This long-awaited Jupiter-8 emulation builds on the creative potential of the original synth with expanded polyphony, enhanced modulation capabilities and a powerful effects engine
Barely a month seems to pass without the release of another software emulation of a classic synthesizer from the good folks over at Cherry Audio – this year alone, we’ve seen the California-based developer turn out recreations of the Korg Trident and KR-55, Crumar Spirit, EDP Wasp and ARP Odyssey.
It seems that Cherry Audio has saved the best ’til last this year, however, as the company announces the release of Mercury-8, its long-awaited software emulation of the legendary Roland Jupiter-8 polysynth.
Described as a “faithful replication” of the original hardware, Mercury-8 nonetheless implements a handful of modernized features that augment its creative potential. “Mercury-8 is not just another recreation of the legendary classic synthesizer,” reads a press release from Cherry Audio. “It transforms one of the greatest analogue synths of all time into a fresh and inspiring tool for today’s musicians and producers.”
Mercury-8’s virtual analogue synth engine leverages “advanced circuit and behavioural modelling” to deliver its take on the Jupiter-8 sound, integrating analogue drift and aging controls to more effectively capture the vintage vibes we all know and love. Multi-voice modes allow for per-voice variations in pitch, filtering, panning and envelopes to introduce additional analogue-style character.
Expanding the polyphony of the original, Mercury-8’s dual-layer architecture allows for 16 polyphonic voices per sound layer, each of which can be split or stacked across the keyboard. Analogue-modelled high- and low-pass filters imitate the curves of the original synth and offer a choice of 12dB and 24dB slopes in true Jupiter fashion, and modulation capabilities have been bolstered by a four-slot modulation matrix with 25 sources and 43 destinations.
What’s more, Cherry Audio has implemented a powerful effects engine made up of three independent effects chains that can each host up to five effects from a selection of 20, including new chorus, pan and pulse effects alongside flanger, compressor, reverb, delay, distortion, ring mod and EQ. And there’s a syncable and transposable arpeggiator onboard, along with a 16×4 polyphonic step sequencer per layer.
Mercury-8 ships with a selection of 600 “out of this world” presets, including recreations of the Jupiter-8’s original bank of 64 factory patches. If you’re lucky enough to own a MIDI-modded Jupiter-8 retrofitted by Encore Electronics, you’re even able to import and export patch data via SysEx between software and hardware.