Nov 25, 2025 | Bill Wolfer
GRAMMY-nominated record producer, songwriter, musician and synth programmer Bill Wolfer knows the JP-8, and you know him from his work with it on Michael Jackson's 1983 hit single "Billie Jean." Now Bill takes on the Mercury-8 in this video review.
This one was fun to do. Synths in space! I went off on a sci-fi tangent just thinking about the planets like Jupiter and Mercury.This video is a deep dive into the Cherry Audio Mercury-8 synth — a virtual version of the classic Jupiter-8, but with modern power under the hood. I walk through the features, play real examples, layer sounds, and even recreate techniques used in famous records.The last time I used a real Jupiter-8 was on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” using a stock preset to create the choir effect — I explain how that worked and what we tweaked. Cherry Audio has pushed things even further: this one is touch-sensitive, has 16 voices, 20 built-in effects, and modulation options that go beyond the original hardware.
Original Music written and performed by Bill Wolfer
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