Juno-G

[Hugo]

Have you guys checked out the new Roland Juno-G?
I was stunned to see the price of the unit here in Norway.
Spec-wise it has the same engine as the Fantom X, it has a large screen, sequencer *and* a 4 track harddisk recorder (!).

It is cheaper than Yamaha's Mo 6 and Korg's TR.
How is that possible?
Does anyone know how comprehensive the sequencer is?

From what I can see, the Juno-G differs from the Fantom X in the screen, probably it has no skip-back sampling, no sampler, and (I guess) less comprehensive sequencing.
It seems like an awesome synth at a shockingly low price.

[Artemiy]

Hugo,

this year Roland has raised their feature/price bar a real lot. I am not sure, but as I know they changed their internal policy to relation with buyers/users, not only in Roland Japan but in all worldwide departments (and of course in Roland Ukriane, my good friends).

Look at SH-201, Juno-G, MC-808 and BR-600. Prices are ridiculous, but features are at least *twice* more killer than what you get in the same price range. Roland did a fantastic job, I simply have no words.

Indeed, Juno-G has the Fantom-X engine, 128 voices, 3 MFX + reverb, chorus and mastering, full-blown sequencer, 4 audio tracks, sampling with WAVE/AIFF import, up to half a gig RAM and one gig card, etc. It beats all Korgs and Yammies in this price range for sure - as they don't have any sort of sampling or audio tracks at all (and I am not sure if they're 128 voice, possibly 64).

BTW, we have a Juno-G forum at Fantomized and Roland CLAN has a dedicated info page too.

[Hugo]

Ok, cool! I'll check them out. Can't wait to trying one when they arrive here, maybe I'll borrow one for the weekend (the guys at my local shop are great .
In fact I was considering buying an sp-606 this fall, but with the arrival of the Juno-G it seems very tempting to spend some more and get that beast instead.

You're right about the competition - no sampling in the Yamaha Mo 6, sampling optional on the Korg TR (thereby upping the price considerably), and then the total sample RAM is a mindblowing 64mb's
Furthermore, polyphony is 64 voices in the Mo, 62 in the TR.

I am indeed stunned over this move by Roland, I'm guessing they'll sell these by the bucketload. Fantastic!

[Artemiy]

Looks like my Fantom-S is in big danger

[Hugo]

Hehe Well, I just had a quick look in the manual, and I must say I get more and more blown by what seems to be an insane deal. Especially the sequencer intrigued me, as I've had a so-so experience with the Motif ES sequencer and OS.
The Juno-G has a very informative display, and piano-roll (!). This synth is getting more and more tasty.
I also learned it can chop up samples recycle-style, which is very cool. And the effects seemed very capable when looking closer at them - Artemio how do you feel about the Fantom's fx?

[Artemiy]

Hugo, Fantom's FX are fantastic. There are many algorithms that are missing on the V-Synth, like Infinite Phaser and LoFi Compressor (you'll fell in love with them). There are also 3D RSS effects (3D delay, 3D chorus) and classics like COSM amp and speaker modeling, Super Filter etc.

[Hugo]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking - alot of the effects would be totally killer coupled with the V-Synth, and linking 3mfx together (plus the globals) would give super flexibility, actually superceding the Motif ES which is a top notch effect processor.
Hmm, I'm in for some serious thinking regarding purchases this fall. It's either the Juno-G or the sp-606 as it stands now, but I must say I'm leaning towards the Juno

[Artemiy]

Actually the serial 3 MFX connection can give some real explosion. I designed hundreds of new sounds like this, by processing sound with MFX, resampling, and then repeating this till my ears don't fall off

Also a while ago on one Roland seminar we routed an electric guitar to Guitar Amp -> Phaser -> Delay, sampled it, then changed the MFX, added drums and bass and jammed along - it sounded like a whole band while we were only two.

[Hugo]

Yeah, I've done this myself too, it's a great way to come up with fresh sounds. Even though the Motif ES has many more insert fx blocks, you only have two at your disposal at any one time - the Juno has three, which makes it more flexible. Do you know if an input signal can be sampled through the mfx' in the Juno?

[Artemiy]

Yes, sure, you can record through MFX. In fact, you also have a sampling pre-processor (choose from compressor, limiter, EQ, etc.), then you have 3 MFX that you can set in series, plus chorus, reverb and then the mastering compressor - this makes up 7 effects units which is *very* dangerous for any incoming signal

[Hugo]

Hahaha, insane - what more could a man ask for? ;D
Coupled with the V-Synth, this would be an earth-shattering combo. Process the V-Synths outgoing signal, not to mention processing the Juno-G through the V-Synth, and recording the whole craziness to the Juno's audiotracks.
I get all dizzy just thinking about it

Thanks for all the info!

[Artemiy]

No probs, glad to help.