New Juno DS Series

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rsaintjohn
Posts: 265
Joined: 02:56, 23 May 2015
Location: Cleveland, OH USA

New Juno DS Series

Post by rsaintjohn »

Man, I'm dizzy from all the product previews today!

JUNO-DS61

JUNO-DS88

So are these the next step for the JUNO DI, or replacements for the FA-06 and 08? Any ideas from the specs?
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Synth Guru
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Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by Synth Guru »

Woah! That's insane. Roland just announced the Boutique synths and now the new Junos! Seems to me that the synth market is gonna explode and spark a synth war with other manufacturers. Seems that the demand is still strong by gigging musicians, studio hawks, and collectors. I can't wait to hear them!
techie
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Joined: 09:44, 3 January 2007

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by techie »

Judging by specs - it's Juno Di line continuation, can't be compared to FA-06/08.
No mentioning of SuperNatural engine and other indicator - 3 MFX + chorus and reverb - specs typical for Juno-G & Juno-Di i guess. Fa line has more MFX-es and TFX if i remember correctly.

Comparing to Juno-Di, i see following new items :
1) Phrase Pads for Triggering Songs and Samples
2) 8-track pattern sequencer
3) Integration with Axial and wave expansion slot - so you can load new waveforms/sounds from Axial site
4) New piano and organ sounds

Would be interesting to listen to audio demos and other question if and how sounds can be programmed - from panel or from computer and if there will be editor etc.
techie
Posts: 46
Joined: 09:44, 3 January 2007

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by techie »

Here is youtube video of Roland Juno DS in use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=y ... pp=desktop
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PauloF
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Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by PauloF »

techie wrote:Here is youtube video of Roland Juno DS in use

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=y ... pp=desktop
Sorry but this link seems to be broken...


Anyway, from reading the specs, the DS-61/88 seems more a product more near to the Juno-Di than to the FA-06/08.

FA's are PCM and SuperNatural Analogue and Digital Synths.

DS's are PCM and SuperNatural Digital only
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cello
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Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by cello »

I see that all the FA EXP packs have just been released at Axial for these new Junos.
atrin
Posts: 22
Joined: 18:54, 22 April 2014

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by atrin »

hi:
i had juno gi but i sold it because it could not loop and RECORDING real time and i have to use computer software(sonar)
NOW:
this is about JUNO DS:"Build a mobile recording studio with the integrated USB interface"
can this keyboard record real time in USB?
can this keyboard record phrase from phrase pads while we playing and record in USB?

i hope i could tell true my question because my english language not well
thank you
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rsaintjohn
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Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by rsaintjohn »

I got a chance to try out the Juno DS (88) over the weekend at the local Sam Ash. I was pleasantly surprised! Great keybed, very nice balance between solid build and lightweight, and sooooo many sounds. And despite them being PCM only, they really did sound great. Nice onboard controls and very, very easy to navigate. I've never touched a Juno and don't have an FA, but I had no problem at all sitting down and immediately jamming on it with the phrase pads and sequencer. Good effects, too. Weighted keyboard felt identical to the FA-08 that was next to it. I'm not sure I'd choose it over an FA-08 because I'm more studio than performance, but it definitely felt and sounded like a $1000 board.

Unfortunately, one reason I was really interested in it was as a controller for one or two Boutiques. But based on the MIDI doc online, I don't think it will be suitable. Way too many basic controller commands do not appear to be transmitted.
axxim
Posts: 9
Joined: 14:32, 31 October 2010
Location: Germany

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by axxim »

Hi all,

After a long time here I am again. I purchased the new Juno-DS and consequent and logical questions are:
Anyone else here with a Juno-DS?
Will there be a Juno-DS thread in this Forum?
SizZleR
Posts: 15
Joined: 14:31, 11 October 2015

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by SizZleR »

axxim wrote:Anyone else here with a Juno-DS?
I got a DS61 two days after u got urs mate. :-D


I've also done a "little" review here for those who might be interested, forgive me if some of my statements are wrong, I've only had it for a couple of days so far. ;-)


The Juno-DS is a multifunction machine, pretty much like a small Swiss army knife, with a few but very well working tools.

It consists of a (16-part multitimberal) Synthesizer, Vocoder (pitch corrector), an 8 track (up to 8 measures) Pattern Sequencer and a sampler.

Each tool work independently as a "mode", meaning that when u press the "Vocoder" button, it becomes a dedicated vocoder and u wont be able to use the sequencer or other parts at the same time; The same goes for the sequencer mode.


The synthesizer has 16 parts and you can assign one patch per part; Each patch consist of (up to) 4 partials with individual waveforms, LFOs, ENVs etc.

You can even assign different waveforms for Left and Right respectively, meaning that you can end up with a patch based on 8 waveforms; Some of the preset pianos are done like that.

So the synthesizer part is truly agile and will produce just about any sound you want it to.
Further, you can layer ("Super Layer") up to all 16 parts with each their different patch assigned.

Also it has arpeggio which works very nice indeed.


The Vocoder takes any patch you choose and use it as carrier, whether you wanna do single notes or full wide chords.
I found that using some of the "Choir" patches, will actually serve as a very nice Vocalist effect.

Within the vocoder theres also pitch correction, while it can be set to do maj/min or chromatic scale, I have yet to find a way to do a custom scale neither fixed scale (where u select the notes to use and itll pitch correct to the nearest note of that) or dynamic (realtime monophonic where you simply play the melody while singing it and it will keep you 100% in tune all the time). I don't think it can be done?


The 8-track pattern sequencer will record up to 8 measures in the time signature of your choice and loop the selected pattern upon playback.

You are free to use each track for whatever u want, drums, patch or samples, no dedicated drum track like u find on the JD-Xi or anything like that.

I have yet to understand the pattern sequencers true strength, because no matter how I look at it, I keep bumping my head into a lack of feature, like:

- No step recorder (u can use the arpeggio for a step-ish way of recording)
- No pattern arranger (setting your patterns to loop and playback in a specific order)
- No way to assign patterns to be triggered thru the phrase pads
- No dynamic key change during pattern playback

When I first read about the pattern sequencer and saw the control surface of the Juno-DS, I was imagining something like the pattern sequencer I know from RB-338, which lets you create the patterns you need for your song and then set up a sequence to loop and jump between patterns or switch between them manually.

I don't know why these limits are there, because it shdnt be that much effort to make a pattern arranger that works like:

"MyPatArr 1"
"Pat: 0 | Loop: 0 | Next: 2" - First pattern plays once
"Pat: 2 | Loop: 3 | Next: 1" - Second pattern plays 4 times
"Pat: 1 | Loop: 0 | Next: -1" - Final pattern plays once and then playback stops.


Another solution could be a style-like pattern sequencer, after all, a style sequencer is merely a pattern sequencer that lets you change the key during playback and again, I don't see the big deal in implementing such a feature.

You would simply add a parameter on each track that says "Dyn Key Chg: [ON|OFF]" so only tracks you set to "ON" will be affected by key changes, keeping your drums, percussion, fx or whatever from changing key.

Adding a parameter like "Dyn Key Chn: [1 - 16 | Ptn]" where the user can select how he wants to control the key changes, leaves him with three different ways of controlling of doing so: 1. Ext midi source | 2. Juno-DS keyboard | 3. Pattern sequencer (on the cost of a track dedicated to key change ofc)

Until some of this or something like this gets implemented, the pattern sequencer is pretty useless to me, because I might as well just sample my patterns, import them into the Juno and play them back thru one of the parts and have the remaining 15 parts available to use at the same time.

As of right now, im using my GW-8s style composer as a pattern sequencer, with MIDI out to the Juno-DS and PrgChg filtered from the output.
Then I create a performance on the Juno-DS to match each of my GW-8 styles.

It does work, but its time consuming and seems like something that shdnt be necessary in the year 2016.
Luckily, the Juno-DS has more or less all the same patches as the GW-8 (as they both inherited them from the same series), so its not like I have to sit and find substitute patches on the Juno-DS, though a "search" function would've been nice or at least an alphabetically sorted patch list.......yes I can copy the one in the manual, stuff it in Excel and sort it in there, but still would be nice to have it inside the Juno-DS.

Now that I'm at it, patch mapping would be great too, because the Juno-DS is a pretty good sound engine upgrade for my GW-8 and I can imagine it could be for other arrangers as well? So being able to do a patch map would be cool.


The sampler is very basic, but yet really useable.
Its really easy to import a sample and use it as a patch thatll play on all the keys, meaning that it will change pitch thru change in playback speed.

Unfortunately, its not possible to do a multisample preset, I just checked the sample editor and I don't see any "key range" or "key fade" parameter in there.

If there had been such a feature, you could do custom multisample patches of up to 16 different samples using "Super Layer", but it doesn't seem to be there. :-/

Besides basic stuff like cropping and loop, the sampler is rather powerful, you get filters, TVAs, TVFs aso.

So far Ive done two samples, first I did a car-start-takeoff that I intended to use for a cover of "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk.

The second one I did while writing this post right now, where I sampled the Korg-M1 factory preset "Voice Wave" to use in the Juno-DS as well.

After importing it from USB storage, I went in the sample editor and just added some reverb send and it actually sounds pretty cool.

While its not super refined and all, it shows that you can easily get that special sound u need for that cover u wanna do and in this case, it means the Juno-DS is on its way to do a nice cover of "Paranoimia" by The Art Of Noise. :-D

Besides if you do take a little time to refine the samples u use, the Juno-DS sample editor allows you to define a part of the sample that will be looped while the key is pressed.

Now the challenge is to create a sample that has a part in it that allows you to obtain that seamless loop.
I just tried it real fast with my "Voice Wave" sample and its not that easy.....meaning, I didn't succeed. X-)

A feature I truly miss is being able to use my own samples in patches, as well as using them in drumsets, as it would enable me to do some really nice FX sets which wouldn't take up more than one part of the whole Juno-DS.

Another thing I miss in the sampler is a "Reverse" setting thatll simply play the sample in reverse.
Ofc when u make a custom sample, you can just do a reverse version to import, but id like to see the "Reverse" feature for the onboard waveforms as well, just a thing like reversing a cymbal isn't possible and that's a shame as it doesn't take much to implement.


MFX engines, it has 3 (just like my GW-8) and the Juno-DS even has the same 78 effect presets plus 2 more, so 80 total.

The MFX engines can be used as you like, meaning that you can assign any part to any of the three MFX engines and multiple parts can be assigned to the same MFX engine; A really nice feature but also a feature that may get messy if you don't save every setup as a performance.


Expandable it is and after upgrading to the latest firmware, I went to Roland Axial website and downloaded the "Dance" expansion package.

Installing it is really easy, but it does take a few minutes, so you prolly wont find yourself switching back and forth between expansions.


Do I think the Juno-DS61 is worth the DKR 5.600,- (approx. U$D 810 or EUR 750)?
Very much so, even though it has room for improvement, its still a fantastic piece of equipment, especially considering its pricetag. :-)
SizZleR
Posts: 15
Joined: 14:31, 11 October 2015

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by SizZleR »

atrin wrote:hi:
i had juno gi but i sold it because it could not loop and RECORDING real time and i have to use computer software(sonar)
NOW:
this is about JUNO DS:"Build a mobile recording studio with the integrated USB interface"
can this keyboard record real time in USB?
can this keyboard record phrase from phrase pads while we playing and record in USB?

i hope i could tell true my question because my english language not well
thank you
The Juno-DS has no built-in audio recording system, it only imports wav-files to internal memory, but you cant use that memory to do a live recording.
SizZleR
Posts: 15
Joined: 14:31, 11 October 2015

Re: New Juno DS Series

Post by SizZleR »

Second thoughts....

Im actually having second thoughts about the Juno-DS61 now, because the reason I went with that rather than the FA-06 was because Id rather have a pattern sequencer than a linear sequencer.

But the more I study the pattern sequencer in the Juno-DS, the more I realize it can never come close to what I really want and hence I might as well go with the FA-06 which has all the features of the Juno-DS, plus more of everything, like two expansion slots instead of just one, SuperNatural sound engine, 6 knobs instead of four, D-beam controller etc.

After all, a fully functioning linear sequencer, is worth more to me than a pattern sequencer I cant make any use of at all.
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