roland-jupiter.org

Compuphonic · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

...and just installed (complete with hole!). Seems to work fine - what a great little conversion!

Cheers,
T.

vince34 · Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 27 Location: France

yes...excellent news. I admit that drilling a hole in our beloved jp4's can be hard to do ;-)

bcbox · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

it seems like it is working out well for most.
I may have to pick one up. I will most likely retrofit the headphone jack for MIDI in to avoid having to cut a hole.

One question I had though... sjones noted..

bcbox · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

It seems like it is working out well for most.
I may have to pick one up. I will most likely retrofit the headphone jack for MIDI in to avoid having to cut a hole.

One question I had though... sjones noted..

Compuphonic · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

Hi BcBox,

You do only have the 4-octave range if you don't transpose, but transposing just shifts the whole range up or down. In effect you are getting a far greater range of notes than with the keyboard alone.

Well worth installing I think, and judging by the recent JP-4 sales on eBay ($US2275 for example with bits not working), having MIDI connectivity will only make it more desirable.

Cheers,
Tom

bcbox · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

thanks for the response, that's what I thought.
I did see that JP-4 today go for $2250. It was about average condition. I'm always on the lookout for working or non-working JP-4's and I found that auction was a bit of an anomally. Only 3 bidders I think. A good one went last month for about $1800, still pretty high. I'm always on the lookout for the deal, I bought mine for $820 about 3 months ago, it just wasn't a very good listing. I also bought that SH-09 a few weeks back for $270 fixed a bad IC and it's in great shape. I think the ebay market for a JP-4 in above average condition is about $1800, I see them go for that routinely on ebay international auctions. I do agree that with this MIDI interface being relatively inexpensive you will get your money back if/when you sell it.

Compuphonic · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

I figure if the instrument is interesting and brings something that you can't emulate, then paying a little extra is worth it. You are paying for a little bit of inspiration (and perhaps a mid-life crisis, buying things you were too young to buy in the 80s!).

My JP-4 cost around US$400 on eBay only last year - it needed $150 in servicing and a new IC, but apart from that it is in almost perfect condition. I also got an SH-09 for a little less (is the output-level on yours somewhat lower than the Jupiters?), but I don't think I'll ever be selling them!

In any case, it is all good fun :-)

Cheers,
Tom

KnowGood · Joined: 16 Oct 2007 Posts: 7

Think it would be possible to put up something on YouTube showing the JP-4 being controlled via midi? I need to add midi but not sure which kit to go with (Kenton or CHD), but I really like the price of the CHD retrofit.

Compuphonic · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

Hi BcBox,

I had a chance to play a bit today, and found that the range is limited to that of the JP keyboard. Another "limitation" is the pitchbend only works in semitones via MIDI (then again, this could be used to extend the effective range). Still, it plays all notes as it should, and doing some things "live" still keeps the fun aspect I suppose!

Sorry for the misinformation :-(

Cheers,
Tom

bcbox · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

ok thanks for the information. I'm sure there's alot of other people keeping an eye on this too.