Why the wait? Xm is available :-)

[mangepange]

The Jupiter Xm is available now. So aren't they, more or less, the same under the surface? Why the long wait.
Hey, it's soon christmas! Daddy needs to buy himself a present! :-)

[deswind]

For one thing the X has aftertouch. I assume there is more control over the X by knobs and that the screen on the X is larger for editing. I do not know if the audio quality is identical.

[Stormchild]

For one thing the X has aftertouch. I assume there is more control over the X by knobs and that the screen on the X is larger for editing. I do not know if the audio quality is identical.

The engine and audio quality are supposed to be identical.

Other than the keybed, the Jupiter-X control panel has the following differences. The parameters that lack physical controls on the Xm can all be accessed via the menu.

• The Jupiter-X has sliders for many functions (all controls on the XM are knobs except the two assignable sliders)
• Pitch/mod bender and two assignable wheels (Xm has pitch and mod wheels; no bender)
• I-Arpeggio — Duration and shuffle knobs
• Dedicated oscillator select buttons (Xm uses the first four part select buttons for this; I'm guessing it depends on the current mode and/or requires holding the Function button)
• Oscillator detune knob (Xm sacrifices this to provide a level control for the currently selected oscillator)
• Mixer levels for all four oscillators
• HPF cutoff
• AMP level
• Two sets of envelope controls (Xm has one)
• Knobs for reverb time and delay time
• Dedicated buttons for mono, unison, velocity off, portamento, split, dual
• Numeric display

One thing I think is better about the Xm is the primary display and related controls are centered, whereas the X has it way off to the left where it will no doubt be harder to see and less convenient to use. I think the numeric display in the center of the X was an aesthetic choice to make it look more like a Jupiter-8. It wouldn't be a simple matter of swapping the displays, as the primary display has a bunch of controls associated with it, but I still think they should have come up with a layout where the main display is front-and-center.

The Jupiter-X does look great, but there's a mismatch/disconnect between the control surface of the Jupiter-8 it's trying to look like and the massive increase in features and complexity of the actual synth engine. I think it's a good design overall (after all, it has hundreds of parameters and it would be impossible to provide dedicated controls for all of them), but I think it suffered a little bit from the two primary design constraints:

• It has to have the exact same engine and features as the Jupiter-Xm (I actually like this, because it means the Xm is a serious synth and not a baby version…but it did prevent them from using a larger display on the X, as they'd need two different interfaces)
• It has to look like a Jupiter-8 (it does look amazing, and that counts for something…but it restricted what they could do with the control layout)

If they were willing to give it a bit more depth and drop the numeric display, they could have put a larger, nicer display (like the one in the MC-707) and its related controls in the center. This should also open up enough space to provide a full set of controls for all four oscillators instead of having to switch between them and re-use the same controls.

Still, if I was going to buy either of these, it would have to be the Jupiter-X. Unless you need it to be portable or just can't afford the higher price, the Jupiter-X is going to be so much better to play and program.

[deswind]

Thank you, Stormchild. I will wait for the X - though I do not like waiting!

[Stormchild]

Thank you, Stormchild. I will wait for the X - though I do not like waiting!

At least in this case we know it's coming and it's almost here. The worst is when you want to buy something but suspect there will be a new version of it soon. You could be waiting for months or years, knowing if you give in and buy the current one, the new one could be announced the next day.