Circuit Bending

JVC KB-800

German Version

The KB-800 by JVC is probably one of the most sophisticated premium home keyboard from the eighties. It even surpasses the range of functions and manufacturing quality of many professional synthesizers. On top, the sound is unbelievably authentic and of high quality, and has nothing to do with the solo entertainer aura of the KB-300/500/700 series. We're talking about an eighties disco queen!

The range of functions and the auto accompaniment's setup is similar to the KB-700's: very polished and, besides many adjustment possibilities (pan + volume) and digital delay, it also has a real programming module, with which you can create 8 patterns of your own, as well as 2 songs. On top, you can choose from 4 different variations of each individual section per preset pattern. Next to 2 bass and chord sounds, it's also possible to incorporate sounds from the poly section in the auto accompaniment.

The amazing chip architecture of this keyboard is very open, with lots of room, making tampering very comfortable. I built the following elements into mine so far:

• Mute switch for all individual drum sounds
• Tempo fine controller
• 3 cutoff controllers for solo- and poly section
• 1 cutoff controller for the bass section
• Feedback controller for the digital delay

all miscellaneous keyboards