Roland Boutique JU-06 Synthesizer Review – Nostalgia + Technology + Convenience

roland-ju-06-synthesizer

The recently-introduced Roland Boutique synthesizer line has been one of the most discussed and debated synth introductions of 2015. 

A lot of people don’t know what to make of them yet. The Boutique synths are surprisingly tiny, but they offer easy-to-understand ‘knob-per-function’ interfaces and promise to deliver accurate emulations of three vintage Roland synths. 

This review, by reader Robert Dorschel, takes a look at the Roland JU-06 synthesizer – a modern take on the Juno-106. It’s not written or structured as a formal review, but – as Dorschel notes – it captures his raw impressions. 

roland-ju-06-pint-glass
The Roland JU-06 is surprisingly tiny. Here’s a photo with a pint glass for scale.

I’d like to be transparent and say my first synth was an Alpha Juno-1 (and I still have it— I’m an original owner!); my best friend at the time had a Juno-106. A few years later, I owned a Juno-60.

With this in mind, I’d think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to “that Juno sound.” I can’t say the same for the JX-03 or JP-08. So I’ll stick to what I know.

roland-boutique-ju-06

Roland JU-06 Impressions

Here are my random, raw, in no particular order impressions about it, for your consideration:

  • The speaker is powerful enough to really enjoy using it.
  • Watch your ears when using headphones; the built-in headphone amp is strong!
  • WOW This thing sounds full over my real studio rig (Yamaha HS8 plus HS8s sub). +1 for virtual analog realism here.
  • How big is it? If you’re older like me: The same exact size as a “CD longbox.” If that helps you, then go ahead, feel old like me.
  • I have no idea what I would use the input jack for other than daisy-chaining audio from other units. I guess. I don’t think there is any other purpose. It doesn’t feed the sound through the filter as far as I can tell. Except: the units do act as a 24/44.1 audio interface in USB mode, so there’s that.
  • Right off the bat, as soon as I turned it on, I immediately smiled. The tell-tale chorus noise is actually emulated and fully present (when it’s on). They actually took the time to model the chorus noise. LOL
  • By the way: You CAN turn on BOTH Chorus 1 AND 2 at the same time. Fun stuff. I remember doing this on a 106 back in the day. Glad to see you can do it here, too.
  • They include 4-AA batteries, but not the mini-USB cable. Then comes the annoying part: the mini connector is that Android type. Which I have exactly zero of in my house. I have dozens of the other mini type. This is relevant because it’s powered over the USB line when/if you’re not using batteries. So this unit will force me to actually buy a USB cable for the first time… ever. So I can’t test that until I get a cable tomorrow. UPDATE: Ran out to my local dollar store. They had what I needed. $1. Standard micro-USB “works with most Android phones.” Problem solved.
  • Build quality: solid. Seriously. They did a fantastic job with this. The sliders have just a little side-to-side wobble, but sit well. They give just the right amount of resistance. Please note the JU-06 has the longest slider throw of the Boutique bunch. The toggle buttons are great too, not wobbly in their holes. nice and bright. The three switches for DCO LFO/Man, VCF polarity, and VCA gate/env are also solid, although I can see those being the first to wear out over time. I wish they had made those toggle buttons with lights, like the System-1/1m.
  • Playing the unit as a standalone via the pitch bend is good for preset surfing, or, entering notes into the sequencer. That’s about it. Don’t bother trying to play a song.
  • The sequencer mode: SOOOO easy to use. I didn’t have to read the manual to figure it out except for how to change the tempo. Need to see if it will sync well with external units (although online videos confirm this already). Use the pitch and mod sliders to control the division unit (1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32) and note gate accordingly. Hold some buttons for swing settings. Piece of cake. Twiddle some sliders. Instant gratification. Not sure if the unit transmits the sequencer or not, to be determined as of this writing. GREAT unexpected feature, honestly. UPDATE: Nope, doesn’t send out sequencer notes.
  • The mod slider is an annoyance to me, since it doesn’t stay in place (it snaps to zero). However, this is right in line with the original 106 (think, Roland pitch/mod stick). It’s best use is to enter portamento time, or gate time for the sequencer. So what I’m trying to say is: play it from a real controller.
  • It has the same exact presets of the original Juno-106. (Except now there’s a built-in delay, and the delay settings are saved per-patch, not globally.)
  • Speaking of which: It has a delay built-in, but doesn’t have any dedicated panel controls. I was confused for a minute about that while patch surfing (“where is that delay coming from?”) and had to RTFM to find that out. Thank goodness for searchable PDF manuals. Speaking of which, it came with one of those giant fold-out manuals like what came with the TR-8 and System-1m, so I can only assume that’s Roland’s new thing for printed manuals– those giant your-dad’s Oldsmobile glove-compartment roadmap-style manual.
  • I got some pretty impressive squeaks out of the filter. It seems a little different (slightly) than what I expected, meaning it has a faster response than the original Junos somewhat. That’s subjective and just my opinion.
  • Did I mention the chorus noise is modeled? I swear this is the first time device noise makes me happy, on a nostalgic level. However as far as I can tell from playing it, and the manual, there is no way to have the chorus effect without the noise (in other words, you can’t turn off the chorus noise itself). That’s the price of authenticity I guess.
  • BAM hit that 4-note polyphony ceiling immediately after hooking up a full keyboard controller over MIDI. I may have to get a second unit just for this fact.
  • Yes, it has Portamento and Portamento Rate. It’s just hidden. While in patch mode, hold down Chorus2, then the pitch slider becomes a toggle (on/off, top half for on), and the mod slider becomes the Portamento rate control (higher for longer slide time). Not a fan of this, but it works. Sidebar: you can’t just jump to it while in sequencer mode; you have to go back to patch mode first. Meh.
  • Discovered there are 16 patterns in the sequencer mode, not just one active memory slot. Yippee! However, any changes you make to a sequence, or, any sequence you make? Does not save on powerdown. So remember to overwrite that pattern before you shut it off.
  • This thing has some heft. Not too heavy, but it certainly won’t slide easily on a table. It’s got 4 little rubber feet on the bottom. Since I don’t have the accessory keyboard unit for this, I’ll have to make some sort of Lego contraption to temporarily tilt it on my desktop (not a fan of flat surface synths). On that note, I’m looking at the engineering of how the unit will be held at an angle in the optional keyboard unit: small plastic arms that pivot. I’ll bet these will break quickly by some of us ham-fisted synth people that press the buttons too hard or grab the sliders too quickly, or press too hard on the ribbons. Time will tell.

Some Concerns:

roland-ju-06I found one potential dealbreaker for some folks: it does not send any of its sliders or buttons over MIDI (5-Pin or USB).

For me this is no big deal, just record in real time. I also doubt there are MIDI CC commands per parameter either. So all things considered… it’s not a MIDI powerhouse: it’s a synth module. Period. So I guess folks will have to learn how to play on the fly, and record twiddly parts direct to audio, live. (Although, who knows, this could change with a firmware update.)

(Editor’s note: Other readers have noted that the JU-06 sends CC commands when in Chain mode. )

Another odd behavior, and potential dealbreaker for some: When you enable Chain Mode, this is what happens:

If you’re holding down the sustain pedal, and when you play that 5th thru 8th note, wow, hey, it works. But when you hit note #9 and up? It will voice steal from the slave synth. There is no feedback back to the master synth over MIDI; so the first four notes will continue to sustain. Not quite what people will expect from a last-note-priority synth.

Also, Chain Mode appears to only work over 5-PIN MIDI, not over USB MIDI.

Note:  I tested this with one unit, but watching the MIDI data stream using “MIDI Monitor” app on OSX.

How Does It Sound?

To my older ears (40-something), it sounds EXACTLY LIKE THE JUNO-106.

Did I mention the chorus noise? The eye-roll of having too many Roland “E-Piano” patches? The low-end ball-shaking bass? Thick pseudo-analog strings that you can chew on?

(Editor’s note: for audio demos, see Roland’s Boutique audio demos or the Ed Diaz JU-06 demo video.)

So in closing:

PROS:

  • Worth the wait, worth every penny, worth buying.
  • Nostalgia! Technology (no more bad voice chips)! Convenience!
  • Sounds exactly like the Juno-106 (and Juno-6/60 and Alpha Juno by extension). That could be a strength or weakness depending on your point of view.
  • I would have bought the unit without the sequencer mode. It’s definitely an enhancement in this regard, and at this price point.
  • I hope someone (Roland or 3rd party) will whip up a rack mount adapter for these, or, tabletop angle mount for multiple units. That would be incredibly effective. It’s unknown to me if the optional keyboard accessory would be worth it or not; but I’ll consider this a “Pro” as Roland gives us this option.

CONS:

  • Mini-USB cable is not included (you’ll need that rounded-corner micro-USB Android type)
  • 4-Voice Polyphony. Dammit. This, and not including the micro-USB cable are probably my only two gripes about the unit. Having said this… Getting two units and chaining them together for an 8-voice Juno-106 for just $600? It’s still a bargain.
  • No MIDI per control sent. At all. Period. (Let’s hope a firmware update changes this? But not holding my breath.) (Editor – see note about Chain mode above).

ON THE FENCE:

  • Mini jacks. Use good thick 1/8” stereo cables, folks. But not terribly concerned about this since audio-over-USB is an option.

Hope you get something out of this review. Off to go write some music now!

Have you used the Roland JU-06 synthesizer? If so, share your thoughts on it in the comments!

About the Author

Robert Dorschel is an electronic musician, based in Syracuse, NY. He shares his videos via YouTube channel and you can also follow him via Facebook.

Robert originally shared his thoughts on the JU-06 via Facebook; we’ve reproduced them here, along with his photos, with his permission.

47 thoughts on “Roland Boutique JU-06 Synthesizer Review – Nostalgia + Technology + Convenience”

  2. O gosh. as an owner of several Junos, and I use mine often currently, It does NOT sound exactly like a Juno 106. This guy says it sounds EXACTLY like a Juno 106. He is over 40 – and people lose their capability to hear high frequencies with age – so you cannot trust what he is saying. The high frequencies are HARSH not SWEET/SPARKLY like the 106, because it has 44.1khz digital output. If it was 96khz like the other ACB Aira synths, that may solve it. But it’s not. Secondly, it’s missing the “lush warmth” of the original. It sounds somewhat like the original, but without the sweet wet filter/resonance. So don’t lie to yourself about this one – it is a VA and sounds like a VA, and not a very good one at that. That said, if they release a 96khz version it may solve the nasty high end problem.

    1. it doesn’t make sense to blame the sound of a synth on 44.1khz output – virtually everything that you have ever listened to music-wise is 44.1khz.

      Do you have a JU-06? It seems like a lot of people hear what they expect to hear from tiny synths (i.e.., ‘small, tinny’). It becomes humorous how predictable the comments are.

      If you’re worried about making an accurate comparison, doing a blind sound test would probably be needed.

      Otherwise, does this fit the role of the original? It sounds to me like it does.

      1. Ahh that’s not entirely true pal, higher sample rates improve ALL DSP as it moves nyquist distortions up the frequency range. These are distortions specifically from digital signal processing and its why a lot of modern plugins oversample internally.

        The sample rate you listen to music in at the end has very little effect on audio quality that much is true…but when using VST and VSTi and other digital process the sample rate you WORK in has a massive effect. So over-simplifying in this case is an error.

        My question would be what sample rate does this run at internally?

    3. It’s quite likely that the “harshness” you’re describing from these demos is due to the way they were encoded by YouTube.

      To claim that a synth would sound better with a 96 kHz sample rate after listening to a compressed online video is about as reasonable as those old Sony Trinitron TV commercials that supposedly showed the bright picture quality… even though you were watching on your old “inferior” set.

      The only way to truly know how these stack up is to do a blind A/B comparison, paying careful attention to levels and EQ. At the end of the day, the Juno 106 was a cut-rate DCO-equipped polysynth. There was nothing special about it, so let’s not place it on a pedestal.

      1. I totally agree on the 106. It wasn’t exactly a feature laden machine for its time, and in purist terms (which I’m not!) wasn’t exacly ‘analog’ either.
        I opted for the JX-3P at the time and would probably chose the JX model simply for features/price…The only thing that makes me hesitate though is the 4 voices & poor MIDI spec.

        1. Let’s not start with the “DCO’s are digital” misinformation again.

          DCO’s are 100% analog – but their pitch is synced to a digital oscillator, for stability. In the 80’s, this was a huge feature, because earlier synths had really unstable tuning.

          The issues with older DCO designs, though, was that you were locked into stable tuning, which is a valid limitation. Adding a little instability to tuning can make oscillators sound more ‘lively’ or interesting, because they aren’t completely static.

          This is less of an issue with modern designs and with digital oscillator designs, which often let you control the instability of the oscillator’s pitch. But is still something to consider.

          DCO’s shine on bass – it always sounds massive and right on pitch. But to my ears, vintage DCO’s are too stable for pads. That’s why the Roland Alpha Juno is such an interesting design, because it combines the rock solid stability of DCO’s with a messy chorus and the results sound huge for a very limited synth.

    5. It sounds exactly how I remember my 106 and HS-60 sounding.

      It has more of that vintage Juno vibe than the Alpha Junos do.

      But, more importantly, it has that Juno vibe at a fraction of the cost and space.

      The only people who will complain about the sound are vintage purists.

  3. Thanks for doing this nice review but you really can’t be implying that Juno-106 sounds like the Juno-6/60 and Alpha Juno? They don’t sound very alike at all IMHO!

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  7. No midi kills it for me. Was all set to get two til I discovered the midi responsiveness was circa 1980s too. I use a lot of midi controls footpedals etc, and the sustandard response just does not cut it. Too bad, would have made a great potable live kit otherwise.

  8. I have all three Boutique Synthesizers but willl talk about the JU-06 as the original reviewer did.

    I also have a Juno-60, Juno-106, and had an Alpha Juno. I got rid of the Alpha Juno, because I prefered the sound of the earlier Junos.
    The Juno-106 was my first synthesizer and has been a part of my arsenal for 25 years or so.
    NOTE: the Alpha Juno sounds completly different than the Juno-106 and Juno-60. It has some differences in it’s synth engine compared to the other two which are basically the same. The Juno-60 and the Juno-106 are in fact very, very simimalr in sound. I would say the Juno-60 sounds like a cremier version of the Juno-106, people debate their similarities and differences, Who cares?

    The biggest pro IS the sound.
    The JU-06 sounds very close to the Juno-106.
    I have programmed a few of my original patches on the JUNO-106 into the JU-06 and have gotten very close results. These are the closest emulations to the Juno-106 I have ever been able to create on another peice of hardware. The Chorus effect on the original Juno series helped fatten up the sound and has a special characteristc that gives the classic Juno sound. Yes, it has the Chorus noise mentioned a few times by the writer in the mini review but it is not the same side to side sweeping noise as the real analog synths. That is no big deal to me but thought I’d mention it for purist’s sake.

    Four Note Polyphony is a big disapointment, the original had six and this affects the way you play chords and the voice allocation compared to the original. Even if you side chained two JU -06, you will still not have an authentic emulation of how polyphony is handled and how it affected the sound of chords played with 5 or six notes.

    MIDI on all three Boutique synths is very basic. The units will respond to incoming CC data BUT only: pitch wheel, mod, hold, and expression. Hey Roland why not at least Filter control too?

    It is ashame that these units do not transmit MIDI data via sliders and other controls. At this price point though what can you really expect.

    There is NO MIDI soft thru function. That is a little anoying. If you use 5 pin MIDI cables you may find youself putting the Boutiques at the end of the MIDI chain but you cannot daisy chain the MIDI to have MIDI go thru one unit to another boutique synths. You will need to use a MIDI Thru box. I have two and will have to get a third one now.

    I am glad Roland gave use more than 8 memory locations. Remember the initial release of the System-1?
    Note: The JU-06 has half the memory of the Juno-106. The Juno-106 had an A and B Group of banks.

    Yes, it has a sequencer. I messed with it but I will not use it. This is a trend that I guess many people will enjoy.

    The Boutique synths excel where it counts in the end, THE SOUND.

    1. I won’t repeat everything, but I own all three (and have worked extensively with the Juno 60 and 106 in my life) and I’ll echo the sound quality comment: this sounds great. The polyphony issue doesn’t bother me as much because of how I use them, the MIDI spec is annoying, and I generally agree with the review and with what Synthron said. It may not be perfect, but it’s so close it doesn’t matter. These will be used in my studio. A lot.

        1. At least with Micro-B USB plugs… Standard B USB plugs (like for printers), I must have at least two pounds of them in a drawer 😉

  10. i really wanted to get one or more of these units, but the MIDI CC thing is a huge dealbreaker for me because i use that extensively in my music – in fact, leveraging MIDI CC thru the Octratrack is the whole reason I use that machine to make music in the first place… so yeh, its a big deal – and i dont really understand why other people have problems with grasping the idea that different people have different ways of doing things, and just because you do something a certain way doesnt make it “right” or “correct” or “better” than anyone elses way of doing things… “just record it live to audio” doesnt even come close to approximating the same thing… and it sure as hell doesnt make you “hardcore” or some kind of bad ass synth player because you can live without it…

    1. What’s your point?

      It seems like you’re taking issue, big time, with the author saying exactly what you’re saying – that the MIDI handling will be a deal breaker for some people.

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  12. I had a Juno 106 back in the early 90s and sold it. The JU-06 was so exciting to me that I immediately pre-ordered one… i mean for $299 how can you go wrong? 🙂 I was not disappointed. I love everything about it especially the sound. To have those sliders back, the filter and that LFO… it may not be 100% spot on perfection but for me it’s pretty darn close to my ears. It’s that all that really matters… forget the purists… forget the folks the say they will never order one because it’s not a real 106… Only consider what it can do for YOU and YOU sound. I personally think it’s worth the $$.

  13. Anybody know how to use the USB audio mode? Searched through roland’s documents, downloaded the driver but no luck. Doesn’t appear on my macbook anywhere.

  14. Wow, so close Roland, but off by this much. The lack of MIDI CC seems like a real goof-up. That’s *precisely* why the Juno 106 got to be so popular… it was right in that perfect spot with analog, a halfway decent MIDI spec for the time, AND sliders (that transmitted MIDI) all in the same box. You won’t find many polys of that era that have that same combination. Right before MIDI was non-existent and right after came the menu diving synths. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons it became a techno and later monster… a sequencer could control it fully.

  15. Hey, thanks for all the comments, folks. Even the personal attacks that were deleted.
    (Amazing how riled up people get on this modern big bad wild west called “the internet”)

    Regarding my age; the hearing test results from my most recent extensive physical indicates that I have the hearing of a 28-year-old. So *boom* the theory that my hearing is shot? Denied. I’ve worn earplugs most of my musical career, on stage and in the audience.

    I want to clarify one thing, since a lot of people keep asking me, so here goes.
    At one point in time (circa 1989) I had all 3 Junos in the same room (60, 106, Alpha).
    For giggles, I programmed them all with approximations of “the same patch,” several times.
    The 60 and 106 sound *exactly* the same, with the minor exception that the 60 was noisier.
    The Alpha– mostly the same, it seemed a little muted or muffled; not quite the same filter.

    But throw any one of these three into a mix? They were completely interchangeable.

    You can tell me that they don’t sound the same all you want, but real-world experience tells me otherwise. The JU-06 *does* sound exactly like the 106.
    So by extension of my personal experience? I can sit down with my Alpha and get surprisingly similar tones. I should make a video just to shut down the naysayers.

    But for now I’d rather put my energies into musical ventures with positive returns.

    And I apologize for interchanging the terms for the Micro-B USB cable (aka “the Android type”).
    I don’t own anything else that uses it, so it was frustrating to not have one included.

  16. I went into my local musical instrument shop and was pleasantly surprised to find the Boutique Synths. After playing with them hands-on, I’m definitely sold. I’m in the same boat as the reviewer, having previously owned (and actually still own, it’s just broken) a Juno 106.
    It sounds just like the original, and is so much fun to play. And the 4 note polyphony doesn’t bother me, as I’m going to be using it for recording, and can just multitrack.
    The only thing that bummed me out is that I can’t run external audio through the chorus (or so I’ve been told, I didn’t have a chance to test that).

  17. Let’s say you are in manual mode, and make a completely custom patch, and want to save that manual patch in slot 31. How do you do it? I have the JP-08 module and you can save an edited patch by simply holding down the first number for a few seconds to save over the existing patch, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to edit a patch and then save that patch in a different numeric location, or create a manual patch and save it in a custom location.

  18. Umm… so patch 68 has an “echo” effect after key release. I can’t work out how this is achieved? Set everything in that patch to “0” except something to generate the sound and the effect is still there. Anyone know what it is/how to replicate?

  19. This piece of crap has a delay that wont turn off. That is nothing like a juno 106. I have a real Juno 106 and its great. This new one has some crappy delay that wont turn off if you hold the manual and 1 or 4 or some crap. It wont turn off, this makes it very far from the function of a real Juno 106. How am I supposed to record anything with some delay/echo piece of crap sound that I don’t want and it wont turn off?

  21. Have programmed a view patches of the TAL in my JU-06. The chorus emulation is much better on the JU. The JU sounds more “analogue” and warm. The TAL is typically 2-dimentional…

  22. I own a 106 and I bought the JU-06 so that I could have one in a more portable mode. Furthermore, the first synth I ever had was a 106 my parents bought me for Xmas back in 1984.

    I began to do a YouTube review of it, comparing the two side-by-side but it became evident to me very quickly that I would be returning the unit and didn’t have enough time to really get the video together before my return window closed.

    The deal breaker for me was the chorus noise. It was SO noisy that it was mostly unusable. To make it bearable, I needed to turn the volume pot up to about 2 and then raise the preamp in my focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 which to me, isn’t getting the full audio potential out of the JU-06. The chorus noise also sounded much ‘pinker’ than the real 106’s chorus noise. I could have also run it through a noise gate but that just saddened me to have to do to a brand new piece of gear.

    The sound of the JU-06 is audibly colder than the real 106. Also, I was very excited about the fact that the JU-06 has the option to be velocity sensitive, but disappointed when I discovered that the velocity sensitivity only affects the velocity (volume). So you can’t assign the velocity to say the filter cutoff. That bummed me out.

    All in all its a fun ‘throwback toy’ with a sturdy build and a lot of fun to bonk around on. A professional piece of gear it isn’t. Nor is it really a replica of the 106. But for $300 I would have kept it just for fun, if it hadn’t been for the super loud chorus noise. Maybe in a future update they may offer the ability to turn that noise off or down, but Roland historically is not known for updates.

    1. Cool news – Found this in a gearslutz thread –

      System Settings in the [MANUAL] + [12], you can adjust the noise level of Chorus.
      ***
      [1] OFF
      [2] HALF
      [3] ORIGINAL (initial value)
      In other words, looks like you can adjust/turn off the Chorus noise on the JU and JX.
      1. While holding down the [MANUAL] button, press [12]
      * Keep holding down the [MANUAL] button.
      2. Press a numeric button to select the value, and release the [MANUAL] button to confirm the value.

      In the thread it was confirmed it worked. Not trying to take people from the site but here’s the link – https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-electronic-music-production/1031061-roland-boutique-three-new-roland-synth-products-187.html

  23. I have owned a Juno 6 for the last 6 years and played it daily and recently bought a JU-06 purely from curiosity. To my ears it sounds extremely close to the Juno 6 (I can’t comment about a 106 as be not owned one) but only as long as the resonance is kept below 60%. Whack the resonance up and its digital origins become apparent quite quickly. With the resonance at maximum, the resulting sine wave does not track quite as well as the Juno’s . All told though, it is a great value and fun little machine.

  24. OK – I played a JUNO 106 right through the 80s and early 90s. I’m also in the ‘older’ bracket where apparently my ears won’t be telling me the truth! Even more so since i played in a punk band and it were very loud indeed:-)

    I fortunately have lots of recordings (analogue 24 track 2 inch tape of course) which were naturally squashed both dynamically and frequency wise to be recorded to vinyl. So basing my listening of the JU-06 against those masters (and given my old ears) I can’t hear any significant difference between my original patches (created 26+ years ago) and the current recreations of them on the JU-06.

    Certainly nothing that my audience would worry about – or me for that matter!

    It is a wonderful add-on to have to my arsenal of modern software synths and Korg workstation. Somehow it sounds more analogue than the Korg to me.

    One thing worth doing is to get hold of the J106 windows editor application. This together with a zip of the original factory patches shows you the original slider positions for all the patches that were left out of the JU-06. I started with this because many of the patches I wanted were modified factory patches not included in the JU-06.

    The chorus is noisy but so was the original – I leave it on – I like it and I can tell from the noise which level of chorus I’m using before playing a note! As an earlier post noted it can be turned off.

    Also, so can the delay which has been added to some patches. The mod wheel can be set to be ‘sticky’ rather than RTZ like the original. And the synth can be made velocity sensitive – I won’t bother with that since I liked the lack of velocity on the original.

    I’m having fun with it ….

  25. Have both Juno and ju. There are differences but are very marginal. Nothing you cant fix in post. If I route the ju 06 into my burl bomber ad it sounds much bigger than any straight to dac software synth. I find it somewhat ammusing that people will spend huge sums of money on vintage synths for “that” sound and record it with some super cheap m audio/focusrite/avid converter. You are missing the point and the true sound of the device. The best investments I have ever made were highest grade possible ad conversion. I can make any synth VA or not sound huge, powerful, and all that. I often get asked what I use for my bass in my tracks. The answer is logic es1 just resampled dry loop through my radar dac into the burl. Point being you cant form an opinion on something until its been tested in your with your workflow in ypur own studio… Just my 2 cents for whatever its worth

  26. Dear Sir, I own a ju 06 module with another on lay-by to get the 8 key polyphony. How do u get the two chorus effects going at the same time(1 and 2)? I am in my 40’s and just love this little unit. I can’t tell any difference in the sound from the 106 keyboard I used to own 20 years ago. The resonance effect is one of my favourites especially with the slow rise and fall, so “other worldly” very haunting in a good way of course. Anyway that’s it from me. All the best,

    Bren.

  27. Hey, everyone… I just bought a JU-06 and am nearly ready to pull my hair out trying to get the unit to acknowledge my sustain pedal and sustain my notes. Any tips? I have an M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 and have tried to assign the sustain pedal to CC# 64 like the JU-06’s MIDI Implementation Chart shows and still nothing. I have also reset all my MIDI configurations on the controller to default as well with once again…nothing. I wasted my entire Saturday night trying to get this the sustain/hold function to work with no hope in sight. I have tried to also Google this issue with absolutely no results scrolling across countless pages. If anyone has any input, it would be appreciated beyond comprehension.

    Frustrated,
    Aaron

    1. Hello Aaron,
      i just got a roland ju 06 and having the same problam you posted about a while back.
      about not geting the sustain pedal from keyboard to have any efect on the notes…
      found your post and strugeling to fix this issue. did you ever get this problam fixed? and how? 🙂

      thanks in advance,
      Nimi.

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