Roland Juno 60

It is exceedingly easy to edit patches. There are individual controls for all parameters and they are well laid out from left to right. The only thing missing is a signal path drawn on the front panel like for example the yamaha CS-10 has. On top of that the synths architecture is very simple and classic. A manual is not really necessary, basic knowledge of subtractive synthesis is enough to handle this synth.

6 voice polyphony isn't a lot these days, but for most applications it will be enough, keyboard action is good for a spring-loaded keyboard (but of course can't compare to weighted keys). The keys work in a 'last key pressed gets the voice' principle, avoiding the problem of pressing a key while there are no voices left and hearing no sound from the key.

It has only one built-in effect, a chorus, but it sounds incredible. In fact, roland is rather famous for its choruses on these old analogues.

No expansion possibilities and midi is only possible through an external device. Luckily it comes with a protocol (to which you can convert midi) that is similar to midi and can handle most features of the synth, so you aren't as limited as with most analogues.

No onboard sequencer, only a very basic arpeggiator.

Do not buy this synth for realistic sound. Buy it for classic analogue sounds. And it is great at that. I have moogs and korgs and yamahas and I have to say, for the price you pay this thing delivers in spades. It sounds warm and organic, has lots of bottom, can do a great e-piano or organ, and some nice spacey sounds.

The big deal with this juno, that it has over the other juno's (and the software versions) is the fact that there is a test mode (look it up in the service manual or on wikipedia) that assigns all voices to the next key pressed. This is AMAZING... Instant distorted DnB bass stuff and of course there are a host of other applications. None of my other synths can do anything even remotely like this. Keyboard action becomes a little unreliable in this mode, but boy is it worth it. This feature alone makes this my favorite synth that I return to the most, even over my more famous and more expensive synths.

there is no aftertouch and no velocity sensitivity, like with most old analogues.

its like a rock, the switches/sliders might break off in transport as with all synths, but you can still order them from roland, the keyboard gets some unreliable keys after 10-15 years but most of the time this is solved by cleaning it. When I bought it it was full of dust, hair and white stuff (coming from those damned smoke machines) but still played almost perfectly. I even poured water in it by accident once, and it survived without any complications.

Roland still builds spare parts for this thing... 'nuff said...

this is my work horse analogue bread and butter synth, I wouldn't want to miss it for anything. When robbed at gunpoint I would rather give away any one of my other analogue synths than lose this one, I really love it that much. Although I do have to admit that I wouldn't feel this way if it wasn't for that amazing hidden unison mode (which is actually one of 3 test-modes for voice-testing when you see it described in the service manual :) )

Forget about the presets. Cheesy and generic stuff.
The Organ sounds are very good though - those are the only presets I still have in the Juno's internal memory. All other preset patches have been overwritten with my own creations :-)

It's a breeze to use. If you've ever used an analog synth you won't have any problem working with it. Knobs are laid out in a logical order.

Of course you don't buy this synth for its features... It's very very basic, no fancy schmancy stuff here!
Polyphony is six, which is ok for a vintage synth. Keyboard is not bad, but feels a bit plastic-y... don't treat it to rough!
The only available effect is chorus... THE one and only fantastic analog Roland-chorus that is! Lovely sound.
No midi. However if that bothers you, you can still get an external midi/dcb-convertor. Works perfect. I have the Roland MD-8.
Arpeggiator is a nice feature to work out basic musical ideas. If it had a step sequencer onboard (like the JX-3P) it would have been the best.
It has 56 user spaces to memorize your sounds. Pretty good for a vintage synth. If that isn't enough for you, you still can dump your patches elsewhere (refer to manual).

Most important category. It's all about the music!!!
If you want that typical early 80's synthpop/new wave sound, then this is definitely your synth. Very nice and warm analog sound with a lot of punch!
Don't be fooled by the fact that it has only one oscillator!
The onboard chorus makes up for that, as it simulates the thickness and slightly detuned effect of two oscillators used at once.
Besides: you can use multiple waveforms at once! That's right, up to four waveforms at the same time: square (w/ pulse modulation), sawtooth, suboscillator (square) and noise generator.
Of course the Juno-60 has its sonical limitations... But WHAT it does, it does PERFECT to my ears.

Never had any problems with Roland stuff.

BeNeLux Roland center is at about 20 minutes driving from where I live, so if ever need support...

The Juno-60 is the best simple synthesizer I've ever played. Full stop.
I compared this one to different contemporary Virtual Analog synths + software plugins and concluded that simply nothing can measure up to this real vintage analog synth considering sound and vibe.
Sure, some VA stuff sounds extremely good and has almost infinite possibilities, but they're almost always missing a certain je-ne-sais-quoi. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that feels this way.

Yes, easy as a toy. Everything in-your-face. Lovely that you don't have to browse through menus. Just think up of a sound, fiddle for a bit, and there it is.

This thing doesn't have nor need any build-in effects (except for that sweet chorus ofcourse). It's really basic, everything is laid out in a formal manner(well it is from the early 80s, so you can't expect it to have a usb and a flashcard ports) :)
One can always wish that it could have more modulation routs and build-in sequencer but well ... it is how it is

It's not a rompler, so it can't make really realistic sounds.
But for everything from pads, sub basses, electro basses, leads, sweeps and effects it does really good. I think it could work for any genre. It's just a matter of whether you love its tone or not. I find it very female and warm. Check out Junior Boys, Metro Area (Morgan Geist) for a modern users of the juno.

Well, it's a lot more reliable than 106 and build quality is like a tank compared to 106 plastic.

There's no support of this beast from Roland now, only special tech/repair shops but i reckon it won't be needed as the 60 isn't that likely to break down all the time

If it was stolen, i'd cry in my pillow for a week, and probably get myself 106 :-( as it's prity hard to nail the 60 in the place where i live.
I love it's tone ... i mean, all the 80s were made with this thing, enough said.

Can it get much easier than this?
It's a no brainer.
An Operators Manual is completely redundant.
If you are absolutely new to Analog synths, the Juno is probabaly the best synth to learn the principles.
All set in blocks spread over the entire front panel, overlooking any features is simply not possible.
Starting on the left with the arpeggiator and LFO, then your Oscillator, moving on to the VCF (Filter) and finally to shape the sound the EG (Envelope Generator). Then on the far right you store your sounds in the patch preset locations, including a tape interface for dumping your sounds on tape.

All the features you want from a vintage.
Simplicity makes this synth such a joy to use.
I'd like to compare the Juno-60 to a paralympic athlete.
It's able to run just as fast with only one limb.
The Juno has one of everything. Where the big analogs have two Oscillators, envelopes and LFO's, the Juno can manage with one of each.
To make up for the lack of oscillators is the Chorus. And what a great sounding Chorus it is.
A sub oscillator for an extra octave above or below also adds to the size of the sound.
Other great features are PWM, for shaping the square wave.
Noise generators are a standard feature on all Roland synths.
Simple, basic, but effective arpeggiator is great fun.
I love to switch on the arpeggiator just to mess with sounds.

MIDI:
Okay, it lacks it.
The Juno-60 was pre-midi (just), but the good news is that Roland had their own interface system called DCB (Digital Communications Bus), for which they later made midi converters. These can still be found second hand, but your best bet of finding a DCB to Midi converter is the Kenton Pro-DCB. Not cheap, but well worth it, as its price is around the same as any other midi retrofit.
I have an MSQ700 which has DCB as well as Midi, so any Roland box with these connections might also do the tric.
Other features worth mentioning are perhaps Unison mode, which is only possible by switching off the Juno, have the arpeggiator switch set to UP and holding down the Transpose button while fireing up the Juno.
Puts all oscillators under one key, thus producing fatter basses and leads.
A second Envelope Generator is a bit of a miss, but it's understandable that Roland opted to go for a single EG to keep costs down. It does make the synth a little less flexible, but somehow the one EG does the job pretty well. For live use the one EG is perhaps more favourible.

I considered buying a Juno-106, simply because it has MIDI, but what I personally find more important is the faster Envelope. That snappy, sharp attack makes it sound much more vintage analog. Also much better for creating drum sounds.
There have been many debates over which Juno sounds best.
The electronics used inside the 60 are older than the ones used on the 106, giving it that extra vintage edge that resembles the Jupiter and SH sound more.
So how does it sound.
Best is to check out the records it's been used on.
The most famous example would be Howard Jones, who used the Juno extensively next to the Jupiter-8. He mostly used it for pads and organ sounds. The pad sound is simply outstanding on the Juno.
He even uses the Juno on his 20th aniversary DVD.

Well, it's a Roland.
These synths will go for another century, without the need for any technician to maintain it, unlike my American Synths.

Beause the Juno uses DCO's tuning is not an issue either.
No need to press that Autotune button for the first half hour.

My Juno-60 is in showroom condition.
I saw it on eBay and it said it was as new.
The seller was living in my area, so I took a look before bidding.
The seller had bought it new and I believed every word of it when I saw it. It had not been switched on for 10-years, which is usually a bit of a worry with analogs, but this one had no issues.
This Juno looks and functions so new, to find another one in this condition is virtually impossible. My believe that the synth was purchased new was further confirmed when I heard it still had all the factory presets onboard.
Juno-60's usually go for around 800-Australian dollars.
That's exactly what I paid too, but I was lucky that I had the chance to see it before bidding. My highest bid was 1000, because that's what I think it's really worth as this one is absolutely brand new. Considering a Jupiter-8 or Prophet-5 fetches around 4-grand these days, the Juno-60 is really the greatest bargain you can find.

As they're so reliable, customer support is N/A.
I hear the voices on Juno-106's have the tendency fail, but I don't think the 60 is as prone to that.

The Juno-60 is one of those synths that always does what you expect from it. It doesn't promise a lot, but yet delivers more that you hope for. It's just astonishing how versaltile this synth can be, with so little features.
It looks gorgeous, sounds gorgeous and works flawlessly. It's just a great fun synth. Its simplicity is what has always attracted me to it.
I have a Jupiter-8 as well, which can do a lot more of course, but making a sound and getting the right result seems to be so much easier on the Juno.
The Juno-60 was just a very clever design to challange the high end synth market at the time. The chorus was a cheaper alternative to a second oscillator, but it gives you the same sort of result.

Historically you can say that the Juno-60 was single handedly responsible for a breakthrough in price. It came out at exactly the right time. This tittle could have gone to Korg's Polysix.
Korg announced the Polysix with a pricetag that blew everyone's mind.
When the orders for Polysixes reached boiling point, Roland introduced the Juno-60. Korg couldn't supply to the high demand and by the time the first Polysixes hit the shops Roland had the production of Juno-60's already in full swing. Orders for the Polysix were cancelled and Roland sold thousands of Juno-60's. It took another year before the DX7 was released, which diminished the sales of analogs all together.

All there in front of you...great for a beginner to analog synthesis rather than a SH-201 or something like that. Presets are realistic and rich, patch editing is easy (although mine is having issues saving patches-i'll have to get someone to take a look at that).

Action leaves something to be desired (in mono mode), but overall, its great for 80's-like pad playing. The noise generator come in very handy indeed. No sequencer or MIDI (internal, anyhow) but I hear that the external Sequencer and DCB-MIDI kits are fantastic.

No velocity of aftertouch (come on guys, this is 1982!) This isn't the instrument for making "realistic" patches but it is the best piece of equipment I've ever used for thick, analog pads and juicy filter sweeps. Great for anyone looking for that 80's sound (if you already have a DX7).

Very reliable indeed. Stays in tune, great DCOs. A LOT better than using a VCO-based polysynth such as a Jupiter or a Prophet for tuning reliability.

I had it repaired when I bought it because some past owner tried to clean out the patch selection buttons with some sort of chemical which busted the patch memory. After it was fixed it worked well, except the repairman made a comment that the saudering needed to be re-done and there are minor flaws which are starting to show, like the patch write button is not working at the moment. However, no issues with the sound ie. Oscillators or Filters are evident.

This is my one and only "synth" at the moment, being I play a Rhodes Mark I and a Hammond M3. It fulfills it's duties everyday, and is a great addition to my collection. An onboard sequencer would have been nice, but that's allright considering the time and the fact that it's mostly analog. Overall, a great synth and one that will have a place in my heart forever...(single tear).

Everything is there directly in front of you. Move a slider and the sound changes. So easy to use if you have a basic understanding of analogue synthesis. There are a few hidden features and getting into Unison mode can be a bit fiddly.

The Polyphony is perfect for me. Six voices is enough on analogue synths. The keyboard does not have velocity or aftertouch but its still expressive. It feels nice too.

There is the classic Roland Chorus effect built in. In my opinion it is one of the best Chorus effects ever implanted into a synth. It sounds very rich and warm. How do Roland do it?

The Juno-60 has a DCB Socket which is very usefull. Using this you can hook it up to an old JSQ-60 Sequencer and do some sequencing. My Juno-60 came with a JSQ-60 so i use DCB a lot.

The memory is great.

The Juno-60 sounds amazing. It does great Pads, Organs and Basses that sound increadibly warm. Sounds better than any VA. I used to have a JP-8000 but the Juno-60 has blown it to bits soundwise and i have sold it. The sounds this thing makes are hard to beat (even more expensive analogues).

Extreamly reliable. I Play mine live twice a week and it never lets me down. It NEVER drifts out of tune.

I have not had any problems with mine so im not sure.

I would buy another in an instant if mine was stolen. At its current second hand prices its a bargin. You get so much synth for your money. I use it along with my CS-10 and Wavestation EX and it holds its own. Before i bought this i was considering buying a Jupiter-4 but i choose the Juno-60 because i play live all the time and the Jupiter-4 is not as reliable.

If you are a musician who wants an analogue synth to play live buy a juno-60. It has pleanty of memory and is extreamly reliable.

Aside from the early 80's style memory save/load functions, this synth is about as simple to program as possible. It serves as an excellent introduction to synthesis because for the most part, the panel layout echoes the signal routing. There are exceptions to this of course, but those are the features that also make the synth sound so interesting (e.g. routing of the lfo to multiple destinations).
As for the sounds, this is one of THE classics synths, period. And the manual is happily not as bad as most Roland manuals.

This is as simple as a good sounding synth gets. For what was intended as a low-cost model, Roland made some very interesting choices in the design - lfo on a momentary switch (which almost makes up for the lack of portamento), the sub-oscillator, the simple but effective and flexible modulation routing.

Part of what makes this synth sound so good is that the oscillators are nice and dirty. As Roland's first hybrid digital synth, it benefits from being an early technology - they hadn't yet cleaned up the DCO to the point of blandness that reached its pinnacle with the D50.
I love the question, "Are some instruments very realistic?" Yes! the instruments sound exactly like a low-cost early 80's synth: Deep fat-sounding basses with sharp attacks, glorious sawtooth strings, gooshy filter-swept pads, and still one of the best synthetic organ sounds yet created. The built-in chorus effect is key to many of these sounds. Without it, the naked oscillators can sound very thin, and yet they still have a unique character.
As for expressiveness, because it lacks velocity sensitivity and aftertouch altogether, you have to evaluate the term on the basis of what textures the synth is capable of. This is no Rhodes or Wurlitzer. Those looking for that kind of expressiveness should search elsewhere (notice the electric piano pathces are not mentioned on the list above).

Also, due to the production mentality during the time it was introduced, the thing is built like a tank. Even so, because replacement parts are so scarce, I'm tempted to keep it at home.

Roland? Are you kidding? I hope I never run into the dreaded 5-voice issue and need to replace the VCA.

Mine came with the dedicated DCB sequencer, so I think it was a pretty sweet deal.

just incredible. in less than 30 seconds you got the sound you where looking for. that's what i call intuitive! i own my self a few other synth and i can say that nothing destroys creativity as much as a fucked up 20-layer-programming-matrix. wont find that in a juno! just a little clicking and tweaking and thats it.

roland provides a manual on roland.com. check it for programming original preset sounds.

effects? CHORUS! the legendary juno-chorus. it makes the juno a class of its own and a kind of "string-machine". only 2 steps, but its ok.
mine is midified, which really makes sense. i dont need a 128 voice synth, 6 is enough to play, the juno fits well. the arp is a must. you forget want you wanted to do, because of getting lost in juno-arpeggio-spheres.

people who by a juno are not looking for realistic instruments. they look for that special, warm, authentic, unique sound that NO plastic-sounding digital crap synth with 128 voices 1000 presets and 20 on-board effects will ever be able to create. junos may not be that well equipped as is standard today, but they have an individual sound. thats seldom.

old analog circuitry. nobody will ever be able to destroy it. no system breakdowns, no problems. it works. since over 23 years. built to resist.

in the original manual roland wrote, that you have to change memory batteries every 5 years. no synth-company would do that today. these old flagships where built for eternity.

the junos are popular synths. you'll find a lot in the internet.

if it was stolen, i'd jump outta my window.

I bought it 10 years ago from some chaps that wanted to buy a bass synth keyboard!! I do believe they didn't explore not love the Juno well since I've (should I say 'we', I consider Juno and every analogic keyboard a living & breathing entity) got to make the best ever synth sounds I'd never could imagine. Some of the presets I think were the original ones (some chop bass & brass sounds among others), but I've learned to bring out of her (Juno was a Goddess, don't forget it!) an incredible range of amazing sounds, form electric pianos, space synths, warm and cheese organs and strings and any kinda of crazy wonderful effects you can imagine. The kids didn't give me any manual so I had to learn it all by myself, but it was easy: Juno is a very very warm and sexy instrument, and no matter how much time you spend it programming you will always learn something new (not only about music or sound, but about life)

The polyphony is perfect (see below). I learnt some new things - about the 'dead' patches and the monophonic mode thanks to a guy who wrote a review in this page, it was only 2 months ago, and Juno and I are very very thankful to him for getting me into this knowledge. Juno can work very well with any effect pedal or other processing sound thing, but if you explore its possibilities, Juno can shock everyone around without any external implements. Please, remember JUNO 60 IS A KEYBOARD, not a computer: if you get any other instrument (guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, glockenspiel, whatever, I do play them all), none has got any inner sound processor (apart from computers and very expensive new sequencers and so on). Anyway, a delay or a distortion pedal can be very useful to expand Juno's powerful sound. Since it has no MIDI, I've not bothered trying find any MIDI module or whatever: I can sample it (I really do), and if you know how to work with sound, there'll be no loss of quality nor intensity. The sequencer, "arpeggiator" may be not to precise in nazi midi way of thinking, but that's the nice thing about it: you can use it patiently for recording or play to death with it, and you can turn it (in fact the whole keyboard and any of her patches) into an UFO, a RAY GUN or whatever thing you can imagine.

These instruments are SYNTHESISERS, remember it. If you want something that sounds like a piano, a violin, a flute, a fender rhodes or whatever, go and get any of these instruments, or find modern samplers. Von Karajan said that Synthesisers were 'caricatures' of orchestral sounds. I think he had no idea of anything close to freedom nor good humour. My keyboard section is made out of Juno 60, Jupiter 4 and a master keyboard which I use for Mellotron (any) and Piano sounds (and a Korg Poly 800 which is, by now, in comma). With this I promise you I've got a full orchestra and much more (a full atmosphere generator and spacey machine console). Plastic orchestra, if you want it, but that's the lovely thing: I'm not cheating anyone: I want the 'caricature' of an orchestra, not an orchestra. My option, I do believe, is much more poetic and funny in a post-modern point of view. I don't make rock'n'roll, dance or classical, or any style, but I do mix them all together, and analogic synthesisers like Juno and Jupiter are the most reliable and warm instruments you can play to make music in an organic electronic way (that's, the future!). I love this instruments for their limitations (you need no aftertouch if you can use wisely the lids on them), surprises (some times Jupiter seems to get a bit out of tune, and that gives a wonderful 'lively' sense to music) and the way you can connect with them, physical, mental and spiritually. They're Absolutely Living Creatures (like any other instrument, but these ones are more misterious). I love them, fully and completely

Juno 60 is quite an analogic electric guitar: I love guitars because of their reliability, delicacy, fury and possibilities, and Juno is definitely, so: it's sexy, warm and strong: I have taken her to many gigs and never gave a problem. Juno is something of mannishly-but-very-feminine woman. (While Jupiter is much more sensible to temperature changes). Anyway, I prefer not to take them outside my studio many more.

I've never dealt with the company, friendly, but in a worldly way, I guess. I've made (and a friend of mine) some supperficial repairs on Juno and I do believe these analogic instruments are very otherwordly, so better try to keep care of them daily with love and compromise and they'll always keep healthy. I'm not quite sure that Roland knew exactly what they were doing in the seventies, but they did it definitely well! I absolutely think analogic keyboards are, somehow, in a 'Mad Max' fashion, made for lasting and preserving in the future the ghosts and secrets of the past. Thus, I believe they have a lot of 'The other side' inside them, not only machinery and chips, and this otherworldly nature is what really makes them wonderful, useful and keeps them and their/our music alive. Did you realise that all modern synths (apart from samplers) have got inside 'colder' versions of the analogic sounds of the sixities-seventies-first eighties period?

I want to get another Juno 60 just for live performances. I'd paid anything I could afford to do it. I'd also like to get a Jupiter 8 and a Mellotron, and I will do too someday. I will as soon as I find affordable ones in a good state. I've said many things before that should be said in this overall rating, so I won't repeat myself. All I can say is that (as you've probably seen) analogic synthesisers are those instruments that probably fulfil more my every need, musical and spiritual (and believe me: I play many other instruments and do not make synth pop or mere electronic music - electronic music is everything nowadays), and, to me, these analogic creatures are a blessing of God. Thank hime for getting me into them, and them inside me (I feel posessed!). If you want to learn some more about my opinion, just go to www.mundobalaclava.com, which will be updated soon, or write to me. Thanks alot

Extremely easy to use. I won't attempt to bore you with the details as this page contains a gazillion reviews on the Juno 60.

Keys are light and plastic, but you don't buy this one for weighted performance. Again, read the other reviews for detail. Wish it had portamento, as many others have stated. I used to have Radio Shack's MG-1 (a Moog product). Sold it in mint condition for around 50 bucks -- I was a kid! Now they're selling on eBay for hundreds.

Strings are awesome. Has a very patient fade. Brass is great. Not great for piano, but you wouldn't use it for one. I have a Yamaha P90 for that (best electric piano I've ever played).

I bought it used like 15 years ago. It's survived a lot of moves. The body shows scratches and the cheeks are banged up (that was all there when I bought it). Two keys refire when released - I'll look into it someday. The battery is ORIGINAL. Get this, since buying a Yamaha synth five years ago, I haven't plugged the Juno into a wall socket. I plugged it in this evening for the first time in all those years, she remembers all her voices! That's not a battery, it's a small nuclear power plant. I'm buying a replacement battery I found online, just in case, but wonder if I'll ever need it. What kind of battery lasts 25 years?!

Never used it.

I've just started getting into playing again after taking a break for years. We're doing mostly 80s stuff. After parting with my Moog and losing that great portamento (how will I do the Cars???), I've learned not to make that mistake twice. Maybe the Juno 60 doesn't offer the slide, but the sound blows away so many other boards of the day. That said, I suppose everybody has their price. I'd make any potential buyer pay big money to steal my 60.