Roland System 8 - I couldn't help myself.

[Broadwave]

Nothing I've seen or heard recently has impressed me, but I had to pop into PMT Music yesterday for some guitar strings... I ended walking away with a few packs of Fender Bullets and a System 8

I was hooked as soon as I started to mess around with it - Forget the Supernatural synth engine, on the Jupiter 80/50 and Gaia etc. This is the real successor to the JP8000 which I've been waiting ages for.

I don't know how or why people have described it as sounding "thin", far from it once it's hooked up to a decent sound system. The Jupiter 8 and Juno 106 plug-outs included, sound equally impressive (far better than the Boutique versions IMHO)

I'd say I was pretty critical when it comes to synths - Korg's Odyssey, Minilogue and Roland's JP-08 have all gone back for a refund after a few days, due to various glitches and bugs, but I seriously can't fault the S8 and I've even jumped in and subscribed to Roland Cloud for the extra Plug-outs.

I've gone to Youtube to watch a few demos, and I have to say that they don't do the actual synth any real justice - You need to go and try one for an hour or two.

It's not often I say this, but I'm really impressed with it.

[Sharp]

Congratulations on your purchase. It sounds like a fantastic synth. I've had my eye on one for a while but the music shops are generally useless here in Ireland and generally don't carry much in the way of good keyboards. Your kind of forced to do all your research online and to take a chance on a keyboard and buying online.

Only for Thomann everyone would be a Guitarist here.

On another note, I was browsing your website and I see you printing to Metal. Any chance you could explain that process? I do a lot of DIY builds and I'd like to make them look more professional.

Regards
Sharp.

[Broadwave]

On another note, I was browsing your website and I see you printing to Metal. Any chance you could explain that process? I do a lot of DIY builds and I'd like to make them look more professional.

Yes the S8 is sublime, I'll be spending today getting to grips with it - it sounds amazing.

I was lucky that the company I worked for 10 years ago did custom T-Shirts (if a big run of screen printed ones wasn't viable).

It's not a cheap option, but the results can be very good if a little glossy - You'll need a printer with special Dye Sublimation inks, sublimation transfer paper, a heat press and aluminium panels with a dye-sub substrate.

Just use your Illustration software of choice to draw up the panel, reverse print it onto the transfer paper, put the aluminium panel substrate side up onto the heat press, and place the artwork face down onto the panel - then you just close the heat press up (you'll need to do some tests to figure out the heating time) and keep your fingers crossed

It really is as simple as that - MEGA here in the UK supply kits for the whole process starting at £525 + VAT... I said it wasn't cheap!

I now use plastic encapsulated colour laser prints for all my panels - it's a lot cheaper

[Bertotti]

Do you have any concerns you will need to keep a legacy computer system at some point for the plugouts? I wonder how long Roland would support them on the cloud.

[Broadwave]

Do you have any concerns you will need to keep a legacy computer system at some point for the plugouts? I wonder how long Roland would support them on the cloud.

Using the plug-outs as AU/VSTs doesn't really interest me that much, but if the worst happens and Roland no longer support OSX, I've got an old Sony Vaio laptop that I could still use to download the Plug-outs to the S8. So I'm not duly concerned as I consider them a bonus and not an essential part of the synth - The Jupiter 8 and Juno 106 will always be part of the S8's OS (you don't need the cloud for them)

[Bertotti]

So now you've been paying a bit is the Jupiter still all its cracked up to be? i have always wanted a roland tone in my rig and use Sharps addition to my Kronos but it would be nice to have something I could tweak.

[Broadwave]

So now you've been paying a bit is the Jupiter still all its cracked up to be? i have always wanted a roland tone in my rig and use Sharps addition to my Kronos but it would be nice to have something I could tweak.

I have to be honest and say it's been a very long time since I've messed around with a Jupiter 8, but it certainly sounds better than both Arturia's JP8 and the Boutique version. I've recreated some of my favorite Duran Duran/Simple Minds patches, and they sound remarkably close.

When the System 1 first appeared, I thought that the plug-out idea may have been a bit of a gimmick, but the alternative engines *do* sound and behave differently - the only real downside I can think of is that the mono plug-outs aren't polyphonic on the S8, which is a bit of a shame but not a deal breaker.

I'm only on my second day with it, but it's a definite keeper and a perfect companion to the Kronos

[skinmechanic]

I've had mine since November last year. The Juno 106 plugout is the better sounding of all 3 engines you get. The system 8 engine does sound thin and doesn't do enough for me, the system 8 synth engine itself is ok but not beefier enough, if only it had 2 LFO's and a real 3rd Oscillator. The Jupiter 8 synth engine is good for string sounds, but for me i can re-create the same patches on the Super Natural synth engine, the bottom end does sound better on the System 8, but I can manage to recreate perfectly without the effects changing the sound completely, but dry they are identical. The Juno 106 however is outstanding and the better engine out of the 3. I also have the SH2 plugout and i;ve had it for 18 months now. As a monosynth it's very complex and you almost want to play chords with it.

The keybed on the system 8 hoeever is too short and really begs aftertouch, this synth begs you to experiment and you can get lost in sound design but strangely enough it's the first synth I wish had aftertouch.