One JP8000 or two JP08s?

[gcoudert]

People are asking silly money for JP8080 modules at the moment and my budget is £530. I have two alternatives: one JP8000 keyboard (although I really fancy a vocoder and I'd prefer not to have another keyboard due to limited space) or a couple of JP08s. I've had one before but 4-voice polyphony just wasn't enough and they're not rackmountable, which is an issue. What would you do?

[madtheory]

Well the JP8000 has aliasing issues. Haven't seen any complaints about that with the JP08. The JP08 can be poly-chained, right? So you can hide one while controlling it with the other. They're small, surely you can fit one somewhere on your keyboard maybe?

[NCChao1268]

You might be happier with getting a JP8000; you could save money since you would only buy one keyboard compared to two JP08 with a midi controller, the JP8000 and the JP08 are very similar in terms of synth architecture: both virtual analog, with dual osc, and 8 voices. The JP8000 could have as much of vintage sound as two JP08 chained together since it used analog modeling to mimic vintage Roland sounds. Just what I think personally, feel free to tell us which route you decided to go out of the two.

-Nathan

[gcoudert]

Just scored a JP8000 on eBay. I'll pick it up in early August as I'm on holiday by the Mediterranean at the moment.

[Kenneth]

I had a JP-8000 for a while and thought it sounded brilliant. It does have its limitations, and does tend to get glitchy when you push it into extreme modulations. Some of these limitations started to really bother me after a while, and I sold it off in favor of a Yamaha AN!x. Why does the feedback oscillator only work in monophonic mode? AARRGGHH!! Anyway, the thing has a very wide sweet spot, and it's very easy to get magnificent, lush sounds out of it. If you're after that, then look no further. However, if you're the type of person who likes to get really deep into sound design and set up complex modulations and likes to be able to do that without horrible aliasing and an erratic, glitchy mess, this might not be a good fit for you.

The Yamaha AN1x, on the other hand, is a very capable instrument that will happily bend and twist itself into all sorts of audio rate modulations and FM goodness without sounding like a broken dial-up router. It's also bi-timbral, which I find infinitely useful for my complex soundscape creating sessions. Its interface is a bit more to get your head around, but it's all self-evident and clearly laid out on the panel, so you won't be spelunking through endless series of menus. I've had that for a couple years and have not regretted selling the JP-8000 once.

I also recently bought an MS-2000 and I love it for its hands-on control and playful sound, but you said before that four voices isn't enough for you, so I digress.

[gcoudert]

The JP8000 is on its way back to its previous owner due to faulty outputs. I'm expecting my JP8080 module anytime now.