| Manufactured by | Roland |
|---|---|
| Dates | 1984–1988 |
| Price | £799 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Polyphony | 6 voices |
| Timbrality | Monotimbral |
| Oscillator | 1 DCO per voice (pulse, saw, square and noise) |
| LFO | triangle |
| Synthesis type | Analog Subtractive |
| Filter | Analog 24dB/oct resonant low-pass, non-resonant high-pass |
| Attenuator | ADSR envelope generator |
| Aftertouch | No |
| Velocity sensitive | No |
| Memory | 128 patches |
| Effects | Chorus |
| Input/output | |
| Keyboard | 61 keys |
| External control | MIDI |
The Roland Juno-106 was a hybrid digital/analogue polyphonic synth manufactured by Roland Corporation in 1984. It featured Digitally controlled oscillators (DCOs) for tuning stability and digital envelope generation along with analog filters and signal path.
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The Roland Juno-106 was relatively simple in terms of its synthesis architecture.
The central tone-generating component of the instrument is a set of 6 digitally controlled oscillators capable of producing sawtooth and square/pulse waveforms. The Juno is well known for its -24dB/octave analog lowpass filter with adjustable resonance, which has been said to provide the Juno 106 with its rather distinctive sound, when combined with the tone of the MC5534 wave generation modules.
The 80017A VCF/VCA (voltage controlled filter, voltage controlled amplifier) module contains circuits common to other Roland machines (IR3109 and BA662). They are known to be prone to failure, leading to lost notes, and are no longer manufactured. Substitute parts have been designed and are available from a small number of sellers. Alternatively, the chips can be desoldered and removed from the module board, soaked in acetone to remove the conformal coating responsible for the chip's failure (the excess removed carefully with a small tool such as a micro-sized flathead screwdriver or scalpel and a toothbrush soaked in acetone), then soldered back in. This method has proven highly successful. Various videos demonstrating this method can be found on the internet.
A single invertible ADSR envelope (attack, decay, sustain, release) can be assigned to the filter's cutoff frequency and can be selected to control the VCA rather than key gating by a switch. Filter cutoff can also be proportioned to note number so higher notes have higher harmonics.
Due to the simple features of the Juno-106, the synthesizer lacked the range of capabilities found in other instruments of its time that have multiple oscillators, complex envelopes, and more diverse modulation choices. Despite this fact the Juno-106 was quite popular and was able to produce rich basses, pads, and other tones.
The Juno-106 featured an onboard analog stereo chorus effect which, while rather noisy, was also a fairly distinctive aspect of the instrument's sound. The Juno-106's chorus was based on a set of bucket brigade delay (BBD) lines similar to other Roland products of the time including guitar pedals. The Juno-106 also contained 128 internal memory slots for patch storage as well as surprisingly complete MIDI implementation - a rarity for any synthesizers of the time, let alone analogue ones. Almost all control surfaces on the synthesizer were capable of transmitting and receiving MIDI SysEx commands, allowing complete control of the instrument via a sequencer or computer.
Furthermore, this synthesizer featured polyphonic portamento, also rather rare for a 1984 analog instrument.
The Juno-106 was the third in the Juno series of digital/analog synthesizers. Its predecessors, the Roland Juno-6 and Roland Juno-60, were somewhat different in appearance than their later sibling, but shared most of the internal components and features in common with the exception of a tradeoff between a simple up/down arpeggiator on the earlier models and a portamento feature on the Juno-106. The Juno-106 also featured MIDI for inter-instrument communication rather than the proprietary Roland Digital Control Bus (DCB) found on earlier models. In addition to the standard Juno-106, Roland produced a synthesizer called the HS-60. This synth was simply a Juno-106 with integrated speakers and a slightly redesigned enclosure, aimed specifically at consumers rather than professional users.
The Juno-106 is a unique synthesizer in a large part because it came at a time period when digital synthesizer components were just being introduced, MIDI being the most important, yet it featured the best of the analogue and digital worlds. The Juno-106 was one of the last synthesizers to feature all of its controls as buttons and sliders on the faceplate which made it easy to use, but unlike older analogue synthesizers the Juno-106 came standard with full MIDI control of many of its parameters. The Juno-106 also featured DCOs with an analog signal path including VCFs. This allowed for perfectly tuned pitch with the warmth of analogue waveshaping and filters, along with the drive provided by the VCA. It is because of this balance of analogue and digital that there really is no other synth quite like the Juno-106 and it is still a staple in most studios today.
Despite being over 20 years old, the Juno-106 and its predecessors are traded among synthesizer aficionados with relative frequency and thus are more easily obtainable and less expensive than a number of other synthesizers. Furthermore, the instrument has proven generally reliable and long-lived if well cared for. Despite this, a common problem with surviving Juno 106s is a dead voice chip, which manifests itself as every sixth note played not sounding. One can get around this by playing the synth monophonically using its unison mode, but this is only a workaround rather than a permanent solution.
Due to their enduring popularity and despite their overall simplicity and limited range of sonic possibilities, Juno-series synthesizers still make appearances with a number of bands, including The Black Eyed Peas, Blue Nile, Steve Adey, Franz Ferdinand, Covenant, Daft Punk, Dosh, Georg Immanuel Nagel, Moby, The Chemical Brothers, Justice, Mutemath, Sigur Rós, Solemn Camel Crew, Doll Factory, Islands, the Unicorns, Pet Shop Boys, Mansun, a-ha, Laserdance, Uzi and Ari, Late of the Pier, the Automatic, Pivot, the New Deal (band), Andy Kuncl, Howlermonkey, Winter Palace, Passion Pit and scores of other electronic and dance music projects.
