The Usual Suspects JE8086 - Bit-perfect emulation of the JP-8000 is here!

[beely]

It's actually available as a parameter in automation, but, it seems to have no effect? Unless I miss something.

Yes, many parameters that aren't exposed in the UI are available via automation parameters, or loading patches that use them, or sending sysex etc. Some parameters you can guess at the names and actually add them into your skin yourself. The plugin is in early beta, so it's not a finished product yet, so expect things to change in many regards.

If something doesn't work yet, it's mostly because it's not implemented yet for a bunch of reasons.

[soundman007]

Would it be possible to have a duplicate on/off button for the arpeggiator on the browser page. Or else a permanent on/off button. Now it is somewhat annoying if you are auditioning sounds to always have to go from the browser page to the main page and back to turn the arpeggiator off.

[beely]

Would it be possible to have a duplicate on/off button for the arpeggiator on the browser page. Or else a permanent on/off button. Now it is somewhat annoying if you are auditioning sounds to always have to go from the browser page to the main page and back to turn the arpeggiator off.

Yes, you can create your own copy of the skin and add whatever functionality you like, if you want to duplicate controls on other pages, or adjust the browser setup etc.

[TIMT]

I think the only difference is with the DAC. The one that was used in the Virus is a Motorola and can be found online. I've searched for what Roland used and the info is not there.

Yep, obviously we don't have the output section of the original Roland JP-8000. If one could build that and then run a digital out from the synth back into a line input of the audio interface.

Just use saturation/distortion to mimic DAC.

Here is the logic, if you output hardware synth to a audio interface input there will be another DAC meaning that analog signal have to be converted to digital dignal. Your interface will muddy up the signal. Im talking from my own experience, my virus ti and uno synth sounded different on audient interface then on focusrite. Not by a mile but the change in sound was very noticable even with not a keen ear.

And that change has nothing to do with saturation or distortion, at least not in the way you are claiming, so your suggestion is moot. The slight difference you hear in DAC's is the IIR/FIR reconstruction filter kernel and in higher end converters, a tiny extra contribution from whatever analog stages are used, but the majority of the sound is the reconstruction in either case. There is no way to recreate that though with a plugin or in realtime. The JP8080 leaks allsorts of weird high mid distortion on the analog outs so i would assume the rejection isn't all that great on whatever DAC is used in the 8000/8080, and i think i recall reading somewhere a while back that it uses an R-2R design with an analog style lowpass for reconstruction(possibly one of Acreil's posts on Gearslutz)which would definitely explain the dirt.

Save yourself the hassle of trying to do this with a plugin chain and do a loopback into whatever converter you are using if it has the option..it will give you that slight additional 5-10% of the sound, but obviously not spot on unless you have a 90ies R-2R DAC on hand which is going to produce way more of an obvious sound difference than a modern delta sigma converter.

[soundman007]

Would it be possible to have a duplicate on/off button for the arpeggiator on the browser page. Or else a permanent on/off button. Now it is somewhat annoying if you are auditioning sounds to always have to go from the browser page to the main page and back to turn the arpeggiator off.

Yes, you can create your own copy of the skin and add whatever functionality you like, if you want to duplicate controls on other pages, or adjust the browser setup etc.

Thanks beely, good to know. Now I have to learn how to do that

[beely]

If you use the skin menu in the plugin to export the current skin to disk, then you can examine and modify it accordingly. It's rmlUI, but basically at heart it's good old HTML/CSS, so it's really easy to work with.

[anomandaris1]

One thing that surprises me about these Usual suspects emulations is that they use like no CPU. Are modern plugins that much better in terms of sound quality or their GUIs are also quite demanding?

[EvilDragon]

They use a lot of CPU, your DAW is not showing correct CPU by default. See Task Manager/System Monitor.

[beely]

One thing that surprises me about these Usual suspects emulations is that they use like no CPU. Are modern plugins that much better in terms of sound quality or their GUIs are also quite demanding?

Yes, they use a lot of CPU. Set latency blocks to 0 in the plugin (it defaults to 1, which makes your DAWs CPU meter innacurate) and you'll get a better idea of how much CPU they are actually using on your system.

[Danno]

Thanks for that. I actually think the latest update has fixed my problem which is nice.

If it’s ok to derail the DAC conversation for a second.. has anyone found that many presets load almost silent? Is it just the filter set way too low? And possibly because of those quick knobs at the bottom?

This is just a hunch but sometimes midi controller knobs can be a bit noisy by which I mean they might "wiggle" imperceptibly transmitting values near the knobs position without you touching them. If I'm not mistaken, a lot of the controls on JE8086 are hardwired to certain midi CCs (or at least assigned by default). So what I'm thinking is that maybe you have a faulty knob closing the filter as soon as you open a patch? I could be way off of course but it's worth maybe trying to disable input from your controller and just send midi from the daw track and see if it's happening with the same presets.

[soundman007]

If you use the skin menu in the plugin to export the current skin to disk, then you can examine and modify it accordingly. It's rmlUI, but basically at heart it's good old HTML/CSS, so it's really easy to work with.

If you know HTML/CSS

When I export the skin all I seem to get is a folder with pictures in the skins folder of the plugin.

[beely]

When I export the skin all I seem to get is a folder with pictures in the skins folder of the plugin.

It’s everything needed for skin, including the Rml and Rcss files - with the same name as the skin - you need to edit.

[soundman007]

When I export the skin all I seem to get is a folder with pictures in the skins folder of the plugin.

It’s everything needed for skin, including the Rml and Rcss files - with the same name as the skin - you need to edit.

OK, got it and will try. Thanks again!

[mrz80]

How can one quickly initialize a patch?

"Kid, what'd they get you for?"
"Downloadin' Roland synth ROM images," I said, and they all move away from me on th' bench...

[NWSM]

haha* unusable CLAP on Linux, loading plugin also load up 100% of my i5-14600K.

He don't find "this" files tells me the LOG...but the plugin seems loading first with everything it needs.
then i hit a note and bazzinga - nothing works.

Code: Select all

[2026-01-27 21:46:36.140 float-main-app error] Error reading file info from file....
java.io.IOException: com.bitwig.flt.library.metadata.reader.exception.CouldNotReadMetadataException: could not read metadata:
at com.bitwig.flt.app.VwX.Nyy(SourceFile:11791)
	at QeC.lXt(SourceFile:222)
	at com.bitwig.flt.document.core.iface.clipboard.clip.mKW.Ivg(SourceFile:75)
	at aMI.Ivg(SourceFile:60)
	at dow.OSp(SourceFile:657)
	at dow.oHp(SourceFile:581)
	at dow.QCa(SourceFile:605)
	at dox.run(SourceFile:564)
	
	Engine.LOG
	
	[2026-1-27 21:43:44.102 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST info] About to create a CLAP plugin instance for com.theusualsuspects.Tjpv (.../JE8086.clap)
[2026-1-27 21:43:44.159 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST error] CLAP: failed to activate audio input bus index: 0, is_active: true
[2026-1-27 21:43:44.159 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST error] CLAP: failed to activate audio output bus index: 0, is_active: true
[2026-1-27 21:43:44.168 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST The Usual Suspects JE8086 error] It is wrong to query the latency before the plugin is activated, because if the plugin dosen't know the sample rate, it can't know the number of samples of latency.
[2026-1-27 21:43:44.169 BITWIG_PLUGIN_HOST The Usual Suspects JE8086 error] PluginHost: Plugin needs to restart processing during initialization

- Linux MX
- debian
- pipwire, wireplumber
- kde, X11
- Bitwig