Roland AlphaJuno-01

The presets are good except for the instrument imitations. The only prominent exceptions being the koto,pipe organ 2, and the clarinet (can anyone say square wave?). Definantly good lead and soft string sounds with its way cool chorus and digital PWM (hmmm... how'd they do that?) I made a patch editor for it in my Cubase midi manager in twenty minutes. Even without this, the alpha dial makes for speedy editing. Very nice. The manual bites, but it's Roland, what do you expect?

It's a 6 voice instrument that is one digital oscilator per voice, but can be fattened up quite a bit by using saw,pulse, and a sub-osc simultaneously. The biggest drawback is that amp,filter and pitch all share the same envelope with adjustable depth. But you may find this to your advantage with certain types of sounds.They made it a four level, four time envelope to make up for it, so its best to use this as an advantage as well. The only on-board effect is its chorus with adjustable rate and depth. Its kind of noisy but the unit seems to suffer from digital quantization noise when a note is played anyway(probably 8-bit) so you get used to it. Just don't run it directly through a sonic maximizer & you should be ok.There is one lfo, a triangle, which is a pity, but seeing as this isn't as serious a synth as most of Roland's other synths of that time, this didn't bother me too much. Its rate can be increased to almost an audio rate which is good for sound efx. MIDI implementation is great. It recognizes velocity, aftertouch, and sysex for all 35 paramters. It can send or recieve on one of the 16 channels selected under the midi menu. You have to use a controller for the veloc. and aftert. because the keyboard cannot generate either(although the juno-2 does both, with a wider keyboard no less). No expansions, just 64 user patch memory.No sequencer, so get this one for playing straight or preferably with a computer. Also, the large round alpha dial in the corner can be used to control the single lfo's depth and rate, and filter cutoff and envelope time(all increase/decrease together) while you play.

As mentioned, the instrument imitations reek for the most part, but the synth sounds are quite warm, thanks to the analog filter. The sound efx are most excellent,especially that jet!! I ran one of the preset leads through a low feedback flange and it totally kicked. Not comparible to a minimoog or ARP lead, but come on, for digital oscilators, I was impressed. The filters are quite bass heavy and I have made a few good kicks and synth basses with it. The amps are rather punchy and can be extended well beyond what you might consider a drone. Keep in mind that when you start increasing resonance on this one, some of the bandwidth is too high and will be hard on your ears. You might need to use a compressor or EQ for slow high rez patches. Filter,Amp, and Pitch can all react to velocity and aftertouch, which makes for good experimentation. The members of the band I'm in, say it's their favorite for its sound efx and weird synthy patches.

I bought this about a month ago and can't really tell you how it takes the tests of time, but considering it's over 10 years old and everything works, I'd have to give it a good rating. It feels very rugged, yet it's light enough to carry anywhere easily.All the jacks,membrane switches, and keys are in great condition.

I haven't dealt with Roland on it since it's new to my collection, but considering it's in great condition and needs no upgrade (more patches would have been nice) I can't really say much.

This is no serious synth player or techno head synth. It's more of a goof-off or beginner players' synth. But it's so fun just to experiment with, which I do now and again, that I don't mind a bit. The price is right, and it serves its purpose. 'nuff said!

The presets sound reasonably good. Only a few of them matched my own personal liking, though. Just a bunch of wannabe real instruments, although the lead and bell sounds are good. Doesn't need a patch editor because editing is very straightforward (although it would be nice to have it all dials and buttons). The manual is almost enough.

6-voice polyphony, good keyboard action. Built-in effects are few but easy to use. No expansion capabalities that I know of. Monotimbral! Yuck. No on-board sequencer, of course. Reasonable for an early-to- mid-eighties machine.

I think the instruments are bad. But I also say that if you want instruments, get instruments. Don't try to fake it on a keyboard unless it sounds perfect. Best for zezzy, warm synth music. The sound quality leaves something to be desired; an external EQ is VERY necessary. No velocity or aftertouch. Quite reactive, though. Another thing: sometimes, the filters seem overloaded and oscillate, usually in an annoying way that sounds something like wet fingers rubbing against Tupperware. Depending on what you like, it's either a nifty experimental thing or hard on the ears.

You can tell it's old, but it's been through hell and still works perfectly. Beer was spilled on it once (not my fault) and it's been sitting in my dusty room for almost ten years. The internal battery that saves user-defined patches should have died years ago but didn't. The only worrisome thing is a tiny short somewhere that makes it quietly hum when on. Nothing terrible, though.

It was definitely worth what I paid and was perfect for a starting synth. I don't really know whether I'd buy it again because it's the only board I've ever owned -- no basis for comparison. The DX-27 seemed to rival it, though: wider sound producing ability, but the sounds don't seem as warm as the Juno-1. These days, I'd buy it again for $150 to $200.

Has some good useful sounds in the factory preset banks, and a few stinkers (as is the case with most synths). Presets don't fully demonstrate this synths's total sonic potential. Subtractive analog synthesis with digital filters. Very nice warm analog sound, some of the LONGEST envelopes I've ever heard on any analog synth. Patch editing is relatively easy, owners manual is a typical Roland manual with shoddy Japanese-to-English translation, but for the most part is understandable.

6-note polyphony, and relatively fast keyboard action. Built-in chorus effect is somewhat noisy but is superior to the chorus in earlier Roland analog models becuase the alphaJuno-1's chorus has rate and depth parameters instead of just two or three fixed settings. The alphaJuno-1 has no expansion capabilities, but the alphaJuno-2 has a RAM cartridge slot. Both the 1 and 2 can send and receive on all 16 MIDI channels (1 MIDI channel at a time) and have good MIDI implementation overall. The alphaJuno-1 has a 49-note keyboard and no velocity/aftertouch while the alphaJuno-2 has a 61-note keyboard and velocity/afertouch capabilities (the Juno-1 will respond to velocity and aftertouch via MIDI, however).

Both the alphaJuno-1 and 2 are expressive analog synths. Both units are very useful for analog string, brass, pads, bass, and lead type sounds. These synths would be useable for any genre of music. The Juno-1 reacts to velocity and aftertouch real well, and it's not sluggish at all. in my opinion.

Never had a problem with my alphaJuno-1. Totally reliable!!

Never have had to get this machine serviced.

The alphaJuno 1/2 synths are well worth what one pays for them. I would never sell mine. The ease of programmability and the versatility of its synth engine makes this synth a real good companion to any user, especially a beginner. I wish it was bi-timbral and had 12-note polyphony; that's really the only complaint I have about it. I've had this synth for 10 years and still use it regularly in my studio.