Firstly, its because of a little thing that Roland came up with called the SUPERSAW. Yes, that supersaw that you have heard millions of times in millions of trance songs. I'll admit it; I love the damn supersaw! It really never gets old. Its so funny cus no one can imitate it...sure people try, such as the "Hypersaw" or "Double saw", but NOTHING can imitate this awesome sound...kinda like the 303's acid sound. If you want this awesome sound..you gotta get this SYNTH!

Secondly, it is a VERY good all-around synth, and it has depths that haven't been explored by most of its users. The oscillators IMO are better sounding than the VIRUS, they sound beefier, more analogish. Its still a VA of course but it does a very good job at being analog if you want it to. It has some areas that have been COMPLETELY unexplored such as the voice modulator, and the feedback wave (which no one seems to use but I think it rocks!). While not as huge as the latest VA's, this thing still has some tricks up its sleeve; plus a great sound!

Bottom line; if you are thinking about getting this synth, do it! Get this synth before they become impossible to get!

I have had it for 3 weeks and have been playing with it for somewhat 40hours reading the manual while at it (138pages of umph). I think i am going to sell it.

The reason why i gave it a 2 on 5 is because i think the JP8000 is a liar, compared to the MS20 and Odyssey being honest (but then again, this comparison is flawed because they can't compare). Why a liar? because youre pretty much stuck with presets (factory and user presets). The presets do no represent the knobs and sliders, and this is a total pain in the butt (=not instinctive at all). Sure you can tweak everything at will and it will record the patches and performances, but i'd rather have either an untweakable presets-only synth or a real-time control-only synth than this messy interface (people rated it as being very easy to operate, but im a retard and don't feel like wasting time sorting it out instead of creating). The fact that i dont need all of its features feels like a waste money and time. "Keep it simple, stupid."

Plus, when you turn it off, and turn it back on, you always get the default preset and need to browse to get whatever you like.... 8361 keypresses later (128 preset patches, 128 user patches, 64 performances, 64 user performances).

The Chorus is pityful, thin and muddy, and the delay effect is lean and brittle. I'd rather use my guitar pedals (DOD DFX9 and others) which sound far better, much warmer and versatile, though there are more than one type of choruses you can choose from. So there's another useless feature, the effects.

Pros: good construction, in my opinion. can go from clean to gross =extremely versatile. very deep bass (nothing like the ms20 but still.. much more versatile) amazing ear-piercing brass and lead sounds. >> this synth can do anything and pretty well.

Cons: not instinctive. not analog-sounding all that much (duh) deceitful arpeggiator (LOL AT THE "DEMO SONGS") poor effects >> a waste of creative time learning all of its unusable features.

Some people do this synth justice, others don't. Make no mistake though, as all things it's not perfect....

BUT....it's a very good synth.

My reference with synths includes Roland JD990, JV2080, XV5080, D110, Alpha Juno 1, Jupter 6, Access Virus Indigo 2 (C), Korg OASYS PCI, Korg X5, Wavestation, Novation Nova, Various soft synths. In short I hope I know what I'm talking about with synths.

The JP8080 is a solid synth, its best points are its oscillators, which are are full range, and solid, highlights obviously are supersaw and layered pulse/square waves and feedback.

The encelopes are good, but aren't snappy like a virus,but with careful programming you can avoid some clicking noises with tight envelopes. The filter has a character which is hard to describe, but it's very good for certain sounds. It's very different from a virus filter, but is good. It's squelchier but not as responsive or versatile.

Compared to my JP6, the JP8080 has some of the best features, such as a fat solid sound, and with supersaw in dual mode, can riva and beatl many synths for pure huge synth sounds, but it can't sound as dirty and raw. This is an area the JP tries hard, but cannot loose control like a JP6. On the other hand though, it is dependable and controllable, where the JP6 hasn't a hope in hell!

For me the JP8080 is a great VA with character, it can't beat a Virus on features, but it has a presence, especially high end that few VAs have.

The one thing I notice with it is that it doesn;t sound smooth when certain parameters are adjusted, filter cutoff excepted, many are stepped and sound like the processor is struggling..

Love it or hate it, I wouldn't be without it, nothing competes with a dual supersaw lead with onboard eq. It has balls!!