Roland Recreated Three Classic Synths So You Don't Have to Spend Your Life Savings on Them

When Korg launched a pocket-sized analog synthesizer called the Monotron in 2010, they probably didn't know they were about to set off an industry-wide revolution. That toylike, fifty-dollar instrument—replete with a surprisingly legit true analog oscillator–opened up an entire market for inexpensive, retro-inspired instruments, like Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operator series and Stylophone reissues, and Korg's Volca line, which retains the affordability and simplicity of the Monotron while adding more advanced features, like MIDI capability. As the craze has grown, it's produced an ambiguous space between pro gear and stuff for casual hobbyists, sort of like the camera industry's popular "prosumer" grade.

With their new Boutique series, released last October, Roland's pushed this evolution a couple steps further. The Boutique line's biggest feature is its uncanny power to reproduce the tones that put Roland's synths on the map in the first place. The JP-08 sounds just like a Jupiter; the JU-06 sounds just like a Juno; the JX-03 sounds just like a JX-3P. The tones derive from the same Analog Circuit Behavior technology that powers Roland's AIRA line, which includes surprisingly accurate renditions of the TR-808, TB-303, and the System-100 modular synthesizer. Long story short, it's a digital emulation of analog synthesis, but unless you get paid large sums of money to tell the difference between true analog tones and digital replications, you won't even notice (and maybe not even then).

For synth fans balling on a budget, the fact that the Boutique modules cost only a fraction of what you'd pay for the original vintage models ($299 for the JU-06 and JX-03, $399 for the JP-08) more than adequately makes up for any nagging knowledge that the rich, classic sounds they produce aren't authentically analog. From a working musician' perspective, having the formidable tonal power of a classic Roland synth in a package you can easily hold in one hand is a literal dream come true—especially if you have a spatially challenged home studio or load gear in and out of clubs on a regular basis. These machines also boast solid-feeling metal construction, MIDI ins and outs, and a USB jack for direct integration into pro-level digital audio workstations like Ableton or Logic.

I did hit a few snags when setting the modules up to work in Ableton (the most annoying one being how they kept defaulting to step sequencer mode when I didn't want them to.) But once I got things up and running, it was clear that none of the software plug-ins I have come anywhere close to replicating these kind of warming analog tones. The JP-08 in particular proved itself amazing enough to justify the fact that it costs a hundred bucks more than the other two.

Interestingly, the Boutique line has some features that seemed to have been designed with more casual users in mind. When the modules aren't plugged into USB, they run off AA batteries, and they've got built-in speakers so you don't even have to have an amp or DAW to play around with them. You can also buy a 25-key keyboard that the modules pop into for standalone play. At $99, it seems like an iffy deal compared to the more functional MIDI controllers you can buy for the same price, but the way you can pop the module up to look like a tiny version of a 70s-era synth is adorable and hard to resist. Overall, though, the Boutique line's features and price point make it the gold standard of prosumer synths–as much for "pros" as they are for hobbyists looking to step up their game from something like a Monotron.

But whatever your reasons for picking one up, you'll probably fall in love with it for one reason above all others: the multitude of lovely, touchable knobs, sliders, switches, and buttons packed onto its face. They're so tactilely satisfying, it almost doesn't matter that they don't send MIDI info. Just sitting there dialing in new combinations of oscillators and envelopes and tweaking their parameters is a pure-bliss combination of sound and touch that any synth geek on any level will understand. People spend thousands of dollars on touchy, decades-old electronic gear in pursuit of that feeling. It might be a little blasphemous to say, but being able to get the same thing for a couple hundred bucks, in a form you can easily throw into a backpack, seems like an improvement.

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