Zoë Blade's notebook

Juno-6

Juno-6 tech specs

Juno-6
Juno-6

The Juno-6 (JU-6 for short) was a polyphonic synthesiser released by Roland in 1982. Continuing their Roman-god-based naming scheme, the Juno range was a more affordable alternative to the Jupiter range.

Whereas the Jupiter-6 and Jupiter-8 have two VCOs per voice (the Jupiter-4 only has one, but we love it all the same), all the Junos have a single DCO per voice, which is both more economic and better at staying in tune. To compensate for the thinner sound, they all have sub-oscillators, and a built-in chorus effect. After all, Roland are no strangers to effects, having already been making guitar pedals under the brand name Boss for a few years, not to mention the SDD-320.

As with various other Roland keyboards of the era, it has the obligatory bender wheel. There's also an "LFO trigger" button which can optionally be used to effectively turn the LFO on and off. Contrast with the Juno-106, which lets you push the bender wheel to add vibrato from the LFO.

While the later Juno-106 has MIDI, its older siblings both have a built-in arpeggiator. In theory it may not sound like much, but in practice it's certainly fun to use.

Quotes

My first proper synth was the Juno-6, and I loved it and loved it and loved it.

— Andrew Meecham, Bizarre Inc, 1991[4]

I had the clock out, I think, from the Roland 707 and hooked the wire into the arpeggiator clock in on the Juno-6, and it just happened. I just hit a chord with two hands on the keyboard and the Juno-6 arpeggiated it. I never could recreate that, it was just something that happened in the midst of me experimenting, and I got it on tape.

The sound was one I programmed, and while it was playing I was messing with the envelope and the frequency and resonance, to get that kind of effect where it was sweeping and what have you. I was just fooling around with the knobs. All those knobs are so tempting, like on that Roland keyboard, the JD-800, you've just got to play with them!

— Larry Heard, 1992[5]

Notable users

References

  1. "Soho Soundhouse" Soho Soundhouse (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Oct 1982, p. 27
  2. "Future Music" Future Music (Vendor), Electronics & Music Maker, Oct 1982, p. 29
  3. "Juno-6 service notes" Roland, May 1982
  4. "Strange Changes" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Dec 1991, pp. 30—36
  5. "Touching Bass" Simon Trask, Music Technology, May 1992, pp. 48—52
  6. "Lost in Trance" Phil Ward, Music Technology, Apr 1994, pp. 18—20
  7. "Deep Vibrations" Simon Trask, Music Technology, Aug 1991, pp. 60—65
  8. "Advance Guard" Simon Trask, Future Music, Jan 1995, pp. 46—48

Further reading

Reviews

Encyclopedias

Deep dives

Downloads

Documentation

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