advice price for Roland Jupiter 8?

[digitalread]

Hello,
I am interested in buying a Jupiter 8, I know this will be expensive, but my question is which is a reasonable price (no refurbished, no midi) for it? The last I saw in Ebay was sold about 4500 pounds, and they are costing more and more...so it can be an interesting investment...

[fh991586]

Off Topic

Investment? Synths are not savings bonds!

A good investment is when you buy low and sell high. Because Jupiter 8 are on the highest end of their value since they were made 30+ years ago, it looks like a very bad investment choice!

Have you thought about stamps? Their value is lower than 20 years ago, so you'd be better off...

Seriously, buy synths to play with them [for fun or in a professional way], not as an investment.

EDIT:
Ok, I just read your other posts, so I guess my message isn't worth reading anymore... The investment part triggered something bad in me.

[meatballfulton]

Check completed eBay listings, find the average and then subtract 15%...that would be reasonable.

[sol-bass-rec]

That is a huge payment!

I am getting an 808 cleaned and some maintenance to a Juno 106.

I noticed a couple Jupiter 6 for under $3000, one actually below $2200
The full repair on the J6 would be $600 so after shipping and waiting I'm in $3000

I asked the Tech working on my gear what he thought they were worth (J6) he said
$2000 tops for J6. $3000 tops with Europa.
I really wanted one after watching Jonathan Cain, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran etc jamming.
Could Imagine a Synth Tech would say the J8 possibly twice that.

Why not just get a JUPITER 80?

I passed and now looking forward to the DSI Pro 2.
Besides my girl said no way to the Prophet 5, J8 when I told her the price tag.

Good luck spending out there.

[synthartist69]

The problem with buying synths as an investment is there are almost always unknowns that pop up. Repair bills can get expensive. No one knows if a Jupiter 8 will continue to climb or drop in value. A lot of it has to do with the economy at that time. I have one that is a solid 9/10 and I would not sell it for under $10,000.00. I have seen a few this year go for around $7,000.00 on Ebay. Have seen one or two in the last couple of years go for over $9,000.00 on Ebay. One thing about it, no matter what you pay, you are buying a really unique sounding synthesizer that is a lot of fun to play! If these prices are a little high, look really hard at a Jupiter 6. I can get a lot of the same sounds from my JP6 as I can my JP8.... Best of luck!

[ppg_wavecomputer]

[...] The investment part triggered something bad in me.

Same thing here.

Stephen

[Solderman]

I really wanted one after watching Jonathan Cain, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran etc jamming. Could Imagine a Synth Tech would say the J8 possibly twice that.

Prices have peaked and mostly only wealthy collectors, who bought them for shallow, nostalgic reasons, and will let them collect dust on a shelf, are buying the most sought after classic synths, including this one. The JP8 deserves to be played and heard in newly created music, not used as a equity object to eventually flip to pay off a loan, or used as a set piece on television or be neglected or if I may be so bold, even used for mere personal amusement in a home studio. You don't deserve to keep that sound to yourself anymore because it will never be remade.

Why not just get a JUPITER 80?

Try not to think of it in the sense of the name and the colorful buttons. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's manifesto to the world that it could make a world class product in 1981, and they haven't topped its quality since, imo. It excels at natural, organic tones that no sampler or physical modeling software could faithfully recreate, is a synth performer's dream in its layout and has so many sweet spots compared to anything else in its class, that it's no wonder it has mostly retained its value over the years. A Jupiter 80 is just another digital workstation with a bunch of gimmicks. The Roland of today does not have the same ambition or integrity. They just want to improve their next DSP design and make a profit.

[CfNorENa]

Prices have peaked and mostly only collectors who will let them collect dust on a shelf and brag about it on the web are buying the most sought after synths, including this one.

It excels at natural, organic tones that no sampler or physical modeling software could faithfully recreate, is a synth performer's dream in its layout and has so many sweet spots compared to anything else in its class, that it's no wonder it has mostly retained its value over the years.

These observations seem contradictory to me. I mean, isn't it possible that some buyers are paying top dollar for the Jupiter 8 because of its "organic tones" and "so many sweet spots"? It's out of my reach now, but I'd sure love to give it a spin...

[Solderman]

isn't it possible that some buyers are paying top dollar for the Jupiter 8 because of its "organic tones" and "so many sweet spots"?

Yes of course. There aren't enough of them to go around to use for shallow, nostalgic reasons, is what I'm saying. And there is a plethora of that going around now, thanks to youtube and ebay and its ilk.

[CfNorENa]

isn't it possible that some buyers are paying top dollar for the Jupiter 8 because of its "organic tones" and "so many sweet spots"?

Yes of course. There aren't enough of them to go around to use for shallow, nostalgic reasons, is what I'm saying. And there is a plethora of that going around now, thanks to youtube and ebay and its ilk.

Agreed.

[Solderman]

I have one that is a solid 9/10 and I would not sell it for under $10,000.00.

I take this to mean "it's not for sale under any circumstance but dire straits". I paid half this much 2 years ago for my girlfriend's very reliable 12 years old used car.

If these prices are a little high, look really hard at a Jupiter 6. I can get a lot of the same sounds from my JP6 as I can my JP8.... Best of luck!

Having once owned a JP8 and having played both extensively, I can genuinely say this is not the case with a proper set of monitors, mixer and recording gear at your disposal. If you(as in "you" the general 2nd person plural) truly can't hear the difference, then you perhaps need to sell all of your vintage polysynths and buy a linear, precise and soulless, yet more powerful and useful reinterpretation among the new generation of polysynths being passed off as faithful these days to replace them. Then you can add your own brand of soul and make it yours. There is less temptation to make something that you have put minimal effort into using, perhaps in a glaringly obvious and pretentious way in order to deliberately convey it is 1980's Roland to satisfy some smug sense of taste in synthesizers, only to invoke the envy of your peers, intentional or unintentional, and to bolster your fragile ego and/or lack of talent.

This is much more practical and less desperate in this instance than say, buying an MKS-80 because it says "Jupiter" on the faceplate but cost less than a JP8, paying more for the programmer than the synth itself because you need that tactile interaction, then consciously ignoring the eventual observation that it sounds less than or equally appealing to software, because you've spent so much money and effort acquiring it.
ie. There is a reason the ones retaining the highest prices are doing so. And it's not because Nick Rhodes or Howard Jones played it on your favorite album. Hype only goes so far with that sort of demand and reputation.

I sold my JP8 because it was falling into neglect and I am no performer. I understood then that it deserved a better home. It certainly deserved better than just using it to occasionally play a random arpeggiator, bathed in digital effects. It took nearly 4 months to find a buyer outside of evil-bay at $3600 in 2010. I sold it to someone who turned out to see it as "sounding not as good as a CS80", while he had never actually owned the latter. And the cycle repeats.