Juno-60
Juno-60 tech specs
Juno-60
- Released: 1983
- Initial price: £999[1]
- Company: Roland
- Type: Polyphonic synthesiser
- Control: DCB
- Synchronisation: 1 PPS V-trig clock for arpeggiator
- CPU: 8-bit NEC μPD8049C-238 / μPD8049C-380[2]
- RAM: 1 KB with battery backup
- Features: Arpeggiator, chorus
- User programs: 8 × 7 banks
- Preset programs: 8 × 7 banks[3]
The Juno-60 was a polyphonic synthesiser released by Roland in 1983, a mere year after the Juno-6. It added 1 KB of memory with battery backup, which could store up to 56 of your programs (over the top of its 56 presets), and DCB control.
DCB would later evolve into the far more popular MIDI, which the subsequent Juno-106 was equipped with. While DCB only controls turning notes on and off, changing the program, and a CC equivalent for the VCF and VCA, you can at least use an appropriate MIDI to DCB converter such as Roland's own MD-8 to control an unmodified Juno-60 over MIDI. In contrast, the Juno-6 can only be controlled by the more fleshy kind of digits.
The other changes are pretty minimal. The VCA gets a bipolar volume slider. On the other hand, the Juno-6's continuously variable highpass filter has been reduced to a mere four steps, even though it still uses a slider rather than a switch. This somewhat brings it inline with the System-100M's highpass filters. Apparently the poor CPU just couldn't cope with the full range of yet another slider, and this is the one that would be least missed.[4]
If it weren't for the large, friendly logotypes, you'd be hard pressed to tell the first two Junos apart. The Juno-6 even has a conspicuously empty space on its right-hand side, where the Juno-60's memory-related interfacing lives, suggesting that perhaps it was intended to be a Juno-60 all along.
Notable users
- Enya[5]
References
- "Future Music" Future Music (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Jan 1983, p. 15
- "Juno-60 service notes" Roland, Apr 1983
- "Juno-60 manual" Roland, Apr 1983, p. 24
- The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers, Part Two: N-Z Peter Forrest, 2003, ISBN 0-952437-73-2, pp. 101—103
- "Enya - Watermark" Mike Collins, Sound On Sound, Mar 1989, pp. 32—33
Further reading
Reviews
- "Roland JP6 vs Moog Memorymoog vs Roland Juno 60" Paul Colbert, One Two Testing, Mar 1984, pp. 10—13
Encyclopedias
- The A-Z of Analogue Synthesisers, Part Two: N-Z Peter Forrest, 2003, ISBN 0-952437-73-2, pp. 101—103
Downloads
Documentation
- "Juno-60 manual" Roland, Apr 1983
- "Juno-60 service notes" Roland, Apr 1983
Hardwired synthesisers: CZ-101 | Juno-6 | Juno-60 | Juno-106 | MC-202 | MS-1 | MS-5 | Minimoog | Model D | Polivoks | RS-101 | RS-202 | SH-5 | SH-101 | Solina String Ensemble | String Ensemble | TB-303 | VC340 | VP-330
Polyphonic synthesisers: Juno-6 | Juno-60 | Juno-106
Roland: Boss | DCB | Edirol | JV-1080 | Juno-6 | Juno-60 | Juno-106 | MC-4 | MC-8 | MC-202 | MPU-101 | R-8 | RS-101 | RS-202 | SH-5 | SH-101 | SN-R8 series | SN-U110 series | SO-PCM1 series | SR-JV80 series | System-100 | System-100M | TB-303 | TR-606 | TR-808 | TR-909 | U-110 | VP-330 | W-30
