Roland JP-8000

Extremely easy to use.
The presets suck unless you're a trendy a** wannabe dj.
Throw away the manual and grab a knob.
Editing is easy but (in my opinion) extremely limiting, you can't REALLY get that FAT Analog sound out of this unit - DON'T FOOL YOURSELF! The JP-8000 does sound great all by itself and works wonderfully as a scratchpad for development, but I find that we always end up replacing it's patches with something else by the time we hit the final mix. It just doesn't have balls.

You know the specs, it has no expansion ability, but this board isn't really aimed at that market. No Midi thru, ONLY 1 Stereo Output?? WHat the heck was Roland thinking? (this is the most vintage feature on the board).

Again the sounds are great on their own, but if you play and tweak the JP-8000 side by side with a SuperNova, any Waldorf or any REAL piece of ananlog equipment from back in the days - You WILL BE DISAPPOINTED. It really comes down to balls - the JP-8000 has none.
This is Roland R&D modifying a couple of MC series units to fit into a box with a ribbon and keyboard - pop the cover many of the components are the same.

Dependability is solid but, I would never take it on the road.

If they can help you Roland CS is great.

It's fun to have it around so my kids can beat on something cheap and learn the fundamentals of sound development, but it is a very limited piece of equipment when it compares to other gear of the same value. Save your money unless you find a good deal on one.

Not sure of the software rev, but considering this unit was purchased at the end of it's production run, I expect it's the latest version.

Given that it's a knob and slider laden "Virtual Analog" synth, editing patches is a piece of cake. My patch editing software has a JP 8000 profile, but I don't hardly see the point in using it for this machine, it's real easy to get around on.

Manual is the typical obtuse Roland piece of crap, fortunately the JP 8000 is so easy to use I've not needed to crack the manual very much.

My review of this synth is coming from a slightly different perspective, I will be using it mainly as a sound source for my Roland PK-5 midi pedals. I play prog rock and we do material in a Rush/Yes/Genesis/ELP kinda vein, so having deep bass pedals is part of the act.

I was using a Yamaha CS1x for this purpose, the JP 8000 kicks serious ass on the CS1x, but I expected that.

The other factor is the price...I got this thing on a closeout for $699, including shipping. If I had paid more (like when the unit was introduced it sold for around $1600) my opinions would be a bit different. I'm not gloating over the price, this machine is worth far more, just pointing out that the $699 I paid kind of colors my opinion. Hell it's only $60 more than I paid for the CS1x.

Buying yesterday's midi technology for a discount price is fairly standard for me...since I'm not really a keyboard player, I don't have the need to have the latest thing.

On to the review:

Features -

8 note poly as many have noted, but I don't feel constrained by this.
If this was your only synth, yeah maybe but as a lead or bass synth, or with the bass pedals 8 is more than enough.

Several reviewers have taken issue with the 8 note poly, but it's not fair to compare this thing to newer synths, back when it came out 10 -12 voices in a VA synth was pretty typical. At least you get a real 8 notes, unlike ROMplers, each voice consists of two oscillators, not one.

Hell the Prophet 5 had only five note poly, the CS-80 and Jupiter 8 only had 8, the Memorymoog only had 6, most synths up to about 1986 had only 6 note poly. Frankly I don't see the point in slagging this thing for only having 8 note poly. My Proteus 2000 has 128 note poly but the JP 8000 is a lot more fun...

The keyboard action is a little light and plasticky, not up to typical Roland standards. The action on my JV-90 is way better. I'm taking some points off for lack of aftertouch. I expected that on a $600 CS1x (no aftertouch) but for the amount the JP 8000 fetched when new no aftertouch was pretty lame.

It's a really expressive synth, why take away the aftertouch?

The effects are basic, just a chorus and a delay, at first I was bummed that it has no reverb, but frankly I have not missed it. The delay works really well, and is pretty warm sounding for a digital delay. If I need higher quality F/X I'll just use my outboard stuff, but as it is the delay is really cool for ripping lead sounds. The delay and chorus are very easy to use, just twist the knobs, there is some basic editing in a menu for the delay type but that's about it.

I'll get into this later on but the ease of use of this synth is both it's charm and it's biggest limitation...it's very easy to use but at the same time you are limited to what you can do compared to the competition.

No expansion capabilities, but frankly you can just edit sounds, save them, then dump to a computer via midi. I don't think it needs a RAM card slot or expansion bay. Being able to add polyphony would have been nice, but not a big deal.

Midi capabilities are pretty basic, I expect I'll be mainly recording this beast, not virtual tracking with it. I hooked up my midi pedals to it, and after sorting out some confusion with the performance mode vs. patch mode I got it to work right away.

It has an onboard arrpeggiator, which is very easy to use. On the surface it looks like you only get three patterns, but you can go into the menu and select more. The problem is the additional patterns in the menu all sound pretty similiar.

The other "sequencers" are the Motion recorder and the RPS. I've not used the Motion recorder (which records front panel tweaks for playback) but the RPS is pretty cool. Kind of a bitch to program, but having 48 riffs under each key is a cool feature.

Now on to the opinion part of this.

I think this synth is extremely cool because it is so easy to use. Lots of VA synths are easy to use, but I was getting around on this one wi

Sounds are relative and very subjective. The stock presets on this thing are not that great, but thankfully they have spared filling the thing with annoying dance/techno/rave arpeggiator sounds...yes there are still plenty of these but far fewer than most synths of this genre.

I don't have anything against this genre of music (in fact I thank them for making the market big enough to bring back synths with knobs) I just don't want every preset to be dance/techno/rave.

One reviewer suggested that the presets were "dated". I find this to be a really lame comment, I mean the whole purpose of this thing is to program your own sounds, right? If you want "cutting edge" presets, go buy a friggin ROMpler.

Realistic instruments are not this things forte, I do like the string machine emulations though, they are pretty cool. I have no idea why they felt the need to put organ presets on it though.

This thing is so easy to use, just write your own programs, hell a drunk crackhead could program this thing.

Here is another opinion piece, like I said I play prog rock, but most of the market for these VA synths are in the Dance/Techno/Rave/etc. genre.

The JP8000 would likely suit the bill for you if:

1. You play in a classic rock band and you needed those "70's and 80's synth sounds" I can easily imagine a wedding band keyboardist doing "Addicted to Love" with this thing.

2. You played synths long ago, got out of it, but are getting back into it. Maybe you had an Oberheim (if you were rich), or a Jupiter 8 (if you were rich), or a Juno 6/60. While this unit is no accurate recreation of those synths, it will get you in the ball park and make you feel comfortable using it. It does the 1980's analog synth thing very well.

3. You play progressive rock or metal music, and you need lots of cool pads, ripping leads, etc. This synth is a real player's synth, you can really wail on it and the front panel is your friend. I brought it over to band practice, my keyboardist put it on his stand (in place of his Oberheim OB-12) and he just used it right off on several songs. He glommed to it right away and said "it sounds bitchin"

I think that users that are more into the total flexibility thing with synth programming might do better to look at Waldorf's stuff, Access, etc. The JP 8000 can do the dance music thing, but I don't think it's the best tool for that.

The effects are very suitable for what this thing is intended for...actually they were a pleasant suprise for me, especially the delay, it really makes the lead sounds come alive.

The playability of this thing, along with the front panel is very inspiring, although you sometimes get parameter jumps when you load a new program and grab a knob, it's not real noticeable, and every thing you grab actually does something, right away, in real time.

The first night I really had a chance to use the thing, I messed with it for three hours....even with a new synth, I usually get bored earlier than that.

Velocity response is very good, and VERY programmable. You can program the same assignments to velocity that you can to the ribbon controller, which is way cool.

No aftertouch, which totally sucks.

Now more opinions on the "sound".

1. Like many have stated, it is more "digital" sounding than many of the VA synths out there. In a way though it gives the JP8000 some of it's own character, in some respects it's kind of like a Jupiter 8 and a PPG wave got together and had a baby.

2. I have noticed the "thinness" that some people mentioned. What is weird is that in the lower register, it has tons of bottom end, but around the middle to the high end, it thins out. You can fiddle with the filter and get some thickness back, but I agree it's not the "fattest" sounding VA out there.

3. The Super Saw waveform rules (only available on the first oscillator), you get a lot more fatness and balls than just the regular w

It's like most Roland gear, very reliable, but I will say the plastic case is a little offputting, and the knobs are not as solid as they should be.

One nice thing though, the knobs are fairly low profile, and of course the sliders are so this thing would be a lot more roadworthy than many VA synths.

Extra points for the internal power supply, I have never left the wall wart for my CS1x at home before a gig, but it always worried me that I would.

When I went shopping, I crossed off anything that used a wallwart (goodbye Novation K station and MS-2000)

Most Roland stuff is built like a tank , I'm taking a few points off because the JP 8000 is kinda plasticky for a Roland.

I've generally found Roland customer support to be pretty lame, but have not used it in years, so I won't slag them based on my experience from years ago.

Their website is pretty uninformative compared to the competition...well the Korg Website blows even more chunks.

Funny how Waldorf, which is a very small company has the best website of any synth maker (FWIW my next synth will likely be a Waldorf)

If it were lost or stolen, I'd likely try and get a replacement. They seem to be common on the used market and not that expensive. I don't think I'd drop $1200 on a new one, but it's a very cool synth.

Very much well worth what I paid, and then some.

I've been diddling around with synths like forever, or at least lusting after them, even though I'm a bass player. My first actual synth was a DW-8000 I bought in 1987. I still have that one, with an Angel City Turbo mod.

Other synth gear I own include a Yamaha S-80 (with Piano and AN1x analog expansion ROMS), Yamaha CS1x, Roland JV-90 (with VE-JV1 voice and "Vintage Synths" expansion ROMS), a Kawai K1, a Proteus 2000, a Proteus F/X, and two Oberheim Matrix 1000 synth modules (one black face, one white face...heh heh, sort of like that Star Trek episode), also I have an Alesis D4 drum module, along with an old HR-16 drum machine and a Roland TR-505 drum machine (the TR-505 is used to generate click tracks, the HR-16 is in my "writing rig").

I've been wanting to get a VA synth for some time, and came really close to buying an AN1x, but I was kind of waiting for the market to mature and prices to come down.

Having said that my "dream machine" is the Waldorf Q, but at about one third the price, the JP-8000 will do for now. As you can see from my list, I mainly have ROMplers, which have served my needs well, but I craved the instant interaction you get with knob laden VA's.

My Oberheim modules are way cool, but you have to program them with a computer, which is a lot more time consuming and less fun than knobs.

I love the expressiveness and realtime control of the JP8000, it's just a really fun piece of gear to use...sometimes programming and using synths can be a frustrating experience, the JP8000 is just a drink beer and have fun machine.

What I hate:

No Aftertouch
Limited LFO routing for the 2nd LFO
NO MIDI THRU (boohhh!)

What I merely dislike, or wish it had:

1. that the 2nd oscillator was "full featured" like the rest
2. More variety in the onboard F/X
3. Metal top front panel
4. Dual mode(s) for the knobs, a "pass thru mode" and an "instant mode" (so you could choose whether or not knob movements affected your programs when you first twisted them.

I compared this unit to a number of others:

1. Korg MS-2000 - I liked the sound, but not the package. Very tiny knobs, cheesy look, kinda toylike, and a wallwart power supply

2. Novation K Station - Frighteningly cheesy construction, more limited in some respects than the JP-8000, no patch names, and it cost the same as what I paid for the JP 8000

3. Novation KS4 - Heard it was the same as the K Station, just bigger with some improvements. Sorry but the K Station is built like crap, the model I tried had buttons mashed down through the front panel.

4. Waldorf XTK - very cool, but a lot more money...this one is on the shoppping list though

5. Oberheim OB-12 - my keyboard player has this, very cool synth but a lot more difficult to program than it should be

6. Yamaha AN1x - I should have bought this thing when it was new and on closeout, I think they were $499 or $599 at the end. I have a "half an AN1x" in my S-80 (via the PLG-150AN expansion card) and it's a pretty cool sound, but you miss the knobs.

Given the $300 - $400 that AN1x's are fetching these days, I expect I'll wind up with one of them and take the CS1x over to band practice full time.

The JP 8000 is gonna help me make music in a big way, I haven't had this much fun with a synth since I bought my first one. We're supposed to get snow this week, I'm hoping it's a blizzard so I can get stuck in the house and have a few days to really bond with the thing.

Even though I'm very technical and have a lot of keyboard and studio gear, I've come to the realization that simple is usually better...it's better to have a simple rig that lets you make music than getting all bogged down in t

Updated software. I agree that this synth is NOT, I repeat NOT a quick fix for everyone out there drooling over about $10,000 in vintage equipment. It is however, a kickass box, with it's own character. It's warm, it's versatile, and well, just down right fun (did I mention tweakable?) The manual is a quagmire unless you know your terminology or are really bored. Its for E. Engineers by E. Engineers, PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND SHAKE HANDS WITH YOUR NEW FRIEND! This synth is a breeze to use and edit, considering its liquid-like flexability.

Eight is limiting, and four on dual is downright pathetic. Granted I get a certain "vintage feeling" in my bones trying to wrangle with only 8-4 keys, but that fades quickly into frustration. Sure their trying to recreate classic synths here, but lets try and not recreate their limitations OK boys? As for the effects their decent (I wouldn't lean on them, but what self-respecting keyboard player only uses on-board effects?) but not amazing. The delay is as good as the others say. The seq. etc are all pretty standard. But in the end, the "feature" on this baby is it's hands-on tweakability. I LOVE IT!

I admit the sounds were not up to my wildest dreams or expectations for that matter. I was expecting a Minimoog/ARP/Odyssey/Etc. right out of the box and that it doesn't deliver. I can tell a great many of those sounds are in there somewhere, you just have to pull (tweak) them out. Also, the envelopes/filters are not quite as smooth as you get from a warm & fuzzy old-school analogue box. They are smooth, but the tonal "stepping" is more obvious, the gradations more distinct. There is 1,000,001 sounds here, but like the others say, dump the presets and start from scratch in this big kitchen! Is is static or expressive? Well, a little of both, but generally expressive (in that Roland way...) I really dig the sounds here, even if there not what I quite expected. Time, time, and more time tweaking... As others have noted it is a groovy pad-ripping machine, and the bass can really hold together, but again TWEAK, TWEAK, and TWEAK again! That ultimate sound your looking for is somewhere out there in those knobs. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps, AHH!! There it is!

It seems more solid that some reviewers have let on. It's NOT a Casio for christ's sake! But, it's not like a mid 70s stereo reciver with tough fly-wheel feeling knobs either. The keys are springy but a bit light. The knobs seem solid but turn a little to easily for me to trust them. Generally seems well built though.

N/A (so far!)

I love it. It's not quite what I was expecting, but its a nice challenge to incorporate new sounds. This is a BIG GUN to have in your arsenal. Lots of potential here. You here this synth everywhere on the dance scene, but its potential is much deeper and wider that a lot of its famous users have let on... TWEEEEEAK!

Latest, as of 1998

Presets are awfully dated - as are most presets.
Editing patches is a doddle, I've crafted the rudest bass sounds ever heard. I've had the board for three years, and the sounds I can get out of it are still sounding fresh.
The manual is crap.

You all know the features.

It's not limiting if you're using the synth in a larger set up - I agree with matey earlier, who said it was a dedicated Pad and Bass Synth. Correct!!

The pads can be beautiful. The bass can be devastating.

The overall sound of the machine completely fits with my ideas of what future music should sound like. It's rich, but slightly metallic sounding. We make new-as-we-can sounding dance music. This is the tool we use for the tonal quality of a bass sound - I've had a bit of trouble with getting a full deep bass sound out of it. That's why we're building our own analogue synth, and getting a Supernova 2. Like I said though, it can produce a very interesting bass sound. The same can be said for pads.

Forget lead sounds - it just comes off sounding cheap and cheesey. Get a Nord or an MS2000

It's also rather tasty at producing odd abstract (but very musical) sounds, mainly because of the inclusion of the feedback oscillator.

Onboard effects aren't anything special.

Totally reliable. We've used it on stage as part of a MIDI only setup, no problems.

Never dealt with them. Haven't needed to.

Stolen?

I'd be distraught. I'm a beginner, so this has been my only synth (aside from the fact I loved it so much I bought a JP8080 aswell) until recently.

I'll never sell it.

I bought it used, without the instruction book. But I was able to figure everything out in a day or so. The OS is genius, and everything is laid out well.

The polyphony is only 8, but you aren't going to write a symphony with this synth. Its techno, how many voices do you need? The keyboard feels decent, the effects aren't half bad and you can sync the delay or lfo to Midi. I don't know anything about the sequencer, but I haven't heard anything too good about it. It would be nice to have distortion though...

Great sounds. Even without distortion you can make pretty much any sound imaginable. And computers can fix the lack of distortion...

I wouldn't gig without a backup. This is its downfall. The JP8000 is made of plastic. I've had problems with the ribbon controller, the pitchbend wheel and the velocity assign. But roland support was very helpful, surprisingly enough.

Wow. My problems turned out to be more complex than originally expected. So they weren't in the tech support guys "book of answers." He spent one and a half hours calling up different people and tweeking his the JP8000 in front of him to figure it out. It was something wierd with the internal computer and I had to perform a bunch of wierd tests. Anyways, thank you Roland.

I would definitely replace it if it was lost or stolen.

Latest software version, whatever that is. Some good presets, some just average. All are good starting points for creating your own performances & patches though. And doing that is simple & fun w/ the knobs & sliders. The manual is OK - it helps when intuition fails.

8 note polyphony - I'm starting to find that a limitation once in awhile (but not often). It's really only a limitation when I'm too lazy to haul my other keyboard around. The built-in delay is good; the other effects are OK but not great.

No expansion capability. Lacks MIDI thru! Also lacks aftertouch (though I don't mind) and I haven't really used the sequencer - but I find the built-in patterns kinda limiting.

The user interface is awesome though.... I find the general layout easier to comprehend than almost any other programmable synth I've seen. The modules are well laid out, the pitch-bend/mod lever is great, and the ribbon controller is awesome! Toss all the other stuff; this and the sound is why I bought it.

There is NO realistic sound in this board; it seemingly wasn't designed for that. It WAS designed to make you feel like you're playing a combined Minimoog/Prophet, and it does that wonderfully! While I'm finding some limits & quirks to it's sound-generating ability, it gives me tha ability to emulate most anything I hear from Pink Floyd, Rainbow, ELP, Yes, and similar bands. And it seems to be pulling me toward dance-type stuff also....

It is quite playable. I've played better-feeling keys, but the rest of the interface makes up for whatever it lacks in key feel. Velocity works well; there is no aftertouch.

Haven't had it long enough to address these questions....

Roland US support is lacking. Wish I lived in Canada sometimes - Roland support north of the border seems much better.

I originally got hooked by the 1st demo track and the user interface; I was originally gonna just play w/ it a bit & return it after two weeks for a refund. But I just am blown away by it; I couldn't bear to part w/ it! And it just happens to fit very nicely atop my Hammond <g>

When I got it, I was also looking at the NordLeadII and the Korg MS2000 (as well as some others). There's just nothing in the price range that gives the combo of sound & interface this keyboard provides. There's plenty I wish it did; but then I'd be spending $3K on an Andromeda or something - and it wouldn't fit atop the Hammond. For a new synth under $1K this is as good as it gets, and even if I spent much more I might get some better sounds but NOT the interface - I don't think any surpass it. Making music is easy on this machine. No regrets on buying it. Too bad they discontinued it - I hope Roland uses most elements of it in a future offering.

Latest software. Didn't really notice any difference when I had updated it. The prests are OK. Not great. It shouldn't matter though, since the reason you buy one of these machines is to make your OWN sounds. If you ever want a good laugh go rent the movie "Titan AE" and skip to the very end of the movie, when they find the spaceship. The synth sound they use is the opening patch on the JP8000 "Chariots." It boggles my mind that with all of those sound editing options, they used a goddamned preset, not to mention THE FIRST PRESET THAT POWERS UP WITH THE MAHCINE.<br>
Editing patches is VERY VERY EASY; virtually everything that affects the sound is on the front panel with a knob/slider. Very few things are hidden in the menus (RPS functions/MIDI stuff).<br>
The manual is written by Japanese engineers, need I say more? Though hard to read, it does provide useful information.

8 polyphony, 2 parts multi-timbral, 2 oscillators per voice, effcts: chorus/delay, tone control. Goto http://www.rolandus.com/ for a more comprehensive list. The keyboard is pretty solid, though made of plastic, and the keys also have a very plasticky feel. Personally, I think it comes up a little short with the effects. The JP8080 (rackmount JP8000) has added Distortion/noise to effects, plus 10 polyphony instead of eight, and a vocoder.<br>
It can't expand. MIDI on this thing can be an absolute nightmare for first time users. I never used "performance" mode AT ALL, i would just run the keyboard in patch mode with a keyboard split for sequencing purposes. No Midi Thru, and No aftertouch, but responds to velocity.<br>'
No sequencer, but something similar called "RPS"; I never really used it, but I suppose it could be useful for playing live.<br><br>

The things I probably liked most about this Synth were the Supersaw waveform and the Tone Control. What I didn't like was the fact that its only bi-timbral and has only 8 voices.

It can create a wide variety of sounds which is only limited by your imagination. It's a great sounding board, but one of the things I absolutely HATED about it was the ZIPPER NOISE you get when changing parameters very very quickly. Otherwise, no complaints as far as the sound goes.

It seems pretty sturdy, despite its plastic case. I'd use it on a gig w/out a backup. The interface locked up on me only a couple of times when I had it.

Never Dealt with Roland Customer Support.

The JP8000 was my first synth, and I learned the basics of subtractive synthesis on it. It is excellent for beginners, and it will probably be popular for a long time to come due to its extremely user friendly interface. However, I have since sold it. As far as price/feature was concerned, it just wasn't measuring up. I found myself very quickly running out of voices, wishing it had more multi-timbral capabilities, and more modulation routing options. It does sound VERY GOOD, however, and I didn't really like selling it. There are much better VA's out there though, of course, they cost a lot more. If I was looking for a synth in the 800-1100 price range I'd take a closer look at maybe a Nord Lead2 , or possibly a MicroQ. If you're interested in the JP8000, get the JP8080; its the same exact cost brand new, and it has many more features. Or just save your money and get one of the BIG VA's ... hehe. The sale of my JP funded my Viruskb.

Depends on what you're looking for. As far as editing the sound goes, just turn a knob and you'll see what it does. For recording via MIDI, I'd say get a cup of coffee and get ready to flip through the manual for a while, because the manual can be very term-heavy if you're a first time user. However, the quick start is VERY useful in telling what each knob does and illustrating it to you. You can make professional music by touching a key with this unit, I was very impressed with the sounds.

I haven't had a polyphony problem yet. This is the kind of board where the sounds can be so thick you won't notice the 8-note polyphony so I don't know why that's a big gripe. This isn't the kind of keyboard where you're creating an entire symphony and playing it all at once, it's a dedicated bassline/pad synth, at least to me. The built-in effects are great, very deep and can be really noisy if you let them. I really really wanted a distortion effect on this thing, and there is one on the next model (JP-8080), but that doesn't help me now. If you try and experiment you can fake it though. Another thing is the MIDI IN/OUT on it...this is a great unit but it needs a MIDI THRU; you can work around it but again, get a cup of coffee. The ribbon controller is a lifesaver. 4 knobs can be programmed into it and that saves a lot of fiddling if you know what you want to do live. The onboard sequencer is great IMO, I just quickly program a few cool basslines into the RPS and set the ribbon controller and you have an instant 2 hour dj set with the right drum machine/sampler to back you up. And this thing just looks so cool too...

This unit has some VERY impressive sounds. The filters are awesome, 7 waveforms to change the sound and get some really drastic differences in tone; just a wonderful sounding piece of equipment and I'm not sorry for the price I paid. The only reason I gave this a 9 is because A) there's always something that will come out and sound better and B) there's no distortion built-in. As far as I'm concerned, sounds are where this thing shines. Short of shelling out more cash for an Access Virus, I can't see anything topping this unit for a while within the price range. This is a very very professional sounding board, and you can definately tell why so many pros out there turn to this thing.

Turns on every time. Makes me happy. I couldn't afford a backup, and so far I haven't needed one.

N/A, the phone #s for Roland are in the manual though.

This unit is great for me. It's the best piece of equipment I own. I scouted this unit out for a long time and learned everything I could about it before buying it though, which I recommend to anyone--take your time before buying something like this, it's a big investment. I got into electronic music making about 3 years ago and now I own my little dream studio: Roland JP-8000, Roland PMA-5, Boss SP-202. No, I don't limit myself to only Roland products, I just like what this combination of gear can do for me as far as a variety of stuff goes. You don't need a million dollar setup to sound good.

I don't feel that the presets show the true capabilities of
this keyboard.. but that is quickly learned once you sit down with
and work your own magic on it. I've made some amazing sounds come out
of this keyboard - sounds I didn't expect it to be capable of making.
Saving the names of the patches I've created is a bit odd.. the method
they chose for saving the names is pretty non-intuitive. It's easy once
you figure it out.

I've found that the JP-8000 sometimes freaks out and needs to be
rebooted when you send too many MIDI signals to it. This doesn't
happen often enough for it to bother me, but it has happened. The
polyphony is definitely enough for me. It would be nice if the keys
were weighted, but I'm just nitpicking :) Everything else has really
been covered in this category

The string instruments are rather realistic, but the piano ones
are too light and airy. I've made some incredible moog-like replica
sounds that could truly pass for the real thing. I duplicated a sound
from my Micromoog last night and was impressed. I think this synth can
be used for making any type of music, really.

This keyboard feels like you could drop it out the window and have
it still work afterwards. It's incredibly sturdy-feeling and well-made.

I never had to deal with their support.

If the JP-8000 was lost, I would replace it immediately. Most of the
music I make utilized the JP-8000 in some way.. and it sounds totally
different in every one of my songs. I love the wide range of sounds
it makes and how well it seems to be made. I totally recommend this
synth to both beginners (to learn audio synthesis) and to studio
professionals.

I am using the latest software version.
The presets sound awesome, and tweaking them is a finger flick away.
Wanna sound like Vangelis? The boot-up performance is called Chariot, strings for the right hand and bass for the left. A patch editor doesnt do that much cos programming this thing is EASY.

Took about a day to figure out how to do alot of things, and this is my first synth. I don't mean that this synth isn't powerful or anything, just with 40 or something knobs on the front panel, it gives you the ease of editing of an analog synth.

The manual is good, which is another reason why I thought thatit was easy to learn. Just flip to the appendix and make a bass, string, piano, and organ and you'll get the hang of it all.

Polyphony is only 8, but then again this is a Virtual Analog synth.
For electronica this is perfect. The effects include chorus/delay which can be SYNCED to LFO or MIDI CLOCK!
Lacks distortion but with the GRITTYness and SHEER power and fatness of this synth, who cares? The Nord Lead series doesnt even have effects. It has a RPS (phrase sequencer) which allows you to play a couple measures and assign that to a key. The keyboard isn't weighted, and it feels kind of light, but then again, this keyboard wasnt made to make classical music. The midi capabilities are nice with syncable effects, velocity but no aftertouch. The arpeggiator is also VERY NICE.
The RIBBON CONTROLLER is awesome as you can assign that too. Basically you can make velocity/ribbon controller(this little pad you move ur fingers on) to do anything.

The instruments aren't realistic of course, because this is a VA.
It is perfect for trance, goa, any type of electronic/dance music
The onboard effects are good but this board sounds FAT
GREAT pads and leads and pretty good basses

It is pretty reliable, kind of plastic but it hasn't failed on me yet.
I would use it at a gig without a backup, it has never failed on me before.

Never had to contact them

If I had to buy something for the same price, I would probably get the Kurzweil K2000 used, as it is more versatile and I have no other hardware except for a computer.
I've been playing for about 2 years and the JP-8000 has to be the funnest piece of equipment I've ever played/seen at stores.
The controlling on this thing is PERFECT
It helps me make music