Synth Site |  Roland |  Juno 60

For the rest it's quite simple - only one EG, only one type of LFO, 1osc/voice and not many modulation capabilities, but it can make very sexy sounds. Everything from swirly ambient pads to deep grungy basses can be made, and the sweet Roland 24dB filter just rocks ass. (It sounds better than the later Juno 106, why? noone knows :)

Everyone's either got one or has had one, so it's not terribly original-sounding, but it's still good fun. It's about the best possible analog synth you can buy to start off with because it's so simple, and it's polyphonic so at least you can play a "normal" tune.

Once you've lived with it a while the simpleness begins to get annoying - things like only having one adsr, and only one lfo waveform and so on. But it's still a nice synth to have around the place.

Bear in mind that it doesn't have MIDI, so you'll either have to sequence it with a MSQ700 or a JSQ60 and then sync it via an x0x box to MIDI (DCB -> dinsync -> MIDI).

You could also get a midi->dcb converter which'll set you back about us$100. Kenton make one, and so do Nulogix and Roland. Just look around.

Craig : The Juno 60 has a very identifiable sound due to its chorus circuit which thickens the sound of the instrument. However, with the high pass filter, you can really thin the sound to cut through a thick mix. The Juno 60 is set up almost identical to the Juno 106 with the execption of the arpeggiator (Juno 60) and the Portamento (Juno 106). One major drawback is the lack of Midi. Luckilly, it uses roland's digital control bus (before MIDI) and there are MIDI -> DCB convertors still available. If you are not familiar with the Juno architecture, here it is : 6 note polyphonic with 1 DCO (Saw, Square w/pulse width, and square sub oscillator with level), 1 LFO, 1 HPF, 1 VCF (low pass), 1 ENV, and 1 VCA per voice. Either the ENV or the LFO can be used to modulate the pulse width of the DCO as well as control the cutoff frequency of the VCF. The LFO gives you the ability to either trigger automatically or manually using a button above the pitch lever, plus it has a delay function. The arpeggiator can run either in up, down, and up-down with the ability to play 1, 2, or 3 octaves. Overall, killer little synth for strings, bass, and organ sounds.