Van Halen - Jump Patch Sound Composition

[St0rMl0rD]

Hi there...

Since noone replied to my post in Patch Exchange section yet, I've decided to ask that question a bit different...
What sounds would you mix to get the sound from the beggining of Van Halen's Jump?

Thanks,

-J \m/

[Kirby]

You will never get the exact sound, because a JV deoesn't have the warmth and fatness of an Oberhiem synth ;)

I would either use Saw waves or some Synth Brass.... I hope that helps!

[Tusker]

It's a bunch of chorused (detuned) saw waves. Not much to it, except the synth's character. There are some good "jumpish" patches in the vintage board. Or you can make one out of waves 94 to 96 (Juno) of the Session board. (There's some nice chorusing on those.) To get the chorusing out of the Roland architecture is more work, and as Kirby pointed out, hard to accomplish precisely.

Best,

Jerry

[Georges]

On a JV, quite difficult due to its synthesis architecture, even if Roland JV synths generally had a warm sound.

Anyways, the basic components are a couple of sawtooth waves which should be detuned against eachother. The best is to use at least (!) 3 of them. Then you need to work on the Pitch-enveloppe, make it a short but hearable attack phase. Cut-off frequency should be up in order to give it a buzz and the filter should be at least 2-pole. Amplifier enveloppe: attack phase must be the shortest possible (if it creates a click, the enveloppes of your synth are not fast enough), sustain should not be zero, release phase should be close to zero but not zero otherwise it will sound paper-like. Finally, in the effects section, add a mighty chorus effect to thicken the sawtooths, if possible together with a little or huge reverb (according to your taste) for additional warmth.

[St0rMl0rD]

Thanks guys, I'll check it right out and let you know how it's going!

J

[Georges]

Wow, Jerry, we posted our reply exactly at the same time, quite amazing ...

[ChrisMcCoy]

Hi there...

Since noone replied to my post in Patch Exchange section yet, I've decided to ask that question a bit different...
What sounds would you mix to get the sound from the beggining of Van Halen's Jump?

Thanks,

-J \m/

I have those sounds, actually very close to the genuine article.
I use the Roland JV-880, with the Vintage Synth expansion module. For the intro 1984, I believe the patch is called JX Planet or Planet JX. (I also have this patch on my JX-3p and it's very close to the original). For the brassy ob sound, I use the same module, the OBXa patch. You'd be surprised what you can get out of that little expansion board. I love that module and use it every gig.
Hope this helps.
C. :D

[St0rMl0rD]

It doesn't really help, since I don't have that expansion... :roll: :/

[ChrisMcCoy]

If you have the budget, I recommend the expansion board.
I found mine on ebay for 80.00 Usd brand new. Best 80.00 I have ever spent. I did see you were using Roland JV series, right ?
C.

[Omega Monkey]

I also have this patch on my JX-3p and it's very close to the original).

Hehe, its funny that you live in Rockville and have a JX-3P, since I used to live in Rockville (well, Silver Spring technically, but it was kind of in between) and also have a JX-3P. I love that thing. I bought mine on ebay for like 125 including shipping and it came in a flight case with the PG-200. If I didnt have the PG I would probably hate it, but I love having a "scratch pad" for programming, and in fact I hardly ever use any of the patches in memory, I just start with A1 and tweak until I have what I want. One of these days I will get unlazy and start saving a bunch of patches to MD. Same with my EX-800 (which also has tape inputs), which speaking of that I need to dig up the default preset tape for that thing and digitize it.

Anyway, to get back to the topic aat hand, I have gotten some pretty nice Jump style sounds of the JX-3P. Its not exactly the hardest sound to reproduce. And actually, after checking, the "synthbrass I" is pretty damn close (and is also suitable for Camera Eye if you switch the lfo to random and crank it for the vcf and bring back the filter a bit).

[ChrisMcCoy]

Are you still in Montgomery County ?
If you're in the area, let me know if you're performing and I'll come see your gig.
I'm playing in Gaithersburg on Saturday the 21st at Buffalo Billiards.
I got my Jx-3p in 87 in a little music store in fairfax va for 200.00 and it came with a roland cube keyboard amp. both the store and the amp are long gone, but my jx-3p has survived every rig change. I was gonna sell it a while ago but changed my mind. Too valuable to get rid of.
Cheers !

[St0rMl0rD]

http://users.volja.net/mdr2004/vanhalen-jumpintro.mp3

so this is the sound I have at the moment..what do you think?

-j

[ChrisMcCoy]

Yeah, that's pretty much it.
Sounds great.
Good Job !

[St0rMl0rD]

thanks! it's the closest as I could get...
thanks for tips!!!

[Omega Monkey]

No, Im not down there anymore. I do know Buffalo Billiards I've been in there once or twice. A friend of mine's buddy's cover band was playing there, they do like modern rock covers and stuff, but I dont remember their name, I also saw them once at Pelican Pete's. Big guy on vocals though, Chuck maybe? I dont know if theyre still around.

The JX-3p is great though, but I wish it had another envelope or 2 (so I could have separate ones for vca/vcf/pitch) and also a mono mode with portamento.

As far as the sound you got, its pretty good, but maybe ease back on the detuning just a bit. For the playing, your left should should be going up to an F then a G on the last 2 notes of the whole figure (in rhythm with your right hand, listen to the album and you'll hear it). Also the left hand goes from G up to C and then back down to G then down to a lower C, right before the beginning of the next time through (actually the C is in the beginning of the next measure on the 1).

[St0rMl0rD]

like that? :) I've updated the link with the new file...

[Omega Monkey]

Yeah, thats closer, but the left hand is only moving on those last 2 notes of the right hand figure. The movement you hear before that is due to the changing voicing in the right hand (I think it changes from an inverted Fmaj to a Cmaj there). And you are also not doing 5th/octave/5th/root thing I mentioned. Just listen to the original a few times and you should get it.

[Georges]

I have a transcription of the song on my website. Nice to watch as a score, but not nice to hear, due to weird MIDI settings.