Mercury-6

Name: Mercury-6
Price: 59 USD
Author: Cherry Audio

by Cherry Audio · Synth · Roland JP-6 polysynth emulation

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Mercury-6 is Cherry Audio's emulation of the 1983 Roland Jupiter-6 analog polysynth, expanded to two layers of 16 voices each.

It adds split and stack modes, cross-mod FM, chord memory, an arpeggiator and a built-in effects rack, with over 500 presets, for $59.

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

Keywords: hardware emulation, 80s, polyphonic, arpeggiator, analog, chord generator, FM, preset-driven, leads, subtractive, tempo-synced, vintage, brass, monophonic, pads, sound design.

What it does

Mercury-6 recreates the Roland Jupiter-6, the 1983 six-voice polysynth that sat below the Jupiter-8 and stood out for its multimode filter. Cherry Audio calls it a "meticulous recreation" and adds two layers, more voices and effects.

Oscillators: two VCOs per voice with combinable triangle, saw, square or variable pulse and noise, plus the original's VCO-2 to VCO-1 FM cross-modulation.
Filter: a multimode filter with 24 dB/oct low-pass, 24 dB/oct high-pass and 12 dB/oct band-pass modes.
Layers and voices: two layers of up to 16 voices each (the original had six), in split or stack mode, with per-layer pan, detune, sustain, drift and effects.
Modulation: two tempo-syncable LFOs with retrigger options, velocity sensitivity (added), and drift on the oscillators and filter for analog movement.
Performance modes: solo and polyphonic unison, single-key chord memory, and portamento and glissando.
Arpeggiator: a recreation of the original's, with MIDI tempo sync, its hidden Down/Up mode and an added Random mode.
Effects and presets: distortion, a 4, 8 or 12-stage phaser, flanger/chorus, three delay types and four reverbs, global or per layer; over 500 presets.

A free 30-day demo is available and plays white noise periodically.

Source: Cherry Audio product page

When to use it

Mercury-6 is the pick for authentic Jupiter-6 tones, cross-mod leads and layered 80s keyboard parts at a low price. Compared with Diva, which can get Jupiter-style sounds from its mix-and-match modules, it is cheaper, simpler to program and models this one synth, including its arpeggiator and chord memory. Unlike Serum 2 or Vital, it is a classic two-oscillator subtractive synth with no wavetables or deep modulation matrix. MusicRadar noted that Roland's own Jupiter-8 in its Cloud lineup is the closer pick if you want the bigger Jupiter.

Best for: 80s analog pads and brass, cross-mod and sync leads, arpeggios and layered keyboard splits.
Genres: synth-pop, synthwave, electronic, house and film and TV music.
Look elsewhere if: you want a Jupiter-8 specifically or modern wavetable sounds; Serum 2 fits the latter better.
Tip: lower the oversampling setting (1 to 4) to save CPU on older machines (MusicRadar).

What producers say

Reviewers and users rate it as a very close, affordable Jupiter-6 recreation.

MusicRadar called it "one of the best vintage reissues we've ever seen in software" and found its oscillators matched the original hardware, with only small filter differences in the upper harmonics.
KVR users rate it 4.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews, calling it a "superb simulation of the original" that is stable.
Criticisms: one KVR user found the knob value readouts hard to read.

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

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