-----Original Message-----
From: Mueller, Cord MED/ATL [mailto:
cord.mueller@...]
Sent: Friday, May 12, 2000 3:06 PM
To: 'analog heaven'
Subject: [AH] JP-6 vs. Nord 2
Any opinions? My JP-6 is becoming less and less attractive to me. I
tried spending some "quality" time with her but that special spark just
isn't there anymore. Then I came across a NLII and it was magical.. I feel
SO confused right now. To be blunt, I'm tempted.
Same with me. Two years ago I let the JP-6 go in favor for a Nord
Rack 2. To make a long story short, I still have the Nord2 and I recently
bought a JP-6, but I sold my JP-8.
The Jupiter-6 specs look alike the Nord2 and therefore people have
the tendency to compare features again features. The nord though, sounds
much more like a JP-8 than a JP-6. That at least is what I have found. I
took my sounds from the JP-8 and tried to copy them in the Nord 2. Yes,
without an effect you still could figure out what synth was playing, but I
would say that the Nord covered >95% of the overall sound. Putting it in
polyphonic unison helps a lot too. I end up copying all the JP-8 sounds only
to see them vanishing when the battery on the pcmcia card went down. The
trick is to use the modulations just 1/3 of the actual range. That was also
the most annoying part at the JP-8, you could not make that thing do weird
and aggressive stuff because the filter envelope covered only 1/3 of the
actually cutoff range. Also the modulation depth for pitch was not very
great. It acted more like a preset machine with slight tweaking. Though, it
sounded great.
Another thing I learned from that experience was, that the user
interface influences the sound you are coming up, even when the features are
comparable. I never came up with some nice and warm sounds before on my
Nord. But when I tried to model after the real thing, it worked pretty well.
Anyway, the Jupiter-6 filter just sounds more aggressive than the
Nord filter. What I like at the JP-6 more than with the JP-8 is the depth of
control. Therefore you lost the warmth of the synth. I would not say the
JP-6 is a great sounding machine when it comes to warm strings, pads, or
brass. But it does very aggressive sounds that cut nicely through the mix. I
have a designated boss chorus hooked up to it to give it some depth for pad
sounds.
Now, where does this leave the Nord2? I love that thing, especially
when doing tracks. I like the overall control of sound with the genius
velocity control feature. Putting a knob in two positions and there we are.
It can sound big, especially when putting it into unison. But the filters
are modeled after Roland stuff and therefore you won't find the moog sound
in it. I like that because I have the tendency to overload my tracks anyway.
But other people might like it fatter and prefer the Virus over the Nord
Lead. Now, I do have enough stuff that sounds fat already, so for me the
Nord fits perfect. Next to the velocity feature I really like the overall
panel with the third envelope (PPG), snappy envelopes (log), echo function
(that travels through the velocity), feel of knobs and buttons, and the drum
sound setup (8 sounds fit nicely with the ER-1). It is capable of getting
some weird sounds out with FM or Ring-modulation. Would not call it analog
though, compared to a prophet. But than, it is fast to work with and the
results are very dynamic.
No idea of what I would prefer, the Nord2 or a JP-6 when I had to
choose. Probably I would go for the Nord because it can do more in a studio
and is fully midi capable. Anyway, it is a good replacement for my JP-8
though.
Just my 0.2 cents,
Cord