Studio Science: Roland’s Jupiter-8

The Jupiter-8 is among the finest, most versatile analog synthesizers ever to be devised. Put on the market in 1981 by Roland, you can hear it throughout Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Marvin Gaye’s Midnight Love and the catalogs of more ’80s synth-pop bands than you’d care to know (Duran Duran, Heaven 17 and Talk Talk among them). The secret to the synth’s success is its aforementioned versatility, plus the undeniable fatness of sound –It’s an eight-voice synth, hence the name.

At the 2016 Red Bull Music Academy in Montréal, we asked studio team member Iron Galaxy to show us around the (still!) highly sought-after machine.