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Average rating:
4.2 out of 5
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My first impression of this synth wasn't that great. But the reason why was easy: it had all the original factory sounds stored into it. And they are really bad. If I was looking for an acoustic piano, I would by a Steinway, not an analog synthmodule. Most of the original sounds are imitations of acoustical instruments, and that's where the MKS-80 really doesn't shine. It's in the real analog domain where its beauty comes to life. After fooling around and tweaking some buttons to create my own sounds (using Emagic's SoundDiver because I unfortunately haven't got the programmer), I was astonished. Great fat polysynth sounds, fat basses, warm trancy percussive sounds... it's all there. Velocity and/or aftertouch controlling the filter. I also have an MKS-70 with programmer which I really like, but the MKS-80 simply blows this piece away. The warmth and fatness of it is really amazing. My MKS-80 is a rev.4 model, which means that it is built with Curtis IC's. On later models (rev.5) they started to use the thinner sounding Roland Custom IC's. I definately prefere the Curtis version and recommend it to everyone who is on the lookout for warm and fat sounds. The MKS-80 became my favourite analog polysynth next to my Elka Synthex.
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Again, yes, overrated crap.
I have the synth rack and programmer.
I've never been so bored with filters that aren't that sharp.
It's really a ho-hum sound people. It's just been blown so out of proportion, it's not even funny.
Depressing considering that each unit goes for over $800 a piece.
That's garbage.
If you want some fun, get a PG-800 Programmer and an MKS-70 Super JX Synth Rack. It's more fun, and a hell of a lot cheaper.
mike
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Overrated crap. totally misses the point, the Jupiter-8 floors it in the warm and wide dep`t and the JP6 floors it with it`s multimode filter weirdness. they go for up to £1200 in the UK, one of the very few VCO polysynths which can be blown away by a supernova. the MKS80 was without doubt the biggest mistake I made and luckily there are still enough suckers out there to pay the silly money for it that I did. I bought a mint Midi`d Jupiter-8 AND a Waldorf pulse with the money. No contest.
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Warm and fuzzy, classic Jupiter sounds. It's not really an 8 (the 8 has a more mid-range warmth) nor a 6 (the 6 has that wacked out multimode filter). However, thanks to the bass boost in the HPF, this is the "fattest" sounding Jupiter IMHO. Envs are a little slow, but modulation makes up for it a bit. Sysex is a pain in the wazoo. Editing not good without MPG-80 or PC-1600 but passable. Very clean, best at soft arpeggiations, string pads, and classic poly sounds. Not as fat as some older polyanalog synths. But incredibly durable on the road. A good compromise choice between the old and the new.
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