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| A nice pair. Photo: Allan McLoud |
Here's a very nice description I found, thanks to Marcel Krol of "Synth DB, The Ultimate Synthesizer Database" site for such well done work!
Description
The JD-800 is Roland's answer to half a decade of hard-to-program synthesizers. Covered in sliders that act as dedicated editors just like a classic analog synth, the JD-800 is an extremely programmable and hands-on digital synthesizer. It is also an interesting and great sounding digital synth with incredible flexibility and control. Internal ROM based waveforms are combined to build your sounds. The sounds are based on Roland's D-50, but updated for the nineties with multimode filters - uncommon but welcome at the time.
The JD-800 came in a tough metal case capped off on the sides with large plastic covers. Programming may be a little too flexible for some users, but once you know what you're doing with it, almost any sound you can dream up can be dialed in and stored.
The JD-800 is a digital synthesizer that uses leading-edge digital
technology in conjunction with Roland’s analog synthesizer expertise.
Some of its main features are as follows. High-quality sound source The
JD-800 uses a PCM sound source which contains 108 different types of PCM
waveforms including sawtooth waves, pulse waves, noise waveforms,
one~shot waveforms, and looped waveforms. Additional waveforms can be
loaded from a WAVEFORM card (SO—JD80 series; separately sold).
Furthermore, these PCM waveforms can be processed by filters to
provide an extremely wide variety of sound-creation possibilities. Front
panel design for intuitive sound creation The JD—800 provides front
panel controls for all basic Tone parameters, bringing an analog type
interface to a digital synthesizer. Since parameter controls are
arranged in the order of signal flow, the sound shaping process is easy
to understand. You can also adjust the sound parameters in realtime as
you perform.
On—board effects processor The JD-800 has an on-board DSP (Digital
Signal Processor) that provides a wide variety of effects. in Single
mode, you have eight different digital effects; a three-band equalizer
for each Patch, and also distortion, enhancer, phaser, spectrum, delay,
chorus, and reverb.
ln Multi mode, you have four different digital effects; a three-band
equalizer for each Patch, and also chorus, delay, and reverb. You can
specify how the effect will be applied to each of the five Parts and the
Special Part. Two play modes ; Single and Multi The JD‘800 has two play
modes; Single and Multi. ln Single mode, the entire JD-800 plays a
single Patch. This mode is appropriate when you are playing solo parts.
In Multi mode, the JD-800 functions as a multi-timbral sound source
with five Synth Parts and a Special Part. When used with a sequencer or
MTR, this mode allows the JD-800 to simultaneously play all the parts of
an ensemble.
External expansion The JD-800 has two card slots; DATA card (M-256E,
sold separately) and WAVEFORM card (SO-JD80 series, sold separately).
When a DATA card is inserted, you can select from a total of 128
Patches, including the 64 internal Patches. If a WAVEFORM card is used,
you can also create sounds using PCM waveforms from the card.
| Brand | Roland |
| Model | JD-800 |
| Device | Synth |
| Type | Keys |
| Engine Type | Digital |
| Engine | Wave |
| Voices (max) | 24 |
| Multitimbral | 5 |
| Oscillators | 4 |
| LFO | 2 |
| Engine Detailed | ROM waveform data, 4 osc. per patch |
| Filter (VCF) | TVF: Lowpass/bandpass/highpass-filters with resonance and envelopes |
| Envelope (VCA) | TVA envelopes and pitch envelopes |
| FX | Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Distortion, Chorus, EQ |
| Memory | 64 patches |
| Keys | 61 |
| Key type | Keys |
| Velocity | Y |
| Aftertouch | Channel |
| Midi | I-O-T |
| Produced: | 1991 - 1993 |
| Legend: | Obvious | Y: Yes, N: No, N/A: Not Applicable | |
| VCO | Voltage Controlled Oscillator | DCO | Digital Controlled Oscillator |
| LFO | Low Frequency Oscillator | Sub | Sub Oscillator |
| VCF | Voltage Controlled Filter | VCA | Voltage Controlled Amplifier |
| Velocity | As with a piano, the harder you hit a key, the louder the sound, unlike most organs which always produce the same loudness no matter how hard you hit a key. | Aftertouch | Pressing a key after you activated it. Channel Aftertouch, no matter which key, it will send a Channel message. Poly Aftertouch, sends the pressure per key instead of the whole channel. |
| Values for OSC, LFO, Filter, Envelope are per voice unless stated otherwise. | |||
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