UPDATE on my Roland Juno-G purchase

[tucktronix]

Hi guys,

 

About a few months ago, I started a thread regarding my purchase of a used/new Roland Juno-G. I've using this board extensively and I will say that I am pleasantly surprised at how good this board sounds.

 

So far, it's only been carted to rehearsals and one gig, but used heavily at home for recording, open jams or practice, but will be using it for gigs with the fusion band. This thing weighs about as much as a paper clip, even with the Gator flight case. No more having to cart that back-breaker of the S80 to rehearsals.

 

OK, let's get down to the meat and potatoes of this matter - the sounds. For what I paid for it, this board sounds pretty darn good. I had talked about the electric pianos in the other thread and now, after a few months, I stand by what I said. Actually, there are 2 or 3 that I found very playable to my taste. "Vintage Tine" has a smooth Rhodes-like tone, higher degree of bell, but a nice, not so overstated bark at high velocity. Believe it or not, I've found a few very useful ac pianos. One in particular that really got my attention was "JD-800 piano". This is actually a good sounding piano, very harsh, great for blues or rock, cuts very well in the mix. The action is a little toy-like, but I've found it be not as bad as one might think. The organs, well... meh. "Rotary Organ" is not too bad, good enough to get a few compliments in the open jams or from band members during rehearsals. The distorted lead guitars sound amazingly good for a board in the sub-$1,000 range.

 

I was very pleased with how easy it was to use the sequencer. It's a great tool to use for getting some ideas down quickly. Editing was a bit of a chore, of course, on the board's LCD display(better on a PC), but you can "step" edit, hearing the patch sound off as you go through each recorded step. BTW, not having any issues with the LCD thus far(knock on wood!!).

 

As was already mentioned in the previous thread, a lot of pads and leads will need some tweaking(what missed about the EX7), but overall I am very happy with this board.

 

[Skinny]

That's really cool! I've said this before, I LOVE the Wurlitzer sound on the Juno-G - you just gotta tweak the tremolo a little bit.

 

I don't own one - just messed around on one at Best Buy a few times - now they've got their last one on clearance for $799. I'd love to pick it up, but I don't really need it. I have all the keyboards I need. Really.

 

But the little bit I've played the Juno-G makes me think that it is an underrated board. Glad you like it!

[Joe P]

Tuck,

Glad you like your Juno!

 

I am looking to do something somewhat similar by pitching my 47 pound M-Audio controller and replacing it with something like the Yamaha MM8. The MM8 supposedly takes Motif sounds similar to the G taking the Fantom sounds.

 

I currently use the JV-1080, which also has what I find to be very pleasing EP's. And lots of 'em!.

 

Happy jamming with the G!

 

Regards,

Joe

 

[_Maximus_]

Im glad you're happy with yours

 

well, i got mine back from the shop about a month ago from a faulty screen that seems to be common on these models, all of my patches were gone, but thats a diferent story, after getting reacuentence with mine, i have mixed feelings about it, the more i play it, the less i like the keybed and the more i miss aftertouch on it, im still not fully sold on it, to my taste the piano and EP are adecuate, not the best, not bad either, but the keybed kills the experience, organs and leslies suck,

 

OTOH juno and roland especific sounds (like the JD piano)are very nice, so for now im reprogaming it and going to wait so that it grows back on me again, but it all points out that it will be sold to make ends for a PC3K.

 

the PB is starting to develop some issues, when i turn the keyboard on, its a whole step sharp, i do a PB and it goes back to normal, no detunings just yet, i dropped my TEx with my repair guy for a tune up (switches, vol fader, clening)and discuss it, it seems that mechanichally its not that well built, that also seems to depend on serial No's

 

i really wish i was as happy as you are with yours.

 

 

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

Hi Tuck I haven't talked to you in a while...

 

I took the liberty of adding some audio examples (since I also have a Juno-G) so the people who don't have one can get a better idea of what you meant...

 

"I had talked about the electric pianos in the other thread and now, after a few months, I stand by what I said. Actually, there are 2 or 3 that I found very playable to my taste. "Vintage Tine" has a smooth Rhodes-like tone, higher degree of bell, but a nice, not so overstated bark at high velocity." - I think you're right... this is a nice Rhodes patch... The programmers also added a very nice, slight detuning to simulate - I presume - the "vintage sound" of a real unit (or perhaps the warble of a reel-to-reel?

 

 

"Believe it or not, I've found a few very useful ac pianos. One in particular that really got my attention was "JD-800 piano". This is actually a good sounding piano, very harsh, great for blues or rock, cuts very well in the mix." This is of course the classic piano patch of Roland's own JD-800... and yes, it cuts through a mix - However, imo this is really more for '90s House styles, Tuck The JD-800 came out at the beginning of the '90s, and has a similar piano to the classic Korg M1, very short and percussive- In my example, I switch from rock/blues to House (with a stock Juno-G rhythm pattern)

 

 

"The organs, well... meh. "Rotary Organ" is not too bad, good enough to get a few compliments in the open jams or from band members during rehearsals" it's okay but doesn't use the MFX Rotary... (in this example, there's a stock Jazz Juno-G drum pattern.)

 

 

"The distorted lead guitars sound amazingly good for a board in the sub-$1,000 range." I am baffled about this one.. why devote so much ROM to emulate the instrument of the enemy?? But yeah, those COSM effects are nice on guitar sounds

 

 

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I think the Juno-G is probably very good for live use (like you said, Tuck - very light, fairly user-friendly, sampling, sequencer, decent sounds) - but for studio use, it definitely shows imho that it's an entry-level synth... The outputs are lower than standard and the D/A converters are not that great... If I compare the direct sounds (derived from the Fantom line) to the Fantom XR I have in the studio, the Juno-G sounds like if there is a blanket over the speakers. And yep, the action is a bit weird... you really have to pound the keyboard to make it go loud for some reason, even at "light" action setting...

 

Overall, I think it's a good synth (even though my display broke after one month I bought it, and had to pay a bunch of money to have it replaced!! (common thing, this one, apparently), but probably more useful for live than studio...