The first 'Everyman's' polysynth, the PolySix used the same SSM oscillator chips as early Sequential Circuits instruments, and also copied their sleek good looks. So it was arch‑rival Korg that smashed the £1,000 price barrier with the landmark PolySix. Unfortunately, the launch of the Jupiter 8 also represented Roland's disappearance from the affordable end of the market.
That accolade was reserved for the Jupiter 8 - a top‑of‑the‑range instrument with a price tag to match. Ultimately, the Jupiter 4's home‑organ styling and sonic underachievement guaranteed that it would never become a classic. Consequently, the list of its owners became a 'Who's Who?' of the era, including Kitaro, Gary Numan, Tangerine Dream, Stevie Wonder, Tomita and, perhaps most famously, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. OK, £1,800 was far from chicken feed in the late '70s, but the Jupiter 4 undercut each of its competitors by around 50 percent. On the other hand, the little Roland was affordable. While its chorus/ensemble, sample & hold, unison and arpeggiator were first class, these could not disguise its limitations, which ensured that most of its sounds were thin and uninspiring. For one thing, it had just one oscillator per voice, and offered only four‑note polyphony played from a four‑octave keyboard equipped with neither velocity‑ nor aftertouch‑sensitivity. Unfortunately, it was no match for any of them. Launched in 1978, this was a contemporary of Sequential Circuits' Prophet 5, the Oberheim OBX, the Yamaha CS80, and the Korg PS‑series. The Alpha Juno's earliest ancestor was Roland's first true polyphonic synthesizer, the Jupiter 4.
Prepare to shed a tear in another near‑miss tale of a desirable analogue synth swept aside by the rise of digital technology.
0 kommentar(er)
