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Roland MKS-80

Polyphonic analog synthesizer

Summary

Polyphonic analog synthesizer

Field	Value
synth_manufacturer	Roland
image	Roland MKS-80 front small.jpg
image_caption	MKS-80
synth_name	MKS-80 Super Jupiter
synthesis_type	Analog Subtractive
polyphony	8-voice
timbrality	2 part
oscillator	2 VCOs per voice
filter	24dB/Oct resonant lowpass,
non-resonant highpass
attenuator	2 ADSR, (VCA & VCF)
lfo	2 (1 triangle/square/sawtooth/random, and 1 triangle)
midi	Yes
memory	64 patches
dates	1984–1987
price	US$2,495
UK£2,200
JP¥348,000
keyboard	no
ext_control	MIDI
fx	no
velocity	yes
aftertouch	yes
split	yes

non-resonant highpass UK£2,200 JP¥348,000 The Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter is a rack mount sound module version of the Roland Jupiter-6 and the Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizers. It is an 8-voice polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Roland between 1984 and 1987. It is the only one of the MKS series of synthesizers to have analogue voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) instead of analogue digitally-controlled oscillators (DCOs). The voice architecture is almost identical to the Jupiter-6 synthesizer. The service manual states that "The module board of MKS-80 features the following in addition to that of JP-6, its brother module. 1) HPF. 2) Low boost circuit in the 2nd VCA. 3) DC supply current boost circuit (IC50)."

In February 1985, Roland started producing a new revision of MKS-80, known as "Rev 5", with a new generation of both Roland VCO's, VCA's and filter. The Rev 5 filter was also used in JX-8P, JX-10 and MKS-70 synthesizers.

Features

The voice architecture of the MKS-80 is fully analog with 8 polyphonic voices with 2 voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) per voice, using the Curtis CEM3340 VCO integrated circuit. The unit also includes one voltage controlled filter (VCF) and one voltage controlled amplifier (VCA) per voice.

The MKS-80 has a 64 patch internal memory (8 banks of 8 patches each) along with an optional memory cartridge called the M-64C with room for another 128 (2 banks of 64 each). A full MIDI implementation is built into the MKS-80, with MIDI IN, OUT and THRU jacks positioned at the rear of the unit.

External programmer

The MPG-80 is the optional programmer designed specifically for the MKS-80, providing direct access to the majority of the MKS-80's features. The MPG-80 connects to the MKS-80 via the Controller port using a special cable. When used with an MPG-80, the MKS-80's MIDI IN port is not used in favor of the MIDI IN on the MPG-80.

Factory presets

The Factory Presets were created by Eric Persing and Dan Desousa.

Notable users

Andy Whitmore (Record Producer / Keyboard Player, London UK)
Walter Afanasieff
Blancmange
John Carpenter
Daft Punk
Hans Zimmer
Harold Faltermeyer
Dave Grusin
Herbie Hancock
Klaus Schulze
Tangerine Dream
Madonna – bass in "Into The Groove", "La Isla Bonita", "Open Your Heart", "Who's That Girl"
Vince Clarke
Jonathan Cain of Journey used 2 of them for Raised on Radio
Snap! (Luca Anzilotti a.k.a. John VIRGO Garrett III)
Pet Shop Boys
Enigma
Michael Cretu
Aphex Twin
MSTRKRFT
Talk Talk
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Ulf Langheinrich
Vangelis
Mike Oldfield
Ray Lynch
Information Society

References

(March 2001). "Le retour des enfants prodiges". Keyboards Magazine.
(December 1989). "Ray Lynch: Exploring the Structure of Music". Keyboard.
"The Official Information Society (InSoc) site".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

roland-synthesizers analog-synthesizers polyphonic-synthesizers

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