Roland Alpha Juno 2 Demos

[Fullofkittens]

Delphine requested that I post up some samples of my new toy:

All these are straight out of the output and into your ears. They do, however, use the onboard chorus effect as that's the only detuning the synth has.

http://www.stackablemusic.com/multim...J2_roygbiv.mp3

http://www.stackablemusic.com/multim..._filtersub.mp3 <--- this made the lights dim in my studio when I recorded it. It's just the naked square wave with the filter turned down, no resonance.

http://www.stackablemusic.com/multim...chorus8ves.mp3 <--- this is the naked oscillator with just a touch of chorus. For the 2nd to last one I turned the chorus off completely. Ravey!

http://www.stackablemusic.com/multim...J2_myradio.mp3 <--- I couldn't resist putting some stereo delay on this one.

Now, keep in mind: this is with the polyphony turned off. All of these use a single voice (which has "three oscillators" which are locked together: two pulse waves and a sawtooth which, weirdly, you can mix with another square waveform and apply PWM).

I'm digging it. The next volume of demos will include some polyphonic sounds.

[Delphine]

Cheers for posting these. I like the sound of this synth a lot, what's the difference between it and the '1' apart from it being a bigger keyboard?

I have a bit of gear lust now, this has got to be one of the best bargain synths around at the minute, ( the long lost Korg Poly 61 is another synth I'd buy in a heartbeat )....

I saw you mention that you didn't like the programming method, are you aware of the PG-300 controller? I don't know how often they crop up but when I thought I was getting the Alpha Juno 1, this immediately sprang to mind.

If I can see one of these synths around I'm definitely gonna grab it,

You got a really cool synth there for peanuts...

[Fullofkittens]

I think the PG-300s are a rare collector's item. There is a windows emulator for it, haven't tried that yet.

The interface isn't that bad, it's just a ton of parameters that are only accessible through scrolling, like in a Proteus box. Except, filter cutoff and envelope time are always accessible through one button, and can work independent of the patch, which is really nice. Modifying envelope time while an arp plays:

The differences between the AJ1 and the AJ2 are:
-bigger keyboard
-velocity
-aftertouch

but the aftertouch is apparently so famously unreliable that getting it to work is considered a mod. It doesn't work on mine.

The velocity sensitivity is a biggie, though - #1 because it means I can use it as a controller and #2 because the ways it makes patches, they're very playable with velocity, as in that BoC patch I made. I have a hard time making velocity-mapped-to-cutoff sound good on my other synths but it works pretty well here.

[Scot Solida]

Very cool. I always liked the Alpha Juno synths. The Juno 1 was my first "DCO" synth, bought way back when it first came out. I've had one in some form or another since. I currently use the rack mounted version (MKS-50). Keep in mind that though the Alpha Juno 1's keyboard lacks velocity control, the synth itself will respond to it over MIDI...

[Delphine]

I'm confused now, what's the MKS-80 a rack unit of? ( off to google )

so FoK, how does the synth work, is it basically an analog subtractive synth with DCO's? Are the filters analog?

I was wondering what kind of thing you are faced with when programming a patch, is it laid out in sections like osc/amp section/filter section/mod section - and then broken down into sub menus or something?

If there's a windows emulator for the PG-300, does that mean you can change parameters over midi from within a sequencer?

[Fullofkittens]

I'll have to be quick, on my way out the door...

I'm confused now, what's the MKS-80 a rack unit of? ( off to google )

so FoK, how does the synth work, is it basically an analog subtractive synth with DCO's? Are the filters analog?

Yes, yes.

I was wondering what kind of thing you are faced with when programming a patch, is it laid out in sections like osc/amp section/filter section/mod section - and then broken down into sub menus or something?

Every parameter (there's maybe 50) is accessed in the same way: press Parameter Select, spin the wheel until you see the right value, press Value, spin the wheel to change the value. The wheel is very touchy which makes this a little more of a hassle than it sounds.

If there's a windows emulator for the PG-300, does that mean you can change parameters over midi from within a sequencer?

You can (especially through something like Midiquest) but it's controlled via SysEx and not via CC so it's not as simple as just adding midi automation.

[Scot Solida]

The MKS-80 is a Super Jupiter in a rack.

The Alpha-Juno is a menu-driven analog synth, with digitally controlled oscillators. You get a tiny LCD display (one parameter at a time) and the "Alpha Wheel", a free-spinning data entry knob purloined from the Moog Source (but not nearly as nice). The structure is pretty basic: 2 xDCO+Sub Osc through a resonant low pass filter, high pass filter (in series), LFO and a pair of envelope generators, plus the built-in chorus. You should be able to take it all in pretty quickly. I definitely suggest a software editor or a PG300 for programming, though I have to confess that I still program mine primarily from the front panel, simply because I have been doing so for decades, now.

An Alpha Juno will never cost you much, and you'll get a great return on your investment.

[echosonic]

Handsome stuff Mr Kittens!

[Delphine]

I was gonna say that the Juno 2 is supported by Soundquests Midiquest editor and Librarian, that fact that it's Sys-Ex and no CC isn't suprising really but all the more reason to hunt down a PG-300...( Although I'd imagine you'd probably have to buy another Juno to get it as I couldn't see somebody just owning the PG-300.)

So this has a patch memory bank or something? ( I have read a little on the Alpha Juno 1 but nothoing on the 2 )

[Fullofkittens]

There are 64 presets and 64 user memory locations for patches. It's expandable to another 64 with a memory cartridge that costs as much as the synth itself.