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yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

I've just today joined the Roland Clan Forum. I've used multiple Roland and Boss products over the years. My favorite product is the GR-20 Guitar Synth I picked up a few years ago.

The reason I felt the need to join a Roland forum is my very recent purchase of a new Roland Juno-G. I've been a songwriter / guitarist for over 45 years and have always been a big fan of Synth keyboard players. I finally decided to buy a keyboard of decent quality just because I needed a new muse. My song writing has always been my main reason for different gear purchases over the years and at this point in my life I decided I wanted a Keyboard Synth to be able to add it's input to the idea machine.

My quest started at the Korg site / forum because I use a Korg D3200 for recording purposes. After quite a bit of checking and double checking I was very close to purchasing a Korg M50. It seemed to have everything I wanted. I then started checking out the You Tube videos of different synths and stumbled on the Roland Juno D. I fell in love with many of the sound examples that were posted. One of your members recently purchased a Juno Di and seemed to go Ga-Ga over it. I decided that would be the Synth I would buy. When I finally got to see one up close and personal I ran into a major problem. I don't like to have to use a computer to make settings and control parameters. The Juno D had six knobs to adjust LFO, Envelope, etc. right on the keyboard. The Di took some of these controls away and replaced them with computer graphics that could do the same plus much more. Still.......I don't want to use a computer to do these things. I like Knobs and sliders, etc..

I was going to go back to the Korg M50 when I stumbled on the Juno-G. My knobs were back, it offered kind of a combination of the Juno D and Di, and threw in a 16 track recorder. It was back up near the price range of the M50, but, with a much easier learning curve and, in my opinion, better voicings on tap.

So. Here I am. My experience on keyboards is pretty much limited to a Yamaha PSR-292. Ok sounds with a 6 track recorder. Believe it or not I've written more than a handful of tunes on that silly thing and have even posted one on the net that got quite a few hits. Yet. The Juno-G is a whole new level. In the few days I've owned it I've been astounded by one voicing after another. I've been reading and rereading the manual and have come to realize that any outside input I can acquire will be extremely helpful. I don't have any specific questions at this point, but, I wanted to at least join up and introduce myself.

I'm an old school rocker. I bought the ELP album with "Lucky Man" on it's first pressing. I bought King Crimsons "Court of the Crimson King" when it was first released. The first drummer I formed a band with was crazy over "Tarkus". "Yes" with Tony Kaye or Rick Wakeman. Jan Hammer with just about anybody. I do love the Synth.

Anyway. Here I am. An ancient composer, guitarist, singer, arranger attempting to wrestle down the Synth. Born in January of 55, started writing tunes in 1960 with a toy keyboard, first guitar from my dad in 1961. First real song that I still play today in 1963.

So tell me. Was the Juno G a good choice or did I fall for hype. I think it sounds great and is more than I ever dreamed of, but, I also bought a PSR half a dozen years ago, so, go figure.

Hello Everybody! I'm here to learn.

Rick
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dbijoux
Posts: 1700
Joined: 22:49, 26 April 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by dbijoux »

Hey, welcome and congrats on your purchase.

I am old guitarist too, I still play although most of my time is really spent on the Juno. My interest is more in electronic, dance oriented music, but nowadays there is so much crossover in sound I've come to a conclusion it's the production processes that differs most.

As for the hype, I guess believe it.

You've already noticed the Juno is a very capable workstation and the sound engine is not only impressive, but rather easy to work with - especially compared to other mfg's. From my perspective, you basically have a Fantom-X and there are only a few things missing that may or may not be important to you.

Along with 16 tracks in the sequencer, 4 tracks of audio, and the sampling update in version 2.0, you should also have enough polyphony to cover any of your tunes.

I think you pretty much summed it up tho when you gave it a new home.

Enjoy!

Ps. Make sure to check out the library here and download the XV collection. It's like 1000 patches updated for the Juno and will keep you busy for a while. Also, you can learn to use the librarian so it's easy to back up your patches, etc. later.
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piaknowguy
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Joined: 22:29, 14 April 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: New Member Here

Post by piaknowguy »

Hello Everybody! I'm here to learn.


Glad that you could join us, Yeoldsongsmith! We all have alot to learn from eachother, but that's what this forum is all about. (not to mention having a few laughs and a 'Does beers' once in a while.) Your intro creates a very positive first impression. All we ask here is that you show the same amount of respect to forum members as you would expect them to show to you! . . . Oh . . . and around here, Artemiy is King, and a very benevolent ruler at that!!

Cheers and have a great forum experience!
PiaKnowGuy
Watch a song being built with the Fantom X in one take

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PiaKnow
yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

Thank you for the warm welcome. This experience is now even better. King Artemiy. Very cool. I've joined a monarchy.
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Artemiy
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Re: New Member Here

Post by Artemiy »

Welcome here! And no, it's not monarchy, really... do not worry ;-)
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dbijoux
Posts: 1700
Joined: 22:49, 26 April 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by dbijoux »

An oligarchy maybe a more becoming description?
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Artemiy
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Re: New Member Here

Post by Artemiy »

No, totalitarian green tea republic ;-)
yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

I've noted the multiple languages offered on the Roland Clan forum. How many countries have members here? Um.....Monarchy or otherwise.
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Artemiy
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Re: New Member Here

Post by Artemiy »

We have members from at least 120 countries. This is official tracking information:
http://forums.rolandclan.com/?p=members
yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

Geeez! It's the musical U.N.

Congratulations. That's an outstanding accomplishment. It might be called the world wide web, but, very few websites are actual examples of the phenomenon.
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V-CeeOh
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Joined: 18:13, 28 September 2004
Location: Portugal

Re: New Member Here

Post by V-CeeOh »

Welcome yeoldsongsmith!

I think you're mentioning me when you talk about a member going Ga-Ga about the Di ;-)
Well, I really was very impressed about it mainly because of the sound quality for it's price range. I didn't exactly bought it since I have a Fantom-G8. I work in a music instrument shop and this is how I get my hands on most of the new gear.
In fact, the Di would not be the right keyboard for your needs. So I think you made an excelent choice for your "second" first keyboard. You will see a lot of potential there as the Juno-G share many of its features with the top range Fantom worksations. If you like "oldie" analog type sinth sounds, make sure you also check Artemiy's sound library and Tweakbooks. Not only you get new sounds and valuable information you will also help him keeping up this Forum ;-)

BTW
I always thought we were a DOES BEER DICTACTORSHIP ;-)
yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

I thought your videos on the Juno Di were highly impressive to the point that I knew for a fact that all the guitars, amps, and effects in my studio were just going to have to make some room for a new keyboard.

The more I looked and checked around the more I wanted to make sure that I picked a keyboard that would fit in with my other gear.

It took a long time "climbing the gear ladder" to get to my present guitar / amp rigs and I wanted to skip the "buy low until you know your gonna stick with it" phase. I went that silly route with recording equipment and did the whole 4 track, 8 track, 16 track 32 track dance. Music store salesmen would flock to the front of the store when I walked in.

I know the Juno G is probably at the lower end of mid level in keyboard pricing, but, it seemed to offer everything I would need and not make me immeadiately start wishing I'd gone with this or that more expensive model. With Fantoms, Motifs, Oasys, and even M3's being just a bit too costly I came down to a price range of $ 900 to maybe $1300 and started looking closely at the Roland Juno G, the Yamaha MO6 and the Korg M50.

The sounds on the Yamaha didn't really impress me as being that big of a jump over their PSR range. The build was nice but the layout was a bit hard to decipher.

The Korg M50 was very impressive and had some killer sounds on tap much akin to the M3 but seemed to favor the techno area and , again, was a bit daunting in it's layout. Still.....I came very close to purchasing the M50. I thought about how it would match up with my Korg D3200 and really did like many of the "Synth" voices it offerred.

The Roland Juno G came into the picture towards the end because I had mainly been focused on the Juno D and the new Juno Di. When I got to really check the Juno G out I realized it's sounds were about equal with the M50 and offerred a better range of sounds for a rock musician / songwriter like myself. Having the six old fashioned control knobs for "live" performance of the patches was a Big +. The 16 onboard tracks added to it and the layout was as easy to understand as that of the Juno D or Di.

The Juno G won my dollars and I'm not looking back.

yeoldsongsmith
Shambler
Posts: 216
Joined: 12:14, 27 July 2006

Re: New Member Here

Post by Shambler »

Welcome Rick, nice forum choice btw ;)

Hmmm Yamaha PSR....I remember them well, I had a PSR as my first keyboard purchase before moving onto synths.

I remember buying my first Roland synth, a U-220 and I was blown away by the sound.

You're going to have alot of fun with a Juno-G =)
yeoldsongsmith
Posts: 23
Joined: 15:18, 19 September 2009

Re: New Member Here

Post by yeoldsongsmith »

Just finished my one hour of planned studio time on the Juno G. Started at 2pm, Ended at 6pm. I have no idea where the other three hours went.
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