iPG-800 is a MIDI Controller iPad app emulating the functionality of the PG-800 Synthesizer Programmer that was built by Roland. It only works with a Roland JX-8P synth or a MKS-70, the rack version of the JX-8P.
iPG-800 is a CoreMIDI app and connects to CoreMIDI compatible MIDI-Interfaces and to wireless MIDI Network sessions.
The Roland JX-8P is a superb sounding 6-voice analog synthesizer, that was built from 1984 on. It can be found for relatively cheap nowadays.The main reason it is not much sought-after is the lack of sliders and knobs, that are supposed to be on a decent analog synth. Those controls came in the form of the PG-800, which was sold separately and is now, if you can find one, usually more expensive than the synth itself.
The PG-800 is not a MIDI-controller, but connects to the synth by a proprietary jack. However the JX-8P has a very good MIDI implementation, so every PG-800 function can be done with MIDI.
The best thing is, every time a Tone, the Roland term for a sound program, is changed, all the sound parameters are sent out via MIDI. This allows a connected MIDI controller to be perfectly in sync with the synth’s settings.
The rarity of the PG-800, the good MIDI implementation and the fact that an iPad is similar in size to a PG-800 were reason enough to develop the iPG-800 iPad app.
iPG-800Developer: Ken Gubler
