Surely you have seen the teaser videos covering Roland's "metamorphosis of a legend" and have been wondering what the new unit could be. Well, the speculation is over -- Roland announced that the reinvented legend is none other than the new Jupiter-80 Synthesizer, a keyboard designed to pay homage to the realistic and expressive electronic musical instrument we all know as the Jupiter-8.

The Jupiter-80 offers an industrial design similar to but not exactly like the Jupiter-8, with analog modeling, digital synthesis, and SuperNatural technology. Meant to be used as a live performance synthesizer, the 76-key touchscreen-driven Jupiter-80 is said to provide realistic and organic sounds that are as cool as the original synth.

In detail, the Jupiter-80 Synthesizer includes a complete suite of SuperNatural acoustic instrument sounds -- piano, brass, strings, guitar, and more. According to the manufacturer, the SuperNatural sound engine constantly analyzes the player’s natural keyboard performance to continuously produce the authentic performance behavior of the selected sound, all without altering the player’s normal keyboard technique. These SuperNatural instruments, now under control of behavior modeling, are said to provide the most authentic acoustic playing experience for live performances and studio recordings.

The Jupiter-80's main features:

• Integrated SuperNatural synthesis engines designed for vintage synth sounds to realistic organic acoustic sounds and more
• Single Tone is equivalent to the performance of powerful single synthesizer -- stack four of these to create a "Live Set
• Tone Blender tweaks multiple parameters of tones in real-time for complex, emotive sonic movement during performance
• Fast operation with intuitive front panel and color touchscreen optimized for live performance
• 76-Note semi-weighted synth keyboard, and 256 polyphonic voices (varies according to sound-generator load)
• USB-memory Song Player / Recorder for backing tracks or quick idea capture
• Integration with computers via built-in USB-MIDI / audio interface

Roland writes in its new product catalog: "The Jupiter-80 nods to its past with lethal, multi-layered SuperNatural synthesizer tones so fat you’ll need a knife to cut through it, but that’s only the beginning of what this powerhouse synth will do. Gigging musicians will love the stockpile of essential sounds onboard, including Roland’s famous SuperNatural Piano, strings, brass, and much more. The Jupiter-80 puts a fast-access user interface under your fingers -- a dream for live performance. Its heavyweight design, complete with metal side panels, recalls the legendary Jupiter but with a modern twist."

Does this live up to the hype? Let us know.

For more information on the Jupiter-80, visit rolandconnect.com.