Roland system 8

The Lounge Other Gear
101

I still need to pick one ‘final’ plug-out to go with out of the list…

So far I’ve settled on the Jupiter-8 (installed already) and System-100 (installed already), which leaves one more slot.

The System-100 has that modular-wiggly-vibe to it that makes noises that, standalone, kind of annoyed me, but as atmospherics/noises it’s awesome. And the Jupiter-8 for that Jupiter-8 sound.

Hmm. I guess that leaves these to check out:

  • JUPITER-4
  • PROMARS
  • JUNO-60
  • JUNO-106
  • JX-3P
  • SH-2
  • SH-101

Time to enable that 3-month cloud thing and look around I guess. Suggestions welcome.

102

JX-3P all the way

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103

It obviously depends on your taste, but there are certain synths that suit certain genres better than others, for example:

Jupiter-4 is very vintage sounding. Juno-60 is also pretty vintage sounding, but can also sound fresh. It is very suitable for synthwave stuff.

Juno-106 and SH-101 are very suitable for techno/trance and stuff. Can sound very modern and edgy.

104

I honestly had not given the JX-3P the time of day until it came pre-installed on the System-8. Just never looked like something I’d be into.

Moment I fired it up, though, I was blown away. It really benefits from physical controls (ironically) and has a sound that’s somehow pure and gritty. It’s had a permanent spot on my plugouts since.

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105

Jupiter 4 plugout with the circuit mod knob is essential. Vintage vibes to contrast the modern sounding S8 engine.

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106

I’m watching Cuckoo’s System-8 video and I had no idea how good the distortions were on this synth. I mean, Roland is Boss and Boss did make the HM-2. Haha! Now I’m even more excited!

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107

Now that I’ve had my System-8 for a week or so I can’t believe more synths don’t have tone knobs. And having two when using the drive is amazing!

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108

Question for fans of the Juno models…I like the sound of the 106 that ships with the synth, but it doesn’t quite match my fond memories of my old 60. Am I just psyching myself out, or is it worth springing for the 60 plug-out?

I had the System-1 and 1m previously and it’s such a pleasure to have this knob per function experience. I found one with the aluminum end caps, too, real sharp.

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109

I have both, and the differences are not huge to my ears. But I never owned an original of either, so I don’t have a the “proper sound” burned into my neurons the way someone who grew up on it would.

The standouts to me:

  • The raw 60 oscillators have a touch more high end. Not even necessarily pleasant high end. Almost an alias-y quality.
  • Their envelopes shapes feel different. Maybe the 60 is more snappy? Or just more exponential? Filters through the 60 env don’t linger enough for my taste.
  • The resonance of the 106 doesn’t sound as nice to me. The 60’s is more musical, IMHO.

Overall I think the 106 is more consistent and had better range (which is probably why it was chosen to be a default on the System 8), but these differences are very slight. Here are two “PWM+Saw+Sub+a touch of noise with a filter sweep and some resonance through chorus I” patches that I tried to get close to each other:

Juno 60 ACB:

Juno 106 ACB:

Most of the differences are subtleties in me not doing enough to get the patches identical, I think (their respective modeled circuits are different enough that you can’t just set the same values on each and have it sound the same).

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110

Hey thank you so much! Yeah these really are quite similar. I am actually surprised they did a 60 at all, I’d always assumed the 6, 60, and 106 were basically the same synth. But I only every owned the 60.

111

Just get the 30 day free roland cloud ultimate trial and try out the 60. If you like it, make sure you plug it out to your System-8 hardware before the 30 day trial is ended. It will then stay in your System-8 permanently, until you replace it with something else or if you do a full factory reset.

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112

When I had a System8 I replaced the 106 with the 60 immediately. I also replaced the jx3p with a jupiter 4. The filter on the 60 just sounds better. You still have the 106 filter in the System 8 engine.

I still weirdly miss that synth, despite whatever compromises it made.

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113

OK, can anyone tell me how the hell to buy…just the plug-outs of these synths? I don’t want to pay $199 to get the VST, which I will not use! Do I have to get a “pro” membership for $99, then pick a couple of plug-outs, and install them, then let the subscription lapse?

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114

Better go for the 30 day free ultimate trial. Pick the ones you like the most and keep them in your hardware forever, as long as you “plug them out” before the 30 day trial is ended.

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115

Ahhhhhhhh thank you

116

I’ve been trying to think this one through as well.

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117

There is no distinction between the VST and the plugout. The VST is the plugout. With the system 8 connected, you launch the VST and click the ”plugout” button to install it on the synth.

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118

Launch the VST…in any old host? Or in the roland cloud app, or what? And it prompts you to choose which slot the plugout should go into?

119

Any old host.

And yes, the VST will ask what slot. Here’s an example of the flow from the PROMARS documentation:

image
image1320×618 177 KB

See also:

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120

Thank you so much, this is really informative. It’s kind of bizarre how confusing the process and pricing model are. I feel like the whole plug-out concept could have been much more popular if it was implemented differently.

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