Roland Alpha Juno 1

fantastically so.

106s (more sliders, better sound) but yeah you can do a lot with it. Try to find one of these though:

http://code404.com/synths/images/roland_pg300.jpg

MIDI external box with sliders that you can control real time. Fun stuff.

I meant to say 106s are better

I've come across an Alphajuno in good shape for $175 us and have been considering getting it.

I don't doubt the 106, that is one of Roland's classic kbds. They are always more expensive and there is something about one of the chips that goes out in them.

if the shipping wouldn't destroy me, I'd grab one in a flash from the US. don't seem to be many in NZ, sigh. HOOVER MADNESS.

even without the PG, the programming is pretty well laid out for that type of synth, and if memory serves me correctly, there are 4 expression or something buttons and a big dial that instantly will affect one of the four options. Also, there's a fantastic chord memory function, hold down a chord, press the button, then every note you play is the root note of the chord...

Yeah the Alpha Juno is definately worth picking up for $175. It was the keyboard on which the "hoover" techno sound was originally synthesized on, although it can do more than that. Its low value is because it uses digital oscillators and analogue filters, whereas the 106 and 60 have MIDI-controlled analogue oscillators. This gives the Alpha Juno a slightly more sterile sound. Also the Alpha's are more cumbersome to program without that slider thing Aaron mentioned.

xpost etc

The oscillators on the juno 106, 60 and 6 are DCOs, IE Digitally controlled oscillators. NEarest thing to this w/actual analogue oscs = the korg polysix. I had one (alpha juno) a couple of years ago, it's a nice keyboard, good sounds in a v small space. "Hoover" preset is called "what the?" iirc

There is no reason why you could not make a great record with this, an mmt8, and a decent digital multi-track.

Bear in mind that these were the cheapest of the cheap end of Rolands 80's polyphonic analogue keyboard lines (Jupiter jp8/6/4->JX jx3p, jx-8p/jx10->Juno (6/60-106-AJ 1/2) in that order>. The AJ's were never intended to be great player keyboards, they were Roland's last gasp analogue, and were made as cheaply as possible with a minimal amount of features. They were basically a synth section housed in a cheap casing with a cheap keyboard. It is not a big deal, you just needs to treat it more as a signal generator rather than a beautiful players instrument. These were released the year before the D-50 which was Roland way of fighting back against the DX7, which pretty much owned the synth market by 85-86.

Don't get me wrong, you can totally get great sounds out of these boards. They don't have much modulation possibilities, a single lfo if I remember correctly, and they only have a single EG, but you can make them work. One thing that is cool is that they have four oscillators per voice so you can make some fairly complex sounds in that regard.

That being said, the character of these boards is relatively mellow. They are good for basic pads, leads, and simple basses. You are not going to get crazy synth noises, or really complex timbres, but you will get decent bread and butter polysynth sounds. One thing that you do need to bear in mind is that these have a relatively high noise floor, so you are going to have to do some selective EQ'ing in your mix to get rid of the hiss. The other thing is that these boards don't really sound fantastic until you process the hell out of them, so you are going to want to budget some moey towards an effects processor in the near future (don't worry though, this is the case with most synths, not just this Alpha Juno, in fact, IMHO the processor is more important than the actual signal generator).

This is a great beginners synth because it is inexpensive and the programming options are relatively shallow. Trust me, in the beginning you sre going to want a synth that is fairly simple to program. The best advice I can give you is to not buy another piece of gear until you know this one inside and out. Once you know everything about the AJ, then get a sequencer...

Also, you never mentioned what you wanted to use the synth for. Well?

by "players instrument", do you mean live responsiveness/usefulness? would getting an Alpha Juno 2 (with the extra octave, velocity & aftertouch) alter this?
& what's the sort of effects processor you have in mind?

(really helpful post, mike)

I meant that you don't have a lot of ability to tweak it in a live setting. You just kind of have to jump around the OS and jog the data wheel. Also, it is a very VERY rare AJ2 that actually has working aftertouch. the keyboard works fine for velocity and note info, and the synth engine still responds to aftertouch via midi, but the keyboards don't transmit it anymore. Something about the design, the aftertouch response just wears out after awhile.

as far as effects go, any digital multi-effects unit will do the trick. Just dig around harmony-central.com and look at the user reviews for effects processors.

so, I found an alpha juno 2 locally. about a week into having it (& about the second time I used it), the LCD display started fucking up - not registering changes between presets initially (ie you could hear that it was the new preset, but it only displayed whatever 1-1 was called), & then not activating at all. person I purchased it off won't respond to emails, heh. haven't tried kicking it, yet.

don't suppose anyone has a .pdf scan of the manual they could gmail me, or something?

i like super jupiters and have a roland d50