Roland JD-800

This synth is huge!, weighs a tonne, built like a panzer tank. Its like being sat at the controils of, the starship Enterprize, with so many, sliders, buttons, and switches.and, wouldnt look out of place, on A, Stelf Bomber, with its design contours.

It's sheer size, could, be off putting. the presets, pretty cool, especialy with a bit of tweeking, crisp, very thick powerful sounding. you can make some pretty evil sounding noise, that will scare the pants off you, and make your neighbours move out, and take holly communion, or contact an excersist. 64 presets in all, youd think there had been more, for the time it was produced. more suited to, someone with experience of abstractive synthesis, but, as a novice,youll still, be able to blow your mind, just by, twideling, the controils.

This synth, has a mind of its own, just a simple twiddle of one of the controils, makes such an incredible diffrence to the sound.you could spend the rest of your life just twiddling away, to your hearts content, in synth heaven.

Although your partner, may feel neglected, and upset, your not twiddling them.

This beast, has so many controis, it would rival, the contoil panel, of Heathrow airport, or, JFK. The keyboards not too bad, ive come across worse. Not, weighted keys, but, touch sensitive, on this synth, really blows you away. just when you think the sounds finished, it comes back with the most, incredable, sounds at times.

Turning this thing on, and youll be dazzeld, by a stunning array of, L.E.D,s. in the dark, youll be away in fairy land. after a few drinks, youd have a, dazzeling performing light show, to, give you an extra high........., oh sorry, where was I?. Oh yes.

Dosent have a, sequencer, or, apprigator, but this is a classic synth, with great sounds, and incredable sonic potential, to rival, a lot of other synths out there.

You are only limited by your imagination, or lack of it. Id say, this is the, most expressive synths, ive ever owned,so I cant really comment on others really. only to say,if you cant express your self on,this synth,it would be unbelivable.

This is a Digital synth, with, anolouge controils. people go on about digital, sounding cold, not as warm as, anolouge, fair comment,but I dont mind so much, ad I like some of the quality charicteristics. ie, spacey, clear, almost clinical sounding.

Digital synths, always inspire me to write movie sound track kinds of music. there are plenty of, great sound pads.and,solos too.
It would suit, possibly, every type of music. Rock, pop, ect. and has been used by, many artists out there.especialy in the 90s. Not sure about, Hiphop, trance ect. never used it, look elsewhere for that.

Like I said before, this is built like a tank, and is very, heavey!. around, 15 kilos. so, not the most gig friendly, as was the, vintage synths of old. unless your Arnold swartzaniger, or superman, you may have a problem.
I have researched a lot about this synth, and found owners claim, some of the buttons need, to be pressed hard to work. and, that the, keys were set, on a base with glue, that, is prone to melt, at higher tempretures. I dont really know myself, never had that trouble.

This is a Roland synth, Ive always found Roland uk, ok, but, not always, having spares, for older synths. Try looking at. vintage planet.com on the net, they maybe able to help, with new switches ect.
I bought mine over the internet, second hand from a shop. in Reading uk. M... Man. It was in such bad condition, and, faulty. so be warned!.

I think this synth, is, a future classic one of the best synths, so Im told, Roland produced. and, worth a look if your a collector, or , old school hardware fan.

They can, still be bought rather cheaply at the moment. there were apparantly, only a few thousand made, with most owners, reluctant to sell, these things are set to get rarer, and be in more demand in time.
I think my experiance, with the seller, and size of the beast, has put me off, buying another. Although vsts are not as good as the real thing in my opinion, ill wait for a vst version to come out. takes up, too much room, Ive already got a , Korg Triton, Roland Jp8000, Microkorg, Korg o1 wfd. Roland Juno 106, Yamaha sy85, Novation ks4, Roland w30. Korg electribe Ea1 Mk11, variouse vsts.

I bought mine, after reading all, the reviews and comments. and, sound wise, and veratility, didnt dissopoint me,one bit.lovely synth, sounds amazing.

Software-version on my JD-800 is 1.01 and works stable (as I would expect from a Roland-Synth).

The are a few factory preset-sounds which are inspiring, but most of them are unusable. As most people already said: this is a SYNTHESIZER, and it sounds best when you program your own sounds.

Editing patches is so much fun on this thing !! I really love sliders, as you can move up to 3 or 4 sliders simultaniously for incredible live sound-changes. There is a slight amount of zipper-noise when moving sliders fast (minus one point), but I don't consider it a big problem.

I was fortunate to get both English manuals with the second hand unit and a Dutch manual at the local music store. The English manuals are complete (if not too...) Tne Dutch manual is a bit childish. On the other hand, I needed the manual for only a few thing, as the panel practicly speaks for itself.

Polyphony is reasonable (max. 24). It's an "old" synth by now (1991), so don't expect it to play complete complex multitimbral compositions, but that's not a real problem with modern sequencing-software.

I don't really like the keyboard. Mine makes irritating clicking noises when played hard. It doesn't feel real solid and has a really plastic touch (minus one point). And the aftertouch needs a LOT of pressure to be activated (minus one point). I am afraid to break some keys, so i don't use it much. I've read that there are solutions to the aftertouch-problem, so I'll be cheching that later.

The FX are quite good for a 1991-FX-processor. Only the Chorus is bit weak. Stereo (L/C/R/) delay is really cool !!

64 Memory locations is not much, but there are good Patch-organizer programs around. Loading a complete bank (64 sounds) into the JD via Sys-Ex takes about 12 seconds, and there are loads of really nice soundbanks to find on the web.

MIDI-implemtation is ok. Sliders send sys-ex data. It would have been better if they would send controller-data, but it's better than no midi-controll at all.

Aah, this is why i wanted to write this review. I've had many digital synths through the years (Korg O1/W, Wavestation, Kurzweil K2000, Yamaha Motif6 and XS7, but this is the MIGHTIEST sounding (digital) synth of them all. In general I don't like Roland synths that much. I prefer the much more refined sound of the modern Yamaha synths, but this is one Roland synth I always wanted to have. It was a dream come true to finally get one (I traded it for my Motif6, which I didn't need anymore because I bought the XS7). And I absolutely don't regret it. Man, is the this a beautiful synth. Let me get one thing straight: it's a DIGITAL synth and it also SOUNDS digital. Don't expext it to do cutting sync sounds (I'm looking for a JD-990 for that) or weird analog filter-stuff with it. But I'm NOT saying that it doesn't sound warm or full. On the contrary, the sound is HUGE, it's better than anything Roland produced after the JD-series. Shimmering pads, souring solo's, spooky FX-sounds, thick basses, this thing is Space All Over The Place!!!! In terms of synthetic sounds it definatly blows away my new XS7 (which is really beautiful as well).

Now I'm looking out for a JD-990 to expand my JD-corner with sync, FXM, Ringmodulation, tone panning and expanded modulation ......

Built quite solid, I have confidence in taking it out on the road. One thing I have to say about Roland products in general, is that they are very reliable. I don't expect any weird thing thing to happen to the synth. And when it does, the technicians of Roland are still around repairing all their products.

Customer support in The Netherlands is done by Roland in Belgium, and I have to give them my complements on the service. They are friendly and know what they are doing and saying.

If it was stolen, I would be VERY, VERY SAD, and I would definatly buy one again if I could. This is the only instrument (besides my Rhodes-piano) of which I'm sure that I'll never sell it. I'm really looking foreward to expanding my JD-800 with the JD-990, since it's possible to control the parameters of the JD-990 with the sliders of the JD-800. And the JD-990 has some nice additional sound-creating features. I'm looking out for the WAVE-cards as well.

I am using version 1.00 as of Feb.1 1991. The second manual is the reference manual that goes into more detail about how the JD-800 Synth can be set. The 2nd manual is in five parts with the first part, 144 pages, 2nd part - Multi-mode is 34 pages, 3rd part - System Settings is 24 pages, 4th part - Data Transfer is 14 pages, and the 5th part - Appendix is 64 pages that also give examples for some sounds and how each envelope can change the sound and why. After all of that you can now struggle to create sounds on the JD-800. After all of that around 3 months later you may begin to understand how to start making up sounds. After 30 years you still can make sounds up, being a full-time job. And then you can change them while you are playing in real-time. I wish you luck in programming this synth. Using pre-made patches or downloading patches that others have done will probably be faster but still, a person should learn the basics while attempting not to completely screw up any sounds that may be made. In fact, I suggest making a blank sheet for your home computer in which everything that is listed and every setting you make is stored as data to be recalled later like a Word document or Excel data sheet. Unless downloading data to be entered as a computer can do, then doing it manually will take lots of time. If you like doing this, then it can be fun, and if you get frustrated by it, then it may give you a headache and take hours to truly tweak one patch. Practice makes perfect.

The JD-800 16 channels and can be made poly or omni mode. There are 4 modes. Mode 1: OMNI ON, POLY. Mode 2: ONMI ON, MONO. Mode 3: OMNI OFF, POLY. Typical mode. Mode 4: OMNI OFF, MONO. It can recognized 0-127 true voices although 24-108 are only transmitted at one time. Change the octave of the patch. It is only 61 keys not 88 keys although all is there. Velocity of notes 1-127. Pitch Bender - 9 bit resolution or if you like about 5 octaves. Control Change has the usual which can be transmitted also in real-time. In fact, everything can be real-time moving the sliders while you play. It is only 24 voice at the most or one tone for a patch, while 4 tones for a patch will end up 6 notes poly. All can be stored on extra data cards and called up to change patches on the fly in real-time. Reset is an option. There are 108 waveforms with some better than others, like strings, synth sounds, piano, brass, usually drums sounds lacking.

This is the heart of the beast. Although the keyboard is light to me, meaning very touchy, use an expression pedal (or volume control), once use to it, it can be devastating, but still the touch is critical. Exercise those fingers for it is not like a regular piano, in fact far from one. The hardest thing to get use to is trying to play it correctly which remains a very-light touch to express anything. It will react to your playing but once again, the key will be down all the way before you can control your fingers well enough to use the features that is contained in the keyboard. The effects are good but added at the end of the chain of the patch although I like the equalizer, reverb, and chorus, and effects they also can be ruined when you set them if you do not take time to learn what each can do. That is another category of settings in the manual. The synth is 18-bit oversampled and better than my JV-1080 for sounding fat, full, tinny, or anything else in between. There is always the reset button because that is another work category - changing the sounds, creating those sounds, and even in real-time if you practice enough to learn it all. A person can truly create really bad sounds on this synth not knowing what to do. I prefer usual sounds like classical perhaps, but then again, this synth is programmable and it truly is programmable to extreme badness or extreme - Wows!

I have not traveled much with this synth, it sits inside. Otherwise I suggest a case for it although the few times I moved it, it is not a 450lb. Hammond Organ with Leslie. It weighs about 33lbs and the amp to amplify it with will weigh more by quite a bit and the music speakers to really turn it up. Otherwise it has been reliable but my synth needs some work with the unit and new batteries in it (ah- probably just new batteries). Otherwise not a fault with it ever working, although I tend not to try and destroy things. I suggest no drinks spilled into it, or anything of that nature. It is a computer in the end and all the care for a computer must be used along with cleaning only with a damp cloth and other electronic cleanings that may be needed to fully restore years of using it. My place is not dust free, so the dust and dirt around is not destroying it, so it is reliable but not in the rain or dampness outside. Use it only on a sunny day, for it is like Sunshine.

I have no experience with this option although I did ask how much it would cost to change batteries where I bought it. Otherwise, there has been no need to call the company except to say that the JD-800 still works 16 years later and probably will work another 16 years with taking care of the synth which is programmable, a programmable synthesizer which does not mean just calling up another patch but making sounds for a new patch, many of which can be stored (although again using a battery) on data cards for the unit. I suggest additional home computer data storage, and Exclusive Messages sent to that MIDI connection on that sound card in a music program to make many tracks of a recording although the real output to the real input of a sound card for wave file recordings will really be the Most!

I paid original price for it, and no you can not have it at any price ever. Get that through your head right now, and you will be better off. I been playing since I learnt accordian around the age of 4-5 years old, off and on. It is a very touchy keyboard though, not like a piano, and an organ also like the old Hammond organs, you usually end up pressing the key down all the way, but if you could control it, it all would be similiar, just a piano is better that way. This synth is not a Moog, or a new type just set the patch synth. This JD-800 is programmable, but still going from 20Hz to 20,000Hz will introduce in the high end, the usual synth type noise. With 18-bit oversampled waveforms, that will be better than the newer 16-bit seemingly compressed waveforms which will end up being noiser it seems and not quite as good. But no problem if you set the synths correctly and tweak the sounds, the JD-800 is still programmable and real-time which can not be done on some newer synths with categorized sounds emanating from those synths. Easier to use, yes, but the JD-800 is programmable, or did I not mention that. Programmable!

all straight forward once you get it, but
I hate the menues.

keyboard is not the best, I use an S90 to play this synth.
Especially when it comes to aftertouch. Cool features anyway.

This synth is not so hyped and can be bought quite cheap. Get it. It can sound very fat and rich depending on your programming. Nothing for beginners. Though it's digital, it can sound very analog. A unique character. "Dream pads" are very strong on this synth. Good for Techno/House pads.

10 points for this baby. I am glad that I own it.

No idea about software versions on this baby. The prests sound quite good, but 64 patches is a bit slimm, even for 1991. The anlaog-style patches would fool all but the most pedantic otaku types, but this is not the real reason for getting a jd800. I was lucky enough to get both manuals, the players guide and reference book, but these hardly get used - as the ad says, "it does what is says on the tin!"

OK, 24 notes of polyphony are standard, but this is split when more than 1 OSC is used. So using the 4 tones at once yields 6-note polyphony. The beast is 6-part multitimbral, but is best used as a sort of solo/performance synth, rather than a workstation. This allows use of 8 effects total, including EQ, various distortions, but multi mode is just the basic chorus & reverb. Again, another reason why this is a performance synth. An aftertouch and velocity sensitive keyboard add the finishing touch to Rolands' digital flagship, but no sequencer, or MIDI clock function to speak of.Cards are rarer than hen's teeth to find, I'm on the lookout on eBay for some sounds.

First of all, the filters. LP, BP, & HP. When using more than 1 OSC, a different filter can be assigned to each part. There are not many waves compared to todays souped-up sample based beasties, but I tend to agree with some users who think too many waves to scan through can end up slowing the creative process. They seem to suit most eventualties, The pianos and clavs are quite good, although some people feel this is not a strong point on the jd800, they should suit most styles. The electric guitar patches are awesome, making good use of the distortion. As I tend to write industrial-type sounds, a bit of dirt is always welcome. Even patches like the pan pipes, which I would normally shun, respond so well to playing, and can be tweaked so easily, they end up getting used. Aftertouch seems a bit stiff sometimes, but his is often to do with settings. Velocity seems very good, a nice stable keyboard, semi-weighted, feels quite professional

I've seen a lot of JD800s' on eBay with the odd fault pots, sliders, keys etc not working, etc - I've been quite fortunate in this is a near perfect example. I've heard that the battery is some bog-standard lithium thingy, so should slide in and out. I would hesitate to take this to a gig, due to its' size, and the fact it is 15 years old and getting hard to find jds' in good condition. But if I had to appear on TV or something - this baby looks cooler than any Fairlight or whatever, monitor or no. Fingers crossed I'll still be using this in another 15 years!!!

I phoned Roland in the off-chance they had some cards lying around - no joy there, but thet answered my call quickly enough. I've heard they are quite good for repairs, but I hope I will never need to find out the hard way.

Now if this were stolen, I would walk the earth until I found the person responsible, and bring him to a bloody reckoning. Oh yeah. I consider this to be well worth the money I paid, and would buy it again. I have been playing since 1979, and own some cool synths, some VA synths - Korg MS2000, ER-1, Roland SH32, Redsound EleVAta. I have recently started buying DIGITAL to get some unusual tones - Waldorf Microwave XT, Evolution EVS1, Korg Wavestation SR, and now the jd800. This is a synth I have always wanted but could never afford until recently. What I want is - for Roland to re-release this superb synth again, with a few more "bells and whistles", like all original PCM data from the cards loaded, I would certainly pay #2000 GBP for that!
So, COME ON ROLAND. Instead of releasing thing like the Juno-D and Juno-G (which, design-wise, show a nod of the head the Roland Legacy), give the kids what they want - and give us the jd800 MK2. NOW.
The world is listening...

There is nothing to bother about using this keyboard unless u are using MIDI. The presets are not that good as they use the factory raw waveforms. It is a synth that use wavwforms (PCM)as its source foritstone generator. But still there were good string dounds in the factory preset. Editing patches is the easiesty and the keyboard's main idea of production, although most use it in gigs. I could make my own sounds without taking down parametyer lists and stuff, as it was done with a couple of movement of sliders on the board.I have described the other datails in another review.

See my oth4er review

Believe me, i have a Korg Trinity Pro, and a Roland FantomX, still they cannot beat the jd fromthe chracter of its sound. It is very unique and i realized it soon after i started playing it. In my point of view its is definitely a hit in its time and even today,something like the JD-800 could be a top model synth which could have inrroduced to the market from another company.
The pianos are good not excellent because sound reproduction is not its purpose in music. It is a synth, but still capable of generating some sound which are very nice and real llike. Distortion guitar with hthe modulation and the traspose wheel is fun to play very realistic disrtotion guitar.

when i purchased it, it was like hell (only the keybed ). Roland keyboards face a serious proiblem ion asian countries. The gum which binds the weiughts to the keys getmelt and ruin the whole thing. so i had to remove the gum with kerosene oil. Also two key pads were replaced during the last year. The conductive sheet underneath the keys is made of a very very unreliable flexible polastic that of the similar sheet we find in computer keyboards. Not at all good for such a professional product...But fortunately i found that the felible conductive sheet of Roland U20 synthesizer is equivalent to the JD's. Soi used a U20's sheet instead.
At gigs i cannot solely depent on it due to the bugs, especially in MIDI connections. So i use it with a backup.

Never

If it were lost or stolen, would you buy it again, believe me its better than KORG Trinityin many aspects. But toexperience that you must own a JD (only 24000 units were produces in 1991)

Bios 1.01.

with all those sliders it's the easiest synth to program. The manual II is just superb and the best Roland has ever written.

If you see one in a second hand store don't judge it on the preset sounds, these are not the sounds what this synth can produce!

Nothing much to say. The String card is a must have! On ebay these rare cards (pn-jd80-04 and so-jd-04) are being sold for lots of money.
Expect to pay between 150 and 300 Euro!

Everyone writes polyphony (6 when u use 4 tones) is a disadvantage.
I don't think so as you get FAT sounds.

I also have 2 JD990's and it's great you can use the JD800 sliders to edit sounds on the JD990.

This is the BEST sounding DIGITAL synth. It sounds FAT, I even dare to write WARM! It creates everything you want oberheim obxa, jupiter 8,minimoog sounds, yeah they sound digital but FAT and STABLE, never out of tune. It can also create incredible effects, vox sounds, crazy electric guitars, everthing you can imagine or almost everything.

In January 2006, I've seen people selling JD 800's for 400 Euro! I will buy them all! One day they will cost as much as a jupiter 8 now...I hope.

Compare it with a fantomX, triton, and other synth. Even with vintage cards installed they do not sound as BIG as the JD800.

Aftertouch is great but after playing the keyboard a lot aftertouch is stiff to use. you can solder a trimpot across R27 (don't detach or remove R27, attach in parallel), and aftertouch becomes adjustable!

You can use it for all kinds of music but if you want trompets, pianos buy a romples like the fantom X.

Very well made, shame they din't use wood as in the old juno days.

Here in Belgium i give Roland a 10!

Overal rating:

I got 2 JD800's and 2 JD990's(one with vintage board installed). Does that say enough?

I just LOVE these instruments. If Roland would ever produce a more modern version (but with the same OVERALL SOUND --> FAT) more samples, more gadgets I would buy it immediately. Still looking for a JD800 which looks like new.

Very straightforward as most parameters have a dedicated slider or button so you rarely have to go into a menu.
The system for choosing which tone element of a patch you are editing could be better, at the moment there are 4 buttons and you have to use another button to toggle the function of the 4 between on/off and editing. When editing I find Im always toggling the function back and forth, so the JD loses a point for that, 8 buttons would be ideal.
Apart from that its ridiculously easy to use, the panel with all its controls is pure luxury.
Hardly needed the manual, if you understand subtractive synthesis and the function of oscillators envelopes and LFOs you are pretty set.

Well the main feature is the control surface in my opinion, thats what sets this apart. It lends itself to sonic manipulation in a way that most digital synths with their 2 line LCD and buttons cant reproduce. Same goes for software synths which have dozens of controls which have to be adjusted with a mouse. Of course you can just buy a controller keyboard for the soft synth, then you have come full circle back to the JD800.
Having said that the synthesis architecture of the JD is basic by todays standard, sample playback with only 104? waveforms and 4 waveforms per patch, with envelopes and LFOs etc. No fancy resynthesising, morphing, additive, neuronal, whatnot structure here, just subtractive synthesis.
No sequencer, arpeggiator would have been nice, and basic effects.

Well sample playback and only 104? wave forms and a basic subtractive synthesis engine but it just sounds right, fantastic leads, basses, brass, (analog derived sounds) with a fairly squelchy filter for a digital synth. Also great for metallic, airy, strings, FX spacy stuff, drones, plinks, plonks, boings, roars, wind (thats wind as in wind blowing through trees not flute, oboe), beautiful pads and evolving sounds.
Not so great for your drums, and realistic piano, orchestral instruments, but thats missing the point, I use it for synthesis, if you want imitation use a sampler.
I found hundreds of patches for this on the net and some of them are as beautiful and playable as any ive heard on any synth whatever the cost.
The sound is recognisably digital but it has warmth and squelch, just dont expect it to sound like an analog, though in a mix I doubt many could tell the difference.
Would work for any style of music requiring imaginative sounds.

It came out in 1991 so 15 years old now and still going strong.
Ive had problems with some of the inc/dec buttons needing very firm pressing, but the keyboard and sliders are still fine.
Its becoming too rare to gig with in my opinion, but I would use it.

So far Ive been able to get every fault serviced by Roland, not that there have been many apart from the buttons.

I give it a ten, looks fantastic, easy to use, reliable, reasonable cost second hand, not too old so still servicable, and the range of sounds you can get out of it is amazing, its like a sonic tardis, very economical in the waveforms but such a range. oh and plenty of patches and support on the web.
Ive been playing for about 7 years and have about 20 synths and a computer sequencer home studio. I make mostly "electronica" but love experimenting and experimental musics with soul. I also do theatre sound design and film soundtracks, I now have two!, its possibly my favourite all round synth and I use it all the time.

its very straight foward. The singe and multi modes are very self descriptive, but MIDI implimentaiotn is tedious. There are few bugs that give problems time to time, if nt a very good board..

Features are oK for its time, buts it really lacks an Arp, a sequencer is not a must when compared to its hugh ability to make new sounds.

Honestly, when i saw this first, i thought "What is this?" then i started to explore this little by little, downloded a manual and a sysex loader now i use it in GIGS. Wonder ful sounds, pads, bells, winds, although reviewers say that the piano is not stunning, i thouroughly disagree. I have many piano patches which are far more better than the sounds on XP-80. Even yamaha TYROS cannot compete the digital crispness this beast has.

Not very realiable, the key bed is weak, also had problems with the rubber touch pads, but this can be replaced by the same set of pads of Roland U-20.

Never dealt with Roland

If its lost or stolen i would definitely buy one. I am 25 years old and i have been playing for 12 years. I had Yamaha PSS-16, PSS-290, Casio CTK-550, Kawai FS-630, Casio CA-110, Yamaha DX-7, Yamaha PSR-730, Roland JV-80, and i am currently using a PSR-3000. This product has its own characteristic sound which others can never compete with!!! Its unique and it is a JD-800

This is a very nice synthesiser with a very smooth yet gutsy sound. I came to this only ever having owned analogue synths (because the upfront cost of digitals was always too expensive) and I had never had much experience playing with digital synths anyway. So I was very pleasantly surprised when I first switched this thing on and played the first patch, "Millennium". Wow! I'd heard samples of this synth on the net before, which made me want to get one in the first place, but even so I had no idea it would sound this good! When I played my SH-2 next to it, I was almost ready to chuck it in the bin!

However, despite the plethora of dedicated sliders and buttons, it is not the piece of cake to program that you would think it should be. This is because it is really four synths in one, so all those controls are not really dedicated in the true sense of the word. They are a common set of controls for four different synth parts. Plus there are a number of button presses (that are not intuitive) to go through before you can really start making sounds from scratch.

Having said that, the manual is very good and you wont have trouble learning from it, although it is the size of a phone book!

I think the features have been well documented in previous reviews.

Despite what I said about it not being as user friendly as it would at first appear, it is probably still a great deal easier and less frustrating to use than a any similar synth that features digital parameter access, rather than sliders and knobs.

Compared to any old analogue synth, this machine is a huge step up in terms of it's features, but probably doesn't touch the stuff that is available now.

This thing makes the most beautiful, interesting and evolving sounds, and it is very beefy too. Whovever says that digital synths sound thin in comparison to analogue synths has obviously never heard this machine. Cold yes, but thin? Absolutely not!

All I can say is that I'm astounded at the quality of sound that it produces! I think I gradually started believing the hype that analogue synthesisers have an inherently more interesting sound than digital synthesisers. But after purchasing this machine, I can't think what those people are talking about! You can press a key on this thing and the sound shifts and evolves in the most fascinating and intricate ways, and when you think it's finally stopped and is just going to fade out, something else starts happening to the sound! Then you press the key a little harder and something else starts happening altogether! ....and the sound quality! Absolutely superb! It certainly sounds colder than an analogue synthesiser, but it also has a much more dynamic and full spectrum sound than any analogue I've ever heard.

Now that I've finished rhapsodising about the machine, I'll just point out that it actually does some decent impersonations of other intruments too. For example, the piano. It's certainly nothing to write home about, and it wont replace a dedicated electric piano, but it is usable. It also does some very convincing guitar solo sounds.

Works fine, except there are a couple of buttons that sometimes need a hard push. It is very solid and heavy. I certainly don't think you should have to worry about it carking it on stage.

Don't know.

I think it's great! I bought it to replace my Juno 6, because although I liked certain aspects of the Juno, I was sick of the Juno not having the power I wanted from it's pads. The JD800 has lived up to and in fact exceeded my expectations.

If it had an arpeggiator I think I would try to do something obscene to it!