It’s almost impossible to talk about Howard Jones without talking about synths. And in a new video, the British synth-pop pioneer revisits one he’s had by his side for over four decades: his beloved Roland Jupiter-8, which he’s owned since 1983.

“I love this synth so much,” Jones says. “The way it spits out those notes is incredible. The attack – I just miss that on modern keyboards.”

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Described by Jones himself as the “king of synths”, the Jupiter-8 has long been considered one of the defining instruments of the ’80s – and for him, that reputation is fully earned.

“This is the amazing Jupiter 8. King of synths. Always will be my favorite,” he says.

Getting hold of one back in the day, however, was no small feat: “I think it cost something like 8,000 quid in those days, which was nuts. I didn’t have that kind of money at all, but I had to have one of these.”

Part of the magic, he explains, lies under the hood. “It’s got about 18 miles of cabling inside it. This is a proper analogue synth,” he says, before urging viewers to listen closely: “Listen to how those filters attack.”

“I wish you could have your head in between the speakers because Jupiter’s got a sound like no other,” Jones continues. “It’s sort of incredibly stereo. I don’t even know how they do it, but the software can’t get there quite yet.”

There’s also something about the physicality of it. Unlike some menu-heavy modern workstations, the Jupiter-8 is a smorgasbord of tactile controls begging to be tweaked.

“It’s a very hands-on synth, you know, like performance synth – because everything is kind of within your grasp to change the sound and manipulate it as you go along.”

And perhaps most impressively, after more than 40 years of service, it’s still firing on all cylinders.

“See how it’s difficult not to get very excited about Jupiter-8. It’s just working so well after all this time around. When did I get this? In 1983. And like what is it now? 2026 and it’s like a beast still. The beast,” says the musician.

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