Roland Juno-6

As the reviewer below noted, almost impossible to get a bad sound out of it. Sometimes I read that it sounds close to the Roland Jupiter-8 (for pads and string-sounds), and it is true; it sounds very fat for a 1 OSC synth, and has that typical bright and rich SYNTHY Sound that you can only get with Jupiter and Juno synthesizers.

It is very well built and for the beutiful workmanship and design alone, I would buy one over a Korg Polysix, anytime. It has limited features, but it is easy to come up with classic synthpatches for Techno or dance, as well as Synthpop music. It sounds better than any VA that I have tried (JP 8000, AN1x, Korg Z1)

Very beautiful, a classsic. The moment you switch it on, you hear classic sounds from the classic recordings of the 80s.

Very sturdy and solid built quality.

I didn't have to..

For my setup ( I play Techno and Trance) it is very important to have old style analogue, because it gives you a cutting edge in the mix. I use it for those classic string patches that everyone loves. the best kept secret, if you cannot afford a Jupiter 8.

very nicely laid out panel, though thre isn't that much to do after all. yet it has that classic analogue polysynth sound, not as oldschool as a jupiter-4, but not as cold-ish, dco-sounding as the roland jx series (although it has dco's!!)

the inbuilt chorus attributes to its lushness, so i don't really consider it an effect as such. the sliders are nice and firm, it's built to last. only gripe: that roland modulation button - i never got to like it.

the good news is: it forces you to think about what you play, and it's near impossible to get a naff sound out of it - by its nature (1 dco) it isn't for complex stuff like the jupiters, but you can do a lot with the bender and lfo (yes even that silly push-button). it can be suble and make a few whacky noises too - ones you wouldn't attribute to its simple layout. the arpeggiator is fine and a joy to use with the punchy attack of this synth.

well, i personally would. guess it's reliable enough.

don't know

since i also own a jupiter, i'm not sure if i'd get it again at todays rather inflated prices. but it's a rather simple, inspiring instrument that always sounds good (it has a nice tone to it)

The Juno 6 was also my first synth and I've had it for 20 years now, since I was eleven!.

I was always fascinated by synths as a kid and made a deal with my dad that if I practised hard on my Bach prelude & fugues then I could have one. Which one to pick?. Well, back then choice was different from today in the price range we were looking at. On the telly, the Jupiter 8 was the numero uno and seeing that good old Roland sign was pretty seductive when I came to choose. Bear in mind there was no internet and not that many music shops that stocked gear to suss out which was the best.

Well, having looked at the comparison charts in "What Keyboard", I remember considering a Siel Orchestra, a Korg Poly61 and a JX-3P. The Siel had a great "Wow" sound and not much else, the Poly61 did a great plane impression but had little to fiddle with, the JX-3P just didn't impress me with its add-on controller. The shop keeper steered me to a Juno 6 and that was it!. It looked great, the controls felt sturdy and it had the big Roland sign on the back. He synced it up with an SR-88 and showed me what the arpeggiator was capable of - instant Kraftwerk or Howard Jones.

It doesn't have a preset storage facility but the manual has settings pages at the back for creating different sounds and playing with these taught me more about synths than I have ever learnt again since. It was purely hands on and nothing was done for you which meant that you got to know it very quickly.

6 note poly, tiny compared to todays monsters, but here are some great tricks to be employed to make it seem like the Notre-dame cathedral organ. For instance, you can hit the hold button by the arpeggiator, play a 6 note chord, then hit the transposition button and play the chords one-fingered. At speed it sounds pretty mindblowing, although its restricted to one octave.

The keyboard action is pretty flimsy, but I'm used to playing a Kawai MP9500 and prefer weighted actions.

The chorus I've always liked although I run mine through a Dimension D as this makes the strings super smooth and silky. Nevertheless, it has two types, the second of which I've found myself using more for brass pads etc.

Other than that, its a very basic machine. One DCO with a sub-osc for fattening up sounds, a simple but effective filter - not raspy but not clinical either. I've always like the resonance on it and the almost theremin-like effects that can be achieved with it when turning off the DCO. I would have liked portamento as an option but what the hey!.

I'm with the previous reviewer on this one. Its not a warm sounding synth to my ears and has a certain coldness redolent of the 80s synths tht were released around that time and beyond like the Poly 800 and so on. That's not to say the sound is unpleasant or ineffective - it has a very distinctive, brilliant (in the 19th century sense!) quality that seems to sit well in mixes.

The best thing is that it is so very controllable with every function having a relevant switch or slider, so its great for real time performance. There's no velocity sensitivity or aftertouch so the filter and volume control has to be used a lot to simulate these features. No problems for the type of music its best at though which is pure electronica.

It can muster up a quite good key-click Hammond which sometimes seems to sit better in mixes and sound more authentic than my B4!. Brasses are pure Roland and strings aren't bad, if a little too cold unless processed with other FX (which, let's face it, isn't difficult to do).

The output is pretty quiet, although the chorus cn be a little noisy, and the Juno lends itself well to being recorded for this reason.

Oh yeah, its super dependant. I've never had a day's problem with it and its solidly built so no trouble there. It has been gigged and was fearless in all conditions.

Too well built for problems!

Well, if you want to learn about basic synthesiser functions and have a good instrument into the bargain then look no further. It doesn't have any real frills but its very easy to get to grips with and will serve you well as a stepping stone to more advanced instruments. I think its worth noting that I own a mass of gear from several akai samplers, to 3 shuttle PCs loaded with Kontakt, ImpOSCar, Pro53, Korg Legacy collection and on, with many machines having been bought and sold over the years, but I still use the Juno 6 quite regularly on cues and tracks. A testament to its durability and effectiveness!.

This was my first synth. I bought it over five years ago. Back then I had no idea how an analogue synthesiser worked. I just knew I had to have one after falling in love with their silly sounds through listening to Stereolab, the first Human League records(before 'Dare', when they were more experimental) and early Prince.
At the time, I really had my eye on a Jupiter 4. Unfortunately that deal fell through so I had to get this instead, which initially seemed a disappointment, until I got it home.
It's a simple simple machine, but I had no real idea of how it worked. It didn't seem to matter though, I just moved those sliders around and pressed the few buttons that it had and I was in sythesiser heaven. It seemed that I came up with new sounds from it every day for about six months. It became a real love affair, which despite my other keyboard purchases since, has never really died.
This is one of the simplest synthesisers you can get and certainly one of the cheapest. Given the fact that it has great sounds and is relatively easy to use, it's an absolute bargain, especially for beginners.

One of it's best features, given it's an analogue synth and it's so cheap, is that it's polyphonic. There's not many other synths at this price that you can actually play chords on and have dedicated controls for each parameter.
It's arpeggiator is very middle-class. By that I mean it's very good, but not fantastic. Only extends to three octaves, which I think is a bit silly. Still, it's a great feature to have.
It doesn't have MIDI, but one thing few people seem to mention is that you can synchronise the arpeggiator to a sampler or your computer, as long as you have a sample of a clock voltage pulse to trigger it with. Some people say you just need a drum machine's rim-shot to do the trick.
On board chorus is noisy and you don't need it anyway, but it sounds excellent through the stereo outputs.

I'm going to go right against popular opinion and say that this synthesiser actually sounds pretty cold. It's not particularly beefy either and it's certainly not built for bass. Having said that, it's not a completely digital sound either, and it still has a very usuable and reasonably powerful sound. It sounds quite bright.
My favourite settings seem to involve the pulse wave being modulated by the LFO. This gives it a nice raw sound with a bit of bite.
The filter is not as crash-hot as some make it out to be. It's good, but it sounds a bit harsh and cranking up the resonance really cuts out the bass frequencies something chronic. But it does self oscillate, which is more than I could say for my Yamahas, and you can turn the DCOs off and just have the filter sound on it's own. But then you've only got boring old triangle wave to modulate it with! No sample and hold, which I think is a huge oversight for any synth with a self-oscillating filter. Not even a bloody square wave (but the arpeggiator makes up for that)!

It's one of the most reliable synths you could ever wish to own. It's digitally controlled oscillators guarrantee that it will never go out of tune. Nothing has ever gone wrong with mine and it's been carted around quite a bit.
The only reason that it might be impracticle to use on a gig is that it doesn't have patch memories, so you'd be spending quite a bit of time editing sounds between songs. Your singer would want to have plenty of entertaining material to regale the audience with.

Some people say Roland are good with the old stuff. Some say they have no idea these things existed. Personally I have no idea.
I don't know if they're still around, but if you're in Melbourne, Australia, I've heard that Logitronics in Northcote are good for fixing old synths. I've dealt with Melbourne Music Centre in Ormond for another synth and they were good too, though a little pricey.
You just have to ask around with this old gear, therefore, no rating.

The one I bought was the most expensive I've ever seen. Unfortunately when I saw it, it was the first time I'd ever seen one! However I bought it from a dealer and it had just been serviced, so I can't complain.
Given the prices they go for, if it were stolen, I guess I would get another. They're a good all-rounder and despite some of the things I've said in this review, it does have a good sound and decent features and I still use it.
BTW, my jamming partner used to have a Juno 106. We both agree that the Juno 6 sounds better. It seems to have a fuller sound. But the 106 is still alright and it's got portamento (but no arpeggiator).
I guess the most flattering thing I can say about it is that I'll probably never get rid of it!

Couldnt get easier to use, all controls are in front of you and understanding some synthesis basics will get you onto the sweet sweet goodness. Thats some sweet goodness in case you didnt guess. Sweet sweet goodness. Yes. This is so. Beleev dat and so on...

Its big and simple, but its unique and sexy. Its like a meat pie with a sprig of parsley on top, you can stare at it and think "well i really want to eat a pizza" but once you tuck in, youre hooked.

It does force you to use your synthesis skills some more, and with no presets or midi im finding it a joy, a new creative aesthetic to perfect and releive my eyes from staring at the computer all day/night.

Sounds great, if a little faintly noisy on the outputs... to be expected from a 20 year old analog synth. Sounds very special run through a lush pre-amp. The chorus is the sound we've come to associate with the Juno series yet turning it off you can dial up some tech bass, dnb growls, great LFO sweeping synth leads and so on. I was surprised by the range... you can even get a very realistic wurly and rhodes sound, which id find hard to believe if i hadnt heard it myself.

Its over 20 years old and not a problem, though im looking carefully at the filter knob... oh yeah im watching you...

be aware the VCF's can die like mariah careys career.

roland are beeatches. power to the juno geeks who seem to know everything.... about junos.

Among all the digital and midi stuff, the juno 6 makes me happy in the pants and serves as a unique creative tool. also, its big and heavy... but looks nice and has wood ends.... i mean c'mon.... cmoonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

The Juno-6 is very easy to use. I got it with the manual but really, you don't need any manual. Push a few buttons and move those faders. You will be synthesizing before you even know it. I bought one as my first analogue synth after reading some of the great things written about it. Well, it really is quite friendly. I invite anybody to sit down with this thing for ten minutes, and I guarantee a good time. Get to know one and you will agree.

The Juno-6 is quite limited. There is six note polyphony, but only one oscillator, and one suboscillator, which restricts the range of color somewhat, it will always have that synthetic tinge. But that's OK. You want that. The keyboard is not velocity sensitive, and there is no portamento feature, so it could be more expressive, but it is still a sensitive keyboard and easy to play once you get used to the flatness of it. The Juno-6 also lacks a MIDI interface, you'll have to buy an external sync unit to use it along with your drum machine/sequencer. But if you do you can generate very robotic bass lines using the arpeggiator. Also combine the arpeggiator with a few envelope adjustments and you'll get shimmering, colorful pads. Trigger the LFO at a very low rate for a warped, waivering sound. Or hold down key transpose with the power off, turn it on, and set the arpeggiator to "up" to get the powerful "unison mode" feature, useful for an extra robust bass. I have heard that this is THE synth to have for achieving that thick, percussive bass sound used in countless drum n bass tracks. The Yamaha DX-7 is also mentioned in this regard. I don't use the Juno for drum n bass but I can well believe this baby has it in her.

As I mentioned, the keyboard itself is not very expressive, but this synth achieves a very warm and full sound. It can sound dirty and it can sound clean. Press the hold button, play a chord, and then spend 45 minutes making tiny adjustments to get that perfect droning pad sound. I really like cranking up the white noise level and getting a nice gritty electric piano sound, using the saw wave combined with the sub-oscillator square wave. As I hinted at before, this is an excellent synth for the dance musician, I have used it for electro and synth pop flavor, but it is capable of far more subtle applications in my opinion.

Very reliable. No problems, no maintenance whatsover, except to dust it every other week. It stays in tune and its quite sturdy, I've hauled it out to a few recording sessions, without the benefit of a case. Get yourself a case for it and you could certainly gig this thing.

I've never had to contact Roland for any reason.

I bought this synth for a warm analogue tone that would help flesh out my music. Moreover, this seemed to be the best analogue synth in my price range. It has certainly delivered on all my expectations (although I suspect I could have gotten a better deal on one). I'm not an advanced player but I'm able to use the Juno to get what I need. It's not made for virtuoistic lead playing anyway. Its best used for bright, shimmering pads and big fat chunks of bass, with a nice range of fun bleeps and whirrs in between. As a primarily electronic composer I often wish I could sequence the Juno-6, but when I really need to I can sample a tone I particularly like and sequence it using my computer. In spite of its limitations, I enjoy the Juno's simplicity, its ease of use makes it a wonderfully spontaneous instrument, and I've often rolled out of bed, switched on the power, pushed a few faders and programmed a cool new patch without even realizing it. I've owned it for 6 months now, and I'm certain I'll never get rid of it. If it were stolen, however, I think I would be tempted to try a different synth. But the Juno-6 will always be my first love.

This is a straight-forward laid-out machine, and like someone else said here, if you can't figure this thing out in 10 minutes, then you should get out of all this music business.

I have an ambivalent relationship to the chorus. In the beginning I slushed everything over with the chorus, until I rellay heard how noisy it was. Then I ceased to use it. For a while. Now, I've come to love the noisy little bugger - even though you can get the oscillators to really sound fat by themselves, the chorus adds that last bid of lushness. Gotta love that.

The arpeggiator is totally cool. I don't have anything to sync it with, though (yet), but it's great fun for some instant auto-bass things.

Only feature lacking IMO that the Juno-60 didn't remedy is an external audio in.

It's a no velocity/no aftertouch analog sounding polyphonic keyboard. And so it sounds. Only creativity in playing this thing is by twiddling the knobs and levers. Only gets 9 because the chorus really IS noisy. Great keyboard action, though.

In the time I've had it (about one year) it hasn't deteiorated. It was pretty beat up when I bought it (2 broken keys, broken release lever, broken OSC LFO depth lever, broken trig mode switch, missing lid screws, missing 1 cap and rusted a bit on the pitch bend area), but after I restored it, it's solid as a tank. I never use it on gigs, tho, because it doesn't have any memory. Only thing I should do once in a while is to retune the oscillators and the filter...

Talked to Roland Denmark, and they had some of the parts I needed (2 keys, OSC LFO depth lever, cap), and the rest I found online, spending about 400 DDK on parts. I even got the manuals from Roland DK, and they have supplied me with lots of parts and litterature over the time for my old junk. Great service - probably becuase they actually LIKE their old school synths here in their Danish department...

A fun and inspiring machine, that clearly outshined my other 80s Roland synths (JX-8P and Juno-1) in sound quality. Would, if it were stolen, replace it with a Juno-60, though, to get the memory and the DCB-interface. Always a fun machine to twiddle around on.

I've had my Juno for about 14 years now. I bought it as a replacement for my Siel Orchestra 6, which got stolen. For a long time it was my only synth. I've since bought many others, but I keep going back to my Juno. I've given it an 8, because although it's dead easy to get great sounds out of it, a little bit of analogue knowledge helps. Here's a tip for new owners - TURN THE CHORUS OFF! The Juno is twice the synth once you hear it "naked". maybe you need to put in a little more work, but it's rewarding.

Poly - 6 notes. Or is it? After reading the last post, I ran up to the studio when I got home, powered up holding the "key transpose" button down, knocked the arpeggiator into "up" and f**k me! Instant growly monosynth madness. Like an SH101, crossed with the bastard child of a TB303, but with more power. Absolutely sodding wonderful. I doubt very much whether I'll play another chord on the machine again.

Result's gotta be a 10, just for this little beauty of a function. it's a polysynth and a monosynth. That's what I call versatile.

It's also easily the best-looking synth ever made. It beats the Pro 5 or JP8 hands down in the looks department. Sleek, simple, clear, wooden end cheeks.

Realistic? Don't make me laugh. Good? Yes. No velocity or anything like that. Onboard effects are three types of (noisy) chorus: I, II and I&II together. Best to leave them off.

Trick for ubergrowl (haven't tried it with the mono function yet)...run it through a Marshall. If you don't have a Marshall, use a Pod. Jesus, but this thing sings.

Again, a "10". In the years I've had it, it's never let me down - any sound I've ever needed it to make, I've been able to sort it out within a few minutes.

It's beyond solid. Never EVER gone wrong on me.

Has to be a "9", because the "power" LED's a little blinky.

Lost one of the knobs twelve years ago. Ordered a new one from Roland UK when I ordered the flight case for my 1680. Cost me 26p. Can't really argue with that.

I chose my Juno because it was Friday, my other synth had been nicked and we had a gig on Saturday. If it was stolen, I'd track down the thief, his family and his pets and beat them to a bloody pulp with my Polymoog. Then I'd start to get nasty.

It's been with me for 14 years, done everything I've ever asked, and then I find out today it's a killer monosynth, too. Now all I need is a Kenton retrofit...

My rating?

Go on, guess...

TURN YOUR JUNO-6 INTO A SIX-OSC-STACKED MONOSYNTH!

Put your Juno into 'Unison' mode by holding down the Key Transpose button while switching the synth on. Then set the arpeggiator to 'UP'??stand back and press a key

To get it out of the test mode, turn the synth off and on again

This operation is part of the synth's built-in factory test mode

What a joy it is to use! After suffering the hideous FM synthesis of my DX21, the Juno 6 is a dream to use. It's all sliders and buttons. It was that easy to use that within minutes of getting it home from the shop I was making my own sounds. You won't need a manual, it's idiot proof. Even compared to other analog synths I've tried, this is a lot easier to use.

The Juno 6 has six note polyphony, which for an analog synth is fantastic. The keyboard action is suprisingly nice, it's nothing like a real piano, but it's got a real charm to it. The Juno 6 comes with a brilliant built in Chorus, it's got two levels and it's really thick and warm. By default the Juno 6 doesn't come with MIDI, but mine came with a Kenton Retro Fit MIDI adapter that allows a rather limited MIDI control. It doesn't have an on-board sequencer, but it does have a really good apreggio function.

Specs wise, it has three wave forms, pulse, sub-pulse and triangle - though if you tinker with the filter resonance you can make a sine wave. It has a 'bender' that can bend either pitch or the level of filtering. It has a versatile LFO that can modify either the filter or the pulse wave (or both). It also has a high pass and a low pass filter.

Don't even consider buying the Juno 6 for it's ability to emulate real life instruments, it can't. What it can do is create fantastic analog synth sounds that are sadly lacking from all the keyboards you can buy today. It can make great synth brass, strings and bass - it can even do a decent organ tone. It's brilliant at doint made sound effects too. I've found that it is really good at impersonating other analog synths too.

Well, the one I own is almost 20 years old and it still works perfectly. Every slider and key works without any problems. It's been everywhere with me in the two years I've owned it and it doesn't give me any problems. You'll have no problems gigging with it.

Roland are awful, it's as if they've washed their hands of their early 80s keyboards, even though they were the best things they ever did.

I've owned this keyboard for two years now and the more I play around with it, the more I love it. I've tried lots of analog synths and this is my favourite. The only bad thing about it is that it weighs so much. Every time I lift it I'm risking putting my back out. If I lost this keyboard or it got stolen I'd be a broken man. If you get chance to buy a Juno-6, do it. With the possible exception of a Roland Jupiter 8 or Jupiter 6, there's no keyboards on the planet I'd swap my Juno 6 for. Ignore what Prophet 5 and Moog fans say, Roland made some fantastic keyboards. It has all the warmth that Moogs and Prophets have and it's dirt cheap too.

All controls are visible, there are no funny tricks. If you understand synthesis it's easy to use.

you know the features, but things you can't tell are:
great keyboard quality
great pitchbender & LFO switch
lovely chunky buttons
try holding both chorus buttons down at once

It's a basic enough synth though, without any really cool mod stuff and no seperate tuning in the osc section, so no really high mark here.

Sounds are limited due to it's nature, but what it does is GREAT!!!!!!!!!. The chorus and PWM gives pad sounds a fantastic depth. The bare osc sound is strong, and the filter sounds great. I love the sound from this poly!!!!!!!

Rock solid. But as far as I know the volume knob always starts to crackle (only when turned) after a while)

My Roland guy said (about four years ago) that only the pitch-bends were unavailable.

I'll always keep and love my Juno 6. I've also got a minimoog, micromoog, yamaha CS-5, jen sx1000, JX-3P, SC Six-Trac, and some boring digital stuff. I wish it had more mod features and osc tuning, sync, fm or any crazy stuff like that, but the sound from this witth all osc and chorus on is just great.

It couldn't be simpler to use. It was my first synth, and a great introduction to analog synthesis. Everything is laid out right in front of you, you pretty much just build your sound up from left to right. If you don't know what you're doing, like I didn't when I first got it, you'll learn quickly just by adjusting the faders and hearing what happens.

It's pretty simple, but it has everything you really need, unless you want to sequence it. Only a built in simple chorus effect, with 3 possible modes. No expansion capabilites. Only 1 lfo and 1 env for modulation. But the env can modulate the pwm, which is nice. The keyboard is very "synth" feeling, but it's one of the best I've played on.

The lack of any sort of control input led me to sell it a few years ago. I didn't have enough money to justify keeping it around. Soon, however, I will get another, and not worry about not being able to externally control it (except for the arpeggiator). Kenton also makes a midi retrofit, but that costs more than I've ever seen the keyboard itself go for.

"Pristine sound quality" about sums it up, yes. It's very synthetic, nothing real here. But it does basic synth sounds so well--so juicy and smooth and bassy. When you crank the resonance up, it doesn't drop out as much low end as so many other synths, like my Korgs. It's such a smooth, musical sound. Great for pads and basses. Fairly limited in sound, yes, but that doesn't matter at all. I love having access the the sound with the faders. No complex sounds, but again, that doesn't matter.

I'd say it's good for anything you want to sound synthetic.

Hmm. I forget how, but you can stack all 6 oscillators together by having the arpeggiator lever set in a particular place, and holding down one of the buttons when you turn it on. Unison mode is common, but on this, the oscillators are just the slightest bit out of phase, and it sounds unlike anything else I've heard with stacked oscillators. It maintains the simpler single oscillator sound, but makes it so heavy and powerful. You can get an excellent Goa kick drum with this, with oscillators off, resonance all the way up, and a short, fast envelope modulating the filter.

Oh, yeah, even though the chorus is so basic, and even a bit noisy, it sounds amazingly good.

Mine was in immaculate shape when I bought it. However, it certainly feels like even if it had been beaten, it wouldn't notice much. It's incredibly solid feeling.

???

It's so worth what I paid. I need another one. I'd like to save up a bit and get one midi retrofitted, however.

It was my first analog synth, about 3 years ago, and one of my favorites. I've also owned or played these: Korg DW-8000, Mono/Poly, N1R, Prophecy, Roland JX-8p, Mks-30, Kawai K1, GMega (ugh), K2000s, Oberheim Matrix 6r, Akai AX-80, Moog Modular, Early Emu Modular (god I wish those 2 were mine), and several others that I'm not thinking of right now. Even though you can get the same sounds out of most of the others, it doesn't sound like the Juno. The Juno just sounds so lush and smooth and juicy. Wonderful acid.

I thought I'd replace it with the JX-8p, because that has Midi and a similar, but expanded upon architecture. And while I love the JX-8p, it sounds nothing alike, the filter is so much thinner and more precise sounding. It doesn't get drippy wet like the Juno.

I've seen people asking up to $400 for these, which is insane, but it's easily worth $200 up to maybe $300, and I still see them occasionally for as low as $150ish.

I started off with newer boards like the Roland JV-80 and Korg X5. Both instruments require a great deal of time and have a high learning curve to create tones from scratch. I was overjoyed when I got this board, It took me less than a day to figure everything out and come up with some awesome tones.

The keys on have a good feel. The pitch bender is nice as well, pretty smooth and quick. The LFO Tirg button is a little strange, I dont find much use for it with my playing.

Not having tone banks make the use of this board very specific in your setup live. I use the board for leads in my progressive metal band. Recently I have found more uses with it with an external effects processor.

The two Chorus options are ok for the era, an external effects processor would be a good route. Good use of effects and patches on your processor can almost act like having Tone banks for this board. Even without external effects the board still comes up with warm fat tones.

The board can be used by all types of music. Mostly I see the board being used in Hip Hop and Progressive Metal/Rock, the board has been used on Jazz discs as well.

eeing how much the board weighs and how hard it hit the ground.

I contacted Roland's support and was able to get replacement keys for this board. I have not tried to get anything else for this unit yet. Seeing how old the unit is and companies have problems supporting new products I thought Roland's support did fine.

This board is great, I love it. If I ever lost it I would have to get another one or I might try a Korg Poly6.

If you own this unit get some external effects on it you find yourself playing it even more.

Juno is a great synth.I've used it in a lot of production and live sets.
I've triggered it with a Roland 707 and a E-mu SP12 to have a syncronized
arpeggio (with the other midi devices)
With the 707 you can control the the trigger pulse with the RimShot so
you can write in your sequencer a RimShot track and the juno will play
the notes of arpeggio in the metric you wrote (try it!!).
With a SP12 you only sync the arpeggio (1/4,1/8t,1/8,1/12,1/16,1/16t ecc..)
for a sound more sequential an 303 oriented.
In this case you use the Metronome out signal (5 V) and the Sp12 receves
the midi beat clock.

I've only rated this an 8 'cos I don't have a maunal for it. I actually found this on top of someone's pile of garbage.And what a find. The analoge sliders give it some beautiful real time tweakage. You really don't have to know how to play keyboards to make this thing work for you

Well the lack of MIDI is an obvious bummer. But the arpeggiator is fun. I think a MIDI/CV converter will make it an even more versatile piece of equipment. The chorus does a good job and if you press both of the chorus buttons together you get a sort of tremelo effect. It's a pretty basic synth but it does what it does well.

There's certainly no lush strings or realistic piano on this machine. But lets face it that's not what you use it for. Yup, it's for bass. Gota be careful not to blow something up though. And when you start sliding those controls around it can get pretty exciting. Ah the wonders of arpeggiating a held note and inching up it's frequencies.

You can throw this thing at the neighbors dog then get it back & keep playing with it. It's built like a truck. And yes the wood paneling on the ends always gets a comment from your mates. Plug 'n' play.
Unplug & chuck it in the back of the car.

I don't think Roland care about these things anymore. I think the only people who care about them are the people who own them. If you get one you'll understand and you'll never give it up. (although someone obviously wasn't impressed enough if i found it on their rubbish. Philistine) Still, I'd like to find a manual just out of curiosity

I've got an old TR505 that someone was gracious enough to give me and I'd like to use it to trigger the arpeggiator but I've had no success yet. But there aren't many things more satisfying than sitting down and simply 'playing' with this thing. I'm a guitarist and a DJ not a keyboard player but that doesn't mean I can't make music with it.
I'm in LOVE!

For anyone starting out with synths, this one is great. I didn't get a manual with Mine, but after an hour I had pretty much figured out the basics.Sure, it doesn't have seperate LFO's etc, but I think that it was probably aimed at a market who wanted an easier than usual synth to operate.

6 notes polyphony.......Sure,it's not alot, but for sort of things You would probably want to use it for (Bass,leads etc) It'll probably be enough (It's not like You're likely to want to play jazzy 13th chords on this thing).
The keyboard action takes a little getting used to if You're not used to a non touch-sensitive keyboard. 2 types of Chorus, white noise control, 3 LFO's (but only one LFO rate control), excellent and easy to use Arpeggio and a pitch-bend wheel that can also be assigned to control the cut-off frequency.
No MIDI, No memory, No sequencer, what You see is what You get.........an awesome sounding and very easy to use synth.

Bass,Bass and Bass! If You haven't guessed yet, This thing is made for Bass! I've starting using My Juno 6 in the band I'm in and the keyboard parts are so much fatter and chunkier.
The leads are pretty cool aswell, and 6 notes polyphony means that there are also some excellent pad sounds to be heard. The chorus really helps thicken things up, and I just love the cheesy sound effects (Helicopter? Spaceship?) Brilliant!
As I said before, this machine is made to sound GOOD! It has that sound that the digital synths of the same era just cant compete with.

Before I was using a Casio WK 12000 live, then I started using a cheap MIDI keyboard controlling A Roland MC-303 Groovebox. Both of these set-ups used to be extremely un-reliable!!!!I had all sorts of problems (especially with the cheap MIDI keyboard!)
Then I used The Juno 6, and it ran absolutely perfectly!!! (and everyone loved the sounds)
This thing is so solid You would need to run over it with a bull-dozer to break it. And after putting up with dodgy small AC sockets, a chunky, solid power cord is nice too.

Haven't had a problem yet

Look at it this way....I also own a Casio WK 1200 worth about $1000, and I paid $200 for My Juno 6. If someone broke into My house and asked which keyboard they could steal, I would tell them to take the Casio....I couldn't part with My Juno 6

Presets? Manual? You gotta be kidding! The Juno-6 is one of the last "totally live" synths, with no memories in RAM or ROM. I didn't get a manual with mine, but anyone with a basic understanding of synthesis should be OK. Keep a pad and pen close by, and you'll be fine for recording sounds. The from sliders are fairly smooth, while the switches and buttons have a nice, friendly resistance to them. A well laid out synth.

Though polyphony is six voices, there's only one oscillator per voice unfortunately. the good news is that it has a sub oscillator and can sound two waves at once. The sub oscillator, combined with a quite lush two level chorus helps fatten up the sounds, but no one is going to be fooled into thinking this is a Memorymoog. No MIDI, no gate or CV interfacing (except for a single filter input), so you're on you own unless you're willing to spring for a MIDI interface mod. Only one envelope and LFO too, but the envelope can be inverted (nice touch), and the LFO can affect both pitch and pulse width, along with filter cutoff. Unfortunately, the LFO is a single, global one, (so those nice fat string sounds one gets from a Oberheim due to multiple, out of phase LFOs aren't possible). This is fine in most cases and saves money, but six independent LFOs would have been much better. A good arpeggiator, and an added highpass filter are bonuses, but the HP filter can't be controlled by the LFO or envelope. It's strictly a set and forget slider.

I'm going to say something heretical here, something that goes against all synth doctrine: the Juno-6 does a better bass than a Moog. Not for the sustained, streamy, droning synth sounds mind you (a Moog will eat the Juno for lunch when it comes to drone bass), but for the percussive, 'bowww' type sounds, the Juno is among the most solid sounding I have ever heard. According to one source, the filters in the Juno-6 are different from those in the Juno-60, which was meant to be a 6 with memory, but otherwise identical. I cannot judge the veracity of this statement, even after popping open the front panel (it's a very clean looking job under the hood of this synth I might add), so I could be wrong. However, the 6 exhibits some of the hallmarks that made the Moog's bass popular including grungy filters that can be slightly overdriven to lend a more aggressive edge. Because of this, it's a good choice for dance music. The high end is also pretty decent, with only a hint of the high end harshness that some synths exhibit. The only reservations I have are as a result of the keyboard. Playing this synth requires a good deal of concentration, since the keyboard action is incredibly light and notes are easily triggered by simply resting one's hand on the keys. Once you get used to it, things should be fine. If nothing else, it'll improve you hand posture. No velocity or aftertouch, by the way.

With fake wooden end cheeks and a hefty metal from panel, this synth can sustain some fairly severe damage. The volume pot has become a little noisy, but that should be easy to fix. Other than that, no complaints.

Roland has probably forgotten they made these things. I doubt there is much support needed or provided.

Misgivings: no second oscillator, only one LFO and envelope, no unison mode or portamento, awful keyboard, no memories. Don't bother using it for solos, instead rely on it for bass, and solid, if non-descript vaguely keyboardish sounds. A budget instument that was in many ways the last of its kind. Strong points: arpeggiaor, ease of use, excellent chorus, phenomenal bass, high pass filter. If you can find one cheap, I'd pick it up as a backup synth in case yours needs o visit the repairman. A good educational tool for learning synthesis too.