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Free Soft Synths - Roland JX-8P and TR-909 Clones

Good news for fans of Roland’s original JX-8P synthesizer and TR 909 drum machine with free homebrew soft synth emulations for your DAW or your browser.

Good news for fans of Roland’s original JX-8P synthesizer and TR 909 drum machine with these free homebrew soft synth emulations for your DAW or your browser.

First up is a great clone of the infamous Roland TR-909 drum machine, the ER-99 from Extralife Instruments, with their open source, virtual analog drum synthesizer modeled on the classic 80s Japanese original. The instrument can be played live anywhere simply using your browser.

Play the ER-99 now:

https://extralifeinstruments.com/er-99/

Next up is Roland’s JX-8P synthesizer beast reborn as the incredible PG-8X plugin emulation, a work of genius and labour of love from enthusiast Martin Luders. I can’t begin to explain how good this free plugin sounds, especially considering the JX-8P emulation has been combined with its rare sister PG-800 module to allow for maximum interactivity and creativity.

The soft synth operates in your DAW with up to 12 voice polyphony and uses the original synth’s preset JX-8P Sysex data, which means you can import and export the orginal JX-8P presets. The plugin and its famous stereo chorus effect can be downloaded as .DLL files and copied into your DAW’s plug folder.

Download the PG-8X plugin and its manual now:

https://sites.google.com/site/mlvst0/

You can download the original JX-8P preset patch Sysex data collection here:

http://www.synthzone.com/mschreier/

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Roland JX-8P Synth Reborn IN 2021

Good news for fans of the original 1985 JX-8P synth with Roland’s latest announcement of its introduction into the excellent Boutique series, and reborn as the JX-08 Synthesizer.

Roland JX-8P with Roland JX-08

Good news for fans of the original 1985 JX-8P synth with Roland’s latest announcement of its introduction into the excellent Boutique series, and reborn as the compact JX-08 Synthesizer. Not only is this a new iteration of a huge analogue digital hybrid beast, but it also includes the rare PG 800 hardware controller in-built, complete with original presets and a step sequencer.

Read an original 1980’s advert for the now very rare Roland JX-8P below.

Having once owned the original huge Roland JX-8P and been a fan of its excellent Blade Runner Vangelis pad sounds, I cant believe this thing actual exists and is now small enough to fit in my pocket. Well, almost...

Available from January 2022.

https://www.roland.com/global/products/jx-08/

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