The instrument
The Roland Jupiter-6, released in 1983, is a polyphonic analog synthesizer that served as a more affordable and slightly simplified version of the Jupiter-8. It features six voices and retains much of the Jupiter-8's sound quality and versatility. The Jupiter-6 introduced MIDI connectivity, making it one of the first synthesizers to include this feature. It was used by artists such as Depeche Mode, The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Underworld.
Details
The Jupiter-6 features six voices, each with two Voltage-Controlled Oscillators (VCOs) per voice, offering sawtooth, square, triangle, and pulse waveforms. It includes a 24dB/octave resonant low-pass filter, ADSR envelope generators, and two LFOs for modulation. The Jupiter-6 also features an arpeggiator, cross-modulation, and the ability to split the keyboard for playing two different patches simultaneously. Its MIDI connectivity allowed it to be easily integrated into modern setups, making it a highly versatile instrument. Compared to the Jupiter-8, the Jupiter-6 offers fewer voices but introduces more flexible modulation and MIDI functionality.