ROLAND JX-3P (1983)
Programmable Preset Polyphonic Synthesizer

Affordable analog polyphonic synthesizer with memory and Midi interface.

KEYBOARD Main panel features 38 buttons, 3 sliders and a data entry slider. On the left side there is a pitch bender with a 3-range switch (octave set) and a button for LFO modulation retrig.


Back panel terminal connectors:
- footswitch sustain input
- clock input for sequencer
- stereo output jacks (at 3 impedance levels)
- tape interface
- Midi interface.

 

VOICE main core is a 8-bits CPU Intel 8051 (also some 8031 versions ) manages up to 6 voices polyphony based on subtractive synthesis. E each voice is composed by 2 DCO digital controlled oscillators with different characteristics:

	DCO1	DCO2
range	16' 8' 4'	16' 8' 4'
waveforms	saw / pulse /square	saw / pulse /square /noise
tuning	-	fine + coarse
cross mod	-	2 modes
volume	bal DCO1 / DCO2	bal DCO1 / DCO2

FILTER based on IC IR3109 - the multimode VCF is similar to bigger model Juno-60:
with lowpass resonant at -24 dB lowpass + static non-resonant highpass .

ENVELOPE a single EG model 4-segments ADSR controls 2 sections:
- VCA amplifier with switch between EG / gate mode
- VCF filter.
Although EG is shared, both VCA and VCF have an individual EG polarity inversion.

LFO a single delayed oscillator (shapes: square, saw and sample & hold) and 2 destinations:
- DCO pitch
- VCF cutoff.
Modulation can be set to free mode or directly retriggered pushing the LFO "modulation" button.

SEQUENCER each patterns contains up to 16 steps (max 128) and edit facilities like Fill, Note insert and "Pause step" - tempo can be synched to external analog trigger by a +5V pulse signal.
MIDI implementation accepts basic messages like NOTE ON or OFF and system cannot use both Midi and PG-200 programmer at the same time : the big rip-off!

EFFECT single stereo analog chorus circuit has some BBD model Panasonic MN3009
and MN3101.

MEMORY:
- 32 RAM patches
- 32 ROM patches
If you have some troubles storing your sounds, you should check the internal battery (model CR1) which is soldered to the board

 

MODIFICATION some third part company like ORGANIX produced a new set of hardware OS that expands the original Midi protocol adding a full spectrum of control changes for each parameters plus Midi Sysex handling.

 

RELATED FAMILY:

	PG-200 is the dedicated controller. Wired with a custom six pins cable, the parameters data are quicks but not recordable.
	MKS-30 rackmount version - some technical enhancements but it does not sound quite the dreaded 80017A found on Juno-106
	JX-03 boutique, a digital destop module with optional minikeys keyboard remake from 2015. Should be a limited edition VIDEO

 

 

VST PLUGIN / SAMPLED VERSION there are some free pack / vst and commercial samples set:

	name	price	link	demo
	Vst Plugin Jv3P	free
	UVX 3p samples	$$

AUDIO DEMO

electricity (all jx but drums) Noise and LFO test internal sequencer demo sent by RWA MUSIC

Soudcloud JX-3p

 

YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIP SELECTION

Sound Demo	Adventures	with PG-200

ROLAND JX3P MANUAL

Roland JX-3P SERVICE MANUAL

OS It is reporter that some later OS supports the velocity input parameter, but Jx3p can be updated only by installing EPROMS.

Custom model

custom laptopmodel

WEIRD VIDEO: A guy destroys a JX3p not for the faint-hearted!