New Roland Juno-D

Well Roland has done it yet again. They introduced a new Juno synthesizer, the Juno-D. I first heard about this over on the VSE BBS. Some of the memebers on there have been pretty harsh about this particular synth and with Roland for produceing it. They say it wrong for Roland to produce a new Juno, and that all roland is doing is reisueing an RS synth as a new Juno. Also that Roland should have left the Juno line alone. But there are a few who do praise it and Roland for introduceing it. It is being sold as a budget synth for under $1,000.00.

Sliders have been replaced with six knobs and a small LCD screen has been added along with a D-Beam controller. It come with Radio Ready sounds. Whcih I am not eaxctly sure what Roland means by that. The body itself is remanisent of the XP-10.

Now I know this is NOT the same synth as say the Juno's 6, 60 and 106, or even the Alpha Juno's, but I think it sounds rather good. This coming from a Juno owner. granted this synth is not going to be everyones cup of tea. But it's nice to see another budget synth on the market. I don't know if any pro's will buy this synth, since it is marketed to the begining synth/keyboard player.
http://www.rolandus.com

I am sure they ment to say “Elevator music ready: sounds.
This little guy is nothing more then an updated version of a previously mentioned XP-10 which was basically a General Midi keyboard with knobs and an arpeggiator.

FOr what it is it is not bad at all. Six knobs, nice FX setup, lots of sounds and groove features, but would someone please tell me why in the world they would name something like that “JUNO”?

-ED-

Agreed.
You know what floors me? Is that we can no longer rely on model names for an anticipated expectation of sound.
If Roland was smart, they would produce 16, 32 and 64 voice Jupiters with a new generation JU sound chip capable of flexible sound formant. Now if Roland did that, I think they would sell some boards

"I am sure they ment to say “Elevator music ready: sounds.
This little guy is nothing more then an updated version of a previously mentioned XP-10 which was basically a General Midi keyboard with knobs and an arpeggiator."

Not directed at you, just this is an odd statement given the gear and sound many people of these boards have. Elevator music seems to be the rule of the day...so in a twisted way this could be exactly what some are looking for.

Past that there is a software editor for the board, its merits are up in the air...yet it does have one.

I kinda felt the Juno-D was more an RS-50 give or take random features more then anything else.

"You know what floors me? Is that we can no longer rely on model names for an anticipated expectation of sound."

Well, if someone reads a name...and just buys something its their problem.

"If Roland was smart, they would produce 16, 32 and 64 voice Jupiters with a new generation JU sound chip capable of flexible sound formant. Now if Roland did that, I think they would sell some boards"

Roland might just be smart, explore their site a bit...in reality they are working on your stated fantasy ( at least in part).

Well surely I don't purchase by model name, but I was referring to an expectation of sound, or said another way, what one would expect in the instrument's characteristics of sound and features; a series of models with similarities.
Yeah I've seen that at the Roland site. The historical bumm trip with Roland is they show models to the music community and the public and take a really long time to finally release the product.

MORPH!

Paul, regarding your comment below...
Learn to read other people's posts more carefully. You've entirely missed the point.

ANd hey, that guy over there...
Not aimed at you but ..
Working for ROland by any chance?
-ED-



[This message has been edited by 3351 (edited 11-02-2004).]

So you guys think Roland should not have done this? I don't get it? I mean Korg has done something like this twice. First with the MS2000 and now the Legacy. Is it becuse Roland was trying to come up with something new? Granted I am not as particular about synths as most people are. Well I am at lest trying not to be. All I can seem to figure out is Roland produced a new lower priced synthesizer based on the RS series and just happend to call it a Juno? Whats wrong with that? I mean Look at what they have Done with the Fantom now they are introduceing the FantomXA and Korg has the Triton Extreme and Yamaha has a new motif. But I don't hear people bitching about that. But let Roland produce one little inexpensive synth call it a Juno and all hell breaks loose. If you like it fine if not that's okay too. But lets not condem it or Roland for produceing it. Heck! The Roland Juno-106 is starting to loose popularity. Prices for it are dropping like crazy.

Let's just give it a chance. If it succeeds good for Roland if not, well no big whoop!

IM fine...Roland can name their stuff whatever they want. Heck you can check the Juno-Ds manual online So its not like some fast one is being pulled. The people that are pissed about the use of the Juno name, are those that feel its crime and dishonor to the analog synths of the past.

Oaky so I don't fully understand why som people are pissed off at roland for doing this? And I probably never will. I was only 12 years old when Roland released the Juno-106. But I was never exposed to synthesizers until I was in high school. The first synth I was exposed to was a DX-7, even my first synth was a DX-7IIFD. Since I have been around digital synths more then analog synths. I will never get why this is just a bad thing that Roland has done.

See, Yamaha and Korg didn’t do the same thing.
An MS2000 is basically a virtual analog version of the original MS-20. At least it’s aimed toward modeling of analog sounds.
A Triton extreme is still a Triton as we know it and love it but with added features. Same with the Motif.

Roland have done just the opposite. They’ve used the name JUNO for something that has nothing to do with the original JUNO series. It is not right or wrong. It is just weird.

Now, nobody is bitching, nobody is pissed off. That is strictly your perception of what’s going on. That’s why it helps to read other peple’s posts more carefully. Because I get the impression that you only care about what you write yourself. Communication is a two way process you know.

-ED-

Well it just seems to come accross as people being pissed off. Alright some of the people over on the VSE BBS. I seem to be getting that impression here, but I guess I was wrong. I appologise.

Cool

I don't think anyone is bitching. People are simply disapointed. One doesn't have to be an analog purist to be disapointed in this case. Anyone who owned, owns or even just toyed around with JUNO synths had certain expectations when they went to check out the new JUNO-D. A lot of them were in for a disapointment since the JUNO-D is a completely different synth made for a different kind of buyer.

Next time Roland announce another big name like JUNO or a Jupiter a lot of those folks will be somewhat weary of Roland playing another sales trick. At least it came across as a sales trick this time.

-ED-

Well I certainly won't let it bother me. Besides I have more of an afinaty towards KORG. Gonna save up and buy me a Triton Le.

i don't want to be mean or anything, but seriously this juno-d thing is complete crap. i suppose i can understand people that aren't analog people not understanding our disgust. but i own a juno 106 and a bandmate of mine has a juno 60. and they are sacred. i think it was foolish of roland to not take the road the started with the jp-8000, that thing had a huge buzz, even depeche mode used one during the ultra tour. that was the first time they'd played a roland board on stage in like 15 years. this is pre virus and nord lead. i mean for "synth" bands what other roland synths are standard? you have jupiters and junos and the d-50, otherwise the newer jd-800 and jp-8000, most of what they make or have made in the last ten years is for "keyboard players" a totally different group of people. i think it just pierces the heart of synth people to have a juno out there that is some bastard red headed step child, call it the "xp-fantom-v-RS 72000" but don't call it juno, cause some guy that plays the keys in an 80's cover band downtown doesn't understand the legend.

Roland didn't mislead anyone...they graded it for you "D"..

Well, obviously grading it "D" didn't do the trick. They have pissed off a lot of people. If that was their intent than they have succeeded. I just think that most companies are after getting customers, not pissing them off.

I personally don't think that ROland do a poor job making good synths nowadays. The Phantom series are simply fantastic.
However, I chose to get a Motif ES8 instead. Mostly because of the plug-in boards, keyboard action, quality of samples and FX. Roland have yet to catch up on that.
I am looking at getting their V-synth though. With the optional plug-in cards and all the features added it is a killer. I just hope Roland make more synths like it.

-ED-