Secret LFO Trick for Roland JD-08

Those of you who have a JD-08 may have discovered the free-running rate on the LFO only goes up to 100, and it is far short of the buzzy audio rate speed that makes for cool buzzing lead sounds.

Turns out there’s a secret trick that allows you to pass that 100 rate, and push it to the extreme.

First, you need to dive into the System menu to set the JD’s MIDI clock source to Internal.

After that, press and hold Common, and then press Effect, to switch the JD to its hidden Internal Tempo setting. The default is 120.0. Crank it up to 300.0 (the maximum).

After that, press Common and Effect again to exit that menu system.

Press Common, and go to LFO, and set LFO 1 to Sync - ON.

Exit the Common menu system, and go to the pitch control section. Nudge the Pitch LFO control up some, to help preview the sound when you start modding it.

Go to the LFO 1 control section, and while playing notes, start turning up the LFO Rate. Up until 1/32 or so it sounds like the normal LFO speed. Once you pass it and get into 1/64, you enter proper audio rate territory.

While designing our N R G! Hands Up Soundset for Roland JD-08, we use 1/64t a lot, because it hits the high rate buzzy sweet spot many classic Tune Up! and Groove Coverage sounds hit in their classic tunes.

You may find it useful for genres other than Hands Up and Eurodance, so, have fun!