Ok, The 'so under-rated & so un-known to So many' Ladies & Gentlemen, I introduce 1986's Finest Export from Japan...The rather Super,,,,,JX10. It is, in a word: Class. Like many others have mentioned, just take a listen to that Grace Jones LP, all The Cure's 86 stuff on-wards, and all those George Michael singles of the late 80's, Most were laced or had some part of JX10 in them. It was on so so many tracks,but didn't bore you like the D-50 did a few years later, i.e. played to death!) Big names owned this Beast. Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran used it on their 'Notorious' LP in 86 along with his JP-8, plus so many others songs used this monster, the list goes on and on... It was Top of the line, Beautifully built and Looked stunning. I remember seeing it at the BMF in London in 86 and thought, wow! What a monster! Looked very expensive, I was! I think it retailed for around £1,800-ish in the shops (the R.R.P was actually about £2,300 as I remember 'International Musician' Reviewed it mid-86ish) Anyway, It was meant to be Rolands Top-Dollar Flag-Ship, and it was. Totally Top Market. It was The R.Royce of Mid-80's Analogue Synths! Big Names /Bands owned them cos they could, they had the money to afford this luxury linner of a synth. (i was saving up for a Juno2!) It really was a top class machine and The Synth that programmers / major producers had in-Studio, used along with all their other pro's gear, the Emulator II's etc etc. Anyway, So she is almost 20 years old now, thought I'd give her a mention. At 18 (in 86)this was the stuff of Dreams for me, I would never been able to afford one, I actually got mine about 6 years ago for £280!!(hehe) and It still looks like £3,000 worth of keyboard! & most people who see it think its Brand New! It looks totally Pro and classy AND SOUNDS Superb. Add Reverb / FX and its a killer. (It Still sounds Great without FX) As everyone else has mentioned, get the PG-800, otherwise in the end you'll get fed up 'spin'ing the (alpha) wheel'.(no George Michael jOke intended : ) Apart from that, its the Analogue dogs 76 keys. Built to with stand wars! hey but Look after her thou', she Rolands Last ever Real Beauty. Mine sits proudly below my D70 at home, and thats were it will always be. If your bored to death with software synths,(yawn...) sound modules and vitrual synths and want to get into Real programming of analogue synths, this is a top class act. Buy one off ebay,for about £250! start programming it (with the PG-800) and you'll never look back : ) I'd Never sell mine...Sure, the MIDI bit is a bit poor,don't worry about that, it never bothered me. (I play it for its 'Sound') Its not a 1st timers keyboard with flashing lights and gadgets, Its JUST PURE ROLAND ANALOGUE CLASS. This was Rolands Last REAL Synth, now its all just software and a 17 inch computer screen. Bored anyone? ; )

The reflection in sound is that the JX8P sounds darker, warmer, has moire low end to it but is less detailed as well, while the MKS70 is brighter, has less low end, but is much more detailed and clean. That's is without mentioning the fact the the JX10 / MKS70 has two JX8P like sound engines so you can patch two JX8P tones together, setting different aftertouch and split options to them (Xfade etc).

While they are thought to be similar I must note that they are quite different, the JX8P being a bit more "analog" sounding (check the Soundtrack patch used on Alphaville's "Forever Young" into).

Just wondering...