A free Roland Super JX / MKS-70 / JX-8P emulation - This is EightyTen!

[hurricaneaudiolab]

And just about any patch you dial in should sound exactly as it does on the hardware.

You mean the JX-8P or the JX-10? Cuz "everyone" says the JX-10 sounds different, that the JX-10 chorus is different from the 8P's, that they prefer the sound of the JX-8p to that of the JX-10, and that JX-10 really isn't 2 stacked JX-8Ps because there are architectural differences, particularly:

The JX synthesizers employ a four-pole lowpass filter, which rolls high frequencies off at a rate of 24dB per octave. There is a slight difference between the maximum resonance amount setting in the JX-8P and the JX-10. When pushed to its upper limit, the filter in the JX-10 will oscillate producing a sine wave, but this effect is not possible on the JX-8P.
Eric Persing, Keyboard Magazine Oct 1986

[Morphoice]

You mentioned this is a Super JX - the Super JX was a JX-10 and it's bi-timbral could do layers/splits and 12 voice polyphony.

Yes, that functionality is already in the version you can download right now. Full SysEx support, including JX-8P, JX-10 and MKS-70 files, will be available in a future version. As I said, it's already there under the hood, just not finished to a shippable degree yet.
That's me off for the night — it's late here in Germany. Have a great one everyone, and enjoy the plugin!

[trusampler]

Thanks for the reply, I'm confused it's built in , so are you saying, you will have a dedicated import / export function for our sysex files ? you mentioned it can send/receive from hw, what about the software, will it support sysex import/export ?

thanks

Yes — it can already read and write both to/from the hardware and to/from raw SysEx files; the data is the same either way. This was an integral part of modeling and calibrating the DSP, so the functionality already exists. It just doesn't have an active and finished GUI yet, which is what's coming in a future version.

Awesome news , can you confirm if once the UI is built we will be able to do Splits /Layers like the HW ?

[Uncle E]

MKS-70 is one of my favorite synths ever. Nothing against TAL, because it's probably a fantastic version of a JX-8P, but I really wish it could get the more of the MKS-70's bell-like, crystalline sound. I guess most people prefer the JX-8P because it sounds more like earlier analogs, but to me the entire thing that makes the MKS-70 special is that it sounds like an analog version of a DX7.

Donated!

[Morphoice]

And just about any patch you dial in should sound exactly as it does on the hardware.

You mean the JX-8P or the JX-10? Cuz "everyone" says the JX-10 sounds different, that the JX-10 chorus is different from the 8P's, that they prefer the sound of the JX-8p to that of the JX-10, and that JX-10 really isn't 2 stacked JX-8Ps because there are architectural differences, particularly:

The JX synthesizers employ a four-pole lowpass filter, which rolls high frequencies off at a rate of 24dB per octave. There is a slight difference between the maximum resonance amount setting in the JX-8P and the JX-10. When pushed to its upper limit, the filter in the JX-10 will oscillate producing a sine wave, but this effect is not possible on the JX-8P.
Eric Persing, Keyboard Magazine Oct 1986

The final version will let you pick the filter chip, for exactly this reason. This is an early beta, so as described it doesn't have every feature yet. But rather than getting into the fine details and what's still to come — have you actually fired it up yet? Give it a listen and let me know how well it compares to your hardware, or where it needs improving. Have a great night!

[Morphoice]

Thanks for the reply, I'm confused it's built in , so are you saying, you will have a dedicated import / export function for our sysex files ? you mentioned it can send/receive from hw, what about the software, will it support sysex import/export ?

thanks

Yes — it can already read and write both to/from the hardware and to/from raw SysEx files; the data is the same either way. This was an integral part of modeling and calibrating the DSP, so the functionality already exists. It just doesn't have an active and finished GUI yet, which is what's coming in a future version.

Awesome news , can you confirm if once the UI is built we will be able to do Splits /Layers like the HW ?

As I mentioned earlier, splits and layers are already in the beta that's up for download right now, just like the hardware. Honestly, the quickest way to get answers to these is to grab it and try it out — that's exactly what the free beta is there for.

[ruralaudio]

Downloaded and tested on CachyOS (Linux), and it sounds really great.

It took me a while to find the Layer button, so I was fiddling around with the knobs without getting any feedback, until I noticed I was on Lower and the sound on Higher. I don't know the hardware, so I presume people knowing the hardware would be looking for that Layer button early than I did. But a led-style visualization of activity (like the one for midi) could have given me a que a little earlier as a new-to-the synth user.

I had a hard time getting the presets working, first tried the factory presets which all sounded like the same brass sound. I then tried the two Factory Performances presets which worked, and after that, the Factory Presets started working. Sorry for the vague description, I'll gladly dive more into it if it can help.

Great work!

[Old Norse]

I plonked down my tenner. Easy choice, looking forward to explore this one. Would be great to hear about people's actual experience with the synth, especially from those who really know the original(s)

[martinjuenke]

The new NI SuperStarSaw blows it out of the water.
Just sayin'...

[audiojunkie]

The new NI SuperStarSaw blows it out of the water.
Just sayin'...

Does the SuperStarSaw cost $10?

[drsyncenstein]

I like it sofar
But.. the layout is like the pg800 programmer.
I think that is a missed opportunity in the sense that the programmer can only show one layer at a time.
If the two layers where shown side by side, it would make it much easier to set up double layer sounds.
That's the main things that spoils the fun for me on the real thing. No need to replicate it on the computer.

[drsyncenstein]

The new NI SuperStarSaw blows it out of the water.
Just sayin'...

The production of the demotracks is mindblowing. Probably not much sound left of it in the hands of the general public.

[simmo75]

The new NI SuperStarSaw blows it out of the water.
Just sayin'...

Didn’t realize it was an emulation of the same synth, can you load hardware patches on it, like this $10 one?

[Uncle E]

Didn’t realize it was an emulation of the same synth, can you load hardware patches on it, like this $10 one?

Pretty sure he's just messing around.

[Danilo Villanova]

Is it free or not? A “free beta” is not free, except for the developer who gets a free beta team.