Juno-60
Hybrid digital/analog synthesizer
A classic single-oscillator analog/digital hybrid (DCOs).
The Juno-60 came out just a few months after the Juno-6
(same model, but which didn't have
the ability to store sounds in memory). The JU-60, as it's also called by
Roland, is a warm-sounding DCO-based
synthesizer. 56 memory locations are available (to call up banks 6
and 7 you have to press two buttons together).
Roland Juno-60 audio demos
FACTORY BANK "A":
Stream all audio examples below:
| Preset name with audio demo | My comments |
| 11 Strings 1 | Small chamber orchestra strings. Very nice... |
| 12 Strings 2 | Much larger string section (you can definitely hear the classic Chorus II here). |
| 13 Strings 3 | Darker version of the above. Very hypnotic -great for soundtrack work |
| 14 Organ 1 | The good ole Hammond. This version has an abundance of "key click". The tone is really smooth and this sound could pass for the real thing with some nice effects and a Leslie simulator. |
| 15 Organ 2 | More Hammond. This version seems to have more high drawbars pulled. It's definitely brighter and would be good for Gospel styles. |
| 16 Organ 3 | Another organ. This is one is cool both for church and jazz music. |
| 17 Brass | A classic analog-brass patch. For some reason this patch reminds of a synthesizer I used to play in the '80s - the SIEL Opera 6. |
| 18 Phase Brass | A variation of the above. The phasing effect is obtained through the use of PWM and Chorus I. |
| 21 Piano 1 | This sound merely resembles a piano - but hey, for an analog synth from 1982, that's as good as it gets. |
| 22 Piano 2 | This wants to be a Fender-Rhodes electric piano with tremolo effect. And it does! |
| 23 Celesta | Very beautiful, gentle sound. Would be great for New Age pieces. |
| 24 Mellow Piano | A filtered version of patch 21 - with light vibrato on the tail. It is haunting, dramatic and would work well for ballads (although nothing beats the Yamaha DX7 in that department...). |
| 25 Harpsichord 1 | Standard harpsichord sound. Will work well for classical music or '60's rock (i.e. the Doors) |
| 26 Harpsichord 2 | More "produced", glossy version of the above. |
| 27 Guitar | The factory-preset envelope of this patch is set to sustain quite a bit - not like a guitar would do. However, it's easy enough to edit. Good sound for Flamenco atmospheres. |
| 28 Synthesizer Harp | Generic synth sound. |
| 31 Bass 1 | I guess this was intended to resemble a Fender Precision bass. Not completely, but as a synthy bass is great. |
| 32 Bass 2 | And now we enter the Moog arena! A great-sounding, warm and squiggly synth bass. A great patch for everything from '70s funk styles, to '80s synth-pop!!! |
| 33 Clavichord 1 | For Clavichord here is intended "Clavinet", Hohner's masterpiece and the King Keyboard of Funk. Nice emulation. |
| 34 Clavichord 2 | Variation of the above, with a more metallic tone, and wah-wah effect obtained with VCF LFO. |
| 35 Pizzicato Sound 1 | Dreamy, soft synthesizer sound, with haunting vibrato. The softer side of the Juno-60... This sound would work well with the on-board arpeggiator. |
| 36 Pizzicato Sound 2 | A cross between a toy-box and a carillon. |
| 37 Xylophone | Great emulation of a xylophone. |
| 38 Glockenspiel | Cool sound - notice how well the high frequencies are reproduced - usually those sounds are domain of the FM synthesizers. |
| 41 Violine | (I guess it's a typo: should be "Violin" without the "e") A well programmed violin sound. The delayed vibrato in particular hits the spot. |
| 42 Trumpet | Not stellar, but usable. |
| 43 Horn | Right on - great emulation! |
| 44 Tuba | GREAT patch! |
| 45 Flute | Honest flute emulation. It would work better in mono-mode. |
| 46 Clarinet | Well-programmed. Would fool many people with the help of effects. |
| 47 Oboe | The wooden quality is well represented in this patch. Great job! |
| 48 English Horn | Again, a very good emulation of the real thing! |
| 51 Funny Cat | And here we are again in Funk-Land!! After 20 seconds I start manipulating the pitch bender assigning the VCF to it - it really sounds like a cat, doesn't it? :D |
| 52 Wah Brass | Great for scoring cartoons like Caillou, TeleTubbies, or Clifford the big red dog (yes, I have kids...) |
| 53 Phase Combination | Aaaahhh.... a typical '80 sound! |
| 54 Reed 1 | This doesn't sound like a reed at all... maybe a glitch in the cassette factory file? |
| 55 Popcorn | Obviously inspired from Hot Butter's classic song |
| 56 Reed 2 | Sounds more like a celesta or something... |
| 57 Reed 3 | Similar to a clarinet. |
| 58 PMW Chorus | (Typo: should be "PWM" for Pulse Modulation Width) ANALOG!!!!!!! Similar to the patch used for the synth line in "Sweet Dreams"! What a great, powerful, inspiring patch! |
| 61 Synthesizer Organ | Very warm synth sound. |
| 62 Effect Sound 1 | Effective sound with interesting filter envelope. |
| 63 Effect Sound 2 | Very powerful, analog sound! It shakes the walls! What's interesting is that so many Virtual Analogs nowadays try to emulate these kinds of sounds... |
| 64 Space Harp | Definitely spacey (but the VCA envelope is too long). Great for scoring Sci-Fi movies. |
| 65 Funk | Yep - that's exactly it! Check out how fat and huge these synth sounds are!! |
| 66 Space Sound 1 | Just a beautiful, rising synthesizer patch. Add heavy reverb and your spooky soundtrack is ready. |
| 67 Mysterious Invention | I'll give this preset a prize for the original patch name :D ! Cool patch, though. |
| 68 Space Sound 2 | Great synth sound, mysterious, hypnotic, evolving.. reminds of the Prophet-VS almost! |
| 71 Percussive Sound 1 | Typical analog percussion. |
| 72 Percussive Sound 2 | More like laser guns on a spaceship. |
| 73 Whistle | Uncanny emulation! Excellent programming. |
| 74 Effect Sound 3 | Great for horror-movie scenes. Reminds me a bit of Wendy Carlos' style. |
| 75 UFO | Classic extraterrestrial kind of sound. |
| 76 Space Sound 2 | Typo: should be "Space Sound 3" Once again a great sound from the Juno-60. Better used for FX and atonal background work. |
| 77 Surf | What do you do when you can't find that Special FX sample CD and you need a sea wave effect? Grab the Juno. |
| 78 Synthesizer Drum | aka Simmons. In vogue during the end of the '70s/early '80s |
FACTORY BANK "B" - (The names of these presets were kindly provided by Andrew Nicholls - from the original manual.)
Stream all audio examples below:
| Preset name with audio demo | My comments (note: these comments were left before I found out the names of these patches.. so it's interesting to see what I thought the sounds were, and the differences from Roland programmer's intent.) |
| 11 Low Strings | A beautiful string ensemble, with "sea sickness" vibrato. Reminds me a bit of the sound at the beginning of "Deep Honey" by Goldfrapp (a very beautiful song, by the way...) |
| 12 Mid Strings | Another string ensemble showcasing the famous Roland "Chorus II" |
| 13 High Strings | Lush violins and violas |
| 14 Staccato Strings | Warm violas |
| 15 Fanfare Brass | Muted brass sound. A standard '80s sound. Would work well as a pad in smooth-jazz music. |
| 16 Synthesizer Brass | Reed ensemble |
| 17 Mellow Legato Brass | French horn ensemble |
| 18 High Brass | Trumpets and trombones |
| 21 Clav I | A piano sound |
| 22 Clav II | Indefinable but works as synth bass. |
| 23 Harpsichord | Filtered Clavinet sound. |
| 24 Honky Tonk | Classic sparkly '80s synthesizer sound - think "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes |
| 25 Chime Piano | Some kind of mellow piano, with long release. |
| 26 Space Piano | Honky piano, with long release. |
| 27 Pluck I | Synth bass with resonance and very quick decay |
| 28 Pluck II | Poly Synth vaguely reminiscent of the sound in "Lucky Man" by ELP. |
| 31 B-3 | Great electric organ sound |
| 32 C-3 | Farfisa organ sound, with fast vibrato |
| 33 B-3 #2 | Hammond C-3 sound, good for church |
| 34 Drawbar Organ | Pad organ sound, heavily chorused |
| 35 Combo Organ I | Small chapel organ sound |
| 36 Combo Organ II | Vox organ sound, with fast vibrato |
| 37 Combo Organ III | Farfisa organ sound, without vibrato |
| 38 Pipe Organ | Church harmonium. |
| 41 Flute | Gentle flute sound |
| 42 Clarinet | Clarinet with lots of vibrato |
| 43 Solo Trumpet | Accordion sound - filtered. |
| 44 Oboe | Oboe with vibrato |
| 45 Harmonica | Great ocarina sound. |
| 46 Strum | Gentle bassoon |
| 47 Flamenco Guitar | Indefinable synth |
| 48 Harp | Haunting electric piano with long release |
| 51 Space Harp | Synth sound with long release |
| 52 Ethereal | Spacey synth sound passed through the HPF; long release |
| 53 Sweet Sweep | Beautiful syn-strings with long release, Chorus II |
| 54 Mellow Sweep | Rising brass patch |
| 55 Slow Sweep | Slow rising synth patch, with resonance. |
| 56 Space Sweep | A classic "filter sweep". |
| 57 Chunky Chorus | Powerful synth lead, with PWM and Chorus II |
| 58 Squonk | Same as above |
| 61 Synth Bass | Comp synth |
| 62 Pedal Bass | Honest acoustic piano sound |
| 63 String Bass | Mellow funky synth sound |
| 64 Funk Bass | Very powerful and cool synth bass sound. Viva l'analog! |
| 65 Hammer Lead | Comp synth, thin |
| 66 Duke Lead | Comp synth, fat |
| 67 Neg Lead | Staccato synth with "surprise" decay VCA rise. |
| 68 Blip Lead | Funk synth with resonance |
| 71 Wind | Jet take off |
| 72 Space Chime | Haunting sci-fi sound |
| 73 Space Swell | UFO take off |
| 74 Chopper Chord | UFO landing |
| 75 Lunar Landers | Jet pass by |
| 76 Martian Chord | Martians speaking |
| 77 Vulcan Turbos | UFO pass by |
| 78 The Surge | Wind |
Original Factory banks (from the Juno-60 companion
cassette)
.wav file of Roland Juno-60 Factory presets (group A) - Load this modulated tone into the synth's "LOAD" input to load up the Factory presets. Be sure to spend some time in doing this, and don't get discouraged if the first attempts fail. The synth is very susceptible to the kind of signal it receives. The best way I've found out is to start with sending a pretty hot signal out of the computer to the LOAD input on the Juno. The display will show "Er" for error because it's too loud. Then gradually lower the volume down by small increments. You have to try loading the .wav file every time. After a few (very frustrating) attempts, you will find the right volume and the Juno will load the presets, showing "--" on the display at the end. Be sure to start the .wav file (the lead tone) and press the LOAD button when the lead tone is running, right before the modulated (sounds like a modem) tone is heard. That's the sign that the loading was successful - whew!! Read the manual for more details on loading or saving sounds from cassette (or from your computer audio output). It's also best to use a mono cable.
.wav file of Roland Juno-60 Factory Presets (group B) - same as above, for Factory presets bank B.
Roland Juno-60 pictures
(click on thumbnails to enlarge)
Roland Juno-60 manual
available at www.rolandus.com
Roland Juno-60
resources:
- Review in "Keyboard magazine" Janfebmarch 198___
Roland Juno-60 features
- great look, with colorful panel, buttons, and wood end-panels;
- super-easy to use;
- warm analog sound - classic '80s!!;
- fantastic chorus and arpeggio effects
| Features at a glance | |
| Year of release: | 1982 |
| Polyphony: | 6-voice |
| Presets: | 56 |
| Keyboard: | 61 notes (5 octaves) |
| Responds to velocity: | no |
| Aftertouch | no |
| Sound generation method: | DCO |
| MIDI: | no |
| Sound expansion capabilities: | cassette |
| Arpeggiator: | yes: up/up&down/down x 1,2 or 3 octaves |
| Effects: | chorus (two types). Press the two buttons at the same time and obtain a very fast, Leslie vibrato. |
| Controls: | sliders |
| Outputs: | two (mono - stereo) |
| Weight: | |
Links
| SITE | Type of resource | DESCRIPTION |
| http://www.rolandus.com | Home page | Home page for Roland US |