Author: Future Music (Future Music) October 28, 2021

We go back to 1982, the affordable synthesizer war that led to Roland's "Diet Jupiter-8"...

2021 Music Technology Showcase: These days, we are spoiled. Back in the late 1970s, there really was no such thing as an affordable polyphonic synthesizer. Synthesizers are expensive, damn it-this is the realm of our musical icons and successful dentists. And polyphonic synthesizer? forget it. The best we can hope are string synthesizers, they are cute in their own way.

In 1981, Roland released their most magnificent polyphonic synthesizer to date-a jaw-dropping new eight-voice part named after the king of the gods. Jupiter-8 is a beast with a patch recall and matching price: $5,295. This was almost 38% of the average national salary in the United States at the time. In the same year, Korg launched their Polysix.

This is an amazing product, because it is a true six-voice analog polyphonic synthesizer with tone storage function, but "only" US$1,095. Roland must be dumbfounded, leaving a huge gap to make up for. They extracted technology from Jupiter and rushed to insert it, initially using Juno-6. Which does not have patched memory. So at the end of 1982, the new Juno-60 finally came out.

It reduces your choices to a minimum, which excludes it from sound errors, but it means that almost all the sounds you can make on Juno are musical and usable

Finally, Roland has a simple but "affordable" six-part polyphonic synthesizer with 56 memory slots on board that can compete with Polysix. Although its price is $1,795 (£999), it is close enough. 

Then in 1983, Yamaha DX7 appeared and declared the doom of all analog synthesizers. Juno-60 and its successor Juno-106 were thrown into the dustbin of history. Except, they are not. Where Juno-106's voice chip is aging, trucks in the 6th and 1960s are very reliable. But this is not the only reason people still buy and love them.

There are two reasons for this. First-as DX7 shows-you can have all the control in the world, but that doesn't mean you will make a good sound. Some synthesizers are difficult to master. 

The 60 (and 6) do so well to minimize your choices, which excludes them from modular-level sound errors, but it means that almost all the sounds you can make on Juno are music And usable. They just don't make bad noises. You don't even need to use patch memory. 

Want a long, gleaming arpeggio with melting face? Flick-flick. there. It sounds amazing. Now we need some disgusting Canadian pads. Flick-flick. It's over, now you are crying. Here, there is also "Roygbiv" bass. Flick-flick. tangerinr! You can work on Juno 60 at incredible speed. Programming becomes muscle memory, and it always sounds great.

This is the second reason that cannot be overemphasized. The sound of Juno-60 is great. Like it, it's great. They can make huge bass, they can make amazing pads, and they can make creepy arpeggios, which you can synchronize with the loud "clicks" of the input Arp clock input. 

They sound like old Electro records. They sound like "diet Jupiter-8s". This makes sense, because if you open the convenient hinged cover (fixed, ladies and men), you will see six proprietary Roland IR3109 VCF chips inside. The filter chip in Jupiter-8 is exactly the same.

It pulls the love of synthesizers in the right direction, and it makes visitors frown and say, "Damn hell. Sounds great, doesn't it?"

That filter has this strange "bite"; at high resonance, it emits a unique formanty'ahh-ooo-euhh', a kind of'squawky' sound quality. This is a sharp 24dB design, which can also be used for static acid. Physically, they are sturdy and have durable faders that are easy to "read". 

Architecturally speaking, it really doesn't have much. It has a square wave (with PWM), a sawtooth, a noise, and a -1 octave square sub-oscillator, all of which are available at the same time, an ADSR (also from Jupiter-8), a triangular LFO, surrounded by dots With convenient mod sliders, a cute clock arpeggiator and "that" chorus part. 

The choir is used to enhance a single oscillator and has two rates. As they say, it is noisy, but it is atmospheric and very three-dimensional, and you can press two buttons at the same time to get a kind of "mono folding" chorus. 

Finally, you have a left and right bender joystick, which allows you to adjust the pitch and filter settings, and when you use it on chords, it will quickly become very Prince. That's basically it. You have the "Hold" function, which allows you to superimpose notes for drones or complex arpeggios. Combined with the Key Transpose button, you can perform a chord memory technique.

One of Juno's hallmarks is its pitch stability, which is a characteristic of its numerically controlled oscillator. If there is only one modern criticism that can be used to evaluate it, it is that it is almost too stable! 

This precision contributes to its "elegant" sound, but the unstable pitch of the beating VCO effect is one of the reasons that makes a beast like the CS-80 so otherworldly and huge.

It is important to note that its oscillator outputs are not digital, they are 100% analog waveforms from digital clock waveforms. Check out several modern advantages of the Tubbutec'Juno-66' mod kit, including MIDI, but the most striking is its'detune' mode, which gives a magical and dizzying'vintage' pitch instability And it sounds truly extraordinary.

The Juno is named after the wife of Jupiter, the king of the gods, and the two machines have some notable similarities. It's not that complicated, but it's easier to use-even though Junos is getting more expensive now, they are still cheaper than Jupiter-8. Every tone in Juno-6/60 is worth recording. 

The main force of music, the source of instant gratification-is always inspiring. It pulls the love of synthesizers in all the right directions. It makes visitors frown and say: "Damn hell. Sounds good, doesn't it?" Yes Yes, it does. You never want to live without it.

Simple, instant, and every sound it makes is gorgeous, beautiful and usable. A truly great synthesizer.

Original price £999 | Use from £650

Some tips before putting cash into second-hand (er, more like seven-hand) equipment...

1. Don't buy the invisible or unknowing. First read the manual thoroughly (Google it) and get the service manual so that you can understand what each setting should do when you contact, how it should sound, and how to access its voice test mode. Ideally, find someone who has a job and get acquainted with it first.

2. Be wary of damage to the chassis. 

The damaged unit may have internally cracked PCB (avoid), or cracked solder joints causing intermittent functions. If you find cracked solder joints, you can easily repair them by "reflowing" with a hot soldering iron.

3. Can clean cracked pot and slider. The rotating volume pot (and possibly the filter slider) is likely to break over time. As with any equipment, you can use Caig DeoxIT and/or Fader Lube spray (expensive, but worth it) to easily clean and update broken cans and faders.

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