Episode 003 - Roland Juno 6/60

Show Notes

Overview

The Roland Juno 6 and Juno 60 are 6-voice analog polyphonic synthesizers. While limited in functionality by today’s standards, these classics present an extremely accessible interface to synthesis newcomers; and they sound fantastic. Both lack MIDI, the Juno 6 lacks patch storage. All this means you won’t be wasting your time with complicated configurations. Just start playing.

Resources

• TAL-U-NO-LX Software emulation of the Juno 6/60
• Juno 6 Owner’s Manual
• Juno 60 Owner’s Manual
• Juno 60 MIDI retrofit
• Another Juno 6/60 MIDI retrofit
• And one more MIDI retrofit

Inspiration

In the video below, Nick Rhodes uses a Roland Jupiter 8 (I know, not the same thing) in “Save A Prayer”. Notice the use of the bender. The Juno 6/60 have the same bender. Set the bender to control the DCO at about 33% and see if you can mimic the technique. (Skip to 4:30)

Tip

And, in case you missed it in the podcast, here’s the tip for integrating a Juno 6/60 into a MIDI setup. Use either a MIDI-controlled drum machine or your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to send a click track (or use the rimshot output) to the Juno’s arpeggiator control input. The arpeggiator will now be synced up to the controlling device’s clock.