Roland JX-03

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The new Roland JX-03 claims to take the sound and control of the popular JX-3P and brings it to a new age in the portable form of the JX-03 Boutique synth. Darren Burgos explores what it can do. 

Roland’s new trio of “Boutique” synthesizers are mini replicas of three of their most popular and well-known instruments of the ’80s. I’ll be reviewing their new remake of the JX-3P analog synthesizer from 1983. I owned this instrument (and it’s add-on programmer the PG-200) until only a few years ago, and can tell you right off, that this new digital recreation sounds nearly identical to the original. Analog purists take note!

Because the programmer was sold separately (and it’s built-in presets were notoriously blah)  many people dismissed the JX-3P and thought of it as more of a “preset” synth. This made the JX-3P somewhat of a secret weapon to people who actually took the time to program it. In this article I’ll not only be going over most of the features, but I’ll be showing audio examples of how fat, tight, and wonderfully analog this synth can actually be.