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Roland Jupiter-4

Digitally Controlled Analog Synthesizer

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Roland Jupiter-4
Roland Jupiter-4
3 500.00 street price

Jupiter-4 is a synthesizer launched by Roland in 1978. The monotimbral instrument offers one VCO per voice. The oscillator generates triangle, square, and square with PWM, there’s a sub oscillator included. One LFO produces sine, square and ramp (ramp up/ramp down).

Filter section is represented with high pass filter and low pass resonant filter. There are two ADSR envelopes one of which is dedicated to the filter and another – to VCA.

The effects section offers ensemble and stereo chorus (based on two MN3004 ICs). There’s an arpeggiator onboard.

Jupiter-4 is the first synth in the series. It’s not the most successful Roland’s synthesizer and is hardly popular today but it started the Jupiter series and back then was among the first polyphonic synthesizers. Memory stores 8 user patches and 10 presets but the piano, strings and brass sounds don’t seem authentic. Anyway you could sync 4 voices together and get a thick sonic flow. Arpeggiator was quite amusing for some tricks, LFO was good for filter sweeps.

The synthesizer comprised digital control parts for analog circuitry which allowed programming.

Jupiter-4 was cheaper than its rivals Prophet-5 and OB-X though not as popular. Anyway Jupiter-8 solved all the problems.

The eminent arpeggio part is clearly audible in “Rio” track of Duran Duran while many new wave musicians, including Phil Oakey, made Jupiter-4 one of their favourite instruments.

Tags: analog synthesizer

Country of origin / production: Japan

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Usage area
Synthesizer 
Usage Design/ Form Factor
With Keys 
Archetype
Analogue (A) 
Polyphony
Voices4
Multi Timbral Capacity1 part(s)
Tone Generator / Sound Synthesis
Synthesis Method Analog Subtractive
Oscillator Type VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator)
Oscillators per voice1
Sub-Oscillators per voice1
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Sine
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Square
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Triangle
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Saw
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) Reverse Sawtooth
Waveform/ Spectral form (main generator) White Noise
Filter
Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF) 
High-pass Filter (HPF) 
Low-pass Filter (LPF) 
Resonance 
Envelope Generator (EG)
Attack 
Decay 
Sustain 
Release 
FilterADSR
AmpADSR
ADSR 
Modulation
LFO: LFO Count1
LFO Self-oscillating LFO
LFO Waveforms
Ramp Up 
Ramp Down 
Effects
Chorus 
Arpegiator/ Portamento
Arpegiator 
Portamento 
Keys
Type Synth Action
Velocity Sensitivity No
Aftertouch No
Size4
Number of Keys49
Built-in controllers
Pitch Bend/ Modulation Lever 
Slider/ Drawbar20
Potentiometer7
Knob/ Switch11
Button31
External controllers
Expression foot pedal 
Damper pedal 
CV/ Gate IN 
VCF 
Ext Clock 
Audio out
Dedicated output per voice 
All voices mixed in one output 
Analogue: 1/4" (6.35mm) headphones preamplified1
Case/ body
Metal&wood 
Color
Black 
Production start1978
Production end1981
Production ended

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Roland Promars MRS-2
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The Roland Promars MRS-2 is a vintage analog synthesizer released by Roland in 1979. It features two oscillators, a low-pass filter, and a voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA). The Promars is capable of producing a wide range of sounds, from bass and lead...

  • enpdf1.89Mb Roland Jupiter-4 Owner's Manual