He wasn't expecting that... Jupiter 8 vs Magnolia

video upload by Starsky Carr

"*Vintage legend vs modern contender — two 8-voice all-analogue polysynths, 45 years apart. I fully expected the Jupiter-8 to win this one. It didn't.*

I set out to score the Frap Tools Magnolia against the Roland Jupiter-8 across price, features, reliability, repairability and — the hard part — sound. Spoiler: it wasn't close on most of those, and then the sound test threw me a curveball I wasn't expecting.

Watch to the end for the verdict, and let me know in the comments which one you'd actually want on your desk.

*⏱ TIMESTAMPS*
0:00 – Two 8-voice analogue polys, 45 years apart
1:08 – Sound test begins: matching a big warm pad
2:56 – Filters, envelopes & adding pitch LFO
4:13 – PWM comparison
6:11 – Fat square bass & an acid bass
8:20 – FM face-off
11:30 – Wave folding (Jupiter-8 can't do this at all)
11:46 – High-pass filter tricks — the MS-20 move
12:29 – Pick Your Winner
14:31 – Final thoughts

*🔧 GEAR IN THIS VIDEO*
Frap Tools Magnolia — 8-voice all-analogue polysynth, thru-zero linear FM, wave folder, 16 modulation sources into 38 destinations
Roland Jupiter-8 — 8-voice all-analogue polysynth (1981)

*🎹 MORE FROM ME*
Patches, samples & wavetables: https://starskycarr.com"