So was it the Jupiter 6 or the JX3P? I was always under the impression that it was the JX3P, shown at NAMM in 1983, hooked up to the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. On Dave Smith Instrument's Museum page it states that the JX3P was the synth hooked up to the Prophet 600. "First shipped in December 1982, it was successfully connected to a Roland JX-3P at the January 1983 NAMM show, the first time two MIDI instruments were joined. Look what has happened since!" BTW, as many of you already know, the Prophet 600 is credited as the first synth with MIDI introduced by Dave Smith, the man behind the MIDI spec in 1981. You can read more about MIDI and it's history on wikipedia.I recently read an article on the Juno 6, 60 and 106 in the July '06 issue of Keyboard Magazine. In it Mr. K of Roland is quoted as saying the Jupiter 6 was the first Roland synth with MIDI and it was the Jupiter 6 shown connected to the Prophet 600 at NAMM.
So I shot an email off to Analog Heaven (AH). Someone there must know. A few interesting replies came in. According to the Keyboard Museum Roland Timeline, the Jupiter 6 came out in 1982 and the JX3P came out in 1983. If this is correct, not only did the Jupiter 6 predate the JX3P, but it would have had to come out in December shortly after the Prophet 600, unless there was an original version without MIDI. If anyone knows, feel free to comment. Someone that joined Roland later that year believes it was the JX3P that came first and was hooked up to the Prophet 600, and one of the employees he worked with claimed to have the JX3P that was shown at NAMM. Finally the shot in this post was sent in. Looking at both synths it is clear that the synth on the right is the Prophet 600 and the one center is the Jupiter 6. The shot is from this Mix Online Article. The caption reads, "Dave Smith (in plaid) demos a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 controlling a Roland Jupiter-6 at the 1983 NAMM show." So I'm left thinking it was the Jupiter 6, unless of course both were shown at Winter NAMM that year and both were hooked up during the show. And then there was always Summer NAMM.
If anyone out there knows conclusively, please comment.
What was the first DCO synth? Could it be the JX3P?
ReplyDeletethe Jupiter 6 was the onw shown on the fair to talk to the p600.. imho.
ReplyDeleteThe first DCO synth was the Juno 6, no?
ReplyDeleteYes, according to VSE the Juno 6 came out before the JX3P. But the site also says the Elka Synthex came out before either Roland. Sorry to go off topic here guys...
ReplyDeleteThat sure looks like a Jup-6 in the NAMM picture. I'm pretty sure it was a prototype/pre-production model though because the 1st edition of the service notes for the Jup-6 is dated June 1983.
ReplyDeleteThe info that the first Jup-6's would've been shipped in 1982 is I'm sure wrong.
Also, the first reviews I know of date from the middle of 1983 (same goes for the JX-3P).
The only dates I have for the JX-3P are March '83 and Aug '83 (owners/service manual).
ML
Afaik, the first commercially available DCO synths were the Crumar DS-1 & DS-2 from 1978.
ReplyDeleteThese were in turn preceeded by the PPG Sonic Carrier 1003 (1976) whose oscillators, filter, envelopes and amplifier are all digitally controlled. This synth was made in very limited numbers though.
ML
The RMI Keyboard Computer of 1974 might count, depending on how you define both the terms synth and DCO.
ReplyDeleteIF you check the JP-6 service manual you will see serial #s beian with 82xxx meaning they were indeed manufactured in 1982...
ReplyDeleteWell, the first batch of Jup-6's may have gone into production at the end of 1982. However, to the best of my knowledge it wasn't released to the market until the spring or summer of 1983, probably around the same time as the JX-3P.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I remember the original article in Keyboard Magazine (which I subscribet to at the time) in the early 80's saying the JX3P. They didn't have to rely on anyone's memory or anything at the time, THEY WERE THERE to see it first hand. They probably could tell the difference between a Jup 6 and a JX3P. LOL!
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit of a mystery this. Dave Smith's site (http://www.davesmithinstruments.com/other/museum.html) mentions it as a JX3P, and I think the JX3P version is the one that's quoted the most.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if there weren't two events, one with a Jup6 and one with a JX3P, and over time they've got confused, or something...?
From an SOS Article:
ReplyDelete"Sequential's synth was a Prophet 600, but even Kakehashi (Roland's Founder) is unclear as to which Roland was used, the JX3P or the Jupiter 6. Unfortunately, because neither press nor public attended this propitious moment, other reports are third-hand and inconclusive, although the consensus seems to be that the Roland end of the cable was inserted into a Jupiter 6."
I'm sure they hooked them up to make sure it worked before the NAMM event, perhaps in a hotel room before the show.