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pg-8x

Synthesizer Plugin by ML-VST
MyKVRFAVORITE257WANT130
Free (suggested donation: £10-20)

pg-8x has an average user rating of 5.00 from 8 reviews

Rate & Review pg-8x

User Reviews by KVR Members for pg-8x

pg-8x

Reviewed By Swordnspade1 [all]
June 22nd, 2021
Version reviewed: 2021 on Windows

One of the best free synth plugins imho. Very lush filters and chorus. can also get very powerful / epic sounding. Definitely download this one.

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Click here to read all 8 reviews

Comments & Discussion for ML-VST pg-8x

Discussion
Discussion: Active
Solcito Musica
Solcito Musica
31 August 2012 at 12:12am

Felicitaciones!! Congratulations! PG8 has the 2 most important that every synth must have: many different sounds together, and easy to use panel. Just I suggest work more on the skin... Cheers!

lucknow13
lucknow13
15 February 2013 at 3:44pm

Love this synth with the kujashi banks.Excellent!

francoisphil
francoisphil
16 May 2020 at 9:53am

how do you import these .fxb, it says to me that they are not for this plugin...

Asuyuka
Asuyuka
14 November 2020 at 6:42pm

Not entirely sure if you've gotten an answer yet, but there's two versions-- the older, cream toned UI, and a newer, beta plugin with a cold gray UI. If the FBX won't work with one version, then it should load in the other.

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ballacr75
ballacr75
25 November 2014 at 7:29am

Wonderful synth, the sounds are very credible, the last skin is fantastic.

https://soundcloud.com/emanuele-ballasina/retro.

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robohymn
robohymn
7 May 2015 at 6:21pm

Amazing work. Thanks for this.

angster
angster
12 November 2015 at 4:59pm

I have down loaded patches. How do i hear them in Reaper? I have the PG8X up on a track.

Thank you, .

angster.

martin_l
martin_l
12 November 2015 at 5:10pm

Could you, please, tell me which version you downloaded, and which patch files?

Currently, there is a bit confusion, as there is also the new beta version, which does not understand the old *.fxb patches.

Cheers, .

Martin.

angster
angster
12 November 2015 at 5:19pm

I am afraid I have the the new beta martin. Please tell me what version I should download and I will go get it. Thank you so much.

martin_l
martin_l
12 November 2015 at 5:22pm

For the new beta, all the sysex files (*.syx) will work. If I find some time this weekend, I will convert the other bank to *.syx as well.

The old version is the one on my google-sites page, if you follow the link further up on this page.

Nspark21
Nspark21
13 November 2015 at 6:32pm

nice synth! found it through a tutorial on computer music youtube channel, :D.

Vospi
Vospi
23 December 2015 at 6:27pm

For anyone who loves that synth, I really, really recommend to head over to developer's site, find his Dropbox and download JX8PBNK preset banks. They are amazing. Simple, beautiful, characteristic, effective.

agbasoun
agbasoun
4 August 2021 at 11:35pm

Any chance you could post the link Couldn't find it :(.

michal.ochedowski
michal.ochedowski
26 October 2021 at 10:24am

That's a very generous collection. Thanks for sharing the link.

iae41610
iae41610
13 February 2016 at 10:22am

MANY THANKS to all schraubers!.

mellowmushroom00
mellowmushroom00
16 May 2016 at 9:33pm

This really sounds amazing..

robohymn
robohymn
21 August 2016 at 4:38pm

This thing is astounding. I have a real JX-8P, did an A/B comparison of patches, and this VST is like 95% there. Pad and string sounds are the best, they're almost indistinguishable. Brass sounds aren't quite as perfect, but still sound great in their own right. Some patches that make prominent use of the LFO, and especially high bell-type patches, were fairly obviously not alike, but still very close. The plugin on those patches sounds brighter and too precise (for lack of a better term), The real JX-8P's LFO seems lazier, as do the envelopes. This emulation even emulates the little sound the gate makes when it closes on some patches. All in all, as good as commercial stuff, easily, and probably the only way you're getting the classic Roland sound in your DAW these days (affordably, anyway).

StudioDave
StudioDave
25 August 2016 at 1:16pm

In the late 80s/early 90s I owned a much-beloved MKS70 and the PG800 programmer. I'm pretty familiar with the sounds of the JX series, so I'll just say that I love this plugin, and that the other reviews are spot-on. Btw, I'm not running Windows here, I'm a Linux guy using the plugin with the excellent Airwave bridge. Works flawlessly in Bitwig for Linux.

Notbob
Notbob
27 August 2016 at 5:08am

This is just a beautiful synth! I'm Amazed that it's free/D.W. I love the classic Roland sounds, and this seems to nail those. It's very analog-y. So many great patches available, too. And...midi-learn-that's always a clincher for me. Along with low CPU usage, 64-bit availability and inspiring GUI, it's become a definite favorite of mine. Thank you very much Mr. Luders.

opoo
opoo
28 November 2016 at 7:20pm

Somebody wrote about the issues with crashes in cubase sx3, but I didn't find the solution. It works nicely under vsthost, but when I touch it in cubase sx3 everything vanishes. (win xp sp2)

opoo
opoo
28 November 2016 at 7:52pm

Somebody wrote about the issues with crashes in cubase sx3, but I didn't find the solution. It works nicely under vsthost, but when I touch it in cubase sx3 everything vanishes. (win xp sp2)

Now I tested it under win xp3 and cubase sx2 and it works flawless there. Do i have to install sp3 ?

martin_l
martin_l
28 November 2016 at 11:28pm

Unfortunately, I do not have Cubase SX2 to investigate the problem.

opoo
opoo
11 December 2016 at 11:44pm

hallo martin_l, so i spend some time with PG8X and this is what I came up with:

the latest version works with cubase sx2 under win xp sp3.

under win xp sp2 it works with vsthost but not in cubase sx3.

I tried diferent versions.

PG8X-05-11-2014.dll YES works but unison stuck note
PG8X-12-11-2014.dll YES
PG8X_2016-01-31 NO
PG8X_2015-04-26.dll NO
PG8X_2015-02-22.dll NO.

may be its some use for you.

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synthix
synthix
14 December 2016 at 4:25pm

Thanks so much Martin! great great job.

mightywhitey
mightywhitey
13 January 2017 at 6:46pm

To my dearest brother Martin: Man, this is a true thing of beauty! You obviously are a truly creative soul down here making God look good! Bless you, Brother!
One question, though: How do I actually get the learned cc numbers to be remembered? Neither the "Write Values" or "Make Default" seems to prevent everything from being forgotten once I close and re-open an instance or even the project in Ableton. Any insight?

martin_l
martin_l
27 January 2017 at 10:08am

How do you do the MIDI Learn? Do you use the plugin's system, or are you using the DAW's MIDI Learn capability?

If you use the plugin, the settings should be stored per patch. You can also make them default settings. Have a look at the manual, for the details.

If this still does not work, please let me know.

mightywhitey
mightywhitey
20 February 2017 at 5:08pm

I do it directly in the plugin and exactly as described in the manual. Neither writing to patch or "make default" works. If I change a patch, re-instantiate, or close the project down and re-open, I lose my controller mappings. I use Ableton Live and Cubase 8.5. This functionality seems to not work in either. Even tried different build numbers of the plug. If it helps, I'm using Windows 7. Please help me, Brother......

preferred.nomenclature
preferred.nomenclature
14 May 2018 at 1:27am

I'm having the exact same problem here, 32-bit version running in Reaper on Windows 10. I would also like to know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'll have to live with this already amazing plugin as-is. Cheers to the developer.

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hulkofthehammondb3
hulkofthehammondb3
27 January 2017 at 2:16am

Greetings to you!! I'm still having problems loading the presets into the PG-8X. Can you share with me the step-by-step process for loading the presets?? Many Thanks!.

Vospi
Vospi
27 January 2017 at 4:44am

Did a video for you.

https://youtu.be/_2Q7o134CAM.

BlackWinny
BlackWinny
27 January 2017 at 8:42am

In addition to the excellent Vospi's reply:

it would be nice to give a very important precision : which DAW do you use? The process to load presets is sometimes a bit different from a DAW to another.

martin_l
martin_l
27 January 2017 at 10:06am

Well, loading a preset through the DAW's system is DAW dependent.

The procedure shown in the video should work in any DAW, as it is handled by the plugin itself.

ryszkisznyszki
ryszkisznyszki
20 February 2017 at 3:47pm

not working for me in Logic Pro X....when i transfer VST file to VST folder in Logic its not showing up in the list of virtual instruments.

martin_l
martin_l
20 February 2017 at 8:05pm

Logic Pro X only accepts AU's. It cannot load VST. I am still struggling getting the AU version ready. You might try the standalone APP and route MIDI and Audio to that. Should work.

ryszkisznyszki
ryszkisznyszki
20 February 2017 at 8:35pm

Thank you for replay....Actually Logic Pro X has VST folder but obviously something is not working right. I will try App again, i couldn't get it to work either but will give another try....thanks again.

lionscub68
lionscub68
21 February 2017 at 9:03pm

Logic Pro, version 7 and up, uses AudioUnits only. VSTs will absolutely not work under any circumstance in Logic Pro on the Macintosh, period, whether you see a folder there or not.

ryszkisznyszki
ryszkisznyszki
20 February 2017 at 8:37pm

App is working fine, thanks.

aismith18
aismith18
29 March 2017 at 10:47pm

I haven't been able to get any sound not get the app version for mac to respond to any MIDI information. I'm running logic pro x and reason 8. if you have any plans for an AU please let us know. I hear nothing but great things and am excited to check it out.

martin_l
martin_l
30 March 2017 at 7:14am

I am planning to resurrect the AU, but at the moment cant find any time for that.

In order to get the App working, you will probably need something like soundflower and also need to put the routing in place in the AUDIO and MIDI setup of the operating system.

alavux
alavux
10 August 2017 at 8:59pm

anyone having luck to run pg8x as controller on midiman MIDI sport 4x4 ? i use midiquest exported dll as vstI controller but i want to run pg8x ... it runs much faster ... thanks for the help ! :) cubase 5 user i have dedicated MIDI out just for jx8p and enable sysex in cubase and in jx8p ...

adamnfinecupofcoffee
adamnfinecupofcoffee
6 September 2017 at 11:45am

Do you have to load all syx files individually?

Also, anyone know a nice string soundbank. I want to play Love Theme from Mulholland Drive which a lot of people say was played on this synth. It's a strings sound.

synth_punk
synth_punk
14 September 2017 at 5:38pm

Dear Martin, AU Mac (for us Logic X stuffs) still, pretty please ? :)

Thank you so much for you efforts, Sp.

Paul_Debrione
Paul_Debrione
16 February 2018 at 8:51pm

Now I'm not known for my abject stupidity but I'm obviously doing something wrong here. I want to map this marvelous synthesizer to my BCR2000. I've already done it with a number of other synths (OBXD was particularly successful) and the PG-8X seems to be no different, but no matter what combinations I try it loses the mapping every time I come out of it and reload it.

Right click the fader and assign the knob by turning and the fader moves, so check.

Press the Write Values button and it loses the assignment on reload.

Or press the Make Default button and it loses assignment on reload.

Save the pad. and reload. No joy.

Save the bank and reload. No joy.

What am I doing wrong here?

preferred.nomenclature
preferred.nomenclature
14 May 2018 at 1:27am

I'm having the exact same problem here, 32-bit version running in Reaper on Windows 10. I would also like to know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'll have to live with this already amazing plugin as-is. Cheers to the developer.

mightywhitey
mightywhitey
14 May 2018 at 3:22am

You originally replied to my post from 2017. I see I'm not the only one who is having mapping issues. Please, if anyone else is having any of these types of problems, I'd love to know. Especially if you could even remotely guess at what the cause of the problem. I'm 64-bit, by the way.

preferred.nomenclature
preferred.nomenclature
14 May 2018 at 12:34pm

If this helps anyone in debugging: there is a pg-8x.map file that is getting updated correctly as far as I can tell (assigning CC 7 to cutoff with min of 0 and max of 5, clicking "Make default" and re-loading the VST results in file contents of 20 7 0 0.5 but incoming CC 7 messages still have no effect).

Toxie
Toxie
3 July 2018 at 12:43am

Does anyone know why the 'JX-8P Original Banks' file at the top has the init patch for the 1st bank (32 patches)? These would be the internal JX-8P factory sounds... but they're strangely absent (although the correct patch names are displayed).

martin_l
martin_l
3 July 2018 at 8:30am

On the hardware, the ROM patches are in banks P and -P, which map to programmes 65-128.

Bank 1-32 corresponds to patches on an external cartridge and 33-64 are the internal programmable patches.

I kept the numbering of the bank so that MIDI files containing programme change messages work correctly.

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Toxie
Toxie
3 July 2018 at 7:26pm

My fault! The bank I was referencing was uploaded by 'djslammer' at the top of this KVR page, and not yours. I found the Dropbox link with your factory presets and all is working now. Thank you, Martin -- amazing work !.

diewasserman
diewasserman
9 July 2018 at 2:27pm

Hi Martin, .

FANTASTIC work on this. I have a JX-8P and this has breathed new life into it! I made a small donation to your paypal account on your site.

That said, I'm having a few issues:

1) Certain preset patches will not be picked up by the JX-8p- cycling through some of the excellent patches I've found online, some of the patches will simply not trigger a program change on the JX-8P. Any thoughts on this?

2) Certain patches seem to trigger a faint stuck note. I can try to provide examples.

3) I'm unable to send midi from the JX-8P to the pg-8x. can you provide some guidance on how to set that up?

martin_l
martin_l
10 July 2018 at 5:30pm

Hi, .

thanks for the donation. About the issues you find: Could you give me some more information?

which OS are you on?
which DAW are you using?

To be more specific about your questins?

1) What do you mean by "not picked up"? Is it whole banks which are not working, or do you have banks where only single patches are not working? If so, could you, please, send me an example. Please be aware of the "strange" layout of the programme numbers in the JX-8P: 1-32: Cartidge, 33-64: Internal, 65-96: Preset P, 97-128: Preset -P.

2) Yes, an example would be very helpful.

3) If you are talking about sending SYSEX, you need to make sure that.

a) they are on the same MIDI channel (All in PG-8X will not do)
b) your DAW is not filtering out SYSEX.
c) check in your JX-8P MIDI settings whether SYSEX and PROG-change etc is enabled.

turnovsky
turnovsky
30 July 2018 at 2:05pm

Amazing work.

Thanks so much Martin.

My wish for the PG8x = PWM.

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Samuel_S
Samuel_S
23 September 2018 at 4:50pm

Hi Martin, this VST is amazing. I'm curious if you will make an emulation of the Super JX/JX-10/MKS-70 since you've done a really good job with this. Is it possible? Thanks.

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Marakas
Marakas
9 December 2019 at 6:06pm

Hi All.

I downloaded this sometime ago and I've just started messing around with it. What a great VST Synth emulation this is. Is there any easy way of getting the factory presets into it - I can play synth and program them, but I'm not too familiar with sysex - if that's whats needed to load the sounds, so I will need a spoon feed. Any paper patch diagrams, I don't mind going in the hard way!!.

Cheers.

Marakas.

Vospi
Vospi
9 December 2019 at 8:29pm

Hey there, .

I guess the have original banks right on this page in the Banks section (top of the page), don't they?
I didn't test them, but maybe they would work for you? :).

jerson
jerson
17 January 2020 at 3:07am

Gracias por los presets.

melodyking
melodyking
12 February 2020 at 12:21am

Great 80s sounding VST but isnt the default output volume set very low? (at least compared to all my other vsts) Even with vca level set to 99 with some presets its still pretty quiet. It also seems to crash when I import the orginal jx8p banks thats uploaded here: https://www.kvraudio.com/banks.php?s=one&id=3200

Is it possible to automatically load up default presets/banks when the VST is started?

crisfenix
crisfenix
15 June 2020 at 7:18pm

Excellent sound synth! Kujashi and Drewdale64 are good banks. You should adjust envelope 2 release, for some presets it is too long.

spensor
spensor
22 August 2020 at 3:08am

Hi, .

I've just found PG-8X and am very excited! Thank you very much Mr. Lüder! The sounds are great.

I feel that I must be doing something incorrectly because I'm having a bit of a problem and am hoping that someome could please explain to me what's happening:

when I load one of the sound banks - some of the patches work - which is great, but some patches, even though the correct name appears on the display e.g., Soundtrack, become INIT patches.

I've noticed that when the bank loads;

the last patches in the bank appear in the display appear first;

only the first patches in the bank become init patches;

if I close PG-8x and reload a single patch, the patches from the previously loaded bank will appear to load (will display) but will be INIT patches.

This will happen after I close my DAW too.

I'm using Reaper 6.13 and MacOS Catalina Quad Core i7.

Please let me know if I'm missing a step somewhere - so keen to try the original patches out in all their glory.

Thanks for reading every/any/one :).

Regards, .

Marakas
Marakas
4 December 2020 at 12:31pm

I have the same issues as above - the first few patches all sound the same; the later patches have the correct sounds. If anyone can upload a new set of JX8P factory presets on sysex, which work fully with the latest version of PG8X, that would be great!!.

alfreddront
alfreddront
16 May 2021 at 12:39pm

Yes! Same problem, it's a shame cause these samples are awesome! I have all the sounds from piano 4 and up, but the sounds that are before piano 4 is the default PG-8X sound, is this still relevant? As i would love to here the rest! I'm trying to recreate Elton john's Steinway sound from the mid 80's that was midi-retrofitted with the J8-XP.

Voxneon
Voxneon
15 August 2021 at 5:50am

How do you load the files into the VST?
I have downloaded a set of banks which contains RAM and ROM banks in sysx format.
When I try to load them via VST drop down box (top left in synth vst) it telss me they are not valid VST banks???

Emmes
Emmes
23 January 2022 at 7:23pm

Hello everyone.

Have you all heard the news that Steinberg discontinues VST2 plugins beginning with Cubase 12 which is scheduled to hit the market in 2022?

They will only support VST3 plugins from now on. So I was wondering whether there will be an update tp pg-8x as a VST3 version...

Does anyone have contact to Martin Lüders?

Best regards
Mike.

michal.ochedowski
michal.ochedowski
23 January 2022 at 8:21pm

From what I could gather, he was last seen in November 2021 on the KVRAudio forum. It was in his topic for PG-8X.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=463227&start=630

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roberttorres88
roberttorres88
17 March 2022 at 5:26pm

Great sound.

I've recently been exploring and comparing every VST synth I can get my hands on.

And its SURPRISING to me, how rare it seems to be to get a CLEAN SOUND.

The new massive X sounds WORSE compared to the original. Its muddy.

This VST makes a great CLEAN sound, with plenty of patches. Thank you.

roberttorres88
roberttorres88
17 March 2022 at 7:09pm

If anybody is wondering why you cant get it to load PG8Xbank or PG8Xpreset patches, YOU CANNOT RENAME THE PATCHES.

That apparently breaks them. You can rename Syx patches. But not the internal format.

michal.ochedowski
michal.ochedowski
17 March 2022 at 7:45pm

Renaming the patches or banks doesn't affect them. They can still be loaded into PG-8X without problems.

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