Juno 60 and SH-101

[Keith Phillips]

I did a BAD thing... I splurged. :P I bought the Alesis Andromeda and like a dummy I go and let some extra cash burn a little hole in my pocket... I got an old SH-101 and Juno 60. :D

Hey everyone needs some vintage gear right?!

Actually, I guess it was technically like free money, I didn't file an old old tax return and they actually let me have it. The statuate of limitations was probably expired on it, but I got lucky, so 2 free keyboards from old Uncle Sam. :)

What do you guys thing about the Juno 60 in particular? I was listening to some examples of just preset sounds and oh my, totally 80s flashbacks right there! Especially the PWM Chorus preset, that almost sounded like Eurythmics right there if you took off some of the decay/sustain.

I think I'm going to take some Gas-X and try not to buy anything else for a little bit, but I'm open to suggestions for the future! :P

Synthi 100s and Moog Modulars are out of the question though. Hell. even the cheapest keyboard I bought this week is probably worth more than my car..! :(

[jasedee]

Congrats! Im also the proud owner of a near-mint Juno 60:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a337/jasondirckze/Synth/Juno.jpg

It produces some great bass using just the sub osc and Chorus on 2.

Be careful though, looks like you've caught the analogue bug bad. I started with a Yamaha CS-10 analogue mono, then got the Roland Juno 60 and a Roland D-50. I've also just got a PG-1000 programmer for the D-50 and I have a Roland TR-707 on it's way soon. Try running the SH-101 through some stomp boxes. I run my CS-10 through a distortion and delay and get some great sounds.

:)

P.S I know the D-50 is not analogue, but it is still vintage ;)

[Keith Phillips]

Oh yea, the D-50 was really popular, a friend of mine used one a ways back and it was like his "main" keyboard mostly. Kind of like the most popular digital Roland probably!

If I go for a virus, it will probably be a desktop C model later down the road, it certainly seems sufficient and capable. :)

I was almost tempted to get a really cheap SY-85, you ever had any experience with those?

Edit: That Juno looks fucking pristine! You could eat off those keys. :)

[jasedee]

If I go for a virus, it will probably be a desktop C model later down the road, it certainly seems sufficient and capable. :)
Good choice! I want to trade in my RackXL for a desktop or KC at some point.

I was almost tempted to get a really cheap SY-85, you ever had any experience with those?
Never played one before, but it doesnt seem to have any standout features. Just looks like an early workstation type synth, using AWM synthesis.

Edit: That Juno looks fucking pristine! You could eat off those keys. :)
Hehehe....yeah, I was lucky with that one. The insides were relatively dust free too. Although I just spent AUD$200 getting it serviced!!!!!

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

The Juno 60 was my first polysynth. I think they are awesome at certain sounds (bass, chorussy pads and drones)

Let me know how you get on with the A6. Im particularly interested to hear your thoughts on that one.

DS

[Keith Phillips]

I've only had the A6 for a few days but right off the bat it was clearly evident that it was not a digital source at the heart. The sound has the great analog fluctuations and inconsist character. It has a good top end and can scream, the sync algorithm seems nice, it has hard and soft sync which has a very different timbre in itself with almost any sound.

I don't know how to program it the way I really want to yet, but I'm getting there. The modulation matrix is pretty extensive, 3 LFOs is very useful and I don't think it needs 3 oscillators (it has 2, and I don't think people are complaining.) If anything it could maybe use a boost in the stereo panning department for voices. Things seem to be a little too mono without adding effects but I might be missing something at the moment. It could use an extra envelope which would be nice but I haven't really exhausted the 3 that are given right now anyways.

The bugs in the OS are very minor I don't think many people would be annoyed with anything. The only real weird bug in my opinion is the duty cycle of the pulse wave, it is really 52% instead of 50% to get a perfect duty cycle, but it is not terribly major. You can mix in the pulse wave with different amplitudes. This is the only osc wavefom with independent amplitude control. It defaults to 50% (bug?) but you need to set it to 22% for it to "match" the other waveforms, just hit up+down keys simultaneously after turning the level knob for the pulse wave to set it to 22.

I like running the voices on rotary assignment, each note uses the next voice regardless of the polyphony and that imparts a bit of randomness to the sound. You can easily see this with an oscilloscope or just listening to 2 oscillators at the same frequency without sync on one note and then striking another note. The oscs drift in a different manner on each voice. :)

There is a nice feature to mix back in the fundamental sine wave of either or both oscillators and/or the ring mod if you choose after filtering. Something that I think was (somewhat) a feature of the CS80, not too many synths do that. The mixing aspects of everything on this synth seem to be very good. With very basic oscs you can mix things in various ways and just literally spend hours before exhausting just the tiniest bit of potential. Then change something on one of the oscs and your in a different ballpark again.

The A6 is hard to find right now, I couldnt find ANY place that had any in stock. Some were not very truthful and said they would have one shipping in a week. but I think that is false. Everything is manufacturer ordered and that supply is currently low. I heard a rumor that there was a manufacturing problem that needed to be rectified before the next stock was shipped and that it would be not until September when that was ready.

Some of the key features of the board in my opinion:

- VERY flexible envelope system, has many contours for each stage which greatly change the sound, especially when used with the filters.

- Nice mixing system, post and pre and has a lot of flexibility, especially adding back of the fundamental. There are 2 ways to do a notch filter which has a bit of a difference because the one method uses the independent slopes of each filter; 12dB SEM and 24dB Moog.

- Ribbon controller rocks. Can adjust each half to do different things if you want and has a "hold" mode that you can click on that remembers the last position your finger was at.

- Portamento is VERY flexible. Has almost any conceivable type of portamento and even legato and a "reverse legato" if you will. You can even modulate portamento stuff. Weird.

- Soft sync algorithm is really good. Not many thing have soft sync in addition to hard sync. Syncs harmonics instead of just osc duty cycles.

- Has quite a few engine modes. Fast to slow for basses (fast) down to evolving pads (slow). Changes things quite a bit.

- Autotuning is nice and reliable. Turn on only temperature tuning and turn off background tuning of unused voices and it will work fine and still have character.

- Envelopes are all 7 stage, 2 are bipolar. They are very flexible and I like the curve changes. I've actually found myself using these curve differences the most.

- Modulation capability is VERY extensive, just takes some time to set everything up. Most stuff is laid out for you fairly easily but it can still take some time to make the most of it.

- There is a fairly esoteric feature called the TRACKING GENERATOR, but it seems like it could be useful it is just kind of hard to understand. It does let you reconfigure quite a bit of things and you can use CROUTES to reprogram things in some other manners, but I've not really used these. Example though is you could use the tracking generator in addition to something like the mod wheel to change the curve of modulation applied by the mod wheel. At the very top end you could have something like distortion kick in at the top of a filter sweep.

- Has global and voice randoms so you can use those to add extra inconsistencies/fluctuations into parameters, and use the global random for inconsistencies that need to remain at a somewhat predictable value between parameters, and not vary per voice.

- The knobs don't transmit CC, but they do transmit. I've successfully recorded knob tweaks into Sonar without trouble. The parameters are just sent via 4 pairs of numbers, 2 that identify the parameter and are combined to form an NRPN value, and then a pair that represent the actual value. I believe they are 14-bit accuracy. It works well, you just can't control VSTi shit with them like a MIDI controller. Big deal! This works better for the A6, it has very smooth parameter store and playback, just don't use the DENSE option, it will give your sequencer a fucking heart attack! I use number 4 currently without problems. Can even overdub multiple parameters on different takes and combine the best takes later.

The worst parts about it? The effects blow. But who cares?! Get a Virus and run it through its effects, thats what I want to do. :) It is a shame that the effects suck though, because you can independently add the distortion circuit (which is analog) into the FX bus and not the main output. That spices up the reverbs quite a bit if it is at a low number like 3% distortion. If the effects were really good this would rock. The only recourse I could see for this would be to send the distortion out the MAIN, and run that through your outboard FX, then use dry AUX out and mix that in with the outboard FX to taste. I don't mind the distortion on here, but you can't go very high with it. A distortion pedal is probably better though but I don't have one.

Also, the LFOs only go to 25Hz but I guess that is the nature of an LFO, something you can't hear.. But if you are used to fast "audible" level LFOs you have to hit something like the pitch envelope and use that in looping mode since that operates faster. I think you can do up to a 500Hz unipolar saw "LFO" with looping envelopes.

The bass end leaves not so much to be desired but I have not fully explored this yet. I think though I will use the SH-101 and Juno for that territory!

[Hollowcell]

Congrats!

Yeah once the bug bites it bites hard! :D

[Keith Phillips]

Yea I was going to get some Raid or Black Flag for that bug but my now empty bank account now completely nullified the need for it. :D

[Keith Phillips]

Hey DS would you say it would be a good idea to try to track down a Jupiter-8 at some point? Look awfully sexy they do. :D

Though I see a lot of good words about old SY77's as well, esp regarding strings.

[Vexx]

I have the TG500 which is the rack version of the SY85. Really nice sound, lovely pads etc.

[Keith Phillips]

Yea my friend used a SY85 heavily in the 90s for a bunch of his hit tunes. Think he used a lot of the basses pads and choir sounds on it, but sold it way back when.

SH-101 got here today yay :)

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Keith...the JP8 is probably my all time favourite synth Ive ever used. It has wow factor in terms of sound and looks. To me....its the ultimate in poly synths.

Heres a slighty gay looking video using one of the first ever JP8's (at time of this gig...no more than 2 months old)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmW4ROSvEic

DS

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Thankyou for your A6 response. Very interesting reading....thx for the time

DS

[Hollowcell]

SH-101 got here today yay :)

Missed this first time around...

So what are the initial impressions?

[Keith Phillips]

SH-101 is a nice little monosynth, really easy to program since theres not much too it, the filter is good. I currently need an official PS-120 power supply as the one I was temporarily using doesnt match up quite so well and throws it off tune badly. The attack envelope on the SH-101 is fantastic. Really punchy, you can make the best synthed analog bass drum sounds and the filter will squeal with the best of them. Very 303-ish without the accent and slide, but more versatile than the 303 IMO.

Running it through the mic preamp models (Neve, Avalon, Requisite, models etc.) via the Line inputs on the Line6 Toneport UX2 for my Stratocaster makes it sound really nice and not so plain. :) Just need to keep it in tune and get a CV->MIDI box. Same with the Juno-60 just DCB->MIDI on that.

A side note, I ran the Fender into the Andromeda since it can process external signals in two different modes. This is neat as you can run a mono signal in to voices 1-16 and trigger the external input polyphonically (this will work better once I get an EBow for long sustaining drone sounds while running a MIDI sequence on the Andy.) In this mode you get the oscillators and the external input in place of the Noise circuit, and the external signal goes through the filters and all that jazz.

In the second mode, you run a stereo (or dupe mono) through just voices 15 and 16, the rest of the voices and oscillators are knocked out and you just get the external signal processed by the envelopes/filters etc. in a 2 voice pseudo-monophonic mode or maybe more of a left&right monophonic unison mode which is really fun.

Came up with some really mind bending sounds that way by doing some funky thing weaving a pick through 3 strings and plucking at the pick. Made the strings vibrate in a really odd manner through the pick and got some strange V-Synthy sounds (for lack of a better word.) Too much fun but really makes you wish you didn't have only 2 hands :)

[Gopal]

My SH101 arrives tomorow :lol:

Original Roland carry bag, manual and mod grip included

WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[ledge]

My SH101 arrives tomorow :lol:

Original Roland carry bag, manual and mod grip included

WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

How much did you end up paying if you don't mind me asking.

[Khazul]

If the FX on the A6 are crap - stick it through a TC fireworx - can sometimes pick them up cheap s/h.

I got real lucky a few times recently and managed to get a D-Two, M-One XL and a Triple C v.cheap as well - so all fource of them are now on separate sends as well as digitally interlinked as a monster modular fx box :)

[Gopal]

My SH101 arrives tomorow :lol:

Original Roland carry bag, manual and mod grip included

WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

How much did you end up paying if you don't mind me asking.

Got it for $480 NZ plus postage. This unit is in excellent condition, all knobs and sliders intact and working perfectly, not even a crackle to be found :shock:

Sound wise, its more of a beast than I expected, really phat sounds and huge basses or piercing squeels. Within moments of turning it on I had the Azziza da bass sound happening :lol: So simple to get what you want out of it too.

[Hollowcell]

That's a good price considering it has the mod grip and everything there Gopal. Nice buy mate!