Roland JD-800

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JD-800 by Roland
Synthesis type:		Digital Sample-based Subtractive
Polyphony:		24 voices using 1 tone. 6 voices using 4 tones.
Timbrality:		5 + 1 Drum Part (61 note assignable)
Keyboard:		61 Keys
Left hand control:		Pitch, modulation
Velocity sensitive:		Yes
Aftertouch:		Yes
External control:		MIDI
Memory:		64 patches, 256 KB RAM card
Onboard effects:		Chorus, Delay, Distortion, EQ, Phaser, Reverb, Enhancer
Original price:		US$2,895

The JD-800 was a digital synthesizer released by Roland in 1991. The synthesizer featured many knobs and sliders for patch editing, a feature which had been absent from most synthesizers released in the preceding years. Recently, synth makers had been reducing the number of physical controls on their products to a data entry wheel and a few knobs to navigate around a small menu. The JD-800 became very popular amongst those who wished to be able to take a 'hands on' approach to patch programming.

In the introduction to the manual, it is stated that with this synthesizer, Roland intended to 'return to the roots of synthesis':

Today, fewer and fewer people actually create their own sounds, and simply play presets or sounds created by programmers.

However, the original purpose of the synthesizer was to "create sound". It's easy to simply select a preset you like, but that sound will always be "someone else's sound". We at Roland asked, "Why don't we return to the roots of synthesis; the enjoyment of creating original sounds?" We considered many different ways in which we could bring back the fun of creating sounds, and the result is the JD-800 before you.

"Creating sounds" may seem like a highly technical process, but it's actually just a matter of moving a slider to make the sound change! This is easy for anyone, and the sounds that you get will always be your very own.

The JD-800 is designed to make it fun to create sounds. So please go ahead and move those sliders! We hope you will make lots of different sounds; original sounds with which to play your original music.

—From the introduction to the JD-800 manual

The synth was expandable by the inclusion of slots for PCM and RAM cards. The former increased the number of waveforms available to the user, the latter increased the number of patches that could be used. Roland produced a number of expansion kits for the synth (and other compatible models) comprising a pair of cards - a PCM card containing new samples, and a RAM card containing a bank of new presets.

PCM add on cards:
Roland later released 8 add on cards for the JD 800:

SL-JD80-01 Drums & Percussion STANDARD
SL-JD80-02 Drums & Percussion DANCE
SL-JD80-03 Rock Drums
SL-JD80-04 Strings Ensemble
SL-JD80-05 Brass Section
SL-JD80-06 Grand Piano
SL-JD80-07 Guitar Collection
SL-JD80-08 Accordion

Of these, the Strings Ensemble card is the most sought after and can fetch a price equivalent to the original price (around US$175) Hard to come by and Roland had initially taken them out of production only a short time after their release. The owners of these String cards are reluctant to let go and many pride themselves on owning a set.

Other cards of note are the Dance Drums and the Piano cards which add a great quality of expression.

In 1993, Roland produced the JD-990 (or Super-JD), an expandable rackmountable version of the JD-800 with enhanced sonic capabilities.