Mercury-4

Name: Mercury-4
Price: 49 USD
Author: Cherry Audio

by Cherry Audio · Synth · Roland Jupiter-4 emulation

Not rated yet

Mercury-4 emulates the 1978 Roland Jupiter-4 and expands it from four voices to 16.

It keeps the Jupiter-4's arpeggiator and ensemble chorus, adds MPE, chord memory and tape echo, and includes over 400 presets for $49.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Bass, Sound Design. Genres: Electronic & EDM, Pop.

Keywords: arpeggiator, hardware emulation, MPE support, polyphonic, chord generator, ensemble, simple, tempo-synced, 70s, 80s, analog, BBD, bright, leads, pads, preset-driven, sound design, subtractive, vintage.

What it does

Mercury-4 is Cherry Audio's detailed emulation of the Roland Jupiter-4, modeled on the instrument Greg Hawkes used on The Cars' 1981 album Shake It Up. Cherry Audio calls it the "Primal Poly", and it extends the original's voice count and control.

Voice: a modeled analog oscillator with sub oscillator and drift control for vintage instability.
Filters: dual filters with the original's characteristics, including strong low-frequency resonance.
Arpeggiator: a recreation of the Jupiter-4's arpeggio section, with tempo sync; its octave range follows where you play on the keyboard.
Modulation: a wide-range, tempo-syncable LFO that keeps the original's inverted modulation behavior.
Voices: up to 16-voice polyphony, detunable unison and a single-key chord memory mode, with MPE support.
Effects: a stereo ensemble modeled on the original's bucket-brigade chorus, plus tape echo and several reverb modes.
Presets: over 400, including the Jupiter-4's factory sounds and 75 from Huston Singletary.

A free 30-day demo plays white noise periodically but is otherwise unlimited.

Source: Cherry Audio product page

When to use it

Mercury-4 is for the rawer, simpler early Jupiter sound and its distinctive arpeggiator. Compared with Arturia's Jup-8 V and TAL-J-8, which model the later Jupiter-8, it has a single oscillator plus sub per voice and a smaller panel, so it is quicker but less flexible. Compared with Cherry Audio's own Mercury-6, it lacks the two-layer splits and cross-mod of the Jupiter-6 design. It is much narrower than Diva, but far cheaper and more focused if you only want this one character.

Best for: arpeggios, chorused pads, brassy polys and simple analog leads.
Genres: synth-pop, new wave, techno and retro pop.
Look elsewhere if: you want two-layer splits and cross-mod (Mercury-6) or a smoother, more modern analog sound (Diva).
Tip (MusicTech): push the master volume and VCA controls to drive the signal into distortion.

What producers say

Reviewers see it as a faithful and good-value tribute, though its bright character won't suit everyone.

MusicTech (Hollin Jones, 2021) gave it 9/10, calling it "a joy to play and experiment with" and great value.
Computer Music (via MusicRadar, 2021) praised the thorough modeling, the "fluid and authentic" arpeggiator, MPE and 16-voice polyphony.
Criticisms: Computer Music found some tones "a little too garish" for many sound designers; the arpeggiator's keyboard-based octave range takes getting used to.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

Similar plugins

JUPITER-4 by Roland · JUPITER-4 analog polysynth emulation · $69
PROMARS by Roland · PROMARS analog monosynth emulation · $99
Mercury-6 by Cherry Audio · Roland JP-6 polysynth emulation · $59
Jup-8 V by Arturia · Polyphonic analog synth emulation · $149
DCO-106 by Cherry Audio · Roland Juno-106 emulation · $29
Jun-6 V by Arturia · Virtual analog polysynth · $149
Jura by AIR Music Technology · 80s polysynth emulation · $34
Ny by Full Bucket Music · KORG Lambda ES-50 emulation · Free
Repro by u-he · Vintage mono/poly synth · $149
PolyKB III by XILS-lab · RSF PolyKobol 2 emulation · $59

All synths