Jupiter 50 vs fa8

[kidinme]

I have a Fa 8 but I am looking to get a Jupiter 50. My local store doesn't carry it so I can't test it out. Is there must of a difference between the two boards?

[len73]

I would also be interested to hear about this topic.

Appart from clear differencies (workstation <> performance synth), what about the SN tones. Are both using entirely different sounds or some (many) of them are the same ?

[Marvintheandroid]

I play in a couple if live band and have an FA08 and a Jupiter 50. I would say that the FA is more of a studio instrument although I find it brilliant with 88 key keyboard for splitting and layering sounds when I cover songs that need a lot of different sounds. It's quite a heavy board to carry around but not as bad as the Fantom X8 it replaced in my rig. The Jupiter 50 is a great live instrument and has more analogue and lead sounds than the FA. You can Split and layer the Jupiter keyboard using different sounds in three different part. There is an Lower/Percussion part, a Upper part, and a lead part but that is the limit of the split and layer setup. You have button to switch the parts in and out and sliders to mix and equalise them in a layer. Although it is a modern synth you can edit and build new sounds to meet you needs. The architecture of the Jupiter is a little different to the FA in that you can use up to 4 "tones" into a live set with is probably the equivalent of a patch. You can then combine live sets into a performance which can be stored complete with splits and layers, together with effects, and even pitch shifting for a specific perfomance. The Jupiter 50 is a reasonable weight to cart around for live work. Both boards have Roland's Hammond organ emulator but I prefer to use a Nord Electro 4d for organ sound as it seems to be the most accurate at transistor and Hammond B3 sounds.