Software Review
Better than the real thing?
The other day Cherry Audio released another one of their exceptionally good-sounding software synths. This time it was the iconic Jupiter-8 from 1981. I had primarily intended to just publish a press release, but after playing around with the Cherry Audio Mercury-8, I realized that it had to be a real review. So here goes…
Another one in line?
Cherry Audio is definitely not the first company to create a software version of this classic Roland synth. I have personally looked at (and above all listened to) other developers’ attempts to emulate this synth monster. On the one hand, we have the Arturia Jup-8 V4, but a strong competitor to it can be found in the small Swiss developer TAL Software. Their TAL J-8 was my favorite for a long time, but now Cherry Audio outshines both of these developers with its Mercury-8 by several horsepower. In addition, Roland itself has created a software version of the Jupiter-8 available from its RolandCloud, but on one hand, it is very expensive at 200 euros, and on the other hand, I personally don’t think it reaches the heights of the Mercury-8 either.
Cherry Audio has previously presented not just one but two of the latest synth’s less well-equipped siblings, the Mercury-4 and Mercury-6. Having said that, it must be emphasized that the Mercury-8 is in a class of its own, compared to both its competitors and the company’s own previous Mercury variants. As usual, Cherry Audio is doing very well with its latest creation in terms of price. With its price tag of 69 dollars, it is slightly below the price of the TAL J-8 (870 SEK) and both are clearly better than Arturia, which charges 149 euros, making it about twice as expensive as the TAL J-8 and Mercury-8.
From Jupiter 8 to Mercury-8
The developers at Cherry Audio see this as the biggest and also the very best software release of the year 2025. And they are, rightly, very proud of what they have managed to achieve. They have used an advanced modeling technique that takes into account both the components and the circuits these are included in. Unlike sampling-based software synthesizers, this virtual, analog synthesis technology gives you a completely different dynamic control over all the parameters of the synthesizer.
The Mercury-8 has been the most sought-after software synth since Cherry Audio released the GX-80 three years ago. As we mentioned earlier, their range already includes both the Mercury-4 and Mercury-6, but the developers are now taking the Mercury concept a few steps further, and here they have focused on every detail of the original, while adding several features that make the software sooo much better.
The Mercury-8 offers extended polyphony, after-touch, several versatile modulation options, effects of really high studio quality, and much more. The Mercury-8 can even import SysEx data from the real hardware, provided that this has been modified with the right MIDI functions.
The Roland Jupiter 8 has been used by a large number of successful artists over the years; Tangerine Dream, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones, Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, Journey, Yes, Toto, Stevie Wonder, Devo, Rush, Prince and many more. If you happen to find a Jupiter 8 on Reverb or eBay, you should probably be prepared to pay somewhere between 250 and 350 thousand kronor for it. In that perspective, the $69 that Cherry Audio wants for its Mercury-8 feels like a real bargain!
Twice as good
The Mercury-8 offers a two-layer architecture with 16 polyphonic voices per layer. Here you can create truly complex soundscapes, and you can choose whether you want to “split” or layer the two synth sounds on top of each other. You can also decide how old and worn you want the synth to sound, if you are into vintage.
Cherry Audio has also equipped the Mercury-8 with a number of useful extra features. The modulation matrix is of course an important addition, as is a syncable arpeggiator, a programmable polyphonic step sequencer, plus the three independent effect chains – one for each sound layer, plus a global one – each with 20 studio-quality effects to choose from.
There is a real smorgasbord of both modern and vintage effects here, such as gorgeous reverbs and delays, but also DCO Chorus, Panner and Pulser – the latter is a gate sequencer, which I really fell head over heels for. And you can run two sequences one after the other. Absolutely wonderful!
And as standard at Cherry Audio these days, of course the two synth layers are color-coded. You choose under Panel Mode which of the layers you want to edit first, and then you switch to the other sound and fix it, to your liking.
During this journey, there have been several updates to Mercury-8. At the time of writing, version 1.0.9 has been reached. The developers have fixed some of the small bugs that were in the previous versions, and they have re-sorted the presets so that they are easier to manage, plus of course they are constantly adding new presets.
So does Mercury-8 really have no shortcomings?
Well, since the interface is supposed to represent such a complicated and versatile synth, with so many knobs, buttons and other setting options, you need a large screen to be able to see and access and read everything. If this is a problem, the interface has a Focus button that enlarges parts of the screen and makes everything more readable, but at the same time you have to scroll around to access all the functions, and that’s not optimal either. The best thing is a large screen – recommended (as is usually the case with software in a music context).
Presets
And speaking of presets… It has been really exciting to see the development on this front too. Initially, the developers aimed to try to get to just over 300, but it kept coming and many were apparently called – and saw it as a calling – to create more overwhelmingly good presets. It also feels like the Mercury-8 really invites you to dial in, edit, tinker and create your own sounds. That may be the case, but today you can count on more than 700 presets created by a number of professional producers, musicians and sound designers, and all of these sounds are included when you buy the synth.
The Mercury-8 also contains a whole set of factory settings from the original, the JP-8. There are both regular Presets and so-called Factory Setups, that is, splits and layers where two different sounds are used. In addition, as a complement to all of these, there is a so-called Plus version of all the factory sounds, and this means that the JP-8 sounds have been “beautified” with the effects and other extra features that the Mercury-8 has, but that the original lacked. It is very rewarding to see how much better the old factory sounds can sound with a little fine-tuning.
In addition, Cherry Audio has now released a set of 100 additional presets for those who need a little extra inspiration. The Grid Preset Pack, as the collection is called, has been created by producer Michael Oakley. You can download it from Cherry Audio’s website for a paltry $9.99, or just under a hundred Swedish kronor. The package contains goodies like luxurious pads, dynamic arpeggios and sequencers. And everything is said to be inspired by the Synthwave genre.
Here you can listen to some of Oakley’s new sounds…
Old versus New
So, does the Mercury-8 sound as good as the old hardware? Or maybe even better? Well, I’d probably go out on a limb and say that it actually sounds better.
During my worst (or best) synth period, I owned about a dozen different Roland synths, a couple of Oberheims, and several others, and at the top of my Roland rack was an MKS-80 Super Jupiter with its original programmer, the MPG-80. At the time, you could buy a set like that for a few hundred dollars. The MKS-80 wasn’t the same as a rack-mounted JP-8. It was more like somewhere between the JP-6 and the JP-8, but it was still the “heaviest” thing you could put in a Roland rack.
It must also be pointed out that the Super Jupiter was not my favorite synth at the time. That place was taken by its little brother from the 80s, the MKS-70 Super JX. The MKS-80 generally sounded a bit boring and unpolished. Not really anything special, in my opinion. In addition, you had to add an effect (or two) if you wanted it to sound really nice. And the worst thing was perhaps that it had to get really hot before it would play in tune properly. It often needed to warm up for fifteen to twenty minutes before all the electronics had adjusted and reached a correct temperature.
Before that, it was difficult to play – it simply was totally out of tune.
The Cherry Audio Mercury-8 does not suffer from any of these problems. It simply sounds divinely good right from the word go. And the developers have been kind enough to include a set of absolutely excellent effects of all kinds, where you can pick and choose from about twenty effects of really good studio quality. I didn’t have access to those either in the “good” old days.
Conclusion
With the Mercury-8, Cherry Audio is pushing the boundaries of how well a software can recreate a truly classic hardware synth. In addition to everything that the Roland JP-8 did, the developers have also added a number of modern and extremely useful features. Several other developers have tried to recreate this vintage beast with software – including the original manufacturers themselves – but no one has come as close as Cherry Audio. And all this at an almost unbeatable price. Sixty-nine dollars!
Now I’m just waiting for Cherry Audio to also present a really good software version of the Roland Super JX / MKS-70. No one has dared to try this before, but if anyone could pull it off, it’s Cherry Audio. The Mercury-8 has convinced me! So incredibly good!
Links
Tim Shoebridge walks you through Mercury-8
Facts & Figures
System Requirements
macOS: 10.13 or later; macOS 13 Ventura supported; 64-bit required; Apple M1 processor or later supported, including Ultra; 3.4 GHz Quad-Core or M1 CPU with 8 GB RAM recommended; Hard Drive Space: 87 MB
Windows: Windows 7 or later (including Windows 11), 64-bit required; Quad-core processor with 8 GB RAM recommended; Hard Drive Space: 87 MB; Internet connection required for product activation.
Formats The Mercury-8 synthesizer is available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats.
Other info A 30-day demo version is available for download from the developer’s website
Developer Cherry Audio, www.cherryaudio.com
Price Mercury-8: $69; The Grid Preset Pack: $9.99
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