I got the MKS-80 this morning. Was it that super?

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I got the MKS-80 this morning. Was it that super?

After owning a Juno-60 for a while, I decided to walk the walk and get his big brother. I found a nice example locally and got the MKS-80 module in 100 & technical order… and I would say 80-95 % visual order. It has been used a lot but there are only some scrapes here and there, and I had to use some force to make it fit my inside my rack. Anyway, the few buttons and sliders on it are rock solid and all the graphics are intact. It looks pretty nice!

The first thing I noticed was that it’s not exactly a programmers dream as it is. But I’ve already bidden on a MPG-80! I would rather have some real sliders to work with on this one.

What about the sound?

It has a scary deep-bass (sub-destroyer!)
Very warm sound (pads)
Some aggressive sounds (aka Virus C)

But so far I haven’t been blown away! In compare to the Juno-60, which I look at as THE 80’s sound, and is considered as a Jupiter-baby, and from what people said, I was ready to get blown of my feet’s in fatness... like Juno x 1000, but I wasn’t! Actually, I think it sounds far away from the Juno, not as in better or worse, but as in different. Not that it sounds awful! But I think you’ll need to work a lot on these sounds (digitally) or get some hardware effects to make it sound like people said it would and what you hear on some albums out. My first impression was rather disappointing and thin. It was not what I expected. If I had the opportunity to try before buy, I would reconsider.

As soon as I get the programmer, I will give it one more chance. I can’t believe that I can make any more professional patches than I already got now. Lucky me, I already have a buyer for this unit (and I will go $70 in plus) if I don’t want it.

Yet another wakeup-call regarding overrated opinions. We all know what happened with me and the Machinedrum!
 
Congratz !!!!
Wait 'till you'll have the MPG-80; this will make your MKS-80 one of the greatest rack synths out there. It is like having a JP-6 but with full MIDI implementation and 8 voices polyphony. A Jupiter-8 has still another sound (other chips) but still I repeat the MKS-80 is one of the best racks.
Have fun dude !!
 
Well, I do not have the same machine, however I can agree that buying the extra controller makes a huge difference.

My personal experience is having the Alpha Juno-2. Picking up a PG-300 made a whole new synth out of this thing :)

Good luck!
 
cubby, what is your serial number? , i'm interested..


there are two very different sounding revisions. if we're talking the early Rev4 (i have that one), THM is right it's Jupiter 6 sound in a nutshell, with some little differences like velo/after, 8 poly, bass boost circuit. otoh, comp to JP6 it lacks: multiple VCO wave selection, multimode filter (BP n HP settings), and arpeggiator.


In compare to the Juno-60, which I look at as THE 80’s sound, and is considered as a Jupiter-baby..
Click to expand...
if you'd like to know who's "baby" JUNO 60 is, then look not at any of the MKS80s or the JP4/6, but at Jupiter 8.

why?

J60 has EXACTLY the same filter circuit, tho reduced to 24dB/Oct operation only. uses the same envelope, tho one instead of two etc.. you see the pattern here. difference in oscillator texture (DCO vs. "discrete" VCO) is obvious, but there are times when color is quite similar. i presume, that's what Roland was going for..
 
clusterchord said:
cubby, what is your serial number? , i'm interested..


there are two very different sounding revisions. if we're talking the early Rev4 (i have that one), THM is right it's Jupiter 6 sound in a nutshell, with some little differences like velo/after, 8 poly, bass boost circuit. otoh, comp to JP6 it lacks: multiple VCO wave selection, multimode filter (BP n HP settings), and arpeggiator.
Click to expand...

I asked the seller by e-mail, and he told me it’s one of the first rev.5 models.

Is this good or bad? :bigeyes:
 
neither. they're different.

rev5 has a tad slower envelopes than 4, with linear shaped slopes (inst of exp). not good for snappy basses or percussive comping. it has very gentle/whistly MKS70/JX filter instead of dry n agressive JP6 filter in Rev4. its VCOs are custom Roland ICs instead of CEM3340 in Rev4, and sound much warmer, wider and richer. in a way they're closer to the discrete-based originals in JP8, tho not the same. VCA is also coming from JX, sharing the chip w VCF. rev4 has CEM3360.

it sounds great as a pad/string/brass machine - sort of like more-organic version of MKS70, since its VCOs clearly sound better than DCOs in MKS70. that's what i'd use it for at least. ymmv.

in short, Rev4 is colder, snappier, very cutting/ripping. filter can be overdriven. 3340 vcos can be very big, but not on this peticular board, very uniform sound. not fat. still, unique in its own way.


none really sound like Junos. both have great velocity and after touch implementation. check these for some comparison demos of JP8 and both revisions of MKS80:

www.babic.com/SYN/mks80.htm
http://www.rainland.org/analogueheaven/
 
I met this guy through a friend last weekend, he told me he has some old music gear to get rid of. Starts to mention a list and says, "and two Roland MKS something"...so I'm like..cool, mks80 perhaps, welp, he got back to me and they are the mks-50 and 70 :(

He does have a Quasimidi 309 that I am interested in.
 
clusterchord said:
neither. they're different.

rev5 has a tad slower envelopes than 4, with linear shaped slopes (inst of exp). not good for snappy basses or percussive comping. it has very gentle/whistly MKS70/JX filter instead of dry n agressive JP6 filter in Rev4. its VCOs are custom Roland ICs instead of CEM3340 in Rev4, and sound much warmer, wider and richer. in a way they're closer to the discrete-based originals in JP8, tho not the same. VCA is also coming from JX, sharing the chip w VCF. rev4 has CEM3360.

it sounds great as a pad/string/brass machine - sort of like more-organic version of MKS70, since its VCOs clearly sound better than DCOs in MKS70. that's what i'd use it for at least. ymmv.

in short, Rev4 is colder, snappier, very cutting/ripping. filter can be overdriven. 3340 vcos can be very big, but not on this peticular board, very uniform sound. not fat. still, unique in its own way.


none really sound like Junos. both have great velocity and after touch implementation. check these for some comparison demos of JP8 and both revisions of MKS80:

www.babic.com/SYN/mks80.htm
http://www.rainland.org/analogueheaven/
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for your info, mate!

I get the programmer next week! :)
 
cubbyhouse said:


Thanks a lot for your info, mate!

I get the programmer next week! :)
Click to expand...

you're welcome. let us know how you like it..

lanlan said:
so I'm like..cool, mks80 perhaps, welp, he got back to me and they are the mks-50 and 70
Click to expand...

but, MKS70 is a beautiful machine. fantastic for warm pads/strings/voxy stuff/analog bells. unique. and very underrated. hear this for example:




i use it since the day it came out. if its a good price, snatch it.. ;)
 
I got the programmer to night. I did try it out some, but since a guy wants it all so bad and I profit $100, I’ll sell it and buy the Prophet-5 rev.3 instead. Maybe not that “powerful”, but sounds more delight and warm to me. The MKS-80 was a bit scratchy and battered... the pro-5 is restored and mint. I’ve tried the pro-5 all last day, so I know what I get this time, and personally, the pro-5 is the best synth I’ve tried ever before. It was something about the sounds and the looks that made me in love. If synths had gender, the pro-5 would be a beautiful woman!
 
I definitely still prefer the sound of the Jupiters 6 and 8 to the sound of the Prophet-5 (even rev. 2), but aesthetically spoken imho the Prophet-5 is the most beatiful synth ever made. The wood. The small knobs. The name plate. Everything. Indeed also just like a very beautiful woman to me...
Still very high on my "wanted" list...
 
THM said:
I definitely still prefer the sound of the Jupiters 6 and 8 to the sound of the Prophet-5 (even rev. 2), but aesthetically spoken imho the Prophet-5 is the most beatiful synth ever made. The wood. The small knobs. The name plate. Everything. Indeed also just like a very beautiful woman to me...
Still very high on my "wanted" list...
Click to expand...

A bit like my avatar!

Btw, I really like the sounds here. This is the best investment I've ever done with a synth! The sounds are just what I always have looked for... warm and nice... hard to describe. It just sounds beautiful!
 
THM said:
I definitely still prefer the sound of the Jupiters 6 and 8 to the sound of the Prophet-5 (even rev. 2)
Click to expand...

i tend to agree if were talking Jupiter 8. still , Prophets are in the same class imo.

however, Jupiter 6 i find not even close to these guys. for example, both being CEM3340-based, a Rev3 anihilates JP6 in raw power, bigness/fatness etc. also, there's no Polymod (filter fm) on JP6.

one advantage i see is multimode setting on the JP6 filter, but its a way thinner filter than 3320. i tried liking it but..

it makes me think of SH5 - now that is a Roland multimode that sounds right..
 
Yeah I knew that but still I'm not so fond of the sound of the Prophet-5 compared to the JP-8 and even the JP-6; I definitely agree it's still a very nice sound - don't misunderstand me - but imho even a rev. 2 (I never heard a rev. 1 but it seems to be the same sound of rev. 2) can't beat the Jupiter sound.
But I repeat: still high on my wanted list because it still sounds very pleasing ánd it is aestetically by far the most beatutiful synth I've ever seen.
 
agree it cant sound like JP8. but other way arround is true all the same:

you cant make a Rev2 organic pad on a JP8. or filter fm, sparkly agressive leads and basses (rev3). and tons of other stuff. in general i prefer SCI leads to JP8. all revisions.


heh, yes Prophet is really a beautiful looking synth ,tho that would be just about the last reason why i got it. still, JP8 is THE most beautiful synth bar none. hehe..


brw, when is your rev2 arriving, you said on VSE its coming soon ?
 
That deal went off... :(
I had an agreement with a guy but he still sold it to another guy. :mad:
 
uh, i'm sorry to hear that. yeah, this can happen when rare vintages are for sale. money talks. it happened to me, i had found a Chroma for 750, and it was very close to my brother (SF), except he was on a vacation at the time, nobody to pick it up, and guy changed his mind in the middle of the deal, stopped respondindg to my mails and sold it to someone else. i'm still pissed. what a jerk..

i'll let you know if i stumble on a rev2 again..
 
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