Jupiter One Synthesizer

Overview The Jupiter One project is an original Jupiter 4 Voice Card turned into a complete single voice synthesizer, with the addition of a replica Controller PCB and the addition of a new Pot PCB that holds the switches, LED’s and potentiometers. The project started in 2018, but was paused for a year whilst I worked on Behringer projects, and restarted over the Xmas holidays of 2020. This post describes the work to get to a completed and full working synth.

I decided to replicate the Roland Jupiter 4 Controller functionality, which translates the 0 to +5V  potentiometer voltages into the CV’s required for the voice circuit even though I am not planning to add in the preset memory capability at this stage of the development. It also contains the LFO, Noise and half the ADSR’s, so I had to build at least 50% of it anyway! The Voice Card tends to use +15V on/off signals whilst the panel and DAC of the Roland design uses +5V. There are various level shifters on the main PCB which I have simply omitted and used +15V on the Panel PCB where needed.

A future project could be a replica Pro Mars but the Roland design is incredibly complex, very inefficient in terms of components and space and requires a lot of trimmers. The OS is locked up in a 8048 chip, so it not easy to modify the code to add more presets. A replacement microprocessor was available as the IO product but that appears to be history. I am replicating the Oberheim OB-1  preset monosynth instead, using a new microprocessor (already programmed) to reduce the complexity.

Controller PCB This new PCB holds the LFO and Noise circuits, plus the CV control stages for the VCO, HPF, VCF and VCA and six clock generators for the two ADSR’s. The LFO of the Jupiter 4 and Jupiter 8 are very similar and I have used the later design as it uses a CMOS analog switch to select the waveform. Initial tests proved the LFO worked well with a minor resistor value correction to get close to the original frequency range, but with a higher top frequency of 200Hz (not 70Hz) which I have retained.

The Noise circuit worked first time and uses the same 2SC828R transistor from the legendary TR808, which delivers a wide noise spectrum. In fact the noise level was too high and I had to trim in back to 2V p-t-p, as it would bleed through the JFET on/off switch at higher output levels.

Oscillation The VCO based on the ua726 chip worked first time, with the correct sawtooth and square waveforms, and frequency range selection, but the pulse width circuit needed some work as its uses a DP4T switch which I have not be able to source. The PW on/off switch was stuck on LFO modulation, and needed +15V as the reference voltage not +5V (level translation issue). Pulse width selection now works, with 50%, 40%, 20& and 10% widths, although the 10% is very narrow more like 5%!

The LFO bleeds slightly into the VCO frequency even with the modulation turned down, so this needs some attention.

Filters The HPF and LPF control voltages were initially too low and too high, although the filter did resonate correctly. The HPF control circuit works well in my 8104 filter module, so I correctly suspected a mistake by Roland at R111, which should be 47K not 100K. The LPF control voltage is being driven too high by the non existent Foot Pedal input which I have now removed. Both filters now work well and trimming is good.

The original filter S&H circuit uses the digital arpeggiator clock as a sample source, this is not available as it needs the 8048 microcontroller. I have used the LFO as the clock and S&H circuit from the Jupiter 8, with the front panel slider controlling the level of S&H into the VCF using a BA6110 VCA, so this could be preset in a future version with patch memory. My first attempt used an expo transistor pair which made the slider only responsive at the very top, I changed this to a single transistor linear response (as used in the JP-8).

Envelope Generators The original Roland design is unique, and a very complex way to get to a voltage controlled ADSR. It uses CMOS clocks and switches to get the voltage control and was replaced by a single IR3R01 chip in the Jupiter 8. The voice card contains half the CMOS circuit, so I have added the other half to my Controller PCB. I have proven the design by building the AM8007 Env Generator module, so I am confident I can get this working.

The filter ADSR worked immediately, whilst the amplifier ADSR was dead. I replaced the buffer Op Amp at IC21 which is a 4558 chip.

VCA and Output The voice card contains a BA662 VCA with a volume control on the front panel, and its own dedicated ADSR. This was easy to get working properly. This is also a final analog volume control before the output signal goes to the rear mounted Output jack socket.

LFO Modulation The original Jupiter 4 has a rather nice modulation panel to the left of the keyboard. I have replicated this using a thumb joystick that provides vertical pitch bend and horizontal LFO modulation depth to the VCO, VCF and VCA using the same three selection switches, and two rotary knobs.

Inputs and Outputs My Jupiter 01 has four 3.5mm jack socket inputs; traditional pitch and gate, and then X and Y inputs which over ride the Thumb Joystick control voltages and enable velocity or aftertouch to be patched into the synth. There is a single 6.35mm jack socket mounted on the rear PCB which also houses a Meanwell power supply.

Pot PCB My initial design used DP4T slide switches for the PWM, LFO waveform and Key Follow selection. But the switches could not be wired as dual four way, so I need to rethink.

Chorus Options The Jupiter 4 used a BBD chorus circuit to add some much needed depth to the single VCO sound, which I suspect I could do with as well! I could recreate the MN3004 fixed rate chorus as an internal PCB or go with a BBD-320.

Outcomes More work is needed on my PCB design. This set of tests proved many of the circuits but also showed up some issues – the 4053 LFO switcher needs +/-8V rails and the mounting of the Roland voice card needs to be extended as the gap between the PCB’s is too tight. So this project goes onto the back burner for a few months, before I get a final set of PCB’s designed.

Prologue Fast forward to Spring 2021 – and a redesign. The 4-way switches will be replaced with pots and the LFO waveform with a rotary switch. This means some mods on the Controller and Voice PCB, and some panel layout changes. The big change is to add a second VCO to give more depth to the sound, just like the Pro Mars. There is space next to the original voice card where I could squeeze the VCO in, and its all digitally controlled in terms of waveform and range. Just need to add a detune knob.