roygBiv Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Hi Guys Recently picked up a local, used Roland Juno Gi at a very good price (plus could trade some stuff for it too). Used they seem to go for less than 1/3 of their cost new, even though it was only released 5 years ago. http://www.keyboardmag.com/miscellaneous/1265/roland-juno-gi/30893 Originally thought I would just use it as a backup/light board for taking to practice (vs. my much heavier RD64), but I am becoming increasingly impressed with its capabilities. The Juno Gi seems to be a precursor to the VR-09 (which I have) and the FA-06 (which I don't). Much better keyboard feel than the VR09, but without as many of the real-time controllers. Another cool thing is the on-board digital recorder, with which you can use a full complement of built in digitally modeled Boss effects. One problem - very little info out there - Roland seems to have basically dropped this guy soon after making it - nothing seems to be available for it - no PC editor, no extra goodies, nuttin'. Thus, was wondering if any of you have one, and if you do, if we could collect some tips/tricks here for others. I'll start - its worth reading the manuals. There is a lot of functions in this board! Turns out you can rout the internal keyboard through the above-mentioned Boss effects, (or even a guitar or microphone) for live use, as well as recording. Now I'm trying to figure out how to access some of these effects using an external MIDI controller, thinking with a little Arturia knobby thing I could have a lot of effects with real time controls. Anyone else have anything to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyNQ Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 I've got one of these too. I picked it up second-hand about three years ago and use it as a practice 'board and take it to gigs as a spare in case one of my other ones decides to have a night off. Doesn't sound amazing but doesn't sound terrible either. I really like the key action, feels sort of "snappy" to me. Although I'd always thought the VR-09 one was identical. Happy to put my hand up as a fellow owner as per your request but must admit I'm no expert on it. I did lend it to my brother and it came back with all these cool patches and arpeggios programmed into it, so I know it's got a bit of depth. However if something comes up that you want to know I'll be happy to fiddle around with it, who knows we might both learn something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aronnelson Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 I had the Juno G. It had a horrible keybed that would tire your fingers out on the gig - much like my Korg Kross. Does the Juno Gi take the cards? I bought the Piano card and was able to get a really good piano sound out of it with some tweaks. Other than that, I really liked it because it was so light. Does the Gi have good electric piano sounds? That was the problem for me with the Juno G. Korg Kronos, Roland RD-88, Korg Kross, JP8000, MS2000, Sequential Pro One, Micromoog, Yamaha VL1, author of unrealBook for iPad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Not a lot about this one on the forum specifically google - although I always found the juno reboot keyboards pretty useful regardless of the use of the name. Small, light, affordable, useful sounds, not the greatest actions generally - but good enough, some run on batteries, easy to use. There's a G, a Di, and a Gi I think. Gi has a Mic in - I'm guessing you can Vocoder? Or use internal FX with the mic input? And it has a multitrack recorder in it: "Track: 8 V-Track: 64 (8 V-Tracks per each Track) * Up to 2 tracks can be recorded simultaneously, and up to 8 tracks can be played back simultaneously." to SD and SDHC cards it looks like. That's pretty cool. Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roygBiv Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Thanks for responding guys! CowboyNQ - you impression is very much like mine - not great sounding, but not bad for a $350 used board. The action feels quite a bit better to me than my VR09 - my VR09 is a little too snappy, the Gi does not seem to have nearly as much pushback, thus I can play electric piano parts on it no problem. I agree it is deep - that is both the strength and part of the problem. If you haven't yet, try routing the onboard keys through the Boss effects - adding an amp simulator and EQ can really make some of the Wurly and Combo Organ patches sound pretty good. aronnelson - not sure about the G, never have tried one. I don't think the Gi takes any cards, and I agree, the acoustic piano is a bit lacking (although you can stack up to four piano sounds, that with some EQ tweaking and removing the ubiquitous but gawdawful reverb they smear on everything can make for a passable acoustic piano sound in a band context. Elmer - yes, the Gi (the one i have) takes a Mic or Guitar in. Pretty cool with the mic actually, I'm going to use it with a mic on our drummers snare to add some reverb/dub stuff - just tried it at practice last night - worked pretty good actually! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Says, "SD memory card: supports SDHC cards to a maximum of 32 GB" Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roygBiv Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Yeah, it takes SD cards, but I must admit I haven't delved into the onboard recording possibilities yet. Have found you can repurpose those recording functions to process other sounds in a live context(internal keyboard, external keyboard or even a mic or guitar) with the onboard Boss effects. Pretty cool actually, just a bit of menu diving - hence I'm going to dig in and see if those internal effects can be MIDI mapped to external MIDI controllers. Also agree there really isn't much out there on this, nor on this forum - surprising actually, its almost like Roland decided they gave too much functionality, and decided to deep six the board to bring out two other ones (VR-09, and FA-06). The Gi even has the onboard rotary effects of the VK7 series (not great, I know, but not completely terrible either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roygBiv Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Here's an example showing an organ sound being routed through the internal Boss effects: The link above shows some of the tweaking ability. Sounds really good when used with the "70's organ" (basically a Vox/Continental type of patch) or a Rhodes or Wurley patch. Unfortunately, the Boss rotary effect is not very good - in the main keyboard setting there is another level of effects, which include the Rotary engine from the VK7, which sounds much better. Haven't figured out how to get both types of effects (Boss emulations for recording and upper level keyboard effects) to work together yet though, sounds kind of phasey, so for the moment am stuck with using the Boss rotary effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aronnelson Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Too bad it doesn't take the SRX boards. That piano was pretty good live. I was really happy carrying the G around. I am sure your Gi is much better. Nice demo of the organ. Korg Kronos, Roland RD-88, Korg Kross, JP8000, MS2000, Sequential Pro One, Micromoog, Yamaha VL1, author of unrealBook for iPad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorjohn50 Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Here is a link to the Roland forum for the board. http://forums.rolandclan.com/viewforum.php?f=38 FA-08 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarsHarner Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I'm revisiting this thread as I have had it for 7 years- but use it mostly as my interface for my VST's. One neat thing I found was that since it serves as an audio interface as well I was actually able to record the VST's onto the Gi's digital recorder as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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