Mercury-8

About

Mercury-8 synthesizer builds on Cherry Audio's renowned Mercury legacy with a passionate focus on detail and modern technical advancements. Every aspect of the original hardware has been meticulously modeled as a software virtual instrument to capture the authentic sound and behavior that made the JP-8 so legendary. Furthermore, Mercury-8 goes "beyond Jupiter" by offering expanded polyphony, versatile modulation options, studio-quality effects, and expressive performance capabilities. Its precision not only captures the distinctive sound and essence of the JP-8 but even facilitates unprecedented data exchange with MIDI-modified hardware.

Cherry Audio's Mercury-8 utilizes advanced circuit and behavior modeling techniques to ensure unparalleled sonic accuracy and even compatibility with the original synthesizer. Unlike sample-based emulations, Mercury-8 uses virtual analog synthesis, enabling comprehensive, dynamic control over all synthesis parameters while remaining compact. Its precision not only captures the distinctive sound and essence of the JP-8 but also facilitates data exchange with MIDI-modified hardware (Encore Electronics SysEx).

Features

• The ultimate JP-8 emulation, engineered by Cherry Audio with its latest comprehensive circuit and behavior modeling techniques to provide unparalleled accuracy to -- and exclusive compatibility with -- the original hardware
• Highly optimized, massive dual-layer voicing architecture with 16 polyphonic voices per layer. Keyboard split and stacked layer modes allow two simultaneously playable layers, with separate per-layer controls for all parameters, including synthesis, modulation, patterns, and effects
• Two oscillators per voice for each layer deliver thick, vibrant tones with classic waveforms, sync, and accurate exponential FM cross-modulation
• Triangle, ramp, sine sawtooth, noise, and square or variable pulse waveforms with pulse width modulation
• High-pass and resonant low-pass filters for each layer faithfully recreate the legendary Jupiter curves, with 12 dB and 24 dB slope options
• Two full ADSR envelopes per layer with velocity, independently assignable to filter, amp, and modulation for expressive control and dynamic sound shaping
• Tempo-syncable LFO for each layer, with retrigger option
• Analog Drift and Condition Controls to fine-tune the "age" of the synth from pristine new to unstable vintage, with adjustable VCO, VCF, VCA drift, and envelope slop
• Solo, Unison, Poly-1 and Poly-2, Multi, and single-key Chord Memory assign modes
• Multi-voice mode that adds adjustable "mini synth" trimmers to provide subtle or extreme voice variation in pitch, panning, filter, and envelopes to tones and patterns
• Repurposed "digital display" interface with clickable access to extended features such as trigger and note priority, unison voices, and multi-voice modes, condition, and drift
• Over 600 out-of-this-world presets by ten sound design pros, along with the precise recreation of the 64 original JP-8 factory patches (with enhanced versions) and the eight factory setups, all accessible in a convenient preset browser. Also included are template presets that serve as ideal starting points for sound design in Mercury-8, and a MIDI controller mapping compatible with the Jupiter-X hardware synthesizer
• Comprehensive modulation matrix with four slots and simple click-to-assign functionality: 25 sources and 43 destinations with optional "Via" controls, including Mercury-8's integrated effects
• Syncable and transposable arpeggiator for each layer with Arp, Leap, Order, and Random modes, and Swing, Chance, and Feel to add degrees of randomness to arpeggiated patterns
• Syncable and transposable 16x4 polyphonic step sequencer for each layer with Start, Stop, Auto Start, and humanize options, with accurate DAW clock and step synchronization
• Three independent customizable chains of effects, one for each layer plus a global layer, with an individual effects modulator for each layer
• 20 studio-quality effects that can be arranged, saved, and recalled within their effects chains, which are compatible and can be shared with Cherry Audio's Trident Mk III synthesizer:
• BBD Flanger, Compressor, Digital Delay, Digital Reverb, Distortion & EQ, Dual Delay, Dual Ensemble, Dual Phaser, Envelope Filter, Flanger & Chorus, Galactic Reverb, Lo-Fi, Lushverb, Ring Modulator, Seven Band EQ, Spring Reverb, and Tape Echo. New in Mercury-8 are DCO Chorus, Panner, and Pulser.
• Persistent mini UI Effects controls for on/off, solo, bipolar modulator amount slider, and dry/wet mix for each effect. Global FX on/off, level, and stereo expand
• Utility panels to easily copy, paste, swap, and move layers, effects chains, and sequencer data between presets
• Directly import original JP-8 patch bank SysEx data (Encore Electronics format) via drag-and-drop
• Export Mercury-8 preset data to SysEx data (Encore Electronics format)
• Standalone virtual instrument and plug-in versions included (AU, VST, VST3, AAX)
• User-adjustable oversampling control
• Complete MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls, with easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping (Preset and Global)