Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Forum for JUNO-Gi
GiJo
Posts: 14
Joined: 03:20, 12 October 2011

Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by GiJo »

Does anybody still own a Juno Gi? If the answer is yes - why? If the answer is no - why not? Thanks.
RadioDJ
Posts: 27
Joined: 22:44, 13 March 2011

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by RadioDJ »

I have the Juno-Gi. It has many great sounds and 128-voice polyphony. The layers and splits make it easy to use multiple sounds at the same time. It is lightweight and travels well. The USB song player is great. Excellent BOSS effects. I like the SD memory card capabilities/song player.

If I could add one thing, it would be the ability to add custom patches (live sets) to the library. I incorrectly assumed that capability would be a standard feature for a keyboard like this. I've concluded that I need to add another keyboard to the rack to have that capability (or maybe a soft synth.)

-RadioDJ
GiJo
Posts: 14
Joined: 03:20, 12 October 2011

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by GiJo »

Thanks, RadioDJ. Nice to know someone's still out there.
User avatar
PauloF
Posts: 4201
Joined: 02:35, 16 January 2006
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Contact:

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by PauloF »

GiJo wrote:Thanks, RadioDJ. Nice to know someone's still out there.
Maybe they are all Busy making music ;-)
Take care
GiJo
Posts: 14
Joined: 03:20, 12 October 2011

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by GiJo »

They sure might be - thanks!
User avatar
RoyR
Posts: 87
Joined: 14:56, 4 March 2011
Location: Alexandria, VA USA

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by RoyR »

I still enjoy my Gi...just a couple reasons here:

--I love the 4 layers of sounds, which can be placed in any range on the keyboard. Piano plus some mix of strings, flute, cello sound nice to my ears. Easy to set up for just the right combination of sounds

--lightweight. can't beat ~13 lbs

--onboard sound recorder is quick and easy to use for capturing musical ideas.

--MFX within live sets is nice. But you can go further using the Insert Effects feature to tweak the built in sounds, something not well documented in the user manual. Take a look here>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmjAVnKh ... re=related I would never have known the microphone sound effects bank could alter a piano sound in such a cool way without seeing this (and other) videos.

I could go on...I'm happy with my Gi. I would have happily paid a bit more for another octave (73 keys). Then it would be nearly perfect for me.

Roy
yamahaforums
Posts: 149
Joined: 16:09, 8 October 2005

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by yamahaforums »

Still got mine although probably not for much longer. I'm happy with the sounds although Roland could have been a bit more descriptive with the patch names. Things like Piano 1, Piano 2 etc aren't exactly inspiring but then it does sound ok so it's a small niggle really.

Never used the Audio recorder so that's really just a waste of resources for me. I found I just used my computer instead as it's more powerful and easier to use.

The lack of an software editor is a big issue with me, as you might have seen from my other posts on the subject ;) Having said that I take full responsibility for buying the wrong product. Had I researched it in more depth I would not have bought the Juno Gi. It's a great keyboard for what it is but I think it is over priced and under specified. I'll be moving on.
DJ RAZZ rasco
Posts: 10
Joined: 00:11, 15 December 2011

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by DJ RAZZ rasco »

Fist of all I just want to say hello again. I was here before but for what ever reason needed to reset my account.

Now the GI, I simply love the sounds, the effects, the ease of editing, the layer and splitting of the live setup, the screen, the on board knobs, the Boss effects, etc... What else can I say it is very powerful, good looking, good feeling, and good sounding; a needed workhorse for my live rig. I have even adjusted some parameters to the compensate for the slight distortion in the 88 Grand Piano patch.

RAZZ....
User avatar
delirium
Posts: 397
Joined: 22:13, 11 May 2008
Contact:

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by delirium »

unfortunately not any more, been using juno gi for a 3 weeks, recorded one song
using onboard sounds exclusively and that's it. The reason why not having it anymore is simple - the keybed
sucks on all junos keyboards and I never will understannd why roland do this mistake.
Other then that I loved this board as well I did juno g. I would change one thing besides the keybed of course
which is I'd rather have 49 keys instead of 61. It supposed to be portable keyboard right? 61keys is too long.
User avatar
RoyR
Posts: 87
Joined: 14:56, 4 March 2011
Location: Alexandria, VA USA

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by RoyR »

2 & 1/2 years now with the Juno Gi and still happy with it.

My Jupiter 50 bought in November 2012 relegated the Gi to number 2 status by way of the Jupiter's many excellent sounds, performance capabilities, and somewhat better-feeling keybed (to me), along with that extra octave.

But the Gi still has a firm place in my music world...
--It's easier to carry on trips and better for busking and in other places where "environmental" hazards might be present. The Roland gig bag for it has backpack straps and makes it a snap to carry along with other gear.
--The on-board recorder is very good, handy, and is unaffected by background noise when my external Zoom recorder would be a poor tool.
--Mic/guitar inputs and FX for them are cool, when needed. I don't sing or play guitar, but the feature has been useful to me with others who want to plug in to my system and experiment.
--Four tones in the livesets are plenty most of the time. The lower and solo tones also available on the Jupiter 50 are nice, but not always necessary.
I'll think of more reasons.

Having two similar keyboards like this is perhaps an extravagant luxury, but I've found both to have useful functions, and I'm keeping 'em.

Roy
tnicoson
Posts: 192
Joined: 04:07, 27 January 2013

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by tnicoson »

Looks like you and I are pretty much on the same track, Roy. I view the Gi as a mini version of my JP-50, or more accurately a portable version of the JP-50's "UPPER" section. Please don't feel bad. I don't see having both a Gi and a 50 as an extravagance at all, but more of a natural combination. I actually bought the 50 because I needed 76 keys with a decent selection of acoustic and electric piano voices, but as it turns out, there are a lot of piano voices on the Gi that I like better than those on the 50. When I first got the Gi, I had absolutely no use for the recorder, as I have a Fostex 8 tracker that has been my workhorse for several years, but I have noticed recently that I am just relying more and more on the Gi's recorder.
I am also discovering how little I have relied on onboard hardware sequencers instead of PC based DAW's. Having the onboard MIDI file/MP3 player is really about all I need in that respect on the keyboard itself. So, it looks like the Gi will have a place here in the studio and in the back seat of my Ford Focus for some time to come.

Regards,

Ted
User avatar
RoyR
Posts: 87
Joined: 14:56, 4 March 2011
Location: Alexandria, VA USA

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by RoyR »

Ahhhh, yes, Ted. Both of us on the same progression through keyboardland...Juno Gi>>Jupiter 50 >> who-knows-what-next.

My first one was a Yamaha DGX205, with 76 keys, 19 lbs, 32 note polyphony, only about $220, and very satisfactory performance getting me started. I probably should sell it, I guess! It's discontinued now but here it is, FYI>> http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical- ... mode=model

Roy
User avatar
flyingace
Posts: 264
Joined: 22:11, 31 August 2011
Location: Central Arkansas, USA
Contact:

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by flyingace »

I still have my Gi. I vacillate about selling it but never seem to get around to making a decision.

It's really good at what it does, but I admit I don't use it as much as I should. It's light weight and the gig bag is excellent (as stated by others), battery powered, song player, sd slot...

Still, too bad there is not a PC/MAC editor and creating sounds or adding pre-programmed patches isn't possible.

The acoustic and electric pianos could sound better but it's not my only keyboard. I have the Korg SV-1 to do that job.

I still may put it up for sale but really truthfully, I haven't seen another keyboard that is like it even with the features I wish it had, not really even close... maybe the Korg Kross? ugh.

It's just too bad Roland didn't design this thing with upgradeability in mind.
Gambler
Posts: 60
Joined: 00:54, 27 February 2012

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by Gambler »

I still have it, even though I also bought Kronos.

Gi has a lot of very inspiring sounds right outside of the box. It loads relatively fast. The UI is mostly intuitive. Unlike some people, I really like the feel of its keys. It's also pretty powerful in what you can get out of it.

Overall, though, I think it's an unfinished product with some stupid limitations.
1. It has great sliders and knobs, but you can't assign those to sound parameters.
2.It has multicolor LEDs in nearly every button, but they are severely underutilized. The only time I saw those LEDs turn yellow is during system update.
3. The recorder has stupid, inflexible design. If Gi could do track looping and continuous overdub (without timbre lockdown), it would make the keyboard an order of magnitude more interesting to work with. This is probably the biggest annoyance of mine. The keyboard already does looping and overdub, so the functionality is there, but it's designed in a stupid way that stifles creative uses.

I would gladly pay $100-$200 for a software update that would fix these issues.

I'm thinking about resampling all the good banks into Kronos and selling it to get used Prophet 08. I will definitely miss it, though.

BTW, did you know that the keyboard has indefinite sound hold for individual timbres? If you press and hold a key while playing, say, an organ on U1, you can then change U1 to another patch and play new sounds, and then change it to something else again - indefinitely. This predates similar feature in 1.1 OS update and it can allows you to hear several (not just two) instruments at the same time.

I wish companies like Roland used Kickstarter for improvements that users want.
Xtrife
Posts: 43
Joined: 06:15, 19 June 2013

Re: Still Have Your Juno Gi ?

Post by Xtrife »

Well I've just ordered a new Juno Gi i found on ebay for $516. I had been after one for about a month, think i got myself a pretty good deal. I'm mainly a keyboardist but i also play the guitar and compose my own songs so the Juno Gi is what i wanted.

I'm just selling my Korg M50 now, which was fairly dissapointing in my opinion. After owning an expanded Roland JV1080 (which i loved) I decided to go back to Roland.

EDIT: I've been looking at the Juno Gi manuals online and one thing i havent been able to find is the pitch bend range. I usually set it so that when I tilt the joystick (or wheel) one way, it will alter the pitch by -12 and when tilted the other way, pitch +2. Is it not possible to assing different values depending on the direction?
Post Reply