is the actual configuration not updating correctly as well.

Example: Look at what the display shows ("BOTH") vs. what the switch is actually set to (VCO1):

Screen Shot 2020-12-14 at 2.14.04 PM.png

[Teksonik]

I think another of his synth has that.
I hide the keyboards so I guess personally I never really noticed that.
rsp

To be fair the Jupiter 8 doesn't have wheels it's got the Bender "Stick".

Looks like he might be trying to emulate that.

[Weasel-Boy]

Maybe I missed this somewhere in this thread. Has anyone noticed that Env 1 is missing its Polarity switch (like the real hardware has)? The only place I see an inversion possible is in the PWM section. Is it hidden somewhere or is simply not implemented? Other than that, this is a fabulously authentic (as far as original features are concerned) emulation.

[PAK]

Assuming different units could sound exactly the same right out of the factory in the early 80's, after 40 years of wear and tear at different temperature and humidity levels, I'd definitely and honestly be interested in seeing if two synths could be calibrated to sound and look the same under testing/analysis equipment. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Provided components are within specs, you absolutely can calibrate them to be "identical" for those controls, as you're just matching timings and frequencies.

Of course, if that doesn't sound quite correct it's because there's a missing piece - components which CAN'T be calibrated, but which still influence the signal chain.

EG things like component variation, on a VCA, resulting in audible differences between units. Same goes for stuff like voltage stability. You can measure the voltages as correct, but stability counts too. Sometimes people recap stuff to "fix it" with cleaner and more stable modern components, and might remove some "character".

In terms of age changes, I suppose it's possible some change causes pleasant results. But most of it is negative - hissing, buzzing, stuff bleeding into other stuff in ways you don't want - voices into other voices, envelopes not working correctly etc.

[zvenx]

Maybe I missed this somewhere in this thread. Has anyone noticed that Env 1 is missing its Polarity switch (like the real hardware has)? The only place I see an inversion possible is in the PWM section. Is it hidden somewhere or is simply not implemented? Other than that, this is a fabulously authentic (as far as original features are concerned) emulation.

You haven't missed it, its functionality is there though.. some levers that it can control goes negative on the software where it doesn't on the hardware so moving it to negative territory does the same. And actually unlike the hardware both ENV 1 & 2 can go inverse.
rsp

[EvilDragon]

Note to the dev / patrick -- the VCO Frequency Modulation does not update correctly in the display as you slide the switch through the options. When I slide the switch to VCO-1, the display still says "BOTH" even with the switch visibly set to VCO-1. If I *keep* sliding upward, the display eventually updates to display VCO-1. There is no display at all for the XMOD choice (it displays VOC1 when XMOD is selected).

I'm not sure, without testing yet, what is *actually happening to the audio* -- e.g. is this just a display issue, or is the actual configuration not updating correctly as well.

Confirmed. It's just a visual thing, the sound is as should be.

[gentleclockdivider]

Sorry, what is RC version ?

Release Candidate

Hehe, So which one is it Release Candidate or Roland Cloud

It can mean both , but I assume in this context , roland RC means roland cloud

[EvilDragon]

One GREAT thing Arturia added on theirs was to choose if you sync osc 1 to 2 or osc 2 to 1. Which actually makes the crossmod much more useful.

Hope that isn't hard to add to J-8

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Maybe I missed this somewhere in this thread. Has anyone noticed that Env 1 is missing its Polarity switch (like the real hardware has)? The only place I see an inversion possible is in the PWM section. Is it hidden somewhere or is simply not implemented? Other than that, this is a fabulously authentic (as far as original features are concerned) emulation.

The Env Depth and other modulations go negative. This is the same way the System-8 and Roland Cloud versions deal with it.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I ended up buying this just to make that godawful demo noise go away. So the policy has certainly proved effective.