Roland System-8

Firstly, I will prefix this review by saying that I didn't buy this synth in order to get the Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 plugouts as they're not really my cup of tea, however, they are very well implemented on the System-8 and sound fantastic.

I just use the System-8's native engine as I believe it sounds really lovely. It is very versatile sonically and creating sounds with a knob-per-function interface is a true joy. There are lots of filter types (18 at time of writing) and lots of oscillator shapes - including one called "FM" which is very handy.

Many people complain that it only has one LFO but this isn't a limitation at all because like the Korg Minilogue, it has a 4-lane motion sequencer - except on the System-8 it has 64 steps so you can "record" all manner of movements into your sounds and play back those movements for every key stroke. This allows you to completely shape a sound to your liking in an intuitive way by "playing" the controls as you record them as opposed to having to "program" those changes with a complex modulation matrix etc.

The other benefit is that it can output audio via USB at 96kHz along with the MIDI so that saves a channel of your audio interface as well!

All in all, it's a fantastic synth. The only downside to some is that there is no aftertouch on the keyboard, but that doesn't personally bother me.

I would definitely buy this synth again if anything happened to mine. Highly recommended.

Great synth with classic sounding. Better than unreliable Roland Juno 106 for almost equal price today.
Juno 106 plugout have some nice features that original Juno 106 doesn't support but Juno 60 has (envelope PWM). And you can use two envelopes. So it can emulate Juno 60/6 sounds.

Pros:
* Great sound of plugouts that equal to original devices. (in blind tests system8 is winner for analogue warmth)
* Great sounding system 8 engine (with system 100 filter especially)
* Almost all features can be tuned without menu
* Lightweight ;)

Cons:
* One LFO but this can be fixed by motion sequences
* Not best onboard effects
* Plastic case (but not really a problem)

Picked this up as I got annoyed at how slow the ACB-plugin versions were to use and definitely don't regret it.

Looks pretty horrid but the sound and the user interface more than make up for it. Much nicer to use than the plugins and is light enough to gig with without any issues. Build is plastic but the controls feel quite solid, so not an issue. Keyboard is very mediocre.

As a note, in late 2023 Roland managed to get some ACB-models running on the Fantom-workstation, so if you need something with more power you can pick one of those up instead. I prefer Yamaha's workstations so the System-8 is a very solid "Roland classics in a box" choice for me.

Closest in "jupiter - juno character" from everything outside there ... if you don't want to go the Roland "cloud" software only route , it's an excellent synth for today's music ... very quick in dialing usable - almost production ready synth sounds ... it may become your secret weapon ... System 8 internal engine is an excellent synth by itself ... maybe not for the asking price but if you'll add the JP-JU plug outs and the way it behaves as a controller - it's weight - practicality then everything seems well "balanced" ( although no aftertouch )
... the keys are indeed a little shorter but that's not a problem once you'll play a couple of times ... A very good buy overall unless you are looking for 100% pure vintage sound ( in which case be prepared to spend at least a small fortune PLUS get an experienced technician @ standby mode !!! )