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Roland's flagship analog synthesizer of the early 1980s was the Jupiter-8, an eight-voice polyphonic synth which helped to define the New Wave genre of music's sound, and it is still quite popular today. The Jupiter-8 is highly programmable, featuring analog slider controls for most of its parameters, and thus encourages users to create their own patches. While lacking the soon-to-be standard of MIDI control, the Jupiter-8 did have Roland's proprietary DCB control protocol, and sported advanced features such as an arpeggiator (which can be prominently heard in Duran Duran's 1982 hit single "Rio") and the ability to split the keyboard into two zones, with a separate patch active on each.
The classic sounds that the Jupiter-8 can produce, along with its sturdy construction, make it a venerable instrument even in this era of digital synthesizers and samplers, many of which (on paper) seem to be superior. But gently used units now bring more at auction than most new keyboards, suggesting that the Roland's impact will continue to be heard for years to come.
External Links:
http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/jup8.shtml
http://www.synthmuseum.com/roland/roljup801.html
http://www.alphazone1.com/jupiter8/
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