A look at Tony Banks' Roland JD-800

Tony Banks with the JD-800.

Genesis - The Way We Walk Live In Concert - 1992.

This was posted by Alex Ball at Youtube in a recent work posted September, 13, 2023. 

Thank you! 

This JD-800 now is with Andrew Ward who gently allowed this video. 

Sorry, no Sysex is available nor is there a possibility of getting it. This is explained in the video. 

Citing Akex's words: 

"Here's a look at Tony Banks' Roland JD-800 that he used live throughout the 1990s.

In this video, we have a listen to the tour patches stored on the instrument and get a little glimpse into how Genesis did things in front of stadiums full of adoring fans.

Huge thank you to Andrew Ward for the loan of this historic instrument.

Andrew Ward: https://www.instagram.com/arpquadra  "

A very good video and Alex comments about some parameters for the patches and the music they were used. 

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Roland JD-800 SE Especial Edition - A rare Brazilian exclusive version

JD-800 SE. This is mine. 

What is the JD-800 SE? 

As a JD-800 lover, maybe you perceive I really love this synth, I was after this for a long, long, long time. To be clear, since 2002 when I got the JD-800 and created this site. 

In short, the JD-800 SE is a Brazilian edition with the Strings Card plus exclusive patches but the same original factory presets. 

In practice, the JD-800 SE included all 5 cards. 

In the early 1991-92 years, people from Roland's Brazil asked for a group of very experimented Brazilian musicians to help create new patches for the JD-800. 

This version received an entirely new set of patches that were not included in the factory presets. 

But this was a problem too because almost all users forgot to save the internal memory into a memory card (not included), so those patches become lost for a long time. 

So, if you have a JD-800 SE and restore factory presents, you will lose the SE version patches! This happened to most of them sadly. 

My first contact with the JD-800 SE was in 2005 with Elberto Ronald Manske who had a very nice studio and with all cards.  

After nearly two decades, I found someone who still has the patches saved plus the original prints included with that special model. 

And yes, I have the JD-800 SE, but I was after such patches for a long time, and still, sadly I do have not the String Card (a really fantastic one). 

The new patches were created due to the great work of: 

• Eric Persing
• Adrian Scott
• Paulot Roberto T. A. de Oliveira
• Lucas K. Shirahata
• Carlos Alberto F. Merussi (Pardal)

The patches: 

After finding this, I commented in local groups and then another colleague made a simple video about it, and for sure the JD-800 SE deserves a better one, but he has not the String Cards and his machine sadly is in bad shape, using another keyboard as a controller. 

The original credits to these great guys:

On this page below you can download this rare set of patches. Copyright @Roland Co. 

Software and Patches

Also, watch this video made after we got the material to get a very simple idea. Tiago is using a controller without the Strings Card.

Anyways, no matter who made what, I give thanks to this beloved great friend who gifted me with the original material after decades so we solved the mystery of the JD-800 SE! 

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Roland JD-800 Demo & Review by Katsunori UJIIE

Mr Katsunori is a well know musician and his reviews are always great!

In his words:

"The Roland JD-800 was an epoch-making synth that combined the operability of a digital sound source and an analog feel. The character that is clear and has a strong presence is wonderful even if you listen to it now! .. The famous no.53 piano is still very nice! Katsunori UJIIE"

 

Nice patches from the Roland JD-800 by MeX

Great selection! 

Nice patches from the Roland JD-800 by MeX.

 

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Roland JD800 SL-JD80-04 Strings Ensemble Sound Card preset patches

Strings Card!

The white head fly.

Sensational demos of the most famous Card of all for the JD-800 and JD-990.

The unanimous opinion is that you have a new synth with this card.

Our colleague Kozo Tsuji from Osaka, Japan made a series of fantastic videos about all JD cards, highly recommended and great quality material.

Here, the two videos showing why the Card Strings is something everyone wants very much.

Card: Roland JD800 SL-JD80-04 Strings Ensemble Sound Card preset.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Thanks to Kozo Tsuji from Osaka, Japan.

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Sound demo! Roland JD800 SL-JD80-07 Guitar Collection preset patches

Another great demo from Kozo Tsuji.

All this cards have a lot of patches really interesting. 

Card: Roland JD800 SL-JD80-07 Guitar Collection.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Thanks to Kozo Tsuji from Osaka, Japan.

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Sound demo! Roland JD800 SL-JD80-06 Grand Piano preset patches

Is not every day we find good demos, and this one is a very nice one. 

Here, you find the famous JD-800 pianos and a lot more. Fantastic sounds!

Card: Roland JD800 SL-JD80-06 Grand Piano.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Thanks to Kozo Tsuji from Osaka, Japan.

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A really good demo of real-time use

This is a really good demo by Espen Kraft!
Nice show of real-time editing and some fantastic patches.

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Using the Four Palletes in Real Time

A new great video from Marko Ettlich of RetroSound.




A note about: starting at 0:09 we can see the real time use of the four pallete sliders.
Each patch can have up to four individual tones.
This is a resource many new synths like to show at their demos but this often go unforgotten on the JD-800.
So it is possible to create a path with four different tones and choose what you want play in real time.
But just to remember, the effects are unique for all. Because this the only I miss at the JD are a set of sliders to real time control of the effects area (one of the best for decades).

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Power guitars

The JD-800 have some very nice guitars to play with that become classics.
 
Here, two nice examples.


MidnightHabit from Texas, USA, sent this solo with the velo crunch guitar voice 



And here, recorded by Kemodesh, Italy, the keyboard solo from Dream Theater album Awake (1994) with Roland JD-800.
This is the same sound as the original used by Kevin Moore for recording session!

List of the eight original sound card Sound Libraries

Text source: jd-800.tripod.com (por Tha Villian). Visit the site for a complete list of each card and waveforms .
(I add added a few comments in the original site text).


There are Eight Sound Libraries available for the JD-800:

1. SL-JD80-01 Standard Drums
2. SL-JD80-02 Dance Drums
3. SL-JD80-03 Rock Drums
4. SL-JD80-04 Strings Ensemble
5. SL-JD80-05 Brass Section
6. SL-JD80-06 Grand Piano
7. SL-JD80-07 Guitar
8. SL-JD80-08 Accordian



Each Library consists of two cards:
SO-JD80-01 Standard Drum Waveforms | PN-JD80-01 64 Sound Patches
SO-JD80-02 Dance Drums Waveforms | PN-JD80-02 64 Sounds Patches
SO-JD80-03 Rock Drums Waveforms | PN-JD80-03 64 Sound Patches
SO-JD80-04 String Ensemble Waveforms | PN-JD80-04 64 String Patches
SO-JD80-05 Brass Waveforms | PN-JD80-05 64 Brass Sounds
SO-JD80-06 Grand Piano Waveforms | PN-JD80-06 64 Grand Piano Sounds
SO-JD80-07 Guitar Waveforms | PN-JD80-07 64 Guitar Sounds
SO-JD80-08 Accordian Waveforms | PN-JD80-08 64 Accordian Sounds


Each Set comes with two cards. A Waveform card and a Data card.

Most waveform cards also include a special setup to map various sounds to individual keys. Only the three drum cards and the Accordian Card include Drum Maps. The four other cards only map waveforms to keys.

The sounds on the patch cards are very rich and often better than the internal sounds but there are some noticable filler sounds on each card.

A few cards - String Ensemble & Grand Piano only have 7 waveforms because more memory is needed.

Unfortunately, the cards & patches are quite stunning & realistic and very hard to find. It could cost you more to buy each card individually than the cost of the Keyboard itself.

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My notes:

The waveform cards are used by position number. This means, the data card patch get the waveform by number.
So, if you just put another waveform card, for example,  the patch using the 3rd waveform will use it too.

If you have not the waveform card, try using the internal.
The data cards have somne diferent programming, so, you can use the Sysex of the card, but with the internal waveforms. Just edit the patch and assign to the internal waveform you choose. For sure you will not have the same results like the strings or pinao cards, but that are really interesting.


The String Ensembleis a must have! Try it as you can.


A last note, the Roland Fantom have the JD800 acoustic piano included. Despiste the small sample memory, it's so very good to be included there with famous others.

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The first 40 factory presets and small review

Paul Baraka, composer and sound designer recorded the first 40 factory presets in a nice point of view.

It's always nice to see and listen how the same presets sounds great for diferent minds!

Mac Logic Studio: a little Roland JD800 Environment

This is for the Mac users of the Logic Studio Pro.


I found this at www.logicprohelp.com forum posted by Virgo.

Roland JD800 Environment

by virgo » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:13 am

As promised in this thread (click to see post), here`s my little JD800 environment.


I will probably add the FX section sometime.




Original download link:

JD_800_Makro2.zip 

JD800 Environment (590.51 KiB)

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Note: Logic Studio Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc.

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Roland JD-800 JD-990 VST Patch Editor VST for CTRLR

JD-VST Patch Editor

(updated at november, 16, 2014)



Good news to the Roland JD-800 and JD-990 worldwide users!

Christian Morency just released a beta version of a VST Patch Editor for the Roland JDs. 

This is a dedicated panel for the CTRLR software. This could allow you to visually modify your patch and control your JDs from your DAW.

You can read more about and download at the CTRLR forum: http://ctrlr.org/forums/search/JD-vst/  

If you download CTRLR from the website, please use the Stable version. 

As a Beta Version the software still have some bugs.


And also, there's a great topic at  Gearslutz: JD800 / 990 VST editor

The page include links to download.


Few notes:
You need to free your computer midi ports on which the JD is connected for CTRLR and assign them to CTRLR in the global settings. Download the panel (it's currently at the bottom of the device database). Once open from CTRLR, right-click on the panel and assign the midi device to the panel.

Download link:http://ctrlr.org/panels_deprecated/

Youtube tutorials:

JD-VST Tutorial 1:

JD-VST Tutorial 2:

JD-VST Tutorial 3:

Software and Patches for the JD-800 and JD-990

There are very good professional software supporting  the Roland JD-800 and JD-990, but if you want a non-pay choice, these are the best.

The JD-800 Patch Organizer created by Laurent Lecatelier-Dudec (France), was released as freeware in 24/04/1999 (date in original author´s site) and is no more available from the programmer´s site.

In more recent years, Gwydion Elderwin (Australia) created a JD-800 Randon Bank Creator and a Jd-800 to JD-990 Bank Converter.

About the patch banks here.

The first I found many years ago, was compiled by Stephen Drake, the guy who kept most of JD material available for years. This site is proud to pay him our tribute. Thanks Stephen!
The first internet banks are so-so grouped, thus makes some sense.

Gwydion also have done a strong work removing duplicates from hundreds of patches, adding lots more and creating a library for each synth. Still is missing time to classify all that stuff into categories.

Missing all you my friends, I know business and daily life take time, but I would be happy to receive some news. 

The bank files are in .rar format. You need Winrar or compatible to extract it.


Also: 

Links for other JD sites, stuff and foruns. Permanent list

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NEW JDTools - Patch conversion utility for Roland JD-800 / JD-990 and compatibles

Formats supported: JD-800 SysEx dumps (SYX, MID) 

JD-990 SysEx dump (SYX)

JD-800 VST / Zenology patch bank (BIN)

JD-08 patch bank (SVD)

ZC1 patch bank (SVZ)

Roland JD-990 Sysex Dump Utility for Ctrlr - by dnaldoog

Roland SUPER JD Synthesizer Module JD-990 Editor for Ctrlr - by dnaldoog

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Christian Morency released a Beta version of a VST Patch Editor for the Roland JD-800 and JD-990.
See the following post with some info, links and video tutorials:
JD-800 JD-990 VST Patch Editor VST for CTRLR

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A new post is added with a user created for the Logic Studio platform on Mac:

Mac Logic Studio: a little Roland JD800 Environment

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Downloads:

JD800 Patch Organizer                                                       230 Kb
JD800 pach banks organized by Gwydion Elderwin           499 Kb
JD800 Path banks internet collection                                     407 Kb
JD800 randon bank creator                                                     512 Kb

JD800 to JD990 Bank Converter                                            177 Kb

JD990 Patch Organizer                                                         230 Kb
JD990 Pach banks organized by Gwydion Elderwin              544 Kb


Roland SL-JD Cards Patches Not waveforms                    62Kb

Roland JD-800 SE Especial Edition Patches (a Brazilian version not in the factory presets). This was an interesting remarkable work from great Brazilian musicians with new exclusive patches. Most people forgot to save that and lose the patches made by Roland's Brazil people. Some (few) requires the Strings card.

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The Original Internal Sound Demos

Here’s how to hear the “ROM Play” demo songs built into the JD-800.


Each mode (Single/Multi) has one demo song.


Select Single mode Or Multi mode.
While holding EXIT, press INC/YES.

Press YNC/YES and playback will begin.
Press DEC/NO and playback will stop.


Press EXIT once again to return to Single mode.


* During ROM Play in the Single mode, the informations of phrases are appeared in the display.

* It is not possible to play the keyboard during ROM Play.
* The ROM Play data is not transmitted from MIDI OUT.

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Bellow a record of the demo songs.


The sound files here are recording from the Roland JD-800 internal sound demos. Copyright  by Roland Co.

The JD-800 have two good internal demos, one for each mode (single or multi-timbral).

Mode			Server 2  (Ok, at Google Docs)	Size	Time
Single Mode			Part 0	977 Kb	1:02
Single Mode			Part 1	707 Kb	0:45
Single Mode			Part 2	1097 Kb	1:10
Single Mode			Part 3	641 Kb	0:40
Single Mode			Part 4	566 Kb	0:36
Single Mode			Part 5	533 Kb	0:33
Multi Mode			Multi Demo	660 Kb	1:36

Note: This are 128kbps mp3 files, so I reduced the overall quality. I want upload better quality sound files, but have been short in time. Anyways, the sounds are great.

See the movies in the other posts. They have great samples of what great sounds this synth is capable.


Edited:


SynthMania posted a nice video with the the 64 classic factory patches! Thanks!

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Links for other JD sites, stuff and foruns. Permanent list

The links are unordered. Some sites may requires translation like translate.google.com


Notes:
1-Some sites may be no more available, so please notify me as my time is limited.
2-If you own a website with technical material (no sales promotion please) send me a message so I can add it here.



The two best foruns for the Roland JD-800 and JD-990:

• JD-800_Tech Yahoo Group. This is a group covering technical, repair, performance, and programming aspects of the Roland JD-800 synthesizer. The group is active and the spammers removed.
• Roland_JD-990 Yahoo Group. For all users of the Roland JD-990. This group is intended for the sharing of links, Useage info, Tips/tricks, & user patches.

Tact Switch Black - up/down, decr./incr

(replacement for 13169696)

vintageplanet.nl  - Parts Service for Vintage Synthesizer - They have parts for JD-800 and JD-990.





VintageSynth One of the most famous reference for every synth.


Harmony Central  This is one of the best site and foruns for musicians.

• Roland JD-800 Review
• Roland JD-990 Review
• Keys, Synths & Samplers Forum
• KSS Roland JD-990/JD-800 competition

Polynominal JD-800 This guy have good tech specifications material and some JD800 stuff.


www.bluesynths.com A detailed guide to keyboards and their musical aspects by synth lovers. good stuff, very nice pictures and great sound demos (not the internals) of the JD-800!
They also have very interesting sound at their Myspace profile: Roland JD800 Long Mix.

SynthMania.com Information and Demos of Synthesizers. Great material or the Jd-990, sound demos for original and card patches . Must see and listen!



retrosound.de  Vintage Synthesizers Page.


synrise.de This site turned to pay mode, but have some o the best material about synths I have seen.



Don Solaris  A great musician and a JD-master with the JD-800 and JD-990. His site have some interesting and very usefull technical material.

Midiox Sysex utility program for sending/receiving bulk dumps from your synth (Win 9X.. and later.

Pro-Rec's JD-800 & jd-990 page  3rd party patches for your JD-990.

Sonicstate.com  Great synth site!


MatrixSynth Great everything synths blog!



Sonic Plug- Roland JD-990 Great tribute page to the JD-990.


http://www.synthzone.com Great synth tech info.

• Synthzone JD800 patches some assorted patches  for the JD-800.
  
• Synthzone JD990 patches some assorted patches  for the JD-990.
  

MEMI-Makers-Soundpool Free JD-990 Sounds.

Kid Nepro's Home page 3rd party patch creator/reseller. Good stuff, I have their demo for the 990 in the file section.

Dancetech.com  Good review.

JarreLook  Great Jean Michel Jarre Tribute Band from the UK.
If you want Jarre patches, see their download page for JD800 patches and other synths




JD-800.tripod.com  - Good info and description of the JD-800 Sound Libraries cards and waveforms.


Mark Smart have great material:

• Mark Smart JD-800 page -Using the JD-800 As A Giant MIDI Slider Box 
• Mark Smart Choir Sounds Without Samples - Excelent page about about creating choir patches for the JD-800, based on the classic VP-330. Choir Patches and sound Demos avalilable.

Bobby Blues JD800/JD990 page A vintage 80's-90's synthesizers site with a good JD area with synthesis description, collection of patches, links to the comercial patch sites, some examples of famous artists, etc.



Synthony Music´s Synth & Amp; Midi Museum


Dragonkiller  Good japanese page with links for more stuff, movies, etc.


Sysex Database Sysex messages for the JD and other synths.

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