Roland JD-800: Iconic Riffs You Know (But Didn’t Know Were JD-800)

Iconic JD-800 riffs you know—Faithless, Prodigy, Depeche Mode, Prince, Genesis—plus hardware vs plug-in A/B comparisons and patches programmed from scratch.

Take a tour through the punchy, glossy world of the Roland JD-800 with a stack of iconic riffs and signature hooks you’ve definitely heard before… but maybe didn’t realise were JD-800.

You’ll hear Faithless, The Prodigy, Depeche Mode, Prince, Genesis—plus a few deeper cuts. For this episode I programmed most of the sounds from scratch (very few factory presets). My original JD-800 is working great, but the YES/NO buttons are dead, so I can’t easily tweak/save lots of edits on the hardware.

To solve that, I built many parts using a JD-800 plug-in that sounds scarily close to the real thing. And where the track uses a factory preset (unedited), I play it on both so you can compare hardware vs plug-in.

Question for you: Which riff surprised you most—and can you hear a difference in the A/B tests?

🎧 More Synth Icons episodes:

·       Hohner Clavinet D6 – Famous Riffs You Instantly Know

·       Roland Jupiter-4 – Famous Riffs You Know (But Didn’t Realise Were Jupiter-4)

·       Korg M1 – Famous Riffs You Know (But Didn’t Realise Were M1)

🔧 Work with Andy

·       Production, mixing & mastering: https://www.andywhitmore.com/

·       Studio: https://greystokestudio.com/

📲 Connect with Andy

·       YouTube: @AndyWhitmore

·       Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andywhitmore2014/

·       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndyWhitmoreMusic

·       TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@andywhitmore9583

Transcript

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This podcast is about the glossy punchy world of the Roland JD800, with iconic riffs you definitely know but maybe didn't realise were JD800. You'll hear Faithless, the Prodigy Depeche Mode, Prince, Genesis, and a few deeper cuts. I'll introduce each track and the sound, then I'll play the riff. A quick production note for this episode, I had to program most of the sounds from scratch. Very few factory presets. My original JD800 is actually working great, but the yesno buttons are dead, which makes it impossible to save the sounds once they've been edited. So for a lot of this, I built the parts on the JD800 plugin that sounds scarily close to the real thing. And where the track uses the factory preset unedited, I'll play it on both the plug-in and the hardware so you can compare. So I can't program this. The next song is Voodoo People by the Prodigy. That uses the Wailing Guitar 1.5. I'm gonna play it first on the JD 800 plug-in, and then I'm gonna play it on the actual real JD 800. And you tell me if you can tell the difference. Plug in. This is a sound that I've actually programmed myself on the JD eight hundred plug-in, and it's a sweet intro sound. Prince and the new power generation, damn you. Now I switch between the two. Amazing sound on both the plug-in and the real thing. Mouse on Mars Future Dub. I'm showing you the logic because there's about five tracks of JD at Hundred. All the sounds I've had to program from scratch. All the sounds you hear are the JD eight hundred. Any drums are from the original record. Now I switch between the plug-in and the hardware. Prince, the most beautiful girl in the world. This is a whole MIDI production. The first three sounds are the intro, and they're exactly as done by Prince. And then when the big sound comes in, some of the sounds I've copied from the original, and some of the sounds I've just used my programming expertise to come up with the right sounds. For instance, the bass sound. And that was the Roland JD 800 doing its thing on some properly iconic tracks. From Insonia and Voodoo people to depech mode Prince and Genesis. Hopefully you had at least a couple of wait, that's a JD 800 moments. Now, I need your help. Which Riff surprised you most and what should I tackle next? Another 90s icon, a movie and a TV themed special, or a completely different synth? If you enjoyed this, follow the show and check out the other famous Riff videos. And check out my YouTube channel too, where I have a playlist of about 14 riff videos that's done over half a million plays. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you on the next one.