Mention the word Juno and many of us will get nostalgic for our old analogue Juno 6, 60 or 106. Roland, though, revived the name last year with the Juno-D and have now launched a new model: the Juno-G which they claim is affordable and user-friendly.
Sharing the same processor as Roland’s Fantom-X series, the JUNO-G allows more sounds to be added via SRX expansion. Songs can be created with the onboard audio/MIDI recorder.
The Juno-G also has mixer and transport controls for a ‘hands-on’ work surface. In all, there are over 50 buttons, seven knobs, five sliders, a data wheel, a D Beam, and a pitch/mod lever. In the center of it all is the largest backlit LCD of any synth in this price range.
The beauty of the JUNO-G is that it can be used to by itself create complete songs from start to finish, but for those who want to take it one step further and incorporate a computer into the setup, the JUNO-G can be linked to a PC or Mac via its USB port. All MIDI communications can be handled over USB, which can also be used to send and receive WAV/AIF files and patch data.”
Roland ships every new JUNO-G with a free copy of Cakewalk’s SONAR LE software for PC.