JUNO-60: The Whole Story

US Roland's bride of Jupiter 03/04/22

The Roland Juno series is one of the all time classics, both sonically and visually - it's as close as humanity have got to synth perfection. The latest post on the Roland blog covers the full story of the Juno-60, which brought a number of pivotal updates on the first incarnation; the Juno-6. The synth is revered by so many people and artists, Nils Frahm often performs with a Juno and he explains his love for it here.

Here's a short excerpt from the Roland blog:

Japanese manufacturers in the 1980s worked aggressively not just to lower costs, but to make new instruments in the process. If money was no object and you wanted a monster polysynth, Roland already had the JUPITER-8 flagship. And it was a sonic beast, no question. But initially, the JUPITER series had sky-high prices to match its tones. They were over five grand, more than $16,000 in modern US dollars.

Perhaps you wanted to boldly go into the future of music in the early '80s. Suddenly, the JUNO had a price tag you could afford, and a panel and control layout you could understand. Fans of Greek mythology recognized that the name was a reference to the wife of Jupiter. According to legend, Juno was a patron of Roman women and possibly both love and battle. Presumably, this was everything you needed in a synth. In essence, it was a name that echoed JUPITER and hinted at a slimmed-down sibling to the flagship.

For good measure, here's an original promo advert from the essential RetroSynthAds. Read the full article over on the Roland Blog: https://articles.roland.com/juno-60-the-whole-story/

About the author [midierror]: midierror makes nifty Max For Live devices, innovative music hardware, award winning sample packs and hosts a podcast speaking to people in the music world.

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