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I already had a JP8080 when I purchased the Korg.
For the money this is a great deal. For me personally, it gives me exactly what I need without paying for features I'll never use. For instance- limited polyphony: I don't care. Many real analogs where monophonic. Plus, when I record, I record one track at a time anyway so I can process and mix each track individually for more control in the mix. I don't need a multitimbral mix coming out of the box, so I'm satisfied that I didn't pay for it.
The programming of this thing is a breeze. It's knob driven vs. menu driven. It's very easy to get a decent filtering sound out of it, and while it doesn't completely scream (as others have complained) I don't need to compress the hell out of it to tuck in into the mix. The bass sounds are not over EQed like the Roland (which is extreme in my opinion). Again, real analogs never even had EQs, and it bugs me about the Roland that the bottom end is 80% EQ rather than the actual waveform. It's also very easy to dial in sounds with decent attacks- it doesn't have the clicking that often comes with the Roland. The attacks are as tight as you want them. I like the knob layout, the easy OSC mixer, the additional filtering parameters, and the modulation patching that is not buried in menus.
As an aside, this is not an all-in-one module- it's a niche player. It also costs less than half what more comprehensive VAs do. It's strengths to me seem to be biting leads and bass sounds, and funky analog-styled sounds. It seems to generally sit well in the mix, and it does enough of the what JP doesn't that it is worth its place in my rack.
Gripes (mostly details- not useability issues here): Rackmount, but there is NO ROOM for the cords in the rack without taking up an extra rack space (unlike the Roland), knobs are too tiny (you literally twiddle them with your fingers), low contrast typeface against background makes it difficult to read knob/buttons in low light levels (but you pretty much memorize where everything is after using it awhile), distortion level cannot be controlled (to my knowledge, at least, it is either ON or OFF), and it is easier to use another synth's controller to turn off the effects than it is to turn them off from the panel- (I really wish every synth had a global efx OFF switch - hard or soft would be fine).
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