Jupiter 80 - worst midi controller ever
14 Sep 2012, 03:28The subject says it all. Those are the little things that you can't test in the store or before buying the keyboard. It's promoted as a performance keyboard. We all know that it comes without a sampler (or sample playback), so using a second keyboard or hooking up a module is your only option.
Well, the second option won't work.
I'm so disappointed with this company which even makes and sells midi controllers and instead of taking that knowledge and copy that portion of program data into the jp80, they create a complete mess as if the jp80 would be their first keyboard ever produced.
Put simply, you can't use neither the sliders nor the four circular knobs for sending midi cc data because they don't send anything to the midi output. So, you don't have any controller on the jupiter 80 which would be suitable to control parameters which you want to stay at the value you set.
I remember how Fantom G users complained that on the FG you can't set the octave for a midizone (a problem when you play a sound far left or right on the keyboard). Now, on the jp80 you can set the octave, but you are left completely without a non spring loaded controller.
On the FG you could set in the system settings what the sliders and the knobs would do. On the jp80 you can't set anything. They don't even appear there as possible controllers. Those circular knobs don't work at all if you uncheck the lower and upper part as the destination in the registration edit screen.
I don't get this. I would expect that people working at Roland and on the Fantom G would also work on the JP80. I know that it's a completely different keyboard, but for christ sake, why would you exclude the sliders and knobs from doing anything if you use the jp80 as a master???? Are they hiring a completely new team every time when they create a new keyboard? It seems so. There is no other keyboard company making such inconsistent products of the same kind.
It's sad enough how incredibly limited those sliders and knobs are for the internal sound engine, it's even more sad how the SN synthengine is ridiculously limited in which controller can control which parameter, but once when I thought that I saw the worst part of the jp80 OS, there always comes something new, pushing the level of stupidity in design far to the extreme.
The jp80 has less controller possibilities than any Roland keyboard produced from 1989 up to know.
Now, my only option is to buy a mixer and put it into the chain between the module and the main mixer.
WTF???
Well, the second option won't work.
I'm so disappointed with this company which even makes and sells midi controllers and instead of taking that knowledge and copy that portion of program data into the jp80, they create a complete mess as if the jp80 would be their first keyboard ever produced.
Put simply, you can't use neither the sliders nor the four circular knobs for sending midi cc data because they don't send anything to the midi output. So, you don't have any controller on the jupiter 80 which would be suitable to control parameters which you want to stay at the value you set.
I remember how Fantom G users complained that on the FG you can't set the octave for a midizone (a problem when you play a sound far left or right on the keyboard). Now, on the jp80 you can set the octave, but you are left completely without a non spring loaded controller.
On the FG you could set in the system settings what the sliders and the knobs would do. On the jp80 you can't set anything. They don't even appear there as possible controllers. Those circular knobs don't work at all if you uncheck the lower and upper part as the destination in the registration edit screen.
I don't get this. I would expect that people working at Roland and on the Fantom G would also work on the JP80. I know that it's a completely different keyboard, but for christ sake, why would you exclude the sliders and knobs from doing anything if you use the jp80 as a master???? Are they hiring a completely new team every time when they create a new keyboard? It seems so. There is no other keyboard company making such inconsistent products of the same kind.
It's sad enough how incredibly limited those sliders and knobs are for the internal sound engine, it's even more sad how the SN synthengine is ridiculously limited in which controller can control which parameter, but once when I thought that I saw the worst part of the jp80 OS, there always comes something new, pushing the level of stupidity in design far to the extreme.
The jp80 has less controller possibilities than any Roland keyboard produced from 1989 up to know.
Now, my only option is to buy a mixer and put it into the chain between the module and the main mixer.
WTF???
