Primal Poly
Meet The Mercury-4
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 we’ve 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.
We’ve 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.
We 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. We've 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 we’ve 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.
