Roland Juno 60
| Roland JUNO-60 | |
|---|---|
Roland JUNO-60
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| Manufacturer | Roland |
| Dates | 1982-1984 |
| Price | US$1795 UK£999 JP¥238,000 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 6 |
| Timbrality | Monotimbral |
| Oscillator | 1 DCO per voice (pulse, saw, square) |
| LFO | triangle |
| Synthesis type | Analog Subtractive |
| Filter | Analog 24dB/oct resonant low-pass, non-resonant high-pass |
| Attenuator | 1 ADSR envelope generator |
| Aftertouch expression | No |
| Velocity expression | No |
| Storage memory | 56 patches |
| Effects | Chorus |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 61 keys |
| External control | DCB |
The Roland Juno-60 is a popular 61-key polyphonic synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in September 1982 as a successor to the similar Roland Juno-6, which had been on the market since February that year. Like its predecessor, the Juno-60 is essentially an analog synthesizer with digitally controlled oscillators.
Roland was losing market share with the Juno-6 in competition against the Korg Polysix. Related in features and price-class, the Polysix featured programmable patch memory, which the Juno-6 lacked. Programmability and external control (via Roland's proprietary Digital Communications Bus (DCB)) were added to the Juno-6, which was then re-introduced as the Juno-60 (which sonically and architecturally did not change notably from its predecessor). Production of the Juno-6 ceased in August 1983.
The Juno-60 was widely used by many artists, and is considered to be one of the most important synthesizers in popular music. In February 1984 the Juno-60 was replaced by the Juno-106, a similar instrument with further incremental changes. The Juno-60's DCB interface was replaced by a MIDI interface.
The Juno-60 synthesizer is a six-voice polyphonic synthesizer. The single digitally controlled oscillator (or DCO for short) per voice gave the Juno-60 a high degree of stability in maintaining tune; most analogue voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) of the time would tend to drift in pitch and require re-tuning of the oscillator. The DCO provides sawtooth and square/pulse waveforms as a sound source, in addition to white noise and a square-wave suboscillator pitched one octave beneath the key played. Both of these additional sources can be mixed in with dedicated sliders.
The filters and envelope on the Juno-60 rely on control voltages sent by depressing the keys on the keyboard and were thus analogue. The Juno-60 features a rather distinctive-sounding 24 dB/octave lowpass filter with resonance. Unlike other VCF's of the day, the Juno-60's is capable of self-oscillation and thus could be used to some degree as a tone generator in and of itself. The filter section also features controls for envelope amount and polarity, LFO modulation, and keyboard tracking. In addition, a three-position non-resonant highpass filter is provided to thin out lower frequencies.
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