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Product Description
Cherry Audio Mercury-4 is a detailed emulation of one of the best-sounding and quirkiest polyphonic synthesizers of the late 1970's, the Roland Jupiter-4. It’s the rarest and most sonically unique of the fabled Jupiter series, and Cherry Audio has gone to great lengths to recreate the subtle (and not-so-subtle) nuances and character of this beloved classic. Every aspect of Mercury-4 has been expertly modeled upon a vintage Jupiter-4 originally owned by Greg Hawkes of the legendary 80’s new wave band The Cars, and played on their double-platinum 1981 album Shake It Up. In Greg’s words, Mercury-4 “sounds just like my old Jupiter! It’s nice to have it back.”
The Jupiter-4 had its share of disadvantages, including limited patch storage, just four voices of polyphony, and boat-anchor weight. Cherry Audio’s Mercury-4 improves upon the original’s design by offering 16-voice polyphony, infinite patch storage, velocity sensitivity, MPE support, and much more. Cherry Audio has even paired it with a fantastic model of the classic Roland Space Echo tape delay.
POLY IN THE BEGINNING
Originally released in 1978, the Roland Jupiter-4 synthesizer was one of the earliest instruments to combine voice-assign polyphony with digital patch storage - that is, the ability to store and recall sounds to a digital memory and recall them at the touch of a button.
The Jupiter-4 rapidly became the go-to polysynth for numerous English and European acts in the 80's including Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, The Human League, Simple Minds, and more, and for good reason: the Jupiter-4 sounded fantastic, with a raw, raunchy tone not found in any of the other beloved Juno and Jupiter synths. Its analog oscillators have a uniquely aggressive tone quality, the built-in sub oscillator adds girth, its oddly fast and deep LFO modulation capabilities allow it to create uniquely whacked-out modular synth-like tones, and Roland's famous stereo chorus "ensemble" circuit is beautifully implemented, adding a boatload of width and dimension.
Mercury-4 lovingly recreates Jupiter-4's bold and unusual analog oscillators, powerful dual filters, and easily overdriveable VCA section. Cherry Audio went to great lengths to perfectly replicate the unique arpeggiator section, heard on tons of classic new wave tracks, as well as the original's two massive unison modes. They have added a Drift knob to dial in just the right amount of vintage character. The renowned stereo BBD ensemble effect has been beautifully modeled, and they have also added a truly other-worldly "Space Echo"-style tape echo with multiple reverb modes. The tape echo perfectly recreates the warm tonality and subtle speed variations that make the original Space Echo units so desirable.
Mercury-4 is packed with over 400 killer presets, including the Jupiter-4's legendary front-panel factory presets, and 75 presets from acclaimed sound designer Huston Singletary.
FEATURES:
- Authentically modeled oscillator with sub oscillator
- All filter characteristics modeled, including powerful low-frequency resonance
- Up to 16-voice polyphony
- Over 400 presets, programmed by industry veterans
- Exactingly replicated unique arpeggio section w/tempo sync
- Carefully modeled wide-range LFO modulation with "inverted" mod characteristics
- Drift control for increased analog realism
- Precisely replicated stereo ensemble effect
- Warm and organic tape echo with multiple reverb modes
- Tempo-syncable LFO
- Detunable unison mode
- Single-key chord memory mode
- Highly optimized coding for high performance with ultra-low CPU load
- User-adjustable oversampling control
- Advanced one-click UI magnification
- Comprehensive MPE support
- Full MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
WINDOWS
- Windows 7 or above (including Windows 11)
- 64-bit required
- Quad-core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended
MAC
- macOS 10.13 or above, macOS 13 Ventura supported
- 64-bit required
- Native Apple M1 or greater processor support, including Ultra
- 3.4 GHz Quad-Core or M1 CPU with 8GB of RAM recommended
REQUIRED CONFIGURATION
- AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats
Specifications
| Software Delivery | |
|---|---|
| Software Format | |
| Virtual Instrument Type | Synthesizers |
| Operating system | macOS, Windows |