Roland Juno-106

Its all right there and easy to use. The faders just make sense and it doesn't include anything out of the ordinary. Manual isn't necessary if you have ever used synths and understand what everything does.

Nothing too great here. No velocity or aftertouch. It had great midi functions for when it was made, and it is somewhat unfair to compare the features to newer synths. Unison mode is nice.

You buy a juno for he sound and it is a great addition to any set up. I'm not sure what makes it sound so good, it just does. Great for pads and basses and I love to sub-octave and noise generators. Great 80's.

This is the problem that you have probably heard of. The dead voice chips. You can get replacement chips, but I have heard mixed review. I knew about this problem but decided to buy it anyways because it just sounds so good.

Not sure, haven't had to use it yet.

I got this synth for a great price ($250) and if it got stolen I would buy another at the regular problem. Greats sounds but I am dreading the day that the voice chip dies. If these synths didn't have that problem then it would have gotten a 10.

Much said already, I bought it largely because of the reviews here - indeed an ideal synth, great presets, instantly tweakable. Because of all parameters just physically layed in front of you, ideal playability. Doesn't get any easier. Only thing is that when selecting a new patch, the slides won't move showing the positions for each parameter like on a modern MC808 - so there may be a sudden jump when you start tweaking a patch. But no complaints - it's an 80s synth...

No velocity sensitivity, which to me is quite nice & simple in your studio as I already had a sensitive master keyboard. For some sounds it makes more sense and adds tightness to go without vel sens. Keyboard itself is typical Roland, nice playing keyboard

You know the sounds - they're everywhere... Been intensely used throughout pop music since Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Duran Duran, George Michael (typical wobbling noise fx in "I want your Sex"), and not to forget a large part of Madonna / "Ray of Light"

There's a certain warm character about it, it has some kind of 'heart'... And it's a littlebit fuzzy compared to the sharpness of current VA synths I have. It's analog like hell and a great base for working and adding some "real life soul" synth to your tracks

I bought one cheaply, from a typical ignorant owner advertising it with symptoms that sounded to me like the voicechip problem. When visiting him, first thing I did was testing it in diagnostic mode. This made the problem worse to his dismay, but I was satisfied and took it. Ordered a replicant chip and had it replaced in no time by a vintage synth repairer (I located and spoke to him before buying the 106). Altogether a good deal, repair was cheap too.
Other than that, no problems whatsoever. Never read about other problems. Apart from the voicechip, imo overall build quality is superb for a machine over 20yrs old

no opinion

Excellent synth. Definately a keeper. I like using it towards the end of an all-digital track, giving it some soul, taking the track to a new level. Although the sounds in isolation are not always impressive, somehow in the mix they're giving me goosebumps

Very easy to use, it's a breeze to edit the patches. Manual not really necessary, but nice to have for reference.

Six voice polyphony, 61 keys, no aftertouch, no velocity, 128 patch memory, good MIDI implementation for age, no appregiator, built in chorus(noisy but still good). Like has been said before, you get this for the sound, not the features.

Awesome pads, basses and leads. Total 80s goodness. The 106 sounds great, it's not a sampler, it's a real synth. The Juno can be smooth as butter, or as dirty as you please. The unison mode is cool, and I like the "noisy", but excellent chorus.

Here's the main issue with an otherwise legendary piece of gear, it is well known that several 106s shipped with lousy voice chips, however, many did not as well, and several that did were repaired. Mine works fine, and I've played many others that did as well. If you are savvy with electronics, replacing a dead chip won't be difficult for you, it can get expensive quickly, so you are better off finding one without this issue. Otherwise, it's pretty well made. I trust mine, but I don't think I'd take it anywhere for fear of accident, loss, or theft.
Get's a 5 for chance of bad 80017 ic chips.

You can download the manual in .pdf from Roland, otherwise I wouldn't bother contacting them. Plenty of 3rd party support though, including new voice chips, so I give it a 7.

I give it a solid 9. The 106 is not the best 'board ever, but it is a damn good one if you are into the sounds of it's era. Lot's of pros used Junos, and you can hear them on many albums. I wish it had the appregiator the other Junos had, and velocity sensitive keys, other than that, it's still a great synth, and I love it. I'd be devastated if anything happened to it, I'd have to replace it. Was expensive, but worth it to me.

if it gets any easier then this i havent played it yet. And thats pretty much across the board. even as a midi keyboard its still easier then alot of others because the channel select is in plain view.

I dont want to be overly redundant everyone says the same its pretty weak on paper. but for whatever reason it sounds beautiful. if you love music from the 80's at all its gonna hit a certain spot with you. i have a handful of synths that can or are supposed to emulate this. jv-1080 to A station, but theres something going on in the frequency of the highs and lows and mids that just get everything right in what this synth is best at. youll spnd forever trying to get it right on another synth and get it in less then a minute on this one. i think it has something to do with the hybrid build of it. for me its mainly the pads you can do.

well i explained this above. though in alot of ways the alpha juno series blows away the 106. i have a alpha and the bass is my favorite of all synth ive ever owned. though ive owned a moog something about the phat overworldly bass you get from it is incredible to me. its not normal by any standards it definetly doesnt sound like it even comes close to a acuostic bass instrument but it was bord to make electronic music. alot like the 808. the 106 chorus is good about as simple as it gets 1 or 2?

heres where not alot is said overall in these reviews and its kinda sad. a large portion of 106's possibly all of them have voice chips that if havent gone bad will. if you wikipedia the 106 it says something like one of the techs that designed it said that the first batch well, the first ones are all most likely dead by now. but that there should be a good amount or at least some out there that are fine and will die someday as all things do but not in the emediate future. i hope thats true because its quite expensive to replace all the chips like about 400+ alone. for this reason alone i will never purchace another 106.

none existant roland stopped producing parts for this synth when i was a kid and im almost 30!

well i picked mine up on ebay because i had never seen a juno for less then 500 let alone 300 bucks. i always wanted one as a teen and had the internet been more dvailable then i wouldve found out about the bad chip issue. im deciding if i want to keep it or not. its gonna most likely be a yes but if my chips ever do die it will get a proper funeral. point blank theres is a whole handful of synths that came out in the 80's with a goal of being anything near the juno and had they been sucessful you wouldnt be reading this. because there is only one juno 106, period. however if your not an experienced musician or know a thing or two about electronics stay away. because your odds of getting a bad juno are not in your favor. and for what its worth for you a korg poly 800 is close enough without putting you in danger of blowing possibly 600 bucks down the shit. even if it sounds incredible whats the use if it doesnt work. by the way thats what they go for nowadays usually 600. i noticed nobody ever puts that just the rediculious small amount they pay for it. by the way juno for 75? yeah stop lying guy.

Nothing to it by todays standards, very simple architecture, what you see is what you get
That said it takes a while to find its sweet spot
And a good understanding of subtractive synthesis and modulations goes a long way

Again, very simple, on paper doesnt look very impressive next to 16 Voice mega analogues with 4 LFOs 3 Envelopes, multiple modulations etc
No velocity or aftertouch etc no sequencer
The main "feature" is the sound, so for me that its best feature

Well I sold one a few years back and then missed it, so this is my second one
You get single oscillator, single envelope, 1 LFO, Saw and Pulse Oscillator Analogue sounds. You know basses, bleeps, pads, brass, leads, sweeps, crunches, crashes, thuds.
Sounds like any other simple synth on paper but the Juno 106 just hits the spot for certain sounds for me
I cant get these sounds anywhere else
I have a ton of fancy synths, Andromeda, Dopefer A-100, DSI Evolvers you name it
This synth hits some emotional nerve in my brain
Maybe its because some of my favourite music was made using this synth
I mean, how else do you judge how "good" something sounds?
It has a certain tone or something I really like
On the down side the range of sounds is limited because of the simple architecture - hence the 8 score

Well it very old and still works perfectly
Seem to be plenty of spare parts from dead 106s and backup around

Roland here still service this thing
They cannibalise old ones for parts

Well it wont blow you away with its feature set
I have plenty of synths with much more complexity and power
But none sound like this
For same reason I love the SH101 and SIDstation very simple, but unique sound
This has character and presence
It speaks a certain musical language
True, some of it is nostalgia for me, it reminds me of sounds of happy times.
But I still use it in new ways today
Mix it in with the new sounds
Its so cheap anyway its not like Im starving to afford one, its a gift
Only problem for me though is space, the dreaded software synths give you so much sound variety in such a small space.
The only reason I would sell this is I just cant move in my studio for all these keyboards
But for now Im keeping it.

Ok, this synth has gotten some un-deserving bad reviews as of late. While I personally like the Juno 60 better the 106 is no second rate synth. It may not have modern features, but it does have great analog sound. It may be a beginners synth, but it has the controls and ability to have many uses in the right hands.

Its really simple simple six voice synth. No velocity sensitivity or arpeggiator here. It's a bare bones kind of synth. However, it gives you enough to create interesting and unique sounds that can be edited with external effects. Its not a all in one machine, but gives you tools to build a foundation.

This synth is great. Yeah its limited, but I use a Korg ES-50 Lambda often to get sounds ( Thats limited! ). The sound is great, as said before its not a "punchy" as the 60, but it still is great. Obviously some who have reviewed this only did so by using headphones or midi. Try it through a fender tube amp and you will hear it come to life. Also do not think twice about using external effects on it. I use a Electro-harmoinix big muff and Memory-man delay on mine always. The key is that the Juno 106 gives a good interface and raw sound that is great to work with. Like a lot of older synths you need to get creative, but when you do the sounds are well worth it.

The juno 106 provides a great base. It has a simple yet extensive controls and can create many sounds. However, this synth is not plug and play by any means.

I have never had a problem with mine, but I have heard many horror stories. Most deal with poor voice chips. Supposedly there are still second market voice chips that sound good, but I have never used them so i can't say anything for certain.

This synth is great for beginners who want to get creative and learn TRUE synth techniques. THis thing will not hold your hand and will force you to be creative. It has plenty of sounds and uses so it will not be something you will ever out grow. One must remember though that to get the best sounds you may need to use other pieces of equipment.

This is an easy to use, very basic subtractive synth. Classic analog synth layout. Patches are OK, but a lot of them sound alike due to the limited tonal capabilities of the Juno 106. It is easy to edit and save patches, and the manual is ok.

Polyphony is six voices, but remember that this thing was made in the early 80's. The keyboard action is typical synth-weighted, plastic organ feel (read "poop"). Built in effects are limited to chorus, no reverb or other signal processing is avilable. Interestingly, the June 106 sports an analog port for connecting to a tape deck in order for users to save patches to analog recording tape! This is done through a built in modem that is used to encode the digital memeory of the 106 into *sound* that can be recorded onto tape (or sent over a voice-grade phone circuit). Now you youngsters out there don't even know what I'm talking about do you? This thing was made in the days when vinyl records dominated the music industry (ask your parents). It was thoughtful for Roland to include a way to save your patches (onto cassette tape for example), but MAN, talk about cheesiness! On a more serious note (har har), after the purchase I almost immediately hated the fact that it doesn't respond to keyboard velocity, so every note plays at the same volume irrespective of whether you played it soft or hard. This might just be the last keyboard manufactured on the planet Earth without velocity response. Connecting via MIDI to a velocity sensitive controller doesn't help either, because the Jumo 106 simply ignores velocity information. This has a real limiting effect on its use, e.g. OK for some organ-like sounds, but poor for sounds requiring wide dynamic ranges such as strings, percussion, etc.

I really love the Harmony Central reviews, and they have reliably guided my instrument purchases over the last several years. But I have to respond to the following, which is from a review I read a couple of reviews below:

"Not as good as the famous Casio PT-30 but the Juno 106 sounds much better than the Minimoog, because it uses only one oscillator"

WTF??? Hello!?! OK, I'll have whatever you're smoking pal. It sounds good "because it uses only one oscillator" ?!?!?!?!???!!! Seriously, even mentioning this thing on the same page as the venerable Minimoog is an ignorant thing to do. This is an entry level synth with a very thin and sonically limited palatte. It is not, repeat not, a serious contender in the world of analog synths, and certainly not even worth one note of a Minimoog's power. I have used the 106 a lot to fatten other sounds, especially basses. However overall its sound is very uninspired and limited. A good first synth - if it were 1985, but it's not.

Somebody below said something like "don't pay more than 700 Euro's" - hey, please call me immedaitely, you can have mine for EU 699! No? How about EU69? Alright, give me fifty bucks and a case of beer!

Seem reliable. Note however that it uses a non-standard power cord, which if lost means you can't play it! Could be a bad surprise at a gig!

Don't know. Never called.

No, I would not replace the Juno 106. I bought it new in the early 1980's. I was torn between this one and the Jupiter, but thought I'd like this one becuase the Jupiter was twice as much - WRONG! That's what I get for being cheap, one of the worst mistakes in my instrument purchasing career. This thing was hugely popular, because it was a low end, polyphonic synth that was well in the price range of amateurs. So Roland sold 100's of thousands of Juno 106's. But only because of the 106's low price point. In today's world, you wouldn't consider this thing for much becuase it's sounds are so one dimensional. To explain what I mean by this, in some ways, the timbale sound resembles the organ sound, which resembles the string sound, which... Of course this is a bit of an exaggeration, but not without a point. The 106 is so limited in its ability to generate sound that it is a very skinny one-trick pony.

This is a great synth for your first "analog". Even though the oscillators are digitally controlled, most of the basic parameters of the older VCO analogs are here. The Junos are probably some of the easiest to program. Once again, a great introduction to analog.

This synth is limited by the single DCO, but the sounds that it is capable of are great. The PWM and Sub-oscillator are very handy in thickening the sounds. Also, the chorus is GREAT, but a little too noisy, unless there is a lot going on in the mix of the song you are using the synth on. This would be a 10 if there were multi-oscillators.

Nice basses and a couple of decent organs. But the real star here is the strings and basses. Easy to get Memorymoog-like strings, or even some Jupiter-like strings and pads via the PWM. The chorus does wonders for the sound here, too. But you would probably do better with an outboard chorus that's not so noisy, unless you want that slow, pulsating hiss.

I just got this synth on ebay and it looked like it had been buried in someone's backyard when I got it (the keys were brown), so I was a bit skeptical about it even working at all. I cleaned it up (back to white) and turned it on and there were no problems. Although there were no major scratches or parts missing/broken, it was clear that the synth had not been taken care of. Nonetheless, it still sounds great. So, even though I just got it, I'm gonna say it's a good one, because all the voices work and I played it for about 4 hours straight with no problems the first night.

I've never had to deal with Roland. I've heard some good and bad, though.

I would definitely replace this synth if necessary. I'm sure it's the best $300 I've spent on an instrument. It's a nice piece of nostalgia for me. I would recommend it to someone who wanted to add some analog pads to score music. And, as always, the dance/techno stuff like William Orbit is great on this synth, too.

So simple a chimpanzee could do it standing on its head. You'd have to be brain damaged not to fix it boy.

Waves pulse square saw, only one OSCs + one Sub, two Filters lpf reso + static hpf 4 Pole, only one LFO triangle, only one ENV.

If you like string sounds you have heard a million times before, go for it. If you'd like to make e.g. a bass sound, you???re not going to get it from this one, or any other half-decent sound. This is without doubt the most undeservedly hyped up synth in the history of synthesisers. You will get very little for you money, use it on something better.

It Japanes/German it is solid.

no idea

I had mine for two years, can't comprehend why I kept it that long, since then I moved on to better things the sweet sounding and totally unreliable Ensoniq, phantomless complicated but rewarding and dead solid Yamaha's, bassy Korg???s, intuitive and harsh Quasimidi's and brilliant Anyware Instruments. I have had twelve synths up through the years the worst were all from Roland.

a bit hard for the beginner due to the many possibilities which this synth offers. On the other hand, after some experience you start to appreciate it. Maybe not so good for beginners, too many sliders.

The range of sounds is tremendous.

It is definitely a 10. A little complicated for the beginner due to the many sliders, but on the other hand, a universe of sounds is possible. Not as good as the famous Casio PT-30 but the Juno 106 sounds much better than the Minimoog, because it uses only one oscillator. Get one before they disappear from the market. They are the secret of success and used in many Top studios. Also much better than Juno 6 and Juno 60, they sound too vintage and have too much punch. The strings on the 106 are famous.

never had a problem, built like a tank, some plastic though.

super support from Roland, but is costly.

... a true classic. Don't pay more than 700 Euro for it.

Very simple and straight-forward.Child play.

6 Voice Polyphony.fantastic plastic action.basic fuzzy lo-fi chorus.First juno to implement midi.

Very thin sounding compared to its older bothers the juno 6 and 60. I really dont know why this synth is that popular.When it comes to sound and thickness, my Korg Polysix kicks its @$$ up and down the street.I guess its only popular because of its simple user interface and the ability to create sounds quickly.

Can you depend on it? Well, you can depend on its rare and expensive VCF chips to croak on you and leave you asking, "why did I buy this"?I use it as a on-stage midi controler because it looks cool.Other than that its just dead weight to me.If you want a Reliable Juno synth get a Juno 6 Or a 60.They are very dependable and dont have those cheap prone- to- die VCF chips that this one has.

Built in 1984. nuff said.

If it were lost or stolen they would probably bring it back when they see how worthless it is and hard to find parts for.I paid 260.00 plus shipping for mine. Man was I stupid.Like I said, Juno 6's and 60's are SAFE MONEY AND ARE VERY RELIABLE!!!!!!GO GET ONE NOW!!!!!!BEFORE THERE GONE!!

No idea which OS - but I assume those were pretty much all the same. Editing patches could not be easier. Probably the best beginner synth of all time. The sheer versatility of sounds and ease of use make it a perfect begginer instrument. AND IT IS PHAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!

Patch editor is not even an option, as MIDI implementation is very rudimentary. Note on/off pretty much is all you can do. Can't controll any of the patch parameters via MIDI, unlike modern synths. What it does - it does great.

Manual is not really needed - I only glanced in it to see how to save a patch and save sound banks. Everything else is pretty much self explanatory. From looking into manual - it wasn't bad... they just kinda didn't cover essentials until like the last quarter of the book. Oh well, typical of roland manuals for that time period. Not going to rag on them for it. If you feel that you need a manual for this synth - perhaps you should consider taking guitar lessons instead... :)

Poly is 6 notes and it's more than sufficient for what I do with it.

Keyboard action is acutally quite nice. I've had both - HS-60 and Juno 106 (both are the same synth, HS-60 has speakers and doesn't look as good as 106). HS60 felt terrific.... 106 felt somewhat different... not bad still but given a choice, I'd pick HS60 key feel over 106. But keep in mind - it's all subjective, as there's no touch sensitivity.

Now, built in effects are 2 chorus types - both ADD MASSIVENESS to the sound. One acts more like a vibrato the other more like a detune type of chorus. Can't combine both choruses (shame!!!) like you could in RS09, but can't have everything. Using FX is as easy as on/off. You cannot imagine how beautiful the chorus is in that synth. This is the same chorus chip that was used in classic roland chorus stomp pedals (can't remember the model - light blue color).

No expansion, it's not a rompler. it's a synth! NO on board sequencer or Arp... which kind of sucks... I wish it did have at least a basic arp - it would have made it soooo much better. but then I guess it wouldn't be juno 106, eh? I love what it has and what it does.

No realism here. Except real deal! I know you're not expecting some piano or string sounds, right? Organs, strings, pads, leads, basses - it's an electronic musician's dream.

You do hip hop??? This is the bass machine to rattle your subwoofers
you do trance? This is the farty basslines you've been waiting for
you do house? This is the lush bassy leadlines that you needed

It works miracles for trance/prog/house/electronica - anything that has a 4/4 beat and needs a fat and juicy bassline - this is the beast. N A S T Y!!!! My monitors are about to have a seizure. Anything that was within immediate vicinity of the monitors began to rattle and shake, things started falling to the floor and pretty soon - the monitors themselves started cutting out, as overload indicators went on.

THIS IS A HARD, HEAVY, SUPER FAT ANALOG BITCH! Not the kind of girl you bring home to ma'.

Again, no velocity - no aftertouch, just pure and mean bass machine.

Oh, and it does wonderful pads or noisy alien screams and all kinds of other weird sh!t that no other synth can do.

Something about this little monster that got me and I am never selling mine.

The only reason I give it a 9 is because it's just limited based on design and cost. It's everything that Jupiter 8 aint, and Jupiter 6 can't deliver. It's that perfect instrument that has its own personality and sits all by itself in the mix. Nothing else can touch it. It occupies a bandwidth and plows through the mix like a plow truck. You can hear Juno 106 in the mix... when you can't hear it - YOU CAN FEEL IT... It's that deep.

Now, here's a bad part. I would not depend on it if my gig was based purely on this synth alone. It is not as sturdy as Jupiter 6/8, it's also made with a wooden bottom and plastic top. Construction is solid but sliders, buttons, and other elements are fragile. Mine has held up for number of years but it feels fragile. The bender assembly sits loose, sliders feel flimsy and buttons feel like they'll either stop working or will pop out any time. Knobs are standard 909-quality... meaning, after some time, pots will become scratchy and flimsy.

Now, the biggest problem is not from external construction but from internal. This is the biggest issue. ALMOST EVER SINGLE JUNO 106/HS 60 EITHER HAS OR WILL HAVE A PROBLEM WITH DCO.

You got 6 voices, with DCO for each. That's 6 DCOs. Each is selling for about $60 - $80 on ebay. That's $360 - $480 for VCOs alone!!! You may have 1 to replace or you may have all 6... and you can also get lucky.

But your best bet is to test it in person. Sometimes, you have to let it sit for 15 or so minutes in order to start hearing the problem. So, play it for some time before deciding to shell out the cash - as these problems are expensive.

I also found that some Junos have a problem with the buttons, as pointed out earlier. I had one that had a problem with one of the oscilators. As far as reliability goes - Juno is only as reliable as your luck and if you had it serviced and tested.

Maybe it was just me but I had 3 Junos - every single one had some kind of problem. Good news - parts are still available but they are not cheap...

Reliability gets only 3 based on my experience

Roland actually improved recently. They will even send you a manual if you ask them nicely, though, most manuals are now available online!!! Welcome to the 21st century, Roland.

My experience with Roland support has always been good but I don't call them with stupid questions or expect them to have 100% of parts available for 25 year old synth. Sometimes you can get lucky - they may say they have something. Most likely - you won't find anything, so support is not really an issue with this synth.

I give it an 8 because I've seen better - but overal, they are good.

This will probably be one of the last synths I sell. For about the price of a software package you get a real deal semi-analog synth with beautiful sound and gorgeous package. It's an eye catcher. I would most definitely buy it again.

I love it's bassy sound or lush and crazy pads - it's definitely a box full of surprises and running it through some FX just gives it an unbelievable tonal character.

It's a great synth - buy it but try to check it out or at least get some kind of return agreement - don't buy it blindly, without asking questions and getting some guarantees... repairs will be costly.

For the price you pay - thes are fantastic. If you can find one - grab it, this is the secret weapon in many artists' toolbox. don't be without one.

I've never had the need to look up anything in the manual.

Kind of hard to grade the features.. since the lack of some of the features makes up it's unique sound :D

I want more polyphony though, but it's enough most of the time.

I give it a 10, it's instant classic sounds and more. It has it's limitations, but most of the time it's what gives this synth it's unique charactistics.

It's hard to describe since I'm not currently with the synth, but due to the limitations in it's design in the way the ADSR and filter works in actually plays a bit different than other synths do. In such a way that many things that are possible with this synth that isn't possible with synths that have a "higher" spec. In effect, it's budget construction does give it such unique features that it's essential if you want that type of sounds :D

I know it sounds cryptic.. but when you used it for a while you know what I mean :D

It's old, it still works

Well, it always worked so no opionion on support

I will never part with it.. never!

The presets were great! Anything from a fat organ or brass sound, to beautiful strings and chimes! I even programmed my own sounds.. including a helicopter and "tweet tweet" bird sound, synth drum, etc. I'm no great shakes on the programming side!!!

I bought this synth new in 1984, and admittedly, it has no touch sensitivity. The polophony is only 6 note, and sometimes if you hit too many notes, it will "steal" The chorus effects are pretty good, very easy to use. Portamento, pitch bend, etc, again pretty good. To judge the 106 you really have to play it and hear it. I used to tape dump in the "old days" haha... It doesn't have a sequencer (thank God) that's toooo technical for me! I never did get round to using MIDI, as I always said I was a musician and not a technician. The reverse envelope is great, you can get some really good effects with that.

Ok...! Organ and brass sounds are really "phat", rich.... strings are beautiful.... I used to be in a couple of bands, and worked with a vocalist and the old 106 was really versatile. I probably said all the stuff in the above category.

I love this synth... it's 22 years old now, and the back-up memory has gone, as have the presets.. it has it's moments, and like anything old is temperamental..! I can still manually program a deep rich "Roland" sound... I've even played it in a church, and thru the P.A it sounded phenomenal..!! It has a broken frequency slider (I still have the knob to adjust it) and a couple of cracked keys... but this synth has been thru a lot, and I wouldn't swap it for anything. Yeh, I'd use it on a gig.

Haha! What haven't I said above? Thru my misty rose coloured glasses, well.. I haven't known or owned a keyboard/synth like this, and I've had a few! I've been playing keyboards, piano and organ for 38 years now. I bought the 106 on advice cos I knew the guy in the shop I bought it from, and he recommended it. I tried it in the shop, wrote a tune there and then and fell in love with it. It's a battered old 22 year old warhorse... it does the job when it wants to... I've tried a DX7 and the sounds are too "thin", tried a Mirage (that's nice!) and SH-101.... Yamaha and Galanti double manual organs.... I think poor old Roland Juno here needs a "makeover" as I'd really like to get it back to sounding like it should. It's in semi-retirement, but I wouldn't sell it, and if it were lost or stolen, it'd be like losing a child. I played it in church and people were coming up to look at it... I think because of it's looks, and when I told them how old it was!!! It still makes a guest appearance sometimes. It's not got half the stuff of modern keyboards, and I can't afford those anyhow... 20+ years down the line, it still does the biz.

It doesn't get any easier with a slider for each parameter. If you know the basics of subtractive synthesis - you don't even need a manual. If you don't know the basics - just call up a patch and tweak a slider and LISTEN - you'll be an expert in no time. Get a universal editor to help back-up your patches - otherwise you'll be off loading via cassette - But you know what - perhaps I could offload via the cassette port to a digital recorder - burn to CD and then WHAM - digital backup!!.

6-voice, 2 Oscillator - but you can get 3 tones if you self-oscillate the filter - I actaully programmed a descent organ patch this way when I tuned the filter tone to a 5th above the tonic.

This is the FIRST of the HyBrid Digital/Analogs - the OSC is digital (a DCO believe it or not) this makes the tuning ROCK SOLID. Older synths with classic VCOs would drift out of tune.

it has an analog resonant VCF (per voice) which really warms it up.

Granted - it's only got one ADSR envelope (per voice) - but for a beginner it really eases the learning curve.

It's got a single LFO - but you know - sometimes simple is GREAT!!! - you really only need multiple LFOs and ADSRs if you're making ambient sounds or crazy unplayable sound FX. For playablilty and EASE of programing - it gets little better than this configuration.

It's got a built in Chorus (a bit noisey)

Full MIDI

No Sequencer or Arpeggiator

First off - it's analog.

But the electric piano and P-Bass sounds are pretty damn good.

It sparkles - it's warm - lush pads - deadly mono-bass when you use the UNISON function and stack all 6 voices (12 oscillators) into one note - add the portamento and it ROCKS as a solo tone.

No Sine wave sounds though - so forget the Sine Bass - but it can still Rumble.

I once created a sound that imitated a flying blimp overhead (if you've ever heard one , you know what I mean) - I pumped it through my amp and my brother went running out the door to see where it was in the sky (hee hee hee hee) - sucker!

No velocity.

I am a FIRST TIME BUYER - I bought it NEW in 1985 - I have NEVER sold it - no will I EVER.

There are sounds in this thing I have NEVER been able to recreate on anything else.

Solid - no problems -

huh?

Again - I bought it when it was the latest thing - it still rocks and will forever be a part of my set-up

Couldn't be easyer hit a slide and your sound is changing (But where's the cv gate, and trigger. It would be nice to have those around that midi to trigger the old synths.)

It has this beutifull sounds not so raw like older synths but harmonic and the MIDI rocks
(It's the only reason i got a MC-303, I never youse his sound(There nothing as ugly as that.))I made a Audio input to the filters and chorus to the nooise (So the nooise is out of sirvice, the Oddysey has pink and white.)That realy is a must an easy to make.

WHAAAAAAAAAT A BEUTY no pro5 but WHAAAAAAAAAT A BEUTY OBxa but WHAAAAAAAAAT A BEUTY

I often hear story's about losing voices, but didn't happen to me yet

Do it your self

Good polyphonic synth with one of the best harmony sounds. Only those Fucking sliders

The Juno is very easy to use. It is a classic example of a synthesizer in which there is a controller available for every function. Patch editing is easy, although the manual is very basic and not that helpful for those that are new to synthesis. I particularly like the controls above the pitch bend knob and wish that Roland still did this for their current model keyboards.

Polyphony is 6 voice which is okay - the JP8000 is only 8 voice so I guess not much has changed since. The built in chorus is interesting but very noisy. The keyboard action is quite good for a non weighted keyboard. Monophonic mode assigns all 6 voices to the one note which is an interesting effect.

The sounds are great and this is why I bought it. The sawtooth wave is awesome. There is something about it that seems to set it apart from modern synths like MS2000's, Ions etc. It does not have velocity or aftertouch though.

I don't gig with it and would be a little woried about doing so. There is something about the chasis on this thing that doesn't quite feel solid... it can bend slightly when you pick it up. I had to get the VCA chip replaced also as the fifth voice would drop out. This was readily available but was quite costly. I have had no problems since.

The local Roland repairers were very good: replaced the problematic VCA chip pretty fast and knew about the issue.

I would definately buy one again. They are great value for the prices you can pick them up for. I only wish Roland still made synths which were intuitive like this one... It's a simple design but you can pull a good variety of sounds from it. And I love sliders: they give you great visual feedback on how your sound has been programmed.

One of the easiest synths ever made - a button, switch or slider for every parameter makes for effortless editing, a joy to use. I would recommend this synth to anyone, from the newbie though to the seasoned synth programmer. Because it's so easy to program, it always lands of lead synth!

6 notes polyphony, which is enough for most applications. There is one effect, a two stage chorus. It is a wonderful effect, however it is very noisy - I would highly receommend a noise gate to silence it. There were two variants, the 106S and the HS-60, which both have speakers built in. Some of these also have a sound input, but I don't think it processes the audio - just mixes it with your synth sounds and sends it to the speakers. MIDI is excellent, with all controls transmitting and receiving SYSEX data, which means a world of possibilities for those who can integrate this into their sequences, enabling them to evolve the timbre itself over time as part of the sequence. Neither the keyboard nor the synth engine is velocity sensitive, which is a bit of a bummer.

I won't try and pigeonhole its sounds into any one category, but suffice to say it has a real character, one which I love hearing in my tracks. I would probably recommend it to people making electronic music or music which incorporates elements of electronic, such as pop-rock. It is very capable of making sounds commonly found in 80's synth-pop (mainly because it is an 80's synth), mean sounding growling bass and leads, powerful piano and harp like sounds, modern squelchy blippy sounds, lush pads and strings, weirdass SCI-FI Dr. Who style sounds effects, and many more.

It is quite solid but I would hesitate to cart it around a lot - it would be more suited to studio use. There is one problem with these though - they often get a dead VCO/VCF chip in them. To test for this, play each note on the keyboard one after the other in quick succesion on a patch with a quick attack and long release (like a piano), and listen to see if any of the keys you press don't make a sound. If so, this can be fixed, but will cost money. Synthrepair in the UK has access to a new run of these chips, but they are a one off run and will run out eventually.

Never needed it, but there is plenty of support online. I am ecstatic that I can still buy brand new DCO/VCF chips for these (as I have needed them).

If this were lost or stolen, I would buy another. In fact I did buy another, without the first even being lost or stolen - I own two of the suckers! These are my main synths, and my others are my MS2000B and my TX7 (a DX7 with no keyboard). I also have a fully loaded Akai S5000 sampler, quite a lot of other boxes that do all sorts of things, and a Mac G3 to control it all. This synth was the first piece of equipment I bought for what is now a comprehensive home studio, and is almost always where new tracks start.

Bought this thing back in 90. Had only the M1 at the time, and both of those synths were the easiest to use. Yamaha products probably the worst, even to this day.

Didnt have upgradables, but programming your sounds was easily the high point of the 106. It was so easy and home-brew voices sounded a lot better than the factory pre-loaded stuff. Plus, with todays PC capabilities, you can MIDI sounds and sequence.

It was a budget synth, so you get what you pay for, BUT you could program almost anything you heard synth wise. Some sounds a bit shallow, but it was great for its time.

Very dependable studio wise. I wouldnt drag this to a gig, being that a slight vibration in the OSC's will change a sound, but great for techno/dance basses and pads.

Basically, the web is your tech support, so I give that a 10. Wow, its so easy to find what you need tech wise and even patch wise for various boards. I recently purchased a Triton Extreme and I downloaded over 40 banks of sounds for free. Thats over 5000 sounds, so you get the picture.

I give it an 8 for the time frame it was popular. Nowadays, you can get the vinage sounds from various new boards on the market. Its about time Korg, Yamaha, and even Roland started implimenting vintage data in the new boards. People have only been asking for it for abou 15 years now. Sad to say that Im selling my Juno, being that the Moss board on the Extreme has vintage capabilities as well as giving me warm pads, great piano and strings as well as a sax or trumpet. The Juno-106 had its day, but time to move on.

Everything's right there in front of you, no menus and submenus to click through, so with a basic knowledge of synth programming concepts you can dig in and start playing with the sliders to see what happens. Great fun, great way to learn about synths.

When I bought my JUNO-106 back in the early 80's, I was impressed just to be able to save patches to memory. Before that I played on an ancient ARP of some sort where I had to change sliders and knobs between songs. The chorus may have been noisy, but it was OK for live settings. The features seem pretty lame by 21st-Century standards, but were cool at the time for a budget synth.

No samples of any sort, nothing very realistic, but it was fine for the kind of sounds you needed to cover stuff like Loverboy or Van Halen's "Jump". I used it for Hammond-like organ sounds, but it was pretty cheesy. But what I loved the most was the chorused synth strings sound; it was lush and it sounded great on slow dances in our live mix. There are lots more realistic strings patches out there now, but I've never found one with that room-filling warmth.

Never had any serious tech problems -- seemed pretty durable.

I sent it back to the factory once because I thought the modulation wasn't working. Turned out it worked fine -- I just didn't understand how the manual said it worked. The factory guys seemed supportive enough, but the user's manual was not the greatest. Japanese-to-English translation wasn't their strong suit.

I sold my JUNO-106 over 10 years ago because that sound wasn't really what I needed, but I've got fond memories of using it on gigs in the early/mid-80's. It was a budget synth, but I was on a budget so it worked out great for me. I wish I could find a midi module that could duplicate the synth strings patch.

this thing is a breeze. one knob (or button) for each function. learn a little about analog synthesis and you will be programming in no time. the most complicated feature i imagine is the tape save feature, although i have yet to use it.

6 voice poly, nice synth action keyboard. i rather enjoy the fact that it doesn't have velocity of aftertouch so i don't have to deprogram these features. 128 memory locations gives you plenty of room for storage. chorus really fattens up the sounds although it is noisey. lfo only has one shape tho- and it would be nice for it to sync to midi. portamento takes some getting used to...

great basic analog synth for bass, pads, weird effects and lead sounds. if you are looking for realistic instrument sounds, look elsewhere. all knobs transmit and recieve midi, so external control is possible. this synth is good for almost any style of electronic music, trance, techno, industrial, ambient, electro or experimental.

seems to be built fairly well, metal body with plastic sides. the faders are not very durable though (two of mine were broken off when i bought it). also, my vcf chip is failing, so i lose every sixth note. i have seen replacements on ebay and other places and don't imagine anyone who knows how to solder woud have trouble replacing these.

never dealt with them. i doubt they would support an old product like this.

been programming for five years now, have used a poly800, esq1, alpha juno 2, d50, ms2000 and various samplers/sequencers. the esq1 and ms2000 have been my favorites so far, but the juno makes sounds like no other (probably those special vcf chips). if lost or stolen, i would probably try to get a jx8p or maybe a jp8000 for more oscillators. if you can find a one in good condition for under $250 buy it! i am still trying to get my hands on some replacement parts so mine functions 100%, but this is not a huge priority.

It couldn't be easier to use. Everything is right out in front of you, lots of sliders well organised. You really don't need a manual for this.

Its all written below.

Ummmmmm, you can create a lot of sounds very easily here but to be honest, I was never quite satisfied with what came out. Its very early 80's and not really that great. It WAS a budget synth back then and it sounds even more budget today. Yeh, it looks retro cool but it really doesn't stand out.

Watch those sound chips, they do tend to fry and aint cheap, but the overall build is very strong.

Well at least Roland were aware of the weakness of their soundchips and mass produced a stockpile to keep them running.

I just sold it for Au$660 and bought a Kawai K5000s for Au$670 which is a far more powerful and richer sounding bit of gear. Yes the JUNO looks kewl and there is a sentimentality attached to these old beasts but after my K5K arrived I quickly forgot about it. The whole retro thing is overrated and there is generally much more bang for your buck than instruments like this give. I am glad I sold it as it never really found a way into my music, to my ear it just sounds cheap and remember it WAS a cheap entry level board in its time.

Sound editing could hardly be easier than this. There is a slider for everything (some buttons and two knobs) and it really isn't a very complicated synth either. Using a patch editor wouldn't help, since the user interface is as god as it gets.

Juno-106 is a six voice polyphonic and programmable analogue synth with DCOs (digitally controlled oscillators) and comes with a 61-note keyboard without velocity or aftertouch. Apart from that the keyboard action is good. The only onboard effects is a chorus with two different settings. The chorus is well known to be very noisy but some like the charater. It is very similar to the Juno 60 but adds portamento, increased patch memory storage (128 patches) and extensive MIDI control. In fact all the sliders on the front panel (17) are sending MIDI sys-ex data which can be sequenced, a fantastic feature back at 1984. The most limiting feature is the lack of another oscillator (sub oscillator doesn?t count). That means you can?t do sync, ring, FM or detune sounds etc. Also the LFO has only one wave shape (but has delay). So when it comes to sounds there's a limit to what can be done.

Overall it has a very smooth sound, almost feminine. It really sounds like the 80?s synthpop and new wave but it is also a fantastic techno/trance synth. For industrial and rhythm?n?noise there might be better alternatives.
Use it to generate lush pads, filter sweeps, and funky bass lines.
What it does it does good, but there really is a limit with only one oscillator. For some audi demo samples (192kbps MP3) go to my dedicated Juno-106 page:
http://www.unease.se/juno.htm

Apart from the trouble with custom IC filter chips (the bad batch) that one should avoid, the Juno-106 is a true workhorse. No troubles.

I'm really missing another oscillator so it could do sync, detune, ring and all these things. Also I prefer a rawer sound with more grit, like Prophets and Moogs. The Juno tends to sound techno-like, possibly synthpop or ambient, but hardly aggressive or raw IMO.

got it slightly used in 1990, previous owner blew a hole in his head(very sad)but I got it for 50 bucks at the estate sale.

The real time control is the only boon to it versus my JX 3p.
I wish I could stick the juno engine into the JX

6 voice, very pedestrian, not very interesting sound. A beginners synth at best. cheats with the chorus due to that it half a synth.
The 1 env gen/voice is also in very bad show.

a bass synth at best, as the 1 osc sound is almost reqired since the phase cancellation would weaken it. othewise a closed door synth devoid of soul

It's made of drywall& wax paper so I tend not to stand on it.
Ive never gigged it, nor have I turned it on in eight years

Im gonna sell it cause It's CRAP.
get me a return on my investmet cause their going for 400 bucks now
A hunk of junk, but a well made hunk of junk.
GET AN AX 80 INSTEAD! you wont be disappointed

Well I had a Juno 60 for years and now 14 years onm i decided to invest in my second. You see the beutey of these things is that they really are all ery individual like a great violin or guitar, ditial can suck my -*+--! It's the easiest synth I have ever used, bordering on Genius. New imitations really copy this all.

So I retrofitted my my Juno 60 taking out the original power pack and the sound changed, a little less fat but boy could i get some more acid out of this baby. Hence the purchase of the 106 (S) yes (s). Fat?? Cor blimey missus, like a dump truck. And about the features, the portmento is a little dodgey, but were talking about one of the innovator synths here. It has 2 speakers lumped in the top so i can just sit and jam. What else, oh it has everything i ever need, thats why i have two, just in case.

Unbelievable. I mean when you play one of these things it's really apparent that it is not a digital sample with brass and piano. If you want a trumpet, go and buy one. If you want a versitile sound machine, here u go. When i listen to the radio i hear a synth sound and i say i can make that, give me a minute and bobs your uncle, there's a nice harmonically fitting pad or bass or sweep. Yes the sweeps anre second to none.

Well, i never had a problem with my 60, i tell a lie the arpeggio is broken but i have a feeling that it was the retro fit. This 106(s) seems to have a dodgey problem after about 3 hours of solid playing. it gets tired and some notes don't play. How cute! It's alive.

don't go there.

try Kenton Electronics London for a retro fit.

I'd buy every one in the world, i still wanna try a jupiter 8 as it has more oscillators and things. I've played synths for years, in fact my first choice was DX7 or Juno, how i laugh at Yamaha. It just is the most classic synth ever made, so versitle, so sweet, so warm and fat, so easy to use. I wish it had the arpeggio but then again it's useless for serious music. I use it all the time for backing tracks to add atmosphere, mood or space. Just takes a few weeks to totally understand what a real synth is. I even went to Korea to get this piece of shit! You wait, the'll be really expensive in 100 years. Nobody makes them like this any more, why? beyond me!

It's very easy to use if you know what you're doing.

It has 6 note polyphony and I like the keyboard, the keys anyway they feel very strong and are easy to play. There's chorus and you just push the buttons for either of the 2 and you've added chorus! No. The only MIDI capabilities is that it has an in, out, and thru. There isn't pressure or velocity sensitivity. But you can simulate velocity sensitivity with the EG. No sequencer.

You have to create sounds and they aren't very real sounding. This synth works great for dance and techno type stuff, just think 80's. The chorus is alright but I wish there were more effects. This synth is static. There is no velocity or aftertouch.

the only bad thing about this synth is that if you accidentally hit one of the bank or patch keys before you save your sound into memory then you loose it and have to start all over again. I wouldn't use it on a gig because of this very reason and having to find your sound again in the middle of the song. That would be terrible!! But it is very reliable, trouble shooting isn't too tough.

If it were stollen or lost, I would definately get something else just because now newer synths are starting to bring back old analog sounds. I have a Yamaha keyboard and a Casio keyboard and software on my computer. I've been playing with the Juno 106 since January 5th 2004. So two months. I love the 80's sound I hate that it's so limited in the sound creation area because the sounds don't sound real and there's no way to make them sound real. It helps right now for making music because the old analog sound is coming back into style.

very cool analog synth with one DCO (digitally controled oscilater), stable tuning. The presets are good for showing capabilities, but it's an analog synth with lots of sliders. What is there to do bbut play with them and program more and better sounds?

very easy to save your own patches, only requires at max three simultaneous key presses. no menus! Yay!!!

Manual is a typical japanese spot translation, but it is still better than current Roland manuals, which are just flat out anti-good.

This is perhaps one of the most straight forward pieces of gear I have ever used in my short experience playing with synths.
It has 6-note poly, only one oscilater, and extensive midi functionality (especially for 1985 anyway). It does send out sys-ex data for all the front pannel controls, which is really nice!
It also has Unison Mode, which stacks all polyphony to every key press. You can do all kinds of fun things with this, especially hard-hitting punchy agressive sounds and weird filter oscilation sweaps.

No built-in sequencer or arpegiater.
Has a built-in chorus, kind of noisy but characteristic and warm. I have out-board effects but I use it's built-in noisy chorus anyway, just cause it sounds cool.

I have ran this synth through various effects on my Digitech Quad IV, and the synth's extensive coolness plus effects are a really nice combination. But even so, it is still cool without effects.

The presets are good for showing off it's env/filtering capability, and there are some useable ones, but of course it's an analog synth, therefore it must be played with.
No rom in this unit, so there are no factory presets, just 128 patch memory locations, which can be saved via midi sys-ex or through the on-board tape interface.

Works well with, of course, retro stuff, since it was made in the 80's, also good for trance/techno, and progressive rock, and anything requiring experimental sounds.

The keys are not velocity sensitive, and there is no aftertouch, but you don't really need it for the synth. Would be kind of nice for the midi out though.

At the time of writing this review, I've only had my Juno for about a month, so I can't give a good opinion, but so far nothing has happened.

I would trust it on a gig, but then I probably wouldn't gig with it anyway. I would probably use something like my Motif6, which of course doesn't compare in any way to the juno as far as sounds, but that's just me. I will keep the Juno in the studio.

this is my first piece of Roland gear, and I've never dealt with their support. they don't support this keyboard now anyway.

this keyboard is probably worth more than I payed for it as far as I'm concerned.
I have had experience with a few analog synths before -- Arp Odyssey, Arp 2600, Korg Poly, etc. none of which I actually owned.
They all have their strong-points and weaknesses. I find that This is by far the easiest analog synth I've ever worked with. Of course it ould be nice if there were a couple more oscilaters so that pulse width could be put on another LFO, for example.
One thing I do miss in the Juno is, since there is only one oscilater, you can't detune like you could with the Arp 2600.


Juno inspires me to create music and can be fit in all kinds of mixes.
I use it in combination with a Yamaha Motif6 and an Ensoniq TS-12.

If it were stolen, I'd definitely get another one. They're not too hard to find since it was so popular.

People can argue that there are better analog synths, which is fine since it's true. But, as this is my first analog synth, I guess I'm a bit biased. I love this thing! There's nothing I can think of that's *really* bad about it.
If you want a start on analog synth programming, this is a good way to go!

Easy as it can get to program, as fast as it gets. The potamento modulation section is a bit Roland-weird, but u get used to it. Presets are OK, but you should be able to do better quite quickly.

^ note poly was considered good back then in 1984(hehe)The DX7 cost a lot more. At the time, and analog poly such as this was considered a budget alternative to a pro synth like a DX7. How things have changed! Second hand values for a 106 will be easily double a DX7 or more. I think the Juno sounds more precise than a Jupiter 8, but has a similar sound, abeit only on Oscilator per voice versus the Jupiter 8's 2 Osc per voice. Personally, I prefer the laser acurate sound of the 106 to the Jupiter. To me the Jupiter doesnt sound "that" great. Sure its one of Roland's best. Just like the Juno. I have sold off my Juno now for the similar Roland JX-8p. The JX-8p's more reliable, and has 2 OSc per voice. JX-8p's have the sound I'm after, nice and warm, yet accurate sounding analog.

Personally, I prefer the laser acurate sound of the 106 to the Jupiter. To me the Jupiter doesnt sound "that" great. Sure its one of Roland's best. Just like the Juno. I have sold off my Juno now for the similar Roland JX-8p. JX-8p's have the sound I'm after, nice and warm, yet accurate sounding analog. I don't like the "fuzziness" of the Jupiter sound. The JX-8p sounds similar to a Jupiter 8 but more refined. There are no sliders on a JX-8p, but u can edit via a computer or the optional PG-800 slider box that connects to it. The JX-8p was used by Jarre, Kraftwerk and Vangelis- if it was good enough for them its good enough for me. Its all over the George Micheal "Faith" album, doing basses, leads, pads and strings. (He used the JX-10)

It has reoliablity problems dur to thr failing custom chips Roland used. A Roland JX series is a better bet for reliablity. A Jupiter 8 is a worse choice!!

Roland blows chunks!. Get an independant to do your work if u want to stay finicially secure.

Bit overated, easy to use, has that roland sound, better second hand Roland's Around (JX series)

very hands on.easy to tweek the shit out of these dinky(dicky?) sounds.patch bank is ok,i have a lot of my own sounds stored.i have no
manual but what i didnt know i got off the net...

for an old school thing,the action is ok,good enough....
no trouble with midi(i hook mine up to an atari 520 cubase!and play drum loops to it-good practice!)BUT one problem........

realistic?well sort of.i find i can(here comes that word again)tweek it til i find something i like.
the PROBLEM i have is..........

a lot of people have a production fault in their 106,i heard about 20-40 per cent.the fourth voice shits itself,and if like mine,continually.this prob can be rectified if taken to the RIGHT person.if you live in sydney,dont go to any place in dee why.....

i dont wanna talk about phase eng. in syd,aus.!!!!

all junos stand up with their classic sound and design.i still hear lots of 106 in music im sure.
although i only use it in electro-groove type of stuff,i also use it as sound effect for shitty relaxation music that i sell to hippies,and in my AV work which is varied....go juno!!
i am looking for a 60 though,coz its bottom end is fatter i think...... j

The presets sounds pretty good. Basses, pads, leads, sound fx, percussive, good sweeps and rinky dinky synth sounds. All knobs baby, no LCD's just hands-on manipulation. There is a patch editor available but I use it mostly to save patches and load them in when needed. The manul is a breeze and look carefully to find out the little tricks.

Polyphony is 6 and the keys have a good feel. It has a chorus effect built-in with 2 different choices-prett basic. There aren't expansion cababilities in this thing but you wouldn't need them anyway. It has MIDI in/out/thru and you can manually tune it from the back. There are these "tape, load, save" inputs/outputs that I've never needed but are apparently another method of saving presets to cassette in some way. The joystick is great and you can use it for the LFO, filter or pitch bend.

Synth sounds. No fake oboes or banjoe samples here. Just warm 80's synth tones of any sort. The sounds are produced from DCO's so they're not as warm as a true analog axe but they sound great anyway. This is great for new wave, electro, The Who, cheesy ambience and quirky music.

It's really reliable except I trashed mine in a drunken fit at a show and had many costs to pay after that. It doesn't take a beating but if kept safe it will work very well. The sliders are a bit flimsy and it's n ot that solid so keep it in a case.

They don't support these although Roland does still sell the unique power chord that fits this unit.

I would not buy it again if stolen as I'd like to get a true analog poly synth that's a little meaner. I've had this thing for years and it has come in handy but just not in as many situations as I'd like it to. If you want a weird, spacey synth with all around patches then get this thing. It is very unique and pretty popular nowadys. I wish it was velocity sensitive so I could use it as a controller. Other things I play are Hammond, Rhodes, Harmonium, Clav, lots of pedals, farfisa, MS-2000 and stuff like that.

A truly nice DCO analog orientated synth with only 1 oscillator and a sub-oscillator a la Juno-6 and Juno-60. Quite revered among a lot of synth users, with all the sliders for creating your sounds there and then and not having to trawl through menu after menu, ah! the days of analog versatility.

Although I downloaded and put the original factory patches back into this synth, they do sound rather weak, but once you start tweaking those sliders and shaping your own sound then it becomes better. It's good for rock-bottom speaker shaking Bass sounds, sound effects and the odd-lead either with portamento or in Unison mode for extra power. There is no aftertouch or velocity, nice keyboard feel, keys are very tight and not loose.

Well after owning this little gem, she is beginning to exhibit the signs of old age, especially with custom IC VCA/VCF filter chips, with this fault esp. in Poly Mode-1 use lose a note (every 6th note) when u play the IC's cycle through and one drops out, hence the dead note, a lot of Juno-106's have this problem, and it's a shame too, a lot of them are now being sold or bought up for spare parts to keep other Juno-106's alive. How many of you Juno-106 owners are experiencing the same problems out there.

Roland were quick to put me onto a specialist engineer outside the company who knows all about the problems with the custom IC's Roland used for the Juno-106. If you open up your Juno-106, you will see on the left-hand side of the main module board just behind the bender/keys, six black resin encapsulated cases, these are the custom IC's put into the Juno-106 (these are the cause of these problems) but did not put them in the Juno-6, 60, 3P, 8P or 10P (odd)

The Juno-106 is a nice synth to have, to use and to own, but with these custom IC filter chip problems, and there is no more available from Roland, cause they don't have any left in the company, soon a lot of 106's will be sold for spare parts etc. What a waste for such a much liked synth such as this. If you are not aware of these problems, try searching the net on the subject, try Delatronics, they have information on this subject. My Juno-106 has done me a great service, and is getting old, so it's time for it go, sadly...

I'm a guitar player that loves to dabble with anything that makes weird nosies. Compared to the other toys I own or have owned int he past this is the easiest piece of synth gear I have ever owned. Compared to some other keyboards I own (Yamaha DX-21, Akai K-1, Korg EA-1, Roland MC-303 and a few Roland and Zoom drum machines) this is far and waya the easiest. I easily found the manual online. Compared to current Roland manuals, or should I say "phone books" this manual is easy to understand. Recent Roland manuals are ridiculously cryptic and confusing. If you need to watch a 3 DVD set to use a piece of gear I'm not interested.

This has been covered ad nausem. I give it a 7 for features. It is by no means Mini Moog or Nord Lead but for the price it can't be beat. Compared to the plastiky boards of today in the same price range its very well made. The only thing on mine that disspoints is the chorus. Mine is much to noisy to use. Instead I am running it through an old Mutronics Phasor and while not the same as a chorus it ads a nice leslie type effect similar enough to make up for it and mimicks a leslie quite well for the organ type patches.

Ok. I have lusted over an analouge synth for many, many years. The only analog type synth I have owned is an Korg EA-1 and a Nord Micro Modular. Nothing quite has the dirt and phatness of a true analog synth. The bassses on the 106 can truly rumble the fillings out of your teeth. Organ sounds are passible as are the leads. Pads are not its strong point. This thing squishes, bubbles, spirts and oscilates like I dreamed it would. If you want strings and pads get a DX-7. If you want thunderous basses, windy noises, portamento sweeps and other strange noises unique to this machine you can't go wrong.

I got mine a few days ago. Other than the super oisy chorus everything seems to work fine. Be careful with it and I bet it will work at least another 20 years. If I gigged with It I might throw the electribe in the bag as a backup but I don't so I won't!

Never dealt with them, but they seem to be cool. I've ordered a few video manuals and the all arrived correctly and fast. I will add that I have had great experiences with both Yamamha and Korg in terms of getting manuals before the days of the interenet. Most recently I called Korg to get a manual for a Vetax product that was made before Korg owned Vestax. The manual was not availabe online and a CS rep hunted one down and Fed Exed me the manual free of charge. That's great service!!!

I don't understand all of the poor ratings this synth gets from some people calling it overhyped, thin and boring. Try a Yamaha DX-21 then call this boring!!! To me overhyped would infer that there are BETTER products available for less money. I will not argue that there are better analog synths out there, of course there are. This was a BUDGET synth at the time, not a flagship. What else can you compare this synth to that is as easy to use, sounds as good, has MIDI, looks cool, is built well, easily supported with spare parts and service AND costs less than $500.00 in mint condition. Get yer hands dirty and tweak those presets!! This synth is anything but boring and thin. I feel a lot of the negative reviews are from people wishing to justify their exspensive and rare synth collections. This happens a lot in the vintage guitar effects market in which I have a lot of experience. If I had $10,000+ in gear I would dis this board too, its too cheap. Remeber what this synth costs and compare it accordingly and you will find it to be an overall great value and phat sounding tool.

If it were lost or stolen I would find another. They are not rare.
Again I am not a synth player by trade but love the sound of analog basses and synths in general. This has helped me vreate some new songs and ideas immediately with the shorted learning curve of just about any piece of gear I have ever owned. That's all one can ask for from any piece of gear!!

An absolute doddle to use

All the necessary features.

Fabulous sound.

A unique feature - the stable DCOs goig through a VFC mean that
very stable metallic sounds can be made when the filter self oscillates.
Makes incredible Rhodes type sounds.

Own it 16 years - never one issue

never needed

Perfect! Only 1 oscillator and sine wave LFO, yet I'm still
discovering new sounds on it 16 years later - it invites
innovation. Get one!

The presets really didn't impress me, I went through every single one and none struck me at all. It wasn't until I started making my own sounds that this thing came alive. The manual for this is long and detailed, but I honestly haven't looked at it at all. Making your own patches is super simple, you just hold down write, and then hold down the new preset number and voila!

This is my first synth, I really know nothing at all about synthesis, I'm a guitar and piano player that wanted some ambient textures and synth sounds. There is built in chorus, and I guess everyone says it's kind of noisy, but the noise is very very subtle. I believe it's MIDI compatible, but I have not used it. No on board sequencer.

I couldn't get good sounds that would mimic strings, rhodes, piano, but I was able to get some very warm, crazy ambient tones out of it. It works well for me, and I play atmospheric instrumental music in the vein of Stars of the Lid, Windy and Carl, The Album Leaf. There really isn't any velocity or aftertouch, but I haven't found that to be a problem with this synth. For the price, this thing is a 10.

It honestly doesn't feel very solid, it's plastic and from the 80's, so I'm afraid that a drop onto hard ground will shatter this thing. However, it hasn't given me any problems whatsoever yet, so I think that as long as I take care of it, it will serve me well in the long run.

If this were lost or stolen, I'd probably do more research before buying another synth. I feel it is definitely worth the price I paid. I was looking for a synth to add texture to my sound, and this thing did that and more. I love the sounds and versatility, I don't like the fact that it doesn't have weighted keys or aftertouch or better string/rhodes/piano sounds. But this is a synth, and that's not what it's made to do. It definitely has inspired me to write more music and expanded on my sound. If you are looking for a great first synth, this is it!

Easy as it gets. Fiddle with the sliders, hit the keys and listen to what happens

A synth that needs a host of onboard effects can't be much of a synth. The Juno has a basic chorus and half the time you don't even need this - subtlety being part and parcel of the programming

OK. i have heard so many times that the 106 is overrated or only does a few sounds well. Sure, it is great for pads, strings and bass. BUT...you can get a hell of a lot more from this synth. The slightest movement of a slider can transform a sound. Try programming your sounds in the mix and you will see just how powerful this thing is. You can fit it into any musical mix. It may lack the character of older analogues but as a workhorse it is unbeatable and always useable. You can get some fantastically subtle sounds too - something often overlooked.

Built in the early 80's . I have bought technology in the last year that is more unreliable.

Don't need it

It's great. I also own a Jupiter 4 and an Arp Axxe. The Jupiter is capable of some inspiring sounds and on occasion aural madness. The Axxe is much more limited but just as quirky. The Juno however is always there. There is always something to be gained from this synth and even if there wasn't it still provides rock solid goodness that can't be replaced by virtual analogues. Too many people have done too many good things with it for it to be denied. Believe the hype.

Very easy to use interface, without a doubt!
Editing is extremely easy--no need for a manual!

6 voices, but only ONE friggin oscillator!!!!
Good MIDI for it's time....

May I have everyone's attention please????
THE JUNO IS A NICE SOUNDING SYNTH, BUT EXTREMELY OVERRATED OVERALL!!!!
OVERHYPED 1,000%..

Guess what folks, Akai produced a synth the same year, in competition with Roland's Juno-106, called the AX-60...

THE AX-60 BLOWS AWAY THE JUNO..
FIRST OFF, IT ALSO HAS ONLY ONE OSCILLATOR, BUT IT'S A VCO (NOT A DCO)

It is much more punchy and aggressive than the Juno.
And, since not many people know about the Ax-60, the price is right: $250 - $300

You can't go wrong..
Forget about the overhyped Juno, go for the AKAI AX60

(if anyone want's to offer some response regarding this synth, you can email me at: SPAZZOID@KIMBAKAT.COM

GOOD

OK

OVERRATED!!!!!!!

I used a Juno for 5 months to record an album a couple of years ago.
It served it's purpose, but looking back, I could have used something more punchy and Agressive, like a PROPHET-5 (which is my current synth)

A two Oscillator synth like a Prophet-5, Oberheim OB8, or the 3 oscillator memorymoog will easily knock a juno INTO FUCKING OBLIVION---Don't beieve me, then go to my mp3.com page to hear some of my trax: http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/360/quadrant_77.html

In conclusion, if you're pressed for cash, get an AKAI AX-60...

Or, if you have the $$$$, and want the BEST, and want your music to sound extremely warm, fat, punchy, exciting--then buy a PROPHET-5

Its a warm and wide analouge sound

Its a classic example of programming a synth - the easist ever, but not the most simple. With all the controls and buttoms on the panel, in order, its a true joy to program it. The bets ever!!

6 voices, its ok. And MIDI!!!

had a Juno60 before - maby a little bit fater but just a hair's-breadth from. And Juno60 lacks MIDI

Its a analouge synth and sounds good. With only one DO per voice its fantastic. The chorus can be set on two modes or off, and is noicy but warm.

Some times the tones can flip a little bit when pressed. My modulationwheel is ragged, but can use it with another MIDI-keyboard (A-80)if needed

As ever with Roland: Pay and be happy.

I recently asked Roland about how to do when Im soon move from Sweden (220V) to USA (110V) with the Voltage. They gave me solutions for every Roland unit I have, including the Juno106 - worthy of imitation Roland!

I need this synth - so let it be!

Please visit my Juno106 page at www.soundofmusic.se

As easy as they come, if you know anything about programming analogue synths.

It is surprisingly versatile for a 1 OSC + Sub.polysynth. The chorus is not clean sounding, but still great for fattening things up when needed. 1 env, compared to the jupiters 2 env, but a faster attack, giving a punchier bass than the jupiters! Some claim it sounds thin, I say this is not at all the case. It's all in the programming. I've programmed a sound in unison that sounds very much like the bass in Pet shop boys'original, first version of "West End Girls". Nuff said.

Some claim it sounds thin, I say this is not at all the case. It's all in the programming. I've programmed a sound in unison-mode that sounds very much like the bass in Pet shop boys'original, first version of "West End Girls". Also great sweeps, beautiful tremelo-like sounds & lfo stuff+ all kinds of analogue blips, and, even gritty stuff(heres where the chorus comes in handy). The Donald Duck of synthesizers. The world just wouldn't be the same without it.
I have a couple ofsynthesizers
and I've messed around with quite a few(incl. Jupiter 8, Prophet VS & other both rare and common stuff) but none of these could
ever replace my 106. This is one of my all time favourites, I quite frankly couldn't live without it. Add some good reverb to the sound, and you will love it.

Weighs about 10 kilos, very well built. No problems with mine so far.

Never needed it.

If you're making music, what you should be looking at is not the original price orhow rare the synth is, but go for the thingsthat matters; sound, programmability and reliability. This is IMHO one of
the best synth ever produced.
I do recommend you try before you by,though.
Like all champs it has it's own special sound.

The 106 is extremely easy to use, you turn the synth on and within seconds are making great trancy/atmospheric sounds. Presets suck but they are meant to. The also easy to understand althoiugh I doubt one would have to refer to it much.

Ok this synth soesn't have velocity or aftertouch but who cares when synths sound this good it really doesn't matter. Six note poly is the minimum you would need for electronic music(YOUR NOT MEANT TO PLAY IT LIKE A PIANO). Midi is nice and straightforward. Nice. Oh by the way the synth looks shit hot also.

The Juno's are the best sounding synths out there, I also have the Juno 60 and both sound different, but just as nice. Use these synths to create warm sweeping pads or funky bass lines. These synths are the Kings of trance.

As the 106 is so simplistic theres little that goes wrong with them, the junos are built like tanks.

Crap customer support but then again if you look after your Juno hopefully nothing will go wrong.

If someone stole it I would break the fuckers legs, If i sold it I would break my own legs!

I Was the proud owner of the all-time classic Juno-106 Polyphonic Synthesizer from june 1985 up until 1999. And the only reason why I had to give it up is because I needed a powerful multitimbral Synth. I'm Still nostalgic. It was my first keyboard, a dream machine Synthesis Rookies just getting started on the road of Modern Music. It was so easy to use that it became the basis of my synthesis knowledge. I can work and edit almost any Synth machine thanks the 106's logic, simplicity and beautiful texture.

One of the first Analog Synths with MIDI interface. In their time and context keys were great, only six voices in polyphony but very suitable for that particular board. Don't forget we're are talking about an excellent although basic keyboard. Of course no sequencer (not with six voices anyway), no expansions possible other than tape-memory-dumping (very slow and poor) but also one of the few available things at the time. It had 128 patch memories divided in two groups A/B. No built in effects other than a preset Chorus I and II for wave enhancement. Very well built, it lasted me 14 years without a scracth. When I think about it I gets me real sad. Although I was paid a very good price. With that money I was able to buy a JV-1080!

The 106 is a Quintessencial Analog Synth therefor one can only expect analog sounds. I turned upside down searching its every parameter and frequency. Like I've said before It's real beauty. I made soounds that I never would have thought possible in that synth. I suppose that's the reason why it's still very much appreciated and it's worth so much.

Absolutely, in 14 years of use I never Had a glitch. It's an instrument that was ment to last.

N/A. Never needed it

absolutely. I'd try to get another one. There many available, specially in the pristine conditions mine was in

very easy to use. everything is laid out for you. i dont have a manual...bought it at a pawn shop. you can always find one on-line.

the keyboard is built like a tank. unlike the plastic roland and korgs of today. this baby was built in 1984, so no sequencer or sound cards. this synth sounds great and modulation is easy. i love the enveloping filters and DEEP bass. dont worry about eFX get a sub woofer to really here how powerful it is. also, the 1st juno to have midi and one of the 1st rolands to have midi. its a analog synth with digital sliders. something cutting edge back then.

this synth wasnt made for traditional musik. has a new wave, kraftwerk, or pink floyd sound. mainly used for retro and electronic sound. great for techno, trance, and jungle. jungle producers like dara and deisel boy uses it for its deep dirty basslines. underworld, moby, and fatboy slim also use it. you could also use it for goth or spacey rock sound. very versitile. in the 80's bands like the cure, depeche mode, and human league also used it. sooo basically, if youve ever heard all the artist i've mentioned...you know how it soundz like. i'm happy to own it and love how it sounds. deffinately a electro studio top 10 list.

you can count on it and play live with it. its a vintage synth so personally i would never drag it on stage. mainly for studio use.

never dealt with roland for my juno. other roland products there customer support is pretty bad.

i traded in a lousy yamaha synth for it at a pawn shop. got it for a steal for 225.00 after trade. its an overall perfect synth for electronic performers. sounds strong and very full. wonderful teXtures. it was made in 1984 and about 44,000 of them were made. so if you can find one buy one!!!

Silders or buttons/switches for every parameter and a pretty simple architecture: analog sound design couldn't get much easier I'd say. This would be an excellent first synth to learn something about analog synthesis.

See reviews below for the specs, not much point in restating them. But here's a little tip: if you're a bit technical, you could use a program called Bome's Midi Translator to translate the sysex generated by the sliders to normal midi-CC's so that you could use the 106 to tweak softsynths etc.

Just about everyone has a Juno and there's a reason for this: it just sounds very tasty. In spite of its simple architecture the range of sounds is still impressive, it can sound quite agressive and technoish but also very musical. Nice warm basses, floaty pads, bleepy fx, even some gabberish leads, it's all in there, and you can tweak any parameter in real time of course, even recording this as sys-ex.

I also have an MKS-50 (basically a Juno 1 in a rack) which has a more advanced architecture for a wider range of sounds, but it sounds quite different from the 106, more digital and bright, and the filters are *very* different for sure, I like the 106 filter very much but I can't say the same of the MKS-50. It's easier to fit an MKS-50/Juno 1/2 in a mix than a 106 but the latter is warmer and more analog sounding. Apparently the Juno 60 is even warmer than the 106, but unfortunately it doesn't have midi so you'd need something like a dcb-to-midi kit as well.

Great sound, easy to program and all parameter/slider changes send out sysex.

This was my first analog synth, and I wish I had bought it years ago, that would have saved me from the frustration of dealing with softsynths... I now have a little studio with mostly analog gear; if you want analog, get analog and leave all those virtual plastic toys for the kids.

Damn easy to use, IMHO. My dad bought it when I was at the age of about 6. Years after I started playing keyboards and therefore became interessted in the thing. And again some years after I first saw other synths and I was quite shocked.

On these other machines, there were no sliders for each parameter and all was quite complex. I love the ease of use the Juno 106 brings.

There are some great presets but one can create really nice sounds after some trying.

The manual could be better but it's ok.

In brief: Usage is the easiest I know

It has 6 voices polyphony and a unisono mode that creates really fat sounds, especially when combined with the portamento function.

The built-in chorus is noisy but it is what gives most pad-sound presets their character.

There's no sequencer and no arpeggiater. The latter is what I sometimes miss.

MIDI-features are really fine, every motion of every slider/knob can be transmitted via sysex to another Juno or to a sequencer.

There's only one DCO, you might think. But this is not that true, the DCO in fact is 4 DCOs, one for sawtooth, one for square, one for sub-square (one octave lower) and a noise generator.

The LFO can control DCO (both frequency and square pulse width) and VCF. The ENV-generator (unfortunately only one...) can control VCF and of course VCA (which can be also switched to "gate")

The filter can be easly brought to resonance. It then creates real killer-sounds.

The keyboard is simple, no touch response or aftertouch. Well, image living in 1985 and buying a relatively cheap synth... what would you expect?

In brief: All features are great. But compared to sate-of-the-art synths there's a lot of stuff missing.

The sounds are really cool! Of course, there are no realistic instrumenst but one can program fat bass sounds or aggressiv, noisy stuff.

The best pad sounds I know. Really soft but not thin.

Touch response and aftertouch is what I miss, therefore only 8 points.

It never showed any probs. Some sliders and a key had a defect (reason: spilled coke into it, my fault.) but with some special cleaning spray they where up and running again after 2 minutes.

The volume knob sometimes cracks. Turn it around some times and it will be ok.

Never needed support, so no rating.

If it where stolen I'd shure try to get another one. No other machine I know lets me make my ideas become a sound path this fast.

Compared to some virtual anlogue Yamaha stuff, it's absolutely perfect. My Korg Poly61 sounds quite thing compared to it.

I wish it had a midi-syncable arpeggiator.

I love it. I definetly do not hate anything on this machine.

To anyone who thinks about buying this thing: They are quite expensive on Ebay Germany. Better try to get one someqhere else. About 700 DM including a flight case should be ok.

Fairly easy to use. Presets are nice, but not great. However it's a lot more fun to mess around with the sliders and knobs yourself anyway. And it's easy to store your own sounds.

You can make some GREAT sounds with this machine, and even though it sounds good on it's own, don't be afraid to run it through some external effect devices. I've had great results, with old guitar pedals such as the Boss ME-10, Boss FT-2 and an Octaver. Also tryed to run it through some of the effects from the Yamaha A4000 sampler, Roland VS-1680 HDrec and a Yamaha Promix 0; again with great results. Tip: OD can really crank up some of the leadsounds!!!!

Even though it's old it's solid. I've had no problems so far.

I have no idea, since i've never needed any support on this synth.

If it was stolen I would definetly try to find another.

It's very nice and easy to program. I think many of the presets are not so good, lots of better make patches yourself. Manual is good and comprehensive.

6 voice polyphony is enough, expect for my Jarre-style pads.. It has very analog noisy chorus, which is great. There are MIDI In, Out and Thru, it had the most complement MIDI stuff when it was released. It doesn't have seq, or arpeggiator, like Juno-60.

It doesn't have many realistic instruments.. More like technobasses and ultracool lead sounds and brass + nice strings. It is excellent choice for techno, electro, ambient, dance and trance. It doesn't have velocity or aftertouch, but that is ok for me.

It works always. Of course I can use it on a gig without backup!!

Never had to.

I wouldn't let it get stolen. It is extremely worth what I paid. I've been playing piano/synths for 7 years and music is one of the most important things for me. I have a analog-modeling Yamaha CS2x and I'm going to buy Roland TR-606 drum-machine.
I love allmost all things in it. I don't HATE anything in it. I hate the people who declare it's digital or something. It is analog, just digitally CONTROLLED oscillator! My favourite trance patches just give me inspiration for melodies and this is a great synth and one of the most loved and used synths. Check all the professional users of Juno! Gotta go play my own..

I wish all synths still had a dedicated knob or slider for every
parameter. Even many of the new modeling synths use some menu
driven or multipurpose buttons. The 106 is easy to program, and a
great first synth if you want to learn how to program an analog voice.

The original factory presets do a good job of showing the different
sounds you can make with a 106, but you really ought to program your
own sounds. Back in the day, you didn't want to sound like anybody
else. Today a lot of people cop out and use presets because programming
is so complex.

The manual is a spotty translation (like many Japanese manuals even
today), but does a good job of telling you all the ins and outs of the
106.

6 voice,
Global LFO/mod rate and portamento
1 DCO (digitally controlled oscillator - stays in tune better than a
VCO, but sounds much nicer than a lot of the gritty modeling synths
made today) - Saw, Pulse, Sub osc, Noise.
1 VCF (24dB resonant LPF, limited HPF, with LFO, Envelope, and Keyboard
modulation)
1 ADSR Envelope

Built-in chorus with two speed settings. Very noisy, but has a unique
sound that you can't accurately duplicate on any modeling synth I've
tried.

Can store 128 patches internally, and you can back them up via MIDI or
the old fashioned way (to cassette).

The 106 was one of the first synths that had full MIDI implementation,
and it was really impressive for its day. It's kinda tame by today's
standards, since it's not multitimbral (all 6 voices use the same patch).

No on-board sequencer. Roland used to make an add on one that matched
the 106 cabinet and attached to the front panel with magnets. I
haven't seen one of those in over 15 years, though, and I'll bet
they're tough to find. Use your computer to sequence your 106.

The 106 voice isn't as complex as many of the more expensive vintage
analog synths (or most of the modeling synths for that matter). The
single oscillator and single envelope per voice make it's sounds
simpler and less fat than a Prophet 5, for example (Can't do a swept
sync with a 106. Can't detune two oscillators to fatten the sound).
However, that makes the 106 much easier to learn. The 106 may not be
the fattest, but it still sounds very good. It has better low-mid
range "balls" than some of the gritty and tinny analog modeling synths,
and the 106 is great for pads and analog organ sounds.

The keyboard feels great, but isn't weighted and does not do velocity
or aftertouch. I like the Roland joystick for modulation, but I know
others who greatly prefer Moog style wheels. You can always control
the thing with your MIDI sequencer anyhow...

I've had mine since it was new, and it's built much more solidly than
most synths made today. The case is mostly metal, and the bottom is
wood. The original battery is still going strong after over 15 years!

The sliders are a little noisy from the years of dust and buildup, but
they still work fine. I've had to replace one of the packs inside when
one of the voices lost its sub oscillator. Parts are still pretty
available since so many 106s were made.

Roland stands behind their stuff, and authorized service folks have
been great about parts.

I don't use my 106 as much as I used to, but I'll always be a fan.

Just grab a knob or a slider.

6 voice polyphony. Keyboard is a really light synth nonweighted keyboard and quiet. There is a Corus effect with two settings - one deeper than the other. No expansion or sequencer. The Keyboard review I read Ions ago said it was the first DCO synth with polyphonic portamento (like I use that on every song!). It has three poly modes. Mode 3 is entered by pressing both poly buttons which layers all 6 VCOs...in today's lingo that traslates into Phatt!

It's a synth. Digital OSCs through analog filters. It does synth stuff. It's from 1983/4. Adding external effects makes it very useable. Does synth stuff fairly well. It's not a Jupiter 8 or an OB8. Pretty organ sounds and strings. Nice sweeps, basses and other synthy stuff. Sends all its knobs and slider data in real-time over MIDI.

All units had a design defect that causes their voice or filter chips to fail. Don't let a tech replace just one chip when it goes bad - replace them all, or you will be back to the tech soon. I replaced chips in 1984, 1987, 1999. Roland apparently has a plentyful supply.
On the otherhad, I played live at a gig in '86 on the beach in Florida. It was 150 in the shade. It blinked out after an hour and we revived it with some ice in towels.

I take it to the guy locally and he fixes it. We're on a first name basis;-)

I bought it new circa 1983. Other than the darn chips going out, I like having it around. I use it musically often for three purposes (1) bass sounds (geez my monitors dude!), (2) Filler in a song, like a pad that you don't really hear, but it's there, and (3) Organ sounds that are very plain. It's got other uses like for techno, but that's not my rhelm. Good as a pad behind a quality sampled piano, and I can play for hours.

The easiest synth I've ever used. Presets are simply ridiculous but at those times a must for a commercial unit. The manual is useless so an editor (unless for storing patch sets).

Few things it does but it does them very well. Quite a noisy unit but it is part of its unique sound so it doesn't matter for me. The battery system forces you to look for battery replacements that are sometimes hard to found. 6 voices poyphony and a cool midi implementation : everything on the front panel can be sent and received by whatever sequencer that accepts sysex.

Cool and unique sounding. The poy 1+2 mode changes the unit into a 6 voices unisono monophonic synth capable of FAT and weird things. Excellent and fun for blirps and blurps it can become very evocative in basses, pads and leads with the help of a good reverberation buddy. The ketboard is pure cold cheap plastic, but it looks so cool to me :) ! Noisy but charming chorus onboard.

mine is 16 years old and works quite well though suffering oldness.
beware of battery system.

Hard to find help for a grandpa.

It's fundamental for me. There's always room in my mixes for a juno track. I own a Q, a Pulse, two Electribes and a couple of other synths and I make IDM like stuff and it fits perfectly with his sweet sound. Whis it had an arpeggiator, but you can always use an external one

Very easy to use, thanks to the sliders. It's a matter of minutes before you find yourself doing interesting sound. I hate new digital synths because I'm frustrated each time I want to change a parameter.

Good amount of features (midi/sysex/ease of use...). It's a shame it's not velocity sensitive but really it's not that important.

My first impression was that the sounds could be very limited but I was wrong. With a bit of tweaking and with the help of some external effects you can can thos monster sounds or those soft and warm sounds for your ambient tracks. In comparaison, I also own an AKAI AX73 (analogue synth with digital controls) and I can say that th 106 sounds a lot better and warmer. Don't let me say what I haven't said: the AX73 is capable of very good sounds too!

I got it second hand (one key is not working but it's easily fixable) at only $100 and until now I don't regret this buy. It seems like this synth is done to last years and years.

Overall, a very nice synth. I recommend it to everyone as this synth
can produce various (warm pads or lead) sounds that you can use in almost every electronic music style.

Simple control panel. I've not heard the actual factory pre-sets, so i can't comment on that. If you can't figure out how to edit this w/o a patch editor, sell it. Don't have the manual, but you probably only need it to see what the different MIDI setting switches in the back do.

Polyphony is 6 voices, typical synth keyboard action. Only effects are built in chorus. Off, I, II, that's it. Kinda noisy, but adds some dimmension to the sound. When it came out, it the most complex MIDI system to date. Velocity ignorant keyboard, no aftertouch.

Decent brass sounds & string sounds. Other than that, it's all zips, zaps, squeels, sweeps, & mdoulations. Suits techno & hip-hop the most. Noisy chorus. Most people react to their synths, not the other way=o)

They're built like a tank! I've never used mine to play live with yet, but i would if it came up.

never dealt with Roland

If it were stolen or damaged, i would buy another one for sure. I've been doing techno for 4 years now. I own the following gear, & love it all, but the juno cannot be replaced. SH-101(red), TB-303, TR-606, TR-626, TR-707, TR-727, TR-808, TR-909, Juno-106, FR-777, Yamaha TX-81Z. It's closest relative is the Jun-6/60. But they have a slightly different sound.