All about the Roland Jupiter-series

Since the subject of the Ebay Jupiter 6 with Europa Midi upgrade
is fresh on all our minds, and I just got me a very nice Jupiter
6(which by the way, WITHOUT the Europa performs well, has
tons of cool features, etc.), I thought I'd poll the Jupiter group
about the effectiveness and features of the Europa Jupiter 6 Mod.

Is it very easy to install yourself, with a limited degree of
Electronics/soldering skill? Is the Europa company a reliable
company and deal responsibly with its customers? Does this
modification make you want to use your Jupiter 6 more often in
the studio? Any other comments would be welcome, as I am
about 2 seconds away from buying this product.

About my new Jupiter 6, I can only state that the sounds everyone
speaks of are pretty accurate, but the Jupiter -8 must be one
helluva synth for it to be the one everyone is marveling over.

I've read through the install instructions for Europa, and am
surprised as to how reasonable the install fee is.

Although the procedure is very well documented and fairly
straightforward, the potential for someone of less than mil-spec
skills to hose the processor board is quite substantial. The issue
here is not completely based upon your skills, we're talking about
boards with two decades of use. It's not like you can find one at the
local Shady O' Rack.

Anyone that has spent time inside the JP-6 can vouch for it's
relative simplicity - no stacked boards like the MKS-80 or OB-8,
orderly cable routings, and some degree of slack. I've been inside
mine a bunch of times, mainly for the semi-annual calibration.

And there's absolutely no way I can justify the $30 savings in time
and potential screw-ups. I'm not sure as to whether Synthcom actually
mods the exact board that a client sends in (never asked), but I
can't see this mod taking less than 45 minutes to an hour to complete
and drop into a test jig. It seems too cheap to pass on. The only
downside I can see in letting Synthcom do the mod is in the shipping
of the processor board. If the shipping companies hose the board en
route, you have one dead JP-6 and not much hope. I plan on sending
mine insured full boat, both ways.

You can also have the mod done locally, by a competent shop. I'm
guessing the install cost is closer to $150 via that route, and
there's the added delay as well.

Other than that, I'm absolutely drooling at the potential for JP-6
sysex. Oooohhh, sysex. Not to mention software potential for up to
255 patches onboard (last time I emailed Synthcom, they alluded to a
beta version that would have this. If this is not correct, don't
blame Synthcom, I probably heard it wrong).

Now, if they could work their magic with an MKS-80...

Well, I called Synthcom and spoke with Jeffrey, and told him my
limitations with a soldering iron. He said I should be able to
install the update easily, and if I had problems, I can call and
they'd help troubleshoot it or, worse case scenario, I could send
my board and the kit back to them and they'd install it for the $30.

That seems like a great deal but when you add the shipping(and
I am not hip on sending this unless it is protected by a
hardened-steel case)--I just decided to give it a try myself. I am a
MIDI moron but want the expanded Arpeggiator and sequencer,
and also have the open-ended MIDI for use later. Plus I think I
got a really good deal on this JP-6, so I'm re-investing my
savings with this upgrade. Jeffrey answered every question I
had. It is really a rare thing to have available a
backwards-compatible upgrade like this specific to the JP-6.
They are doing it out of their love for the JP-6, I believe, because
obviously this isn't a huge cash cow for them or anything.

I got the Europa mod in the mail, very promptly sent, I might add.
In the beginning of the installation manual it say's "if you're
unsure, don't do it!" so I took it to my local electronics tech. He
installed it, it was easy for him, and now I have the JP-6 with
Europa. There are many extras the Jupiter 6 now has, including
expanded arpeggiator functions(a cool one is polyrhthm where
the arpegiator clock is subdivided by the number of notes played,
but this is only scratching the surface). I will have a learning
curve on this. The only complaint I would possibly have, or really
a criticism, is that the Jupiter seems less intuitive to operate,
because now things can be altered to a much greater extent.
This is, however, sure to be a short-lived gripe, as I'm sure once
I get to know everything Europa adds to this synth, it will become
intuitive once again, only on a higher scale. --- In
Roland_Jupiters@yahoogroups.com, "modorange333"
<modorange333@y...> wrote:

> Well, I called Synthcom and spoke with Jeffrey, and told him my
> limitations with a soldering iron. He said I should be able to
> install the update easily, and if I had problems, I can call and
> they'd help troubleshoot it or, worse case scenario, I could

send

> my board and the kit back to them and they'd install it for the

$30.

>
> That seems like a great deal but when you add the

shipping(and

> I am not hip on sending this unless it is protected by a
> hardened-steel case)--I just decided to give it a try myself. I am

a

> MIDI moron but want the expanded Arpeggiator and

sequencer,

> and also have the open-ended MIDI for use later. Plus I think I
> got a really good deal on this JP-6, so I'm re-investing my
> savings with this upgrade. Jeffrey answered every question I
> had. It is really a rare thing to have available a
> backwards-compatible upgrade like this specific to the JP-6.
> They are doing it out of their love for the JP-6, I believe,

because

> obviously this isn't a huge cash cow for them or anything.

Hello,

to help u at beginning and why not .. later too :-)
.. try to do as i did
print in color and cut the new layouts for the multi
function switches from the PDF and stick them on the jp6
panel , so u can have them handy in front of u
and dont need to open the Europa manual so often

here is mine .. ( i also changed knobs)

http://home.wanadoo.nl/atoni/Studio/stand3.jpg

welcome to a new synth :-) the jp6 was already amazing before
after Europa is even better !

Regards
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