Andromeda A6 or Jupiter 8?

[Ncapone]

My rig is going through an overhaul right now and I am thinking of one more analog poly. Of course, the Roland Jupiter 8 has always been my dream synth, but I find it hard to justify the costs they are now. Do you think if I get an A6 it will sate my Jupiter 8 desires? I know they're not the same thing, but I am fine with *close enough*. I hear a lot of good and bad things about the A6, but the feature set is really appealing.

Alternatively, I have also been thinking of the new DSI Rev2, since the feature set seems pretty parallel to the A6. But, since I have a Prophet 08 already, I think it might be overkill.

Any thoughts?

[AnalogKid]

...I am fine with *close enough*.

Have you tried the Roland JP-08 or the Roland System 8 with the included Jupiter 8 model?

They are waaaaaay less money and far more reliable than either a decades old Jupiter 8 or buggy Andromeda A6.

[Ncapone]

...I am fine with *close enough*.

Have you tried the Roland JP-08 or the Roland System 8 with the included Jupiter 8 model?

They are waaaaaay less money and far more reliable than either a decades old Jupiter 8 or buggy Andromeda A6.

I actually had two Roland JP-08s polychained together and used a 61 key controller. It wasn't very user-friendly, so I ended up selling them. I haven't tried the System 8, but something about it just doesn't quite appeal to me. I think it's because I'm on an analog kick.

[plikestechno]

The Andromeda is much more Oberheim than anything as far as polys go.

Unless you need to program really complex sounds or need a full 8 voices or to use splits, the Juno 60 and its punch and heft and chorus probably gets you the closest IMHO.

Andy's fantastic though and well worth the money. Jupe 8 just goes for too much money now.

If youre a tweaker the Andy, an OB8 or Jupe6 Europa or some of the newer polys are better bang for buck now.

[minime123]

i love both the jp8 and the andromeda, but i wouldnt get one if i was looking for the other. the jp8 is simpler and instantly sounds good. the andromeda is one of the most complex analog synths and takes a lot more fussing to sound good. you can do a lot more with the andromeda but the sound just isn't as good. also, andromedas make me nervous because theyre nowhere near as serviceable, should something go wrong. our tech can fix any jupiter-8, but there are andromeda problems he won't even touch.
mini

[Solderman]

Do you think if I get an A6 it will sate my Jupiter 8 desires? I know they're not the same thing, but I am fine with *close enough*.

Probably not, if the character of the JP8 is what you really want. I owned one about 7 years ago and can verify that it costs as much as it does for good reason: Massive sweet spot ranges, snappy envelopes, wonderful body and sheen in the oscillators(like a Minimoog in that sense), very well built with quality parts top to bottom and the layout is a performer's dream.
When I got to play an A6, it did sound good under some circumstances, but required ages of tweaking and always had a "modern" character, imo. Not much different in tone than what is being offered new these days, just alot more flexible.

If I want a "Jupiter" sound these days, I turn to samples of the real thing or U-He Diva. Of course I never really tweaked the JP8's presets very much and didn't care for that liquidy resonance it has, so others may find digital approximations insufficient. The way vintage prices are now, that's better than nothing.

[ClavAnother]

I have spent some time with the Jupiter 8 at STG Sound Labs, and I think it's probably the best poly I've ever played. I have owned many of the great vintage polys and it's just a very special instrument. He had an andromeda there for a while, and it was so buggy that it was rarely, if ever, working when I was there, so I'm not impressed with it

I also have a JP08, and while I think its cool, I haven't really connected with it yet, but then I haven't had much time to either. I have heard great things about the system 8, and I'm kind of interested in getting one strictly for the Jupiter emulation.

So in the end, I think I would totally buy a JP8 if one becomes available at the same time that I can spare $10k or whatever they go for. I love it.

[Bitexion]

Easily the Andromeda. I have one and it's wonderfully deep and rich. A JP-8 I'd probably have to keep expensive maintenance on every couple years or more. A Jupiter-8 is nicer to look at and has more pedigree, but h**l if I wanna try and maintain a 1981 synth in 2017.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

[...] the Roland Jupiter 8 has always been my dream synth,[...]

If it has always been your dream synth, don't settle for anything less -- you only live once and dreams should come true whenever possible.

Of course, the Andromeda can do a lot more at about half the price of a Jupiter these days, and it looks fancier but personally, I would always opt for the Roland. The Roland has been around for more than 35 years, and most of them are still alive and operational. I have seen at least ten Andromedas gone bad in the past fifteen or so years.

Stephen

[minime123]

A JP-8 I'd probably have to keep expensive maintenance on every couple years or more. A Jupiter-8 is nicer to look at and has more pedigree, but h**l if I wanna try and maintain a 1981 synth in 2017.

vintage synths get a bad rap because few buyers / sellers do FULL restorations. most people would rather make a minimal investment and fix things as they break, increasing the likelihood that somethings going to go wrong every couple years or more. we do full restorations to the high end vintage synths we sell, and this includes taking preventative measures to promote their long term reliability. its very expensive to do things this way, but it results in what are generally far more reliable synths than others on the market. if you start out with a healthy example or pay us or another reputable service center for a *full* overhaul (without cutting corners to save money), its likely your 80s vintage jupiter-8 will be a lot more reliable than your andromeda down the road. the andromeda's got lots of custom alesis parts which are no longer available and there are probably only a couple of people in the world who can fix them if a serious problem develops - if those people are even working on andromedas, and if they even have the parts to fix them. (im referring to the andromeda designers here). in comparison, there's not a jupiter-8 our tech hasn't been able to get fully functional again. again, i love both of these synths, but i do feel a properly restored jp8 is a better investment from a reliability standpoint than any andromeda.
mini

[Z]

A JP-8 I'd probably have to keep expensive maintenance on every couple years or more. A Jupiter-8 is nicer to look at and has more pedigree, but h**l if I wanna try and maintain a 1981 synth in 2017.

I bought my current JP-8 in 2008. It was in pretty bad shape internally (and a little bit externally). It took about a year for my tech to get it operational, as it had to go back in a few times. But nearly 10 years later, it works flawlessly.

The Jupiter 8 commands the high price tag because it sounds great - like no other, and I own several high end classic analog poly synths. Yes, the A6 is a much deeper machine and capable of unique timbres, but the JP-8 is very immediate and truly a player's synth. The linear layout of its controls is very intuitive and accessible for live tweaking. The A6's layout, while beautiful, can be confusing and I find myself having to hunt a little looking for the appropriate knob to tweak. I'm sure if you spend more time with it, you'd become more familiar with the layout. But I bought my first JP-8 in 1991 (well, traded a $200 MemoryMoog for it), so I know the Roland layout like the back of my hand.

And BTW, my A6 is for sale:
https://www.facebook.com/40721080265992 ... 3093185688

[Ncapone]

You all make some great points. Are there any other 8+ voice analog polys out there that might cut it, either modern or vintage? Not too many that I can think of...

[Bitexion]

There are practically zero 16 voice analogue synths out there. Everyone else stopped at eight.

Think of the unison mode, man. 16x2 oscillators all playing together. And they're analogue so they don't just stack like the Juno does. You can choose how many voice that go in unison, so you can still use 4 and have 4 voice polyphony left. Also the mighty Prophet-5 has 5 voice unison, but I can still play three notes polyphony with that on the A6.

here's a clip I made playing with the unison, I start with just one VCO and add more and more voices in unison as it goes on. Sorry about the clipping it was a bit "hot" into the mixer when I recorded. I go 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 etc until all 16 voices are in there, also turn the "detune" knob a bit.
It also has a neat auto assign mode where it starts in full 16 voice unison and allocates voices accordingly when you hit more than one note. So with 1 note you get 16x1, 2 voices you get 2x8, 4 you get 4x4 etc.
https://soundcloud.com/bytex666/untitled-rendered-2

[adhmzaiusz]

There are practically zero 16 voice analogue synths out there. Everyone else stopped at eight.

Practically zero indeed, I can only think of the A6 and the Chroma- but the A6 wins in having 32 oscillators.

-----

If I were to offer my opinion between the two, I'd have to agree that in terms of base sound character, the JP8 is by far the richest and detailed in these regards. Whenever I try to make anything on the A6 I can't shake this modern plasticky sound...kind of sounds how it feels in a way. The A6 can sound as complex as it looks too, which is a good thing. Where it makes up is having a lot of capabilities in modulation and flexibility, with the ability of doing some wild things in sound design and performability. The sequencer is somewhat unique and can yield some fun results, yet it is sluggish to program and basically a mono sequencer for each voice. Sometimes I wished the A6 could go a little further in being able to modulate certain things and be less complicated... most important modulations are menu diving. In terms of servicing them, the worst thing that can happen to them is if any of the ASICs fail, which you'll never find replacements for. This doesn't necessarily mean if one goes it will become a doorstop, you just may end up down a voice or the FX. I bought mine broken and it needed a new CPU and reprogrammed static ram... which I soldered in myself. It was an intense repair but many others have successfully resurrected theirs too, so it is possible to fix most things that may go wrong.

Now a little more about the JP8, it is much more limited in sound design but everything it does sounds great. I also got mine in a partially working state and had a lot of small issues I had to sort out. It wasn't so bad to fix. It becomes very nice when connected by midi and cv control of the filters can make things pretty interesting when synched to tempo.

I suppose I'd say if you value features over sound go A6 as it will be more of a 'meat and potatoes' poly, go with JP8 if you want a powerful sound.

[ClavAnother]

There are practically zero 16 voice analogue synths out there. Everyone else stopped at eight.

Practically zero indeed, I can only think of the A6 and the Chroma- but the A6 wins in having 32 oscillators.

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