Just want to tell, that I am also a new proud owner of the JP6. What a fantastic, modern sounding and extremely versatile instrument. Not so lush and warm maybe as a JP8, not such fat and angry like the JP4 (both I own), but a really clear and pristine, also beautiful sound of its own. All three have only the Name Jupiter in common. There is no worse nor better.

Best evaluation on JP6 I've heard.

Here is my too long Demo cause I got addicted of tweaking on two simultaneously arps in split mode. OMG what a great synth!

https://youtu.be/gz4MXTsusvs

Loved that - your skills bring it to life in a way I find difficult at times to bring my own to life!

I'm wanting to sync my JP6 arpeggio to midi like I used to do in the old days with my TR909 trig out which I no longer have. Any ideas for a cheap way to do it now. I have tried audio as a trigger but find its just not stable enough. The old 808 909 was rock solid.

There’s a bunch of solutions for this in the 20-30GBP range of a normal gate signal works - I’ve got a USB midi to CV box ... let me see if the gate will drive the JP6 arp later today - I normally use the 808/909 but make it easier if i send straight from the PC ....

Tried it, worked perfectly connecting the gate out to the JP6 ARP clock!

This is the Valpower interface I used to test it - I'd say any CV/Gate adaptor should do the job for you - I like the simplicity of the Valpower and it's plug and play

https://www.tindie.com/products/valp...idi-usb-plexy/

Thanks ... I will check that out. I presume it just locks the JP6 Arp to the midi clock and you can't drop notes out or do 1/32?

Better than that - I was just sending midi notes to it, not clock, so you get to control when the Arp moves on, drop notes out etc ... exactly as you'd normally do from your 909, but with the power of whatever sequencer/DAW you are using!

I tried it at 1/16th and it worked perfectly - I didn't try with 1/32 but I will later

Excellent ... will look into it. Thanks.

I feel the xlr out on my JP6 (on high) is a bit quiet. Do you guys prefer that output or running the unbalanced out into a DI. I have a RNDI that I could use as well as Radial JDI. I read somewhere that the XLR is preferable, which makes sense, but it's a bit quiet. I could also perhaps run it into a clean pre to boost? At max vol on the JP6, it comes it around -30db in my DAW. I can change the input to -10db which basically boosts the level (and noisefloor 14db). What do you guys suggest to get maximum clean volume out of the JP6? I plan to run the output volume knob at 70% and output switch on the back at H (high) either way.
Thanks!

I don't remember exactly how loud mine is, but that seems low. The quick way here would be to just adjust the output volume on the jack board. If you open it up and have a look through the service manual it should be no problem.

VR11 on the jack board is for output volume and is adjustable with a small phillipshead. Easy even if you don't know anything about electronics or calibration. The manual specifies an appropriate level as, but obviously you can adjust it as you like. I think it changes all three outputs, though, so be aware of that, not sure. If it can't go as high as it needs to I would guess there is a need for a full calibration.

But I don't remember a great difference between the unbalanced and the XLR jacks, so maybe something on the jack board isn't working perfectly.

Since I wanted a "stereo" signal output on mine, I'm using the headphones output into my mixer with the volume at 12 o'clock. But yeah - the output on the main outputs is somewhat low.

Greg

Was looking at the price of a Jupiter 6 on Reverb.com and ebay. Prices are outrageous. $3,700.00 to almost $6,000.00. Not worth it. It is a great synth, but for the money you can get something else that blows the Jupiter 6 in the dirt.

I have owned many synths in my time and nothing sounds like a Jupiter 6. Its 'polite-then-wild' presentation of CEM is quite unique. I think any Jupiter or Juno is overpriced these days, but if you want that sound.....

True! Not discounting the sound, because it does sound very good. However, there are a lot of people who look at vintage keyboards not for the sound or what it will do, but for the status of owning a legend. And it is a legendary board.

Well, I bought one because originally, I didn't like it, but a very very good condition one came up with Europa for a very good price so I took a chance and now I have spent a lot more time with it, I love it. I don't see the 6 as a status symbol though. A lot of people don't like them. It was never as warmly received as the JP8 or JP4.

Its the odd ball relation that people squint their eyes at in a slightly wary way

Great video. I love the JP-6. Calling it a chameleon is a good description. It can be tame and musical like any classic Roland machine. It's possible to reproduce many sounds from a Juno, JX and Jupiter-8 without much effort but what makes it truly wonderful is how effortlessly it allows you to march into the weeds and find the gems.

This will probably get me chased into the hills but I think the System-8 is the accidental reissue of the jupiter 6 due to the way Roland added tons of sound design bits to what is ostensibly a greatest hits of Roland classic oscillators and filters. It's probably a little better behaved than the jp-6 (to its detriment) but there are some truly wild and modern sounds to be found all over the place.

Huh . . . That’s interesting. I’ve never played with a System 8, but have long missed the JP6 I sold to fund the purchase of a JP4. I thought picking up another JP6 down the road would be a piece of cake if I regretted the sale, but sadly that’s not been the case. It has frustrated me to no end that Roland continues to pump out “new” Juno60/106’s and Jupiter 8’s in the form of boutique boxes and plugins, but never gives the JP6 any kind of re-love. Enough with the JP8 already. Yes, it’s the dependable dad, but I’d rather spend time with the crazy uncle!!!

system 8 has plenty of crazy uncle, but can also tone down the crazy for family reunions and fit right in, honestly the ACB makes system-8 glorious if you're into the roland synth sound

I used to have major jp6 gas but I'm not shelling out 5k for an antique anymore and the system-8 has been a revelation.

I would agree that the System-8 is similar to Jupiter-6. I have both. You can make noise for no reason other than noise's sake. Do I have to throw out an analogy?

It's like your crazy uncle Jupiter-6's has a completely insane tom-boy-daughter System-8 and she's does stuff that you'd just go... hey, you're a Roland girl and shouldn't be doing stuff that...

It's a tough deciding which synth I like better. Having both in the family is fun. lol:

Any info on the revisions of the JP-6 and the differences between them?

It seems there were at least some minor changes to the MIDI spec?

Maybe other things?

You can find some information on the Jupiter 6's service manual. There are mainly minor bugfixes and little improvements between the revisions but nothing radical. The biggest modification was the addition of the MIDI THRU port in later Jupiter 6 models.

Merry Christmas for all of you. Here a jam session with Jupiter-6 and other vintage Roland gear

https://youtu.be/Ypur8a1oOj0

You didn't push it. Bland crap everyone already knows.

One I did, all Jupiter 6 bass.