Well, it's back; the Jupiter-8V's arpeggiator includes parameters for up, down, up and down and random, and over one to four octaves. In fact, it's a better version than the arpeggiator that the Jupiter-8 was originally equipped with, as its tempo can be controlled two ways: manually, or synced to the tempo of a track, when the unit is employed as a VST-compatible synthesizer in a digital audio workstation (DAW) program.
Who's A Good Candidate For Jupiter?
Apparently, a number of Arturia's software synths are notorious for their high CPU loads, and unfortunately, the Jupiter-8V is no exception, frequently generating a 20 percent CPU load on Cakewalk Sonar's RAM usage meter. (My test PC, built by Sweetwater, is a dual core Intel with two gigs of RAM, incidentally.) Many DAW programs have built-in "Freeze" functions for MIDI synth tracks to reduce CPU loads; the Jupiter-8V is a good candidate for this feature.
So who is a good candidate for the Jupiter-8V itself? This isn't a product I'd recommend to beginners — Propellerhead's Reason remains probably the easiest and most versatile software synth right out of the box. And Zero-G's Nostalgia contains a much broader cross-section of vintage synthesizers, though it lacks an arpeggiator. But if you owned one of the original Jupiter-8s and want to experience the joys of its analog sounds without the temperamental qualities of a 25-year old piece of hardware, or enjoy recreating the sounds of the early 1980s, then this is the instrument for you.
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