Ekko, It's not good if you're tired of writing. Please, don't be tired ;-)
Okay :-)
So you have a JD-990. I bet it's a gem! But how is it in use?
JD-990 is said to be a rack-mounted version of JD-800, though with much better features than the 800.
I've played on a JD-800 (for some minutes..) and it was pretty hard to get into (but it just has to be user friendly with all these sliders, just like if it was analogue).
Is the JD-990 (user-friendly) reasonable to program?
Mhm, I'm not really sure what exactly are the differences betwenn 800 and 900 (despite the format and the price), I think Liam and some other people said, the 900 sounded a bit more crisp and crunchy.
A friend used the 800 to remote control the 900 and have more voices.
Ah, I think the 800 lacks a few voices, IIRC. Not sure, though.
The 900 is easy to program, it's got that big screen, which really shows you the envelopes and stuff - okay, which isn't very important, since everyone can just listen to the sound and 'paint' it's own envelope in imagination, but a huge advantage in relation to the JV-1080 is the amount of information shown on the screen, which also has a higher resolution.
So this makes it quite easy to programm, plus, you can switch into the Palette-mode, where you get rid of the visual format and just enter everything value by value.
You can act very fast by doing so, which is important when you have to work under pressure.
It just takes a few days to get the basic stuff into your head, but if you know how synthesizers work in general, you shouldn't have any probs with this machine.
And it's great fun, I never worked with an expander that is sooo much fun to program! It's one of these synth were you think "Alright, the song now needs this and this and this, mhm, which synth to take - ahh, of course, only the JD can do that the way I want it!"
Strings: No problem, the build in fx make them as broad as you want them - or as tiny.
Textures: Its speciality! For more details listen to any Prodge-record.
Another good thing besides the fx (phaser, flanger, exciter, reverb, delay, distortion) is the eq which is quite 'on the spot' for a synth that existed for ten years now. (HAppy Birthday!)
And the thing I love it the most for:
Oscillator-sync.
THE shit.
Like mentioned, the bassline from B&E is build with the JD.
Ever heard a track with that kind of sound again?
Well, I haven't.
Besides one, I build myself. Sounds pretty much like B&E, which freaks me out...

The only flaw is the number of voices.
only 24.
Sound much, but if you build a patch, you have up to 4 tones in it, so if you play two patches at once (a broad string-sound for exa<mple), you run out of voices when you play 2 keys at once, and when you change keys now, the decay of the previous 2 keys will be erased in order to reserve voices for the now played keys.
You won't have that with a JV-1080, which has 64 voices.
But sounds very boring. it's a bread and butter-machine, as we say here. Heard in every Pop-production.
Well, the JD too, but wayyyyy less than the JV!
Man, I bet your BassStation sounded cool! I hope you sampled some sounds before it broke down. What did you do to increase the voltage?
I only have a couple of tracks with the sounds somewhere, but I plan on buying a new one and do it again, but this time I'll sample everything before it f**ks up again.
I entered over the battery-slot and had an adjustable voltage-adapter. I can't remember how much he was over the normal value, I think maybe 0.3V, which is pretty much for analog gear. OKay, for digital it is even worse, but you just would have to change cheap ic's or other parts, not complete analog units.
..about using 303 sounds, isn't it like this nowadays; "Oh, so you have downloaded Rebirth, I have a cracked version too" ;-)
Yeah, I think so ^_^
I can't hear it anymore, it really gives me the creeps, this overused squelch... brrr!
But okay when routed through fx and by this made harder to notice, like Liam did in Funky Shit.
Take care.
Thank you, I will.
You too.
Cheers.