Poly mode The Juno-106 offers two Assign modes - Poly 1 and Poly 2. Poly 1 turns the Juno-106 into a six-voice polyphonic synthesizer, assigning one synth voice to each key that is pressed. This particular setting is generally suited to sounds with envelopes similar to a piano or a guitar and is recommended for standard use. Poly 2 mode is similar to Poly 1, the key advantage being that only the last note or notes played receive natural release length. This makes Poly 2 mode more suitable for performance with the onboard portamento effect. Pressing Poly 1 and 2 moves the Juno-106 into Solo Unison mode. In this mode, the Juno-106 acts as a monophonic synthesizer, with all six voices assigned to each key that is pressed.
Also: one of the Poly modes (2, i think it was) always starts with voice chip 1 for the first key pressed, 2 for the second... Very usefull, if you have e.g. a broken voice chip 5. Unlike in the other mode, you can still play four keys at once...
I have had a Juno 106 for 13 years now. Found it in a recycling dumpster. Took it home, bought & replaced 2 damaged voice chips, 4 missing sliders, replaced the battery and a few damaged keys, and it still works today. Loved the Juno so much I bought the Juno 60 to sit next to it
I want to ask I have a Roland FA-07 and I here a piece of something moving around inside the keyboard if I stand it up, I don't here it when it's flat and I'm playing it, it's not affecting any part of playing recording it sounds like a piece of plastic broke off inside do you think I should pay and bother to have them see what it is ?
The first synth I ever played was a Juno-106. I learned all the synth theory I needed in the 80s between that machine and the DX-7. With one of each, and a TR-909 drum machine, we had everything we needed for a good jam session back then.
Thanks for this. The Juno 1 Oh six was my first crush. I was 15 when it came out I couldn’t afford it but one of my really good friend in high school got one. I even remember the new electric smell it had. I had a sequential max, which was a six track, polyphonic sequencing synthesizer, Pretty amazing in its own right, and one day we connected our two keyboards together through MIDI. That was a mind blowing moment, and forever changed me. I was completely hooked on the idea of connecting different instruments together to create a symphonic synthesized sonosphere. Fast forward 38 years and a career in music with many electronic instruments, and I am still completely mesmerized by the sound of that keyboard. So happy you found one for yourself.
Scott's Synth Stuff did a really good series of restoration videos that concluded two weeks ago. He restored a 106, and upgraded it with the Kiwi106 board and Analog Renaissance voice and filter chips, the vids are definitely well worth a watch.
That's my first analog synth. Bought in 2008 for what today would be considered a killer bargain price (500 euros), I still have it today. Seeing its current prices I'm glad I kept it.
@@patriciaoudart1508 Those who started to pile up the analog synths other people were throwing away in the 90ies understood it all. 80 euro for a Juno, today this is just science fiction.
Same here! In fact I AB tested them both for a day, side by side, when I wanted to replace my Juno 60 with Juno 106, back in 1984. But ended up by keeping the 60. This being said, it makes sense to have both of them in a professional studio with lots of gears. 106 has his own flavor and still sounds great!
I finally got a Juno 106 after all these years and I'm very happy that i got one. I even have the Roland Cloud version which sounds great but this synth is certainly special from a great time in synth design. There's nothing like connecting to the real instrument.
Gotta say, I feel blessed and honored to have gotten my hands on this bad boy multiple times in my life. The Juno-106 is an absolute monster of a machine, and I would never sleep if I had one of my own.
Never had one of these but I borrowed one in 1986 after I graduated Southampton University, to do music for a short film about student housing I was making with a friend. I still have the theme tune on my phone, and I just played it - ah, the memories! Made on a Portastudio, naturally :) It's a magnificent synth.
I recently acquired Frankie Goes To Hollywood's JUNO-106, hence me checking out a bunch of 106 videos 🙂 Imagine my surprise when I saw you'd bought it from Jon who I bought my Yamaha AN1x from around the same time! 🙂
My brother had one in the 80s and I was a fool not to acquire it from him. I have an Alpha Juno 2 and the JU-06a, and tons of samples and the Roland Cloud and they are all very good in their own right, but nothing really comes close to having the real thing in front of you. Great synth and some lovely improvisation, Dr. Mix! I love how seamlessly it fits into your mix with the Rhodes and that killer Lyle Mays lead on the Prophet. The other Juno has a character all it's own, too. Thanks for sharing.
In early 90s used to own two Juno 106s that I used both all the time in my setup. ( along with SH101 and Korg MS20) ...my fave synth ever. Fun to program great for beginners and sound real good .....and then you hit the chorus button..... And your world is rocked.
I had one back in the 80s. Loved it. As well as composing my own tunes, I learned to play one or two tracks from my hero Jean-Michel Jarre on it. I put his CDs into my tiny portable Technics CD player and set the track I wanted to learn on loop until I learned it by ear. Then bought a Roland D-50 that, like the 106 and DX7, was revolutionary in it's day. I can't remember what I did with the 106! Back then I think we advertised use gear in the newspaper classifieds.
The Juno 106 was as one of my 1st keyboards in Highschool that is why I missed class half of the time ha,ha,ha.! But I am still Rocking out on Roland fantom G6 workstation technology........thank you for the video .
I will write it here again, it probably felt through the chat: Roland wrapped the filter boards in plastic. But after all those years it got conductive, which results in strange behavior of the voices. But you can solder them out and put them overnight into acetone. Then you can scrape the plastic off. In 90% of the time, it fixes the problem. But if not, google for analogue renaissance. They have replacement boards which sound exactly the same.
DO NOT scrape the plastic off!! Those chips have surface-printed resistor traces on them that are carefully cut to calibrate the chips. Scraping the plastic will destroy them. I put the Analog Renaissance chips in mine, you can watch my video series on the Juno-106 restoration I did on it on my YT channel.
Thanks to the two. My Juno 6 works perfectly just the vcf slider have an issue, but for now I did not open because I have enough fun with the instrument. I will search for a store having different pieces if needed. A good cleaning and a micro inspection of the board is mostly enough, sometimes sliders have been injured by time and dust, in my case the vcf seem to have had a beer liquid damage, certainly other components under to verify. Lot of videos exist about the Juno, i'm not interested in a big update, only adding some patch abilities, to modular extensions,
I’m sure you’ll be very happy with it!......My story is for a long time I avoided the 106 (& all single oscillator synths) cause, well I was silly....it seems so limited on paper. But then I got one a few years ago and boy did my opinion change! I now think it the greatest analogue synth of all time😮 I absolutely love the thing😊, sure its “limited” in so many ways but you can’t get a bad sound out of it & What is does, it does so frickin well. Also amazingly reliable for the age (&condition) you often find them in, you can get a lot of parts if you need them... Anyone who is misguided enough to want to start buying vintage synths: this is always at the top of my suggestion list!
Poly 2 is the same as Poly 1, except that it changes the envelope triggering for new notes being pressed - primarily only the last note gets the envelope. If you press Poly 1 and Poly 2 at the same time, you get unison mode.
The reason the resonant filter sounds "stepped" is because it is much more narrowly focusing on the specific harmonic that the resonance is tuned to, so as it hits those harmonics, they become much louder, so it sounds like it is stepping between them. Basically the Juno-106 resonance has a much more narrow Q than your Minimoog.
I had a 106 back in 1985. It was connected to a Sinclair ZX Spectrum with one of the first MIDI interfaces. The first thing I did was to go out and buy the sheet music to Dare by the Human League and programme in every song in the book. After that some Howard Jones, Nik Kershew., Duran... You get the idea. Basically, many lost weekends in my loft spent sequencing my favorite tunes of the day. I really regret selling it a few years later. Thanks for the nostalga fix :-)
I like the background spy music during the return to the studio. 106 Filter sounds like there is some built in resonance vs the dry moog filter with res off. Yes, that moog filter is, well, if you know, you know haha. Several of my creator friends of my other channel have moog grandmothers, and they have the best sounding bass in their tunes. I absolutely knew I would also have a grandmother.
Possibly my favourite synth. I have a Juno 1 I bought brand new in 1987 and it has been my workhorse for years. It truly is one of the most versatile synths ever as it can be used for so many things. Mine even still has the same original battery still going strong.
@@max2950 Patch memory retention. Without that battery the RAM that keeps all the patches (the sounds you program on the synthesizer) would loose power when turning the synth off, wiping away all its content.
@@max2950 The Alpha Juno 1's (along with the Juno 2 which had a bigger keyboard) were the last models of Juno. They're the same but digitally controlled. You lose the sliders, and have to control things through menu diving and a jog wheel. It's not that bad really, and I've long got used to it. So the battery is used for storing all the presets and programs. I keep an eye on mine as I don't want it to leak and wreck things, but I also want to see how long it can keep going. It's amazing especially as this synths has been heavily used for decades.
Also, polyphony 1 is 'normal' where voices ring out over each other with longer release, polyphony 2 release is gated out when another voice is triggered to allow all notes to be heard, cleans things up with longer delay and especially with open filter.
I bought my Juno 106 in 1984. I still remember how wonderful it smelled as soon as I took it out of the box. Years later I ended up selling it because of a persistent defect in the electronics. That's one of the few regrets I have in my life.
Congrats! Beautiful synth! I bought one 20 years ago and sold it 10 years later...but bought again...and sold it again few years later...NOW I will buy it for the 3rd time (ouch the price is 3x times expensive than previously)...but hey! I NEED it again no matter how it costs!
I love watching you, Doctor. You feature such an authentic and full personality that makes your content much more interesting than others. Thank you for this! And thank you for teaching me about the Juno-106!
God, I had a 106 when I was experimenting with music tech in the 90’s. It was such a dream! Every sound it produced was just exquisite. I miss it so much!!
Great video ! That is why I am buying a new Juno X. Would love an original 106 but a price for a good one is the same price if not more than a new Juno X that does so much more and sounds as good. Roland are offering a wC-1 and free cloud for 12 months so I'll just download the Jupiter 8 and get a T8 to go with my RD88 and that will do for the time being....
I acquired a Juno 106 in 2002 for free ( in exchange for some work ) kept it for a short while ( I had loads of synths at the time ) and sold it for £400. I thought £400 was a LOT for a '106 - I think the voice chips were on their way out too ;-). I have a Deepmind 12 now - and also an Opsix which bizarrely can do a pretty good impression of Juno sounds!
Fantastic, fantastic ! To see the maestro road test the synth and show us what it can do is a joy to watch. And then to compare it's performance against his other synth puts it in perspective. And the wave form thing really brings those effects to life for a newbie like me. I love these videos ! And they're fun too !
Don't know if it is the case for all 106's, but by playing the synth in unison mode with slight portamento added, I was able to get the 6 unison voices to slightly detune themselves, resulting in a even bigger sound. It was my workaround as I did not have a proper monophonic synth at the time.
Man, Dr. mix, I loved, loved, loved hearing you playing on that Roland General 106. I had one, but due to something that happened to it before I had gotten it, it ended up dying on me about three years ago. As a blind person, totally blind, that is, that board was the ultimate of accessibility, that is to say, not having to deal with the batch of darned Controls ran by a display that I couldn't see or going through batch of menus that were not really accessible to me. That thing for quite a number of years was my main concert board. Yeah! That thing is awesome!
I absolutely adore my Juno 106. I’ve owned two over the past 20 years. I had the chips replaced with the Analogue Renaissance chips and they sound identical. Both of mine had the voice issue before replacing them.
Nice! Over the years I have collected basically every iteration of 1980s Juno. I have a 60, 106 and an Alpha. Plus the Juno 106 in the System 8, the Roland Cloud version and Arturia version. One can never, ever have too much Juno. Recently bought an MSQ-700 to keep them company.
Kiwi mod will not step. Sure that's in here somewhere. I just got my first Juno 106 the other day. Waiting for it to show up. Been in love with it since 2000 or 2001 ish when I first played it and was not even into keyboards at the time. Love the Chanel man. Keep up the great work.
I was always an American synth dude but the Softube Juno made me realise that the Juno is a great sounding synth. Not a bad sound. Does a lot of stuff really well. Simple and really effective.
@Doctormix Someone may have already mentioned this, but it's possible that the filter stepping is actually meant to happen when manually turning the filter knob, as to facilitate tuning it to musical intervals; and will otherwise be smooth when modulated from an envelope or LFO. I don't know this to be fact, but that's how several DSI/Sequential synths behave. Perhaps worth testing... Cheers!
I have an HS-60 (my first synth), same insides as the 106. Basically, the Dodge Aries K to the 106’s Plymouth Reliant. Need to replace a voice chip though. Amazing synth. I was tempted to sell it in the past, but I never will. Gorgeous sound. Love your pairing with the Prophet. Such a beautiful duo.
I've got the 106, had it from around '93/94 . good condition but last time i gave it a test although it still has all my original patches still saved ,it does however sounds like the voice chips will need acetoned. I will sell it when i get that done :)
Spellbinding sound! I was puzzling over the stepping on that filter… if that’s not how it’s meant to be, and assuming the internals are sort of front panel pots -> a/d -> Z80 (or something of that era) -> d/a (per voice parameter) -> VCA VCO VCF etc … then maybe the a/d converter channel that reads the filter pot on front panel has a problem with low-order bits so it doesn’t sweep so well?
I have 3 or 4 of these from some irresponsible ebaying more than a decade ago. One works fully, one has a dead voice chip, and the other(s) were for parts but are still intact. I had sourced 6 good (original) voice chips to fix the others but a fire took them out ($600+ down the drain). (The junos were in the same room but unharmed... in fact, the fire cleanup company professionally cleaned them inside-and-out. Got rid of some horrible cigarette smell from one of them.) The Juno-106 and my later-acquired JD-800 were my "daily drivers" for a long time. I eventually got the rack-mount version of the JD-800 which was more convenient. Now I only pull the Juno out for special occasions but it sits over there staring at me all the time and on some level it's the music I hear in my head and the sounds I chase in the DAW.
@doctor mix polyphony 2 makes it so envelope release is only applied to the last note (or group of notes) played. It makes a big difference when using portamento with a large glide time as it stops a lot of messiness.
Almost fell asleep at the end with how beautiful and melodic and space-y sounding it was. Can’t believe this is also the same synth Daft Punk used to make the nasty and aggressive sounding noises in Rollin’ and scratchin’
I found one in the dumpster before leaving college. Kid said it didn’t work. The power cord was missing, and the .. jack it plugs into on the back was also missing. Was missing a key. So whatever- I brought it home, bought a power cord, and it works. All the sliders and everything are scratchy and rough, and who knows.. maybe it’s down a voice? Hard to say. I’d love to find a place that can fix it up to proper working order.
I own a 60. Before buying it, I did a lot of research into the Juno series to decide which one I wanted. I liked the sound and features of the 60 best. But there seem to be a lot of people who prefer the 106. The 106 has portamento, which seems like an oversight on the 60. But the 60 has a beautiful sounding, gurgling arpeggiator. I don’t know why they didn’t include that on the 106. The 106 has MIDI, which is probably the main reason people choose that model over the 6 and 60. I have a MIDI converter for the 60, but I rarely use it. I guess it depends how you want to use the synth. MIDI might be critically important to some people, and not important to others. But the sound was the bottom line for me. I liked the sound of the 60 more than the 6, 106 or Alohas. Some people swear the 6 sounds the best. I can hear that extra bit of rawness in the 6, but I like the very slightly smoother sound of the 60. The 106 sounds another generation removed from the Jupiter and SH series synths. I feel like the 60 still has a hint of that older sound, which I like. If I were going to get another Juno, I’d probably buy an Alpha 2, since that’s the one I saw in stores as a kid. It would be nice to fulfill that childhood fantasy of owning one.
After that second kiss the Juno-106 came back alive, it found it's new master. Almost like Christine (the movie), hope the juno-106 won't get jealous on all the other synths in the room and start crushing them in the night.
Thanks for this great course, just bought it and ... I already love it !!! (👋 from Belgium) I love the Juno-106 too, suscribed to Roland Cloud, I also have the alternative versions from Cherry Audio, Arturia and Softube 😁
With the Juno 106 [Polymode 1] the envelope sustain continually retriggers with each note as ii is played. In the [Polymode 2] the sustain envelope applies to the last released notes. Pushing both 1 and 2 together puts the six voices into Unison mode, so envelopes are simultaneous.
Oh and the filter/resonance is stepped I believe as was required to be able to save and the recall the value as a patch....and why a juno 6, that doesn't have savable patches, doesn't have the step sound. I assume the other faders/ switches on juno 106 have "step" or on off values but these are not audible.....except the glorious side to side noise of the chorus when on lol
I had the chance to have for nothing my Juno 6 in the late 90' ...can play hours on this instrument never do the same. I had the same way a Roland SH2000 monosynth (see Kebu studio tour to appreciate those two!) And I get lately a Jupiter 50, and now a Deepmind 12, so my set is some Roland mix of time. Juno 6 sounds have never been reached after, but Juno 106 is the best evolution of this synth. The Roland aftertouch ones are the very part of those instruments the SH 2000, is a great example for that.
I'm a fan of romplers. I would love to see what you would do with a JD-800 controlling a Super JD-990 with the SR-JV80-04 vintage synth expansion board
Bought one as a college kid in 2008. No I did not get a good deal, I worked my ass off to save up for one. I think it was about $500 back then, the going rate. Cash in hand, took the subway for an hour to go pick it up. Got a lot of glances taking that thing back to my dorm. Thing is HEAVY and HUGE. You don't realize it until you have to lug it around. Kept that thing for 10 years until the JU06 was getting released. No brainer. The Juno is legendary but there is a lot of maintenance involved.
I had a oberheim Xpander, ob8, Prophet VS, sixtrack, memorymoog, Minimoog, Rhodes Chroma, Osc Oscar, PPG wave 2.2, Waldorf Microwave, Roland tr808, mc202, Arp Odyssey, Yamaha CS-50, Korg MS20. Wish I would have kept it and sold it now. Today you can buy a better rig like the Prophet 10, ob8x, 3rd wave, Jupiter x, Prophet X for a fraction of the oldies price.
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i'm about to get one man aka the juno107
Poly mode
The Juno-106 offers two Assign modes - Poly 1 and Poly 2. Poly 1 turns the Juno-106 into a six-voice polyphonic synthesizer, assigning one synth voice to each key that is pressed. This particular setting is generally suited to sounds with envelopes similar to a piano or a guitar and is recommended for standard use. Poly 2 mode is similar to Poly 1, the key advantage being that only the last note or notes played receive natural release length. This makes Poly 2 mode more suitable for performance with the onboard portamento effect. Pressing Poly 1 and 2 moves the Juno-106 into Solo Unison mode. In this mode, the Juno-106 acts as a monophonic synthesizer, with all six voices assigned to each key that is pressed.
Thank you!
@@Doctormix Unison is VERY COOL! 😎
@@Doctormix a few lessons on Juno-106 from Espen th-cam.com/video/WSm-wjrnMPY/w-d-xo.html
Also: one of the Poly modes (2, i think it was) always starts with voice chip 1 for the first key pressed, 2 for the second... Very usefull, if you have e.g. a broken voice chip 5. Unlike in the other mode, you can still play four keys at once...
Unison mode and chorus were like the "make it awesome" buttons on this synth.
I have had a Juno 106 for 13 years now. Found it in a recycling dumpster. Took it home, bought & replaced 2 damaged voice chips, 4 missing sliders, replaced the battery and a few damaged keys, and it still works today. Loved the Juno so much I bought the Juno 60 to sit next to it
I want to ask I have a Roland FA-07 and I here a piece of something moving around inside the keyboard if I stand it up, I don't here it when it's flat and I'm playing it, it's not affecting any part of playing recording it sounds like a piece of plastic broke off inside do you think I should pay and bother to have them see what it is ?
@@LouisTorres-ut4ks to be honest, if the keyboard is working then leave it. If you ever put it in for a service, maybe mention it then.
@@Jtee27 yeah that sounds like a good idea Thank you I really appreciate it
The first synth I ever played was a Juno-106. I learned all the synth theory I needed in the 80s between that machine and the DX-7. With one of each, and a TR-909 drum machine, we had everything we needed for a good jam session back then.
Thanks for this. The Juno 1 Oh six was my first crush. I was 15 when it came out I couldn’t afford it but one of my really good friend in high school got one. I even remember the new electric smell it had. I had a sequential max, which was a six track, polyphonic sequencing synthesizer, Pretty amazing in its own right, and one day we connected our two keyboards together through MIDI. That was a mind blowing moment, and forever changed me. I was completely hooked on the idea of connecting different instruments together to create a symphonic synthesized sonosphere. Fast forward 38 years and a career in music with many electronic instruments, and I am still completely mesmerized by the sound of that keyboard. So happy you found one for yourself.
Scott's Synth Stuff did a really good series of restoration videos that concluded two weeks ago. He restored a 106, and upgraded it with the Kiwi106 board and Analog Renaissance voice and filter chips, the vids are definitely well worth a watch.
Thank you! Today I released another one, where I compare the original Juno-106 against all the Roland Juno-106 emulations.
That's my first analog synth. Bought in 2008 for what today would be considered a killer bargain price (500 euros), I still have it today. Seeing its current prices I'm glad I kept it.
The juno 6 , 80€ in 1998 for mine! 25€ for the SH 2000. I'm glad too!👌☺️
@@patriciaoudart1508 Those who started to pile up the analog synths other people were throwing away in the 90ies understood it all. 80 euro for a Juno, today this is just science fiction.
The price hikes are getting ridiculous at this point
@@loweni7460 Yeah, as for a lot of other vintage gear. Just insane.
I’ve always felt that the Juno-60 was the best out of the three of them. Just add a midi kit to the 60 and you’ve got a future proof analog synth.
Same here! In fact I AB tested them both for a day, side by side, when I wanted to replace my Juno 60 with Juno 106, back in 1984. But ended up by keeping the 60. This being said, it makes sense to have both of them in a professional studio with lots of gears. 106 has his own flavor and still sounds great!
@@DrDAAD thanks for the insight.
Removing the arpeggio was such a mistake. Plus the ENV>PWM is such a fun sound that got ditched.
@@calyx93 agreed.
Don’t ask me why, but over the past 10 years, I have bought and sold 5 Juno 60s and one Juno 6. Not one of them ever had a single issue.
It was built to a price, it has it's flaws, but you cannot deny it just sits in the mix perfectly with other instruments.
I finally got a Juno 106 after all these years and I'm very happy that i got one. I even have the Roland Cloud version which sounds great but this synth is certainly special from a great time in synth design. There's nothing like connecting to the real instrument.
Gotta say, I feel blessed and honored to have gotten my hands on this bad boy multiple times in my life. The Juno-106 is an absolute monster of a machine, and I would never sleep if I had one of my own.
After watching this really makes me happy the fact that I own a Roland Juno 106.💪🏻😎👍🏻
Never had one of these but I borrowed one in 1986 after I graduated Southampton University, to do music for a short film about student housing I was making with a friend. I still have the theme tune on my phone, and I just played it - ah, the memories! Made on a Portastudio, naturally :) It's a magnificent synth.
So many classic albums made with this...
I recently acquired Frankie Goes To Hollywood's JUNO-106, hence me checking out a bunch of 106 videos 🙂 Imagine my surprise when I saw you'd bought it from Jon who I bought my Yamaha AN1x from around the same time! 🙂
My brother had one in the 80s and I was a fool not to acquire it from him. I have an Alpha Juno 2 and the JU-06a, and tons of samples and the Roland Cloud and they are all very good in their own right, but nothing really comes close to having the real thing in front of you. Great synth and some lovely improvisation, Dr. Mix! I love how seamlessly it fits into your mix with the Rhodes and that killer Lyle Mays lead on the Prophet. The other Juno has a character all it's own, too. Thanks for sharing.
In early 90s used to own two Juno 106s that I used both all the time in my setup. ( along with SH101 and Korg MS20) ...my fave synth ever. Fun to program great for beginners and sound real good .....and then you hit the chorus button.....
And your world is rocked.
I had one back in the 80s. Loved it. As well as composing my own tunes, I learned to play one or two tracks from my hero Jean-Michel Jarre on it. I put his CDs into my tiny portable Technics CD player and set the track I wanted to learn on loop until I learned it by ear. Then bought a Roland D-50 that, like the 106 and DX7, was revolutionary in it's day.
I can't remember what I did with the 106! Back then I think we advertised use gear in the newspaper classifieds.
The Juno 106 was as one of my 1st keyboards in Highschool that is why I missed class half of the time ha,ha,ha.! But I am still Rocking out on Roland fantom G6 workstation technology........thank you for the video .
I will write it here again, it probably felt through the chat: Roland wrapped the filter boards in plastic. But after all those years it got conductive, which results in strange behavior of the voices. But you can solder them out and put them overnight into acetone. Then you can scrape the plastic off. In 90% of the time, it fixes the problem. But if not, google for analogue renaissance. They have replacement boards which sound exactly the same.
DO NOT scrape the plastic off!! Those chips have surface-printed resistor traces on them that are carefully cut to calibrate the chips. Scraping the plastic will destroy them. I put the Analog Renaissance chips in mine, you can watch my video series on the Juno-106 restoration I did on it on my YT channel.
Thanks to the two. My Juno 6 works perfectly just the vcf slider have an issue, but for now I did not open because I have enough fun with the instrument. I will search for a store having different pieces if needed. A good cleaning and a micro inspection of the board is mostly enough, sometimes sliders have been injured by time and dust, in my case the vcf seem to have had a beer liquid damage, certainly other components under to verify. Lot of videos exist about the Juno, i'm not interested in a big update, only adding some patch abilities, to modular extensions,
Not sure about 90%. Mine had 3 dead voices.
Beautiful sounding machine. Happy that ends with someone who values it like you do.
I’m sure you’ll be very happy with it!......My story is for a long time I avoided the 106 (& all single oscillator synths) cause, well I was silly....it seems so limited on paper. But then I got one a few years ago and boy did my opinion change! I now think it the greatest analogue synth of all time😮 I absolutely love the thing😊, sure its “limited” in so many ways but you can’t get a bad sound out of it & What is does, it does so frickin well. Also amazingly reliable for the age (&condition) you often find them in, you can get a lot of parts if you need them... Anyone who is misguided enough to want to start buying vintage synths: this is always at the top of my suggestion list!
Poly 2 is the same as Poly 1, except that it changes the envelope triggering for new notes being pressed - primarily only the last note gets the envelope.
If you press Poly 1 and Poly 2 at the same time, you get unison mode.
The reason the resonant filter sounds "stepped" is because it is much more narrowly focusing on the specific harmonic that the resonance is tuned to, so as it hits those harmonics, they become much louder, so it sounds like it is stepping between them. Basically the Juno-106 resonance has a much more narrow Q than your Minimoog.
I had a 106 back in 1985. It was connected to a Sinclair ZX Spectrum with one of the first MIDI interfaces. The first thing I did was to go out and buy the sheet music to Dare by the Human League and programme in every song in the book. After that some Howard Jones, Nik Kershew., Duran... You get the idea. Basically, many lost weekends in my loft spent sequencing my favorite tunes of the day. I really regret selling it a few years later. Thanks for the nostalga fix :-)
I like the background spy music during the return to the studio. 106 Filter sounds like there is some built in resonance vs the dry moog filter with res off. Yes, that moog filter is, well, if you know, you know haha. Several of my creator friends of my other channel have moog grandmothers, and they have the best sounding bass in their tunes. I absolutely knew I would also have a grandmother.
A little Lyle Mays on the Pro 5. Brings tears to my eyes. Long live Lyle Mays!!
Possibly my favourite synth. I have a Juno 1 I bought brand new in 1987 and it has been my workhorse for years. It truly is one of the most versatile synths ever as it can be used for so many things.
Mine even still has the same original battery still going strong.
Battery? Did not even know there was one ! :D Whats is it used for?
@@max2950 Patch memory retention. Without that battery the RAM that keeps all the patches (the sounds you program on the synthesizer) would loose power when turning the synth off, wiping away all its content.
@@max2950 The Alpha Juno 1's (along with the Juno 2 which had a bigger keyboard) were the last models of Juno. They're the same but digitally controlled. You lose the sliders, and have to control things through menu diving and a jog wheel. It's not that bad really, and I've long got used to it. So the battery is used for storing all the presets and programs.
I keep an eye on mine as I don't want it to leak and wreck things, but I also want to see how long it can keep going. It's amazing especially as this synths has been heavily used for decades.
Also, polyphony 1 is 'normal' where voices ring out over each other with longer release, polyphony 2 release is gated out when another voice is triggered to allow all notes to be heard, cleans things up with longer delay and especially with open filter.
The Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 is still my all time Sythn Favorites from Roland. Thats why i like it to have there Sounds in my Roland System-8 Synth.
“Their”
Juno 106 is a very nice acquisition. Good luck sorting out the broken bits.
Just tried the D20 and D50 from Roland, years ago. I'd love to hear them again 😍
And please rename your channel, Professor Mix 😉
I bought my Juno 106 in 1984. I still remember how wonderful it smelled as soon as I took it out of the box. Years later I ended up selling it because of a persistent defect in the electronics. That's one of the few regrets I have in my life.
Congrats! Beautiful synth! I bought one 20 years ago and sold it 10 years later...but bought again...and sold it again few years later...NOW I will buy it for the 3rd time (ouch the price is 3x times expensive than previously)...but hey! I NEED it again no matter how it costs!
My first synth, I bought it in 1988. I still have it and once I played it in the Jean Michel Jarre studio.
I love watching you, Doctor. You feature such an authentic and full personality that makes your content much more interesting than others. Thank you for this! And thank you for teaching me about the Juno-106!
God, I had a 106 when I was experimenting with music tech in the 90’s. It was such a dream! Every sound it produced was just exquisite. I miss it so much!!
Great video !
That is why I am buying a new Juno X. Would love an original 106 but a price for a good one is the same price if not more than a new Juno X that does so much more and sounds as good. Roland are offering a wC-1 and free cloud for 12 months so I'll just download the Jupiter 8 and get a T8 to go with my RD88 and that will do for the time being....
I acquired a Juno 106 in 2002 for free ( in exchange for some work ) kept it for a short while ( I had loads of synths at the time ) and sold it for £400. I thought £400 was a LOT for a '106 - I think the voice chips were on their way out too ;-). I have a Deepmind 12 now - and also an Opsix which bizarrely can do a pretty good impression of Juno sounds!
2 artists for using the 106 in unique styles are Von Iva and the other TribalNeed ....
Both favourite juno 106 users of mine
Fantastic, fantastic ! To see the maestro road test the synth and show us what it can do is a joy to watch. And then to compare it's performance against his other synth puts it in perspective. And the wave form thing really brings those effects to life for a newbie like me. I love these videos ! And they're fun too !
I have had one of these sitting in a closet forever. Probably should look into selling it.
Will need massive repairs first.
Don't know if it is the case for all 106's, but by playing the synth in unison mode with slight portamento added, I was able to get the 6 unison voices to slightly detune themselves, resulting in a even bigger sound. It was my workaround as I did not have a proper monophonic synth at the time.
the juno 106 is very cool! there is a juno at my school and i had an absolute blast playing it! glad to see you finally have it in the studio!
Man, Dr. mix, I loved, loved, loved hearing you playing on that Roland General 106.
I had one, but due to something that happened to it before I had gotten it, it ended up dying on me about three years ago.
As a blind person, totally blind, that is, that board was the ultimate of accessibility, that is to say, not having to deal with the batch of darned Controls ran by a display that I couldn't see or going through batch of menus that were not really accessible to me.
That thing for quite a number of years was my main concert board. Yeah! That thing is awesome!
I absolutely adore my Juno 106. I’ve owned two over the past 20 years. I had the chips replaced with the Analogue Renaissance chips and they sound identical. Both of mine had the voice issue before replacing them.
Is it me or have they released a newer revision of their chips?
80's legendary synth so lovely to hear
Oh, and by the way: if you want filter sweeps without steps: use the pitch bender (bending VCF instead of pitch, obviously)!
Now we know what made music in that era sound so good...who knows what's the next synth coming!
I got one too, unconditional love for 30+ years ❤
Nice! Over the years I have collected basically every iteration of 1980s Juno. I have a 60, 106 and an Alpha. Plus the Juno 106 in the System 8, the Roland Cloud version and Arturia version. One can never, ever have too much Juno. Recently bought an MSQ-700 to keep them company.
Since you already have very BOLD sounding synths, I think a 106 is a great addition that complements the other ones very well.
I have Softube Model 84 and I love it. One of the best sounding synths ever made.
Kiwi mod will not step. Sure that's in here somewhere. I just got my first Juno 106 the other day. Waiting for it to show up. Been in love with it since 2000 or 2001 ish when I first played it and was not even into keyboards at the time. Love the Chanel man. Keep up the great work.
Are you bald in 2024
I was always an American synth dude but the Softube Juno made me realise that the Juno is a great sounding synth. Not a bad sound. Does a lot of stuff really well. Simple and really effective.
Lovely sound ❤
I love machines of this “Roland Era”
Me too!!
@Doctormix Someone may have already mentioned this, but it's possible that the filter stepping is actually meant to happen when manually turning the filter knob, as to facilitate tuning it to musical intervals; and will otherwise be smooth when modulated from an envelope or LFO. I don't know this to be fact, but that's how several DSI/Sequential synths behave. Perhaps worth testing... Cheers!
I have an HS-60 (my first synth), same insides as the 106. Basically, the Dodge Aries K to the 106’s Plymouth Reliant. Need to replace a voice chip though. Amazing synth. I was tempted to sell it in the past, but I never will. Gorgeous sound. Love your pairing with the Prophet. Such a beautiful duo.
Happy for you Claudio.
Juno-106 is a special synth.
I've got the 106, had it from around '93/94 . good condition but last time i gave it a test although it still has all my original patches still saved ,it does however sounds like the voice chips will need acetoned. I will sell it when i get that done :)
I had a Juno 106 in the 80's ... Loved it
Spellbinding sound! I was puzzling over the stepping on that filter… if that’s not how it’s meant to be, and assuming the internals are sort of front panel pots -> a/d -> Z80 (or something of that era) -> d/a (per voice parameter) -> VCA VCO VCF etc … then maybe the a/d converter channel that reads the filter pot on front panel has a problem with low-order bits so it doesn’t sweep so well?
I have 3 or 4 of these from some irresponsible ebaying more than a decade ago. One works fully, one has a dead voice chip, and the other(s) were for parts but are still intact. I had sourced 6 good (original) voice chips to fix the others but a fire took them out ($600+ down the drain). (The junos were in the same room but unharmed... in fact, the fire cleanup company professionally cleaned them inside-and-out. Got rid of some horrible cigarette smell from one of them.)
The Juno-106 and my later-acquired JD-800 were my "daily drivers" for a long time. I eventually got the rack-mount version of the JD-800 which was more convenient. Now I only pull the Juno out for special occasions but it sits over there staring at me all the time and on some level it's the music I hear in my head and the sounds I chase in the DAW.
@doctor mix polyphony 2 makes it so envelope release is only applied to the last note (or group of notes) played. It makes a big difference when using portamento with a large glide time as it stops a lot of messiness.
The behaviour of the whole envelope changes with Polyphony2. Deciding also about the retriggering ofattack etc.
If you press both polyphony buttons at the same time it puts the voices in unison
Great catch, my friend! 🍾
Almost fell asleep at the end with how beautiful and melodic and space-y sounding it was. Can’t believe this is also the same synth Daft Punk used to make the nasty and aggressive sounding noises in Rollin’ and scratchin’
Such a fabulous synth wonderful 80s synth.❤
It’s no Prophet-5
I found one in the dumpster before leaving college. Kid said it didn’t work. The power cord was missing, and the .. jack it plugs into on the back was also missing. Was missing a key. So whatever- I brought it home, bought a power cord, and it works. All the sliders and everything are scratchy and rough, and who knows.. maybe it’s down a voice? Hard to say. I’d love to find a place that can fix it up to proper working order.
The noise electric never stops
And all you need is what you got
And there's a place for everyone
under heartbeat city's golden sun
Good idea to fade in the oscilloscope. Fantastic sound!
I own a 60. Before buying it, I did a lot of research into the Juno series to decide which one I wanted. I liked the sound and features of the 60 best. But there seem to be a lot of people who prefer the 106. The 106 has portamento, which seems like an oversight on the 60. But the 60 has a beautiful sounding, gurgling arpeggiator. I don’t know why they didn’t include that on the 106. The 106 has MIDI, which is probably the main reason people choose that model over the 6 and 60. I have a MIDI converter for the 60, but I rarely use it. I guess it depends how you want to use the synth. MIDI might be critically important to some people, and not important to others. But the sound was the bottom line for me. I liked the sound of the 60 more than the 6, 106 or Alohas. Some people swear the 6 sounds the best. I can hear that extra bit of rawness in the 6, but I like the very slightly smoother sound of the 60. The 106 sounds another generation removed from the Jupiter and SH series synths. I feel like the 60 still has a hint of that older sound, which I like. If I were going to get another Juno, I’d probably buy an Alpha 2, since that’s the one I saw in stores as a kid. It would be nice to fulfill that childhood fantasy of owning one.
Nice comment!
Beautiful sounds ❤
After that second kiss the Juno-106 came back alive, it found it's new master. Almost like Christine (the movie), hope the juno-106 won't get jealous on all the other synths in the room and start crushing them in the night.
11:24 it's time for that chorus! So Fat. Beautiful
Great timing just found a 106 at my local GC!
You have that Lyle Mays sound on one of those other synths! Whenever I get a new synth I program it for the Mays pitch envelope patch to test it out.
WOW! Claudio rockz! Greetings Vintage Audio Hifi Fan also on insta ❤
Thanks for this great course, just bought it and ... I already love it !!! (👋 from Belgium)
I love the Juno-106 too, suscribed to Roland Cloud, I also have the alternative versions from Cherry Audio, Arturia and Softube 😁
I can't believe you didn't have one already! Welcome to the club :)
He has a Prophet-5, the king of all analog polys.
NIce on the ears.
best sounding synth ever
It was/is a budget synth.
With the Juno 106 [Polymode 1] the envelope sustain continually retriggers with each note as ii is played. In the [Polymode 2] the sustain envelope applies to the last released notes. Pushing both 1 and 2 together puts the six voices into Unison mode, so envelopes are simultaneous.
Thank you
I don't know anything about keyboards but i enjoyed this a lot, so many interesting and awesome sounds.
“And it’s time for that chorus” GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😩😩😩🤯🤯🤯
Oh and the filter/resonance is stepped I believe as was required to be able to save and the recall the value as a patch....and why a juno 6, that doesn't have savable patches, doesn't have the step sound. I assume the other faders/ switches on juno 106 have "step" or on off values but these are not audible.....except the glorious side to side noise of the chorus when on lol
I had the chance to have for nothing my Juno 6 in the late 90' ...can play hours on this instrument never do the same. I had the same way a Roland SH2000 monosynth (see Kebu studio tour to appreciate those two!) And I get lately a Jupiter 50, and now a Deepmind 12, so my set is some Roland mix of time. Juno 6 sounds have never been reached after, but Juno 106 is the best evolution of this synth. The Roland aftertouch ones are the very part of those instruments the SH 2000, is a great example for that.
he wont even demo it for you? that must have been innespensive to buy without testing. lol
I would still bring headphones. Service on an old analog synth isn't cheap
Especially risky with a 106 where the voice ICs will surely fail sooner or later..
Unison and portamento with the chorus is a surprisingly powerful monosynth
I'm a fan of romplers. I would love to see what you would do with a JD-800 controlling a Super JD-990 with the SR-JV80-04 vintage synth expansion board
Jesus you surely had a vivid imagination as a kid 🙂! Loving the Juno 106 here !
Great Video - The Juno History was great to learn - SO, Whats best these days - Juno 106 or Juno X ? ? ?
Bought one as a college kid in 2008. No I did not get a good deal, I worked my ass off to save up for one. I think it was about $500 back then, the going rate. Cash in hand, took the subway for an hour to go pick it up. Got a lot of glances taking that thing back to my dorm. Thing is HEAVY and HUGE. You don't realize it until you have to lug it around. Kept that thing for 10 years until the JU06 was getting released. No brainer. The Juno is legendary but there is a lot of maintenance involved.
Love the Lyle Mays lead sound on the Prophet @ 6:49
I spent most of the 90s with such a beauty. I had an SH01 too. I've been a Roland fanboy ever since lol
Im suprised you only aquired a juno now after all these years with a successful channel 😅I want one!!
seeing you drive in the right hand seat throws me off.. lol.. USA here! love your vids!
STOP! Im about to sell mine, if you keep this up I'm going to bloody keep it!
Filter is SICK!!!
I had a Juno 60, Juno 106, Prophet 5. Never in my wildest dreams would I think these keyboards would be this valuable....
I had a oberheim Xpander, ob8, Prophet VS, sixtrack, memorymoog, Minimoog, Rhodes Chroma, Osc Oscar, PPG wave 2.2, Waldorf Microwave, Roland tr808, mc202, Arp Odyssey, Yamaha CS-50, Korg MS20.
Wish I would have kept it and sold it now. Today you can buy a better rig like the Prophet 10, ob8x, 3rd wave, Jupiter x, Prophet X for a fraction of the oldies price.