Japanese developer Jun Murakami has released Synth-80, which he presents as the first complete software emulation of the Roland MKS-80 Super Jupiter revision 4. Available in VST3, AU, AAX and standalone versions, the plugin is based on an in-depth analysis of an original hardware unit and launches at $59.
The Super Jupiter, that analogue treasure long out of software’s reach
The MKS-80 Super Jupiter, released in 1984, is the rackmount version of Roland’s Jupiter-8 and Jupiter-6. Eight voices, two analogue oscillators per voice, in-house filters: it’s one of the most recognisable sources of pads, synth brass and basses of the 1980s, and it has appeared on countless pop, funk and electronic productions. The issue is well known: a unit in good condition now sells for the price of a small used car, and the two circuit revisions (the first based on Curtis chips, the fourth based on Roland-style discrete components) do not sound quite the same. Curiously, while the Jupiter-8 has been emulated from every angle, the Super Jupiter has remained the big omission in the software catalogues.
What Synth-80 actually offers
Synth-80 follows the architecture of the Rev. 4 model: eight voices of polyphony, two VCOs per voice with cross-modulation, a pair of low-pass and high-pass filters, two ADSR envelopes and a mixing stage that faithfully reproduces the original signal path. Murakami has gone as far as recreating the behaviour of the noise oscillators and the small drifts specific to the hardware’s integrated circuits. In practice, you get back that slightly thick, gently unstable texture that defined the Super Jupiter’s signature sound and that overly clean recreations often miss.
On the usability side, the interface lays out all parameters flat, in the spirit of the original MPG-80 programmer: no nested menus, everything is right under your fingers. The main points:
- 8 voices, 2 VCOs per voice, cross-modulation and sync
- Low-pass and high-pass filters modelled from the Rev. 4 unit
- More than 150 factory presets included
- Standalone version plus VST3, AU and AAX in 64-bit
- macOS (native Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows 10 or later
Modelling treated as an engineering project
This is where the project stands out. Murakami says he developed more than one hundred automated measurement programs to map every circuit and every parameter of the hardware, then refined his DSP over a long-term analysis of a reference Rev. 4 unit. This is a far cry from oscillator sampling or approximation: the approach is one of methodical reverse engineering, response curve by response curve. For anyone interested in analogue modelling, this is the kind of rigour that separates a convincing emulation from yet another marketing wrapper.
| MKS-80 Super Jupiter (1984) | Synth-80 (2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Rack module + MPG-80 programmer | Plugin and standalone |
| Voices | 8 | 8 |
| Oscillators | 2 analogue VCOs per voice | 2 modelled VCOs per voice |
| Built-in effects | None | Chorus, reverb, delay, compressor |
| Availability | Second-hand, rare and expensive | Immediate download |
Effects, editor-librarian and formats
Synth-80 does not stop at the bare machine. It includes a well thought-out effects section: four chorus models (one in the spirit of a Juno, another reminiscent of a Dimension D, a pitch-shift chorus and a digital chorus), a reverb with hall, plate and room algorithms, and a compressor. This section is also available as a separate effects plugin, Synth-80 FX, so you can use it on any track. A clever extra for owners of the original hardware: the plugin serves as an editor and librarian for the MKS-80, with bulk dump transfer, bank creation and parameter exchange while editing.
My take
I lived through the shift from analogue to computer-based music production from the inside, and I stopped believing quite early on that a plugin was inherently inferior: what matters is the sonic result and the seriousness of the design, not dogma. An emulation that relies on a hundred measurement protocols and the prolonged study of a real Rev. 4 is not a marketing bullet point; it is exactly the kind of work that makes a model usable in production. The only thing left is to judge by ear, blind, against real hardware: that is the only meaningful test. But at $59, putting a credible Super Jupiter in the hands of people who will probably never see one in real life is precisely what software does best. In the same spirit of bringing synth heritage up to date, it brings to mind the Behringer UB-1 Micro or hybrid machines like the UDO DMNO.
Synth-80 is available immediately at an introductory price of $59, going up to $99 afterwards, with the offer running until 7 July 2026. A demo version is available, as well as a browser-based version running in WebAssembly so you can try it without installing anything — the official page brings everything together. If you are exploring virtual synth suites, our look at the Korg Collection 6 rounds out the picture nicely.
