Roland JD-800

The Roland JD-800 is a digital synthesizer released in 1991 by Roland. It offered relatively easy programmability, with sliders and knobs to tweak sounds - features that some manufacturers (Roland included) have omitted from their synthesizers since the Yamaha DX7.

Tony Banks bought the synth new during the making of the We Can't Dance record, and became one of his main keyboards at that point as it was very easy to program and he liked fiddling around with knobs. And he also liked the JD-800's preset sounds, as they had "real clarity". Not only did Tony use it as a synthesizer: he also used the JD-800's distinctive drum machine sounds on "I Can't Dance", which gave the song a more modern character.

Quotes on the JD-800
"'I've got the new Roland thing too [the JD800], which is good because you have the ability to adjust sounds very quickly. It's still not quite right though, because when you edit a sound, you're still changing three or four different tones at once. With the old Prophet V, you just fiddled with the [cut off] frequency control until it slipped into the track — you didn't really have to think about it. With the latest stuff you really have to work it all out in advance.'"