Time machine: Roland Juno-60
A voyage into the heart of the Roland Juno-60 from the year 1982.
Exploration by Marko Ettlich
1 Osc per Voice + Sub osc
6 Voice Polyphonic
LFO – 1 LFO
Filter – analog lowpass with ADSR envelope
Arpeggiator
Chorus
It has been used by The Cure, Howard Jones, Flock of Seagulls, Eurythmics and more. Among the first in Roland’s amazing JUNO family! Six analog voices of polyphony and patch memory storage!! The JUNO-60 sounds great, however, like the JUNO-6 it lacks MIDI control. The JUNO-60 includes 56 patches of memory storage. The JUNO-60 is still popular due in part to opinions that it sounds better (punchier) than the JUNO-106. The JUNO-6 and 60 are very rich sounding synthesizers and are great analog machines as long as you can withstand the absence of MIDI control. The JSQ-60 sequencer is an external sequencer controller for the JUNO-60 and is usually worth acquiring. Of course nobody can deny that the wooden side panel look is a true sign of Vintage status!
Closer look at the Roland Juno 6 synth
Background info:
The Juno 6/60 is a popular synth that is the subject of a lot of discussion, and much of it is negative. I am a huge fan of the Juno 6/60 and think it gets and unfair amount of criticism, primarily behind the veil of the internet. This demo showcases its amazing sound and some of it’s capabilities.
Below is the link to the original uncompressed demo:
http://soundcloud.com/briancastro/roland-juno-6
Juno 106 Ableton Live Pack
Ableton Live Pack of 22 instruments created with the Roland Juno 106 Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer. Each instrument was sampled from a custom patch on the Juno 106 and contains 8 macro knobs with its own unique effects to further twist and manipulate this diverse collection of sounds.
Available at http://afrodjmac.spinshop.com
The JUNO-106 is a very common and widely used analog polysynth. It continues to be one of the most popular analog synths due to its great sound and easy programmability. It was the next major incarnation of the JUNO-series, following the JUNO-60. While it has virtually the same synth engine as the JUNO-60, the 106 added extensive MIDI control making it one of Roland’s first MIDI-equipped synthesizers. There was also increased patch memory storage, up to 128 patches instead of the 56 patches available in the JUNO-60. However, the JUNO-60 is often said to have a slight sonic edge over the more advanced 106. The 60 had the ability to modulate oscillator pulse from its envelope and has a “punchier” sound quality.
The JUNO-106 is a six-voice polyphonic and programable analog synth with one digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) per voice. While classic monophonic synths used two or three oscillators to create a fatter sound, the JUNO-106 uses built-in Chorus to fatten up its sound to dramatic effect. The nature of its DCO meant it was stable and always in perfect tune but still warm and analog. There is an excellent 24dB/oct analog lowpass filter with plenty of resonance and self-oscillating possibilities and a non-resonant highpass filter. The programable pitch/mod bender can be assigned to control the DCO pitch, VCF cutoff, and LFO amount all at once or individually.
The JUNO-106 was the first MIDI equipped JUNO and its implementation is quite good. There are 16 MIDI channels available and MIDI SysEx data can be transmitted/received from all the sliders and buttons for total remote control and sequencing capability. A switch on the back of the keyboard, next to the MIDI ports allows the user to switch between three types of MIDI modes: Keyboard and Hold data only; Keyboard, Hold, Bender, Patch selection data; or All data (including SysEx). Most users simply set it to MIDI Function mode 3 and forget it.
Sounds of the JUNO-60
pure Roland Juno-60 (1982) by RetroSound
Among the first in Roland’s amazing JUNO family! Six analog voices of polyphony and patch memory storage!! The JUNO-60 sounds great, however, like the JUNO-6 it lacks MIDI control. The JUNO-60 includes 56 patches of memory storage. The JUNO-60 is still popular due in part to opinions that it sounds better (punchier) than the JUNO-106. The JUNO-6 and 60 are very rich sounding synthesizers and are great analog machines as long as you can withstand the absence of MIDI control. The JSQ-60 sequencer is an external sequencer controller for the JUNO-60 and is usually worth acquiring. Of course nobody can deny that the wooden side panel look is a true sign of Vintage status!
Italo Disco Synth
Festa In Soffitta – ’80s Italo with Emulator, Juno-60, Memorymoog and DMX
Background data:
People ask me to post more Italo Disco synth demos, so here you go. A song in the typical early/mid ’80s style.
E-mu Emulator: orchestra hit, Synclavier
Roland Juno-60: synth bass, synth strings
Moog Memorymoog: synth brass, syn vox
Oberheim DMX: drum machine
Time machine – Roland Alpha Juno 2 + Oberheim Cyclone Arpeggiator
Vintage synth demo by RetroSound
Roland Alpha Juno 2 Analog Synthesizer (1986)
Oberheim Cyclone Arpeggiator
more info: http://www.retrosound.de/
More info on the Juno 2:
This is an upgraded version of the Alpha Juno 1. It adds an extended 61 note keyboard with velocity and aftertouch and an external memory cartridge slot. Other than that it has the same great sound and features as the Juno 1. Sliders and buttons were replaced by membrane buttons and the Alpha Dial which is used to edit and browse through the extensive selection of parameters: DCO digitally controlled oscillators, LFO, bend, ENV, pulse, waveforms, noise, PW/PWM, high pass filter, VCF filter with freq/env/res/lfo/kybd, VCA envelope, chorus, and more.
Adequate in the studio or on the stage, the Juno 2 has 64 presets and 64 user memory patches, a nice LCD display, an LFO capable of a very slow rate for some cool sweeping effects, and a great bass sound (especially nice for acid basslines) and noise effects! It also has chord memory which is perfect for rave & techno, portamento and keyboard transposing. The PG-300 Synthesizer Programmer gives you traditional slider control of each parameter for much easier and faster editing.
Time machine: ROLAND JUNO-60 Analog Synthesizer 1982
http://youtu.be/Jhn7itB7JQU
Among the first in Roland’s amazing JUNO family! Six analog voices of polyphony and patch memory storage!! The Roland Juno-60 is a classic six voice polyphonic analog synthesizer with 56 patch memory for your sounds. Although the sound architecture is rather basic, it has an excellent analogue sound. The Juno-60 can produce great basses / sequences with its fast envelopes. It can also produce warm smooth pads with its excellent filters.
The Juno-60 was used by many professionals like Eurythmics, Howard Jones, the Madonna producers, Paul Van Dyk and many more… it has the DCB interface – the predecessor of MIDI. With a DCB to MIDI interface it is very easy to integrate the instrument in a midi setup.
To my ears the JUNO-60 sounds far better than the very similar JUNO-106 (I had both). The Juno-60 has snappier envelopes and a fater chorus. The difference is clearly notable. IMO the Juno-60 ist the best sounding Juno. But all Junos can sound great… Please note, I am talking about the original Juno series from the eighties.
I played the JUNO-60 without any additional FX or EQ (except the intro music – this is a multi track recording). Excuse the slight distortion in the first minute.
THE SOUND PROGRAMS IN THIS MOVIE:
Do you have a Juno-60 and want to play with the sounds heard in the video? You can buy the “ANALOGAUDIO1 PATCH BANK” (56 sounds) for 12,99 Euros.
After payment through PayPal you will get a MP3 with sound data for the tape interface of your Juno-60 via email.
The details about the functionality of the tape interface are described in the manual of the Juno-60, which you can download for free.The patchbank will NOT work with the Juno-106, because this one has a different data format.
If you want to buy the “ANALOGAUDIO1 PATCHBANK”, please drop me a mail.
Free samples of the classic Roland Alpha Juno 2
Roland Alpha Juno 2 sound bank demo by Hardballs
Hardball Records has released a free sound bank, Hoover Sound Bank, that features sounds of the Roland Alpha Juno 2 synthesizer:
This is exactly the same synthesizer that created the original Hoover sound, patch called “What The”, originally created by Eric Persing for Roland Alpha Juno. Juno 2 is just an upgraded version of Roland Alpha Juno, thus we have the original Hoover sound. Additionally, I have sampled couple of bass sounds, which somebody may find useful.
As usually, each sound is a separate bank for NI Kontakt and EXS-24 samplers.
Each sample was recorded thru the Pro Tools HD from Roland Alpha Juno 2,
without any effects or processing, just clean original synth sound!
All samples are 44.1 kHz, 24 bit, Stereo WAV files.
The audio demo, above, is made using only the synth sounds in this sound bank, plus drums.
You can download the Hoover Sound Bank from the Hardball Records site.
Synth spotting: Above & Beyond – You got to go (Kebu remix)
Here’s what Kebu has to say about the tune:
This is a remix I made for a competition. If you like it, please follow this link and vote for it by pressing “spin” (requires registration):
http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/ab-you-got-to-go-k…
I didn’t plan to make any more videos before my upcoming album is ready, but I stumbled upon a competition to remix Above & Beyond’s “You got to go”. Since I’ve recently discovered Anjunabeats and their great trance compilation Worldwide 03, which I’ve been spinning almost every day now for two weeks, I just had to take the time to give it a shot!
I saved only the vocals (sung by Zoë Johnston) from the original track and remade all music using only analog synths. The analog synths and analog drum machines were controlled in realtime by a MIDI sequencer and mixed together with the vocal using an analog mixer and hardware effects.
Equipment used: Korg Mono/Poly, Polysix, Poly-61; Roland Juno-60, Alpha Juno, TR-808 (w. MIDI); Moog Source; Oberheim Matrix 6R; Vermona DRM1 Mk III; Electro Harmonix Small Stone; Boss BD-2 (H2O mod), DD-3; Lexicon MPX500; DBX 290; Emagic AMT8; M-Audio Midisport 8×8/s; Alesis iO26; Cubase SL 1.06; Allen & Heath GS1; Yamaha S30 (as MIDI keyboard); Doepfer MCV1; Kenton Pro 2.
Camera: Canon HF100
Hope you enjoy my t-shirt! 
An improvisation in a Valerie Dore / Italo Disco style
An improvisation in a Valerie Dore / Italo Disco style circa 1984. Featuring the Orchestrator, Juno-60, LinnDrum and SH-101
Crumar Orchestrator: string machine
Roland SH-101: bass
Roland Juno-60: synth strings
Linn LinnDrum: drum machine
Reverb: built-in Roland M-10DX digital mixer
Delay on Linn claps: Boss DD-3 digital delay pedal
Hardware feature – Crumar Orchestrator:
In 1977, Crumar introduced the Orchestrator (called the Multiman-S in Europe), a fully polyphonic orchestral string machine. It has five basic sounds: Brass, Piano, Clavichord, Cello and Violin. The keyboard is split in the middle allowing you to play one combination of instruments with the left hand, and another combination with the right.
All five sounds are available at all times, you simply adjust how much volume you want of each sound. Feature just a single instrument, or create your own orchestral ensemble—you are the Orchestrator! With the keyboard being split, there are five separate instrument volume sliders for the left hand (lower split) and another five for the right hand (upper split).
There is also a sixth sound: Bass. The Bass sound has its own volume slider as well, but it is assigned to only the bottom 27 notes of the keyboard. It is also not the greatest of Bass sounds either, and can sometimes muddy the sound.
There is a filter section but only for the Brass. It uses some pretty old-fashioned terminology: ‘Emphasis’ for resonance and ‘Contour’ for cutoff. There are also Attack and Decay controls for the filter. There is another filter for the Cello and Violin string sounds called ‘Timbre’ which can adjust between a ‘Mellow’ to ‘Bright’ sound—basically it’s a highpass filter. There is a ‘Vibrato’ effect section, basically the LFO, with ‘Speed’ and ‘Depth’ controls. The only global envelope control is a ‘Sustain’ length slider.
The Orchestrator’s best sounds are its Brass (probably because it is the sound with the VCF filter) and the Strings. In fact the Strings sound very similar to the famous ARP Solina. Unfortunately there are no built-in Ensemble effects to really sweeten them up…but that’s what outboard gear is for!
Like most synthesizers of its time, the Orchestrator was built with the performing musician in mind. It is its own flight-case! Its casing is very tough and durable, it has a handle and a cover/lid to keep it protected during transport. And if it looks heavy, it is! Additional options for the Orchestrator included an organ-like 13-note (G-G) Foot Pedal Board, Sustain Pedal, and a Foot Expression Pedal controller for the filter cutoff. There are no CV/Gate options, just connectors for the external pedal controllers.
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