Juno-60
Hybrid digital/analog synthesizer

A classic single-oscillator analog/digital hybrid (DCOs). 

 

The Juno-60 came out just a few months after the Juno-6 (same model, but which didn't have the ability to store sounds in memory).  The JU-60, as it's also called by Roland, is a warm-sounding DCO-based synthesizer.  56 memory locations are available (to call up banks 6 and 7 you have to press two buttons together).
 

Roland Juno-60 audio demos

FACTORY BANK "A":

 

Stream all audio examples below:

Preset name with audio demo My comments
11 Strings 1 Small chamber orchestra strings.  Very nice...
12 Strings 2 Much larger string section (you can definitely hear the classic Chorus II here).
13 Strings 3 Darker version of the above.  Very hypnotic -great for soundtrack work
14 Organ 1 The good ole Hammond.  This version has an abundance of "key click".  The tone is really smooth and this sound could pass for the real thing with some nice effects and a Leslie simulator.
15 Organ 2 More Hammond.  This version seems to have more high drawbars pulled.  It's definitely brighter and would be good for Gospel styles.
16 Organ 3 Another organ.  This is one is cool both for church and jazz music.
17 Brass A classic analog-brass patch.  For some reason this patch reminds of a synthesizer I used to play in the '80s - the SIEL Opera 6.
18 Phase Brass A variation of the above.  The phasing effect is obtained through the use of PWM and Chorus I.
21 Piano 1 This sound merely resembles a piano - but hey, for an analog synth from 1982, that's as good as it gets.
22 Piano 2 This wants to be a Fender-Rhodes electric piano with tremolo effect.  And it does!
23 Celesta Very beautiful, gentle sound.  Would be great for New Age pieces.
24 Mellow Piano A filtered version of patch 21 - with light vibrato on the tail.  It is haunting, dramatic and would work well for ballads (although nothing beats the Yamaha DX7 in that department...).
25 Harpsichord 1 Standard harpsichord sound.  Will work well for classical music or '60's rock (i.e. the Doors)
26 Harpsichord 2 More "produced", glossy version of the above.
27 Guitar The factory-preset envelope of this patch is set to sustain quite a bit - not like a guitar would do.  However, it's easy enough to edit.  Good sound for Flamenco atmospheres.
28 Synthesizer Harp Generic synth sound.
31 Bass 1 I guess this was intended to resemble a Fender Precision bass.  Not completely, but as a synthy bass is great.
32 Bass 2 And now we enter the Moog arena!  A great-sounding, warm and squiggly synth bass.  A great patch for everything from '70s funk styles, to '80s synth-pop!!!
33 Clavichord 1 For Clavichord here is intended "Clavinet", Hohner's masterpiece and the King Keyboard of Funk.  Nice emulation.
34 Clavichord 2 Variation of the above, with a more metallic tone, and wah-wah effect obtained with VCF LFO.
35 Pizzicato Sound 1 Dreamy, soft synthesizer sound, with haunting vibrato.  The softer side of the Juno-60... This sound would work well with the on-board arpeggiator.
36 Pizzicato Sound 2 A cross between a toy-box and a carillon.
37 Xylophone Great emulation of a xylophone.
38 Glockenspiel Cool sound - notice how well the high frequencies are reproduced - usually those sounds are domain of the FM synthesizers.
41 Violine (I guess it's a typo:  should be "Violin" without the "e") A well programmed violin sound.  The delayed vibrato in particular hits the spot.
42 Trumpet Not stellar, but usable.
43 Horn Right on - great emulation!
44 Tuba GREAT patch!
45 Flute Honest flute emulation.  It would work better in mono-mode.
46 Clarinet Well-programmed.  Would fool many people with the help of effects.
47 Oboe The wooden quality is well represented in this patch.  Great job!
48 English Horn Again, a very good emulation of the real thing!
51 Funny Cat And here we are again in Funk-Land!!  After 20 seconds I start manipulating the pitch bender assigning the VCF to it - it really sounds like a cat, doesn't it?  :D
52 Wah Brass Great for scoring cartoons like Caillou, TeleTubbies, or Clifford the big red dog (yes, I have kids...)
53 Phase Combination Aaaahhh.... a typical '80 sound!
54 Reed 1 This doesn't sound like a reed at all... maybe a glitch in the cassette factory file?
55 Popcorn Obviously inspired from Hot Butter's classic song
56 Reed 2 Sounds more like a celesta or something...
57 Reed 3 Similar to a clarinet.
58 PMW Chorus (Typo:  should be "PWM" for Pulse Modulation Width) ANALOG!!!!!!!  Similar to the patch used for the synth line in "Sweet Dreams"!  What a great, powerful, inspiring patch!
61 Synthesizer Organ Very warm synth sound.
62 Effect Sound 1 Effective sound with interesting filter envelope.
63 Effect Sound 2 Very powerful, analog sound!  It shakes the walls!  What's interesting is that so many Virtual Analogs nowadays try to emulate these kinds of sounds...
64 Space Harp Definitely spacey (but the VCA envelope is too long).  Great for scoring Sci-Fi movies.
65 Funk Yep - that's exactly it!  Check out how fat and huge these synth sounds are!!
66 Space Sound 1 Just a beautiful, rising synthesizer patch.  Add heavy reverb and your spooky soundtrack is ready.
67 Mysterious Invention I'll give this preset a prize for the original patch name :D !  Cool patch, though.
68 Space Sound 2 Great synth sound, mysterious, hypnotic, evolving.. reminds of the Prophet-VS almost!
71 Percussive Sound 1 Typical analog percussion.
72 Percussive Sound 2 More like laser guns on a spaceship.
73 Whistle Uncanny emulation!  Excellent programming.
74 Effect Sound 3 Great for horror-movie scenes.  Reminds me a bit of Wendy Carlos' style.
75 UFO Classic extraterrestrial kind of sound.
76 Space Sound 2 Typo: should be "Space Sound 3"  Once again a great sound from the Juno-60.  Better used for FX and atonal background work.
77 Surf What do you do when you can't find that Special FX sample CD and you need a sea wave effect?  Grab the Juno.
78 Synthesizer Drum aka Simmons.  In vogue during the end of the '70s/early '80s

 

 

 

FACTORY BANK "B" - (The names of these presets were kindly provided by Andrew Nicholls - from the original manual.)

 

Stream all audio examples below:

Preset name with audio demo My comments (note: these comments were left before I found out the names of these patches.. so it's interesting to see what I thought the sounds were, and the differences from Roland programmer's intent.)
11 Low Strings A beautiful string ensemble, with "sea sickness" vibrato.  Reminds me a bit of the sound at the beginning of "Deep Honey" by Goldfrapp (a very beautiful song, by the way...)
12 Mid Strings Another string ensemble showcasing the famous Roland "Chorus II"
13 High Strings Lush violins and violas
14 Staccato Strings Warm violas
15 Fanfare Brass Muted brass sound.  A standard '80s sound.  Would work well as a pad in smooth-jazz music.
16 Synthesizer Brass Reed ensemble
17 Mellow Legato Brass French horn ensemble
18 High Brass Trumpets and trombones
21 Clav I A piano sound
22 Clav II Indefinable but works as synth bass.
23 Harpsichord Filtered Clavinet sound.
24 Honky Tonk Classic sparkly '80s synthesizer sound - think "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes
25 Chime Piano Some kind of mellow piano, with long release.
26 Space Piano Honky piano, with long release.
27 Pluck I Synth bass with resonance and very quick decay
28 Pluck II Poly Synth vaguely reminiscent of the sound in "Lucky Man" by ELP.
31 B-3 Great electric organ sound
32 C-3 Farfisa organ sound, with fast vibrato
33 B-3 #2 Hammond C-3 sound, good for church
34 Drawbar Organ Pad organ sound, heavily chorused
35 Combo Organ I Small chapel organ sound
36 Combo Organ II Vox organ sound, with fast vibrato
37 Combo Organ III Farfisa organ sound, without vibrato
38 Pipe Organ Church harmonium.
41 Flute Gentle flute sound
42 Clarinet Clarinet with lots of vibrato
43 Solo Trumpet Accordion sound - filtered.
44 Oboe Oboe with vibrato
45 Harmonica Great ocarina sound.
46 Strum Gentle bassoon
47 Flamenco Guitar Indefinable synth
48 Harp Haunting electric piano with long release
51 Space Harp Synth sound with long release
52 Ethereal Spacey synth sound passed through the HPF; long release
53 Sweet Sweep Beautiful syn-strings with long release, Chorus II
54 Mellow Sweep Rising brass patch
55 Slow Sweep Slow rising synth patch, with resonance.
56 Space Sweep A classic "filter sweep".
57 Chunky Chorus Powerful synth lead, with PWM and Chorus II
58 Squonk Same as above
61 Synth Bass Comp synth
62 Pedal Bass Honest acoustic piano sound
63 String Bass Mellow funky synth sound
64 Funk Bass Very powerful and cool synth bass sound.  Viva l'analog!
65 Hammer Lead Comp synth, thin
66 Duke Lead Comp synth, fat
67 Neg Lead Staccato synth with "surprise" decay VCA rise.
68 Blip Lead Funk synth with resonance
71 Wind Jet take off
72 Space Chime Haunting sci-fi sound
73 Space Swell UFO take off
74 Chopper Chord UFO landing
75 Lunar Landers Jet pass by
76 Martian Chord Martians speaking
77 Vulcan Turbos UFO pass by
78 The Surge Wind

 

Original Factory banks (from the Juno-60 companion cassette)

.wav file of Roland Juno-60 Factory presets (group A) - Load this modulated tone into the synth's "LOAD" input to load up the Factory presets.  Be sure to spend some time in doing this, and don't get discouraged if the first attempts fail.  The synth is very susceptible to the kind of signal it receives.  The best way I've found out is to start with sending a pretty hot signal out of the computer to the LOAD input on the Juno.  The display will show "Er" for error because it's too loud.  Then gradually lower the volume down by small increments.  You have to try loading the .wav file every time.  After a few (very frustrating) attempts, you will find the right volume and the Juno will load the presets, showing "--" on the display at the end.  Be sure to start the .wav file (the lead tone) and press the LOAD button when the lead tone is running, right before the modulated (sounds like a modem) tone is heard.  That's the sign that the loading was successful - whew!!  Read the manual for more details on loading or saving sounds from cassette (or from your computer audio output).  It's also best to use a mono cable.

.wav file of Roland Juno-60 Factory Presets (group B) - same as above, for Factory presets bank B.

Roland Juno-60 pictures (click on thumbnails to enlarge)

           

       

Roland Juno-60 manual

available at www.rolandus.com

Roland Juno-60 resources:
  • Review in "Keyboard magazine" Janfebmarch 198___
Roland Juno-60 features
  • great look, with colorful panel, buttons, and wood end-panels;
  • super-easy to use;
  • warm analog sound - classic '80s!!;
  • fantastic chorus and arpeggio effects
Features at a glance
Year of release: 1982
Polyphony: 6-voice
Presets: 56
Keyboard: 61 notes (5 octaves)
Responds to velocity: no
Aftertouch no
Sound generation method: DCO
MIDI: no
Sound expansion capabilities: cassette
Arpeggiator: yes: up/up&down/down x 1,2 or 3 octaves
Effects: chorus (two types).  Press the two buttons at the same time and obtain a very fast, Leslie vibrato.
Controls: sliders
Outputs: two (mono - stereo)
Weight:  

 

Links

 

SITE Type of resource DESCRIPTION
http://www.rolandus.com Home page Home page for Roland US