Famous analog polyphonic synthesizer from the beginning of the eighties.
The Juno 60 was an enhancement from the previous Juno-6, but basically they are exactly the same. Still worth a buy? let's discover this ...
KEYBOARD the design is an hybrid between woody '70 and plastic digital '80 - pretty impressive (12kg weight) especially when compared to the cousin Juno 106.
The keyboard features 61 DO-DO keys with no Velocity nor Sensibility: Note On-Off - no polished play! these keys are non-weighted, but pretty nice to use.
The main panel is definitively well clear and organized featuring 27 push buttons, 21 pot sliders and 6 position switches.
On the left side (pic) there's a bender for pitch and modulation (plus two sliders for value assignment amounts) a big white button for LFO retrigger restart, Volume and a 3-positions switch for octave height LOW / MID / HIGH .
Back panel (pic) has these connections: Stereo out (3 impedance levels) Headphones out, Cutoff CV control, Clock IN for arpeggio, Tape I/O, 2 pedal IN for patch change and sound HOLD and finally the DCB interface control (DCB pic).
VOICE main core CPU NEC D8049C manages 6 analog oscillators DCO type - digitally controlled oscillators.
Analog Subtractive synthesis based on VCA BA662 and, exactly like the famous Jupiter 8 or much more modest Jx3p - but also for filter IR3109 and famous Chorus effect; geek stuff apart, the sound IS definitively pure Roland breed!
Those DCO have two different summable waveforms:
- Square with variable width - PWM with slider assigned to LFO or defined by EG. - Triangle
- White noise- no control
- Square sub oscillator with fixed volume / octave can be added to the oscillators.
->IHMO The overall sound is quite classic, and you can expect to obtain all that sonorities from many hits including lush strings, pads, ringing brass and LOT of fun with arpeggiated basslines. Two little weaknesses:
Don't expect too much complex sounds patches since the signal path is quite limited to the few panel functions, and bass is NOT that punchy, even if SUB OSC helps a lot.
TEST MODE trick to access "secret" area for unison play (NO DETUNE ... damn! ) for fattening up a bit.
Turn on the synth with the KEY-TRANSPOSE pressed, then select one of the tree test mode with the arpeggiator switch position:
* UP for Unison . * UP/DOWN rotate voice at each note. * DOWN the voice count will restart always from voice 1 - if available, if not the second and so on.
FILTER an IR3109 per voice: multimode analog filter with resonant LOW-PASS 4 poles and a very simple non resonant HPF with 4 preset stepped value from 0 to 100% Cutoff. The LPF sounds great won't let you down!
->TIPS you can drive teh VCF cutoff with the external CV input.
ENVELOPE6x IR3R01 generates one EG (enough fast) per voice with four segments A/ D/ S/ R for VCA and VCF. The VCA EG is triggered also with GATE mode following exactly the key pressure on the keyboard.
LFO analog LFO with single Triangular waveform, Frequency range from 0 to 20hz variable time Delay engage or directly triggered pushing the "LFO TRIGGER" button.
The Low Frequency Oscillator modulates the DCO pitch and the VCF Cutoff.
CHORUS analog stereo chorus based on Bucket brigade Device MN3009/MN3101 with two intensity modes I or II.
This Chorus is famous to be quite noisy, but it has also its own charm on the famous "warm pads" effects, but it does not suit all kind of sounds.
MEMORY 56 Patch Memories (8 sounds in 7 banks) in non-volatile Ram (pic)
The memory slots can be saved / loaded only with TAPE I/O or using a computer .WAV file hooked to the synth. ---> "Restore factory" file in the right column for free.
ARPEGGIATOR cool arpeggios can be made simply activating the function and holding some chords. ou can set the Octave span octaves (1-3) and the arp direction UP / UP-DOWN / DOWN and activated the LATCH mode (HOLD) .
The tempo frequency is set with the RATE pot but also syncable to external clock with trigger pulse at +5V (like Roland Cr-5000 - Cr-8000 -Tr-808 - Tr-606 or Boss Dr-55 and more)
RELATED MACHINES
go to Roland Juno6 page (soon)
go to Jsq60 web page (soon)
go to Md-8 web page (soon)
ROLAND JUNO 60 MIDI MODIFICATION (ADVERTISING)
A bit of history: juno60 is non Midi native but it features the DCB (acronym for "Digital Control Bus") a proprietary interface protocol developed by Roland in pre-midi era.
The DCB uses a 14-pin connector and transmist basic Note ON/OFF for each channel- soon abandoned for Midi proctocol invented by Dave Smith. Only two synths features the DCB the juno60 and the Jupiter 8 but fortunately they can be hooked to some Midi converters like the Roland MD-8, but these are hard to finds and anyway limited by the basic protocol.
The best things to do are direct MIDI MODIFICATIONS! I do highly suggest the MINERVA FOR JUNO60: the most sophisticated mod for you synth with new parameters and full midi control.
Not too difficult to fit, the MINERVA will give new blood to you Juno 60!
Get more info or order at midipolis.blogspot.com
all snapshots, sounds, texts copyright Polynominal.com / Eric Pochesci
All
manuals (free of charge), trademarks are just for info purpose.Nothing should
be considered as advertising, and I stricly express my point of view on review.Names and other trademarks are the property of the respective trademark
holders.Ask to have material: don't rip.All sounds and snapshots by Eric
Pochesci- except marked *Snapshot watermarked to avoid Ebay scamms and fraud.WARNING Some mp3 contains
very high frequencies and COULD damage your speakers, pay attention to volume!
