Cherry Audio has introduced DCO-106, a software emulation of the Roland Juno-106 that they say “lovingly recreates the unique sonic footprint of one of the most iconic 80’s polysynths.”
Features:
- Every aspect modeled in detail
- 330+ presets, including original 106 Factory Presets
- Up to 16-voice polyphony
- Rich stereo chorus
- Three lush reverb modes, gorgeous new proprietary reverb algorithm
- Full-featured delay section with tempo sync
- Multiple voice assign modes
- Single-key chord memory mode
- Expanded LFO section with six waveforms and tempo sync
- Unison detune for massive lead and bass sounds
- MPE support
- Full MIDI control
- Full DAW automation for all controls
- Fully compatible with original 106 SysEx commands
Here’s a demo of making synthwave with DCO-106:
Pricing and Availability
DCO-106 is available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and Standalone formats, with an intro price of $25 USD (normally $39).
Roland Cloud already offers two 106 emulations (Legendary and Zenology model expansion). Even if they are much more expensive, this one has to compete with them
Hmm, Roland expensive, MONTHLY, subscription or a one time $25 purchase…hard choice.
Roland has recently changed their purchase options. You can choose now either a monthly subscription or simply buy a lifetime key for a plugin. I bought the lifetime key for the Juno without subscription, just like any other commercial software. You just have to create a free Roland Cloud account.
Yeah, Roland offering Lifetime is a bigger deal than most people realize. I only sub if I absolutely MUST.
PS when I talked about competition, I didn’t mean the prices, but the sound. So far, the Roland Cloud Juno sounds the closest to the original (which I owned once, now I got the Juno 60).
Few synths DON’T have at least two software counterparts now. Its pretty easy to find one that hits the marks the original hardware missed. Its hard to imagine a 106 lover who wouldn’t appreciate the long list of modern additions on this one. I “hate” one-oscillator synths and I still find it impressive.
16 voice and MPE compatible? I am going to have to give this a try.
Neat MPE implementation and quite responsive overall. Will likely use it a fair bit.
it sounds absolutely unreal as Juno, to me.
I’d love to see someone tackling the late 80’s hybrids (SCI Prophet VS, Korg DW8000, Roland D50, Ensoniq VFX, etc.)
I feel the Juno-Series (in their acquired status as subtractive, legendary budget synths) has already been emulated in all kinds of manner, from hardware to commercial software right down to freeware.
Again, no knock on Cherry Audio per se, just my personal feeling that I would have loved to see a different kind of vintage emulation flavor this time around.
Not really what you want but might be of interest if you have one of the relevant machines (xd, prologue, nts-1).
https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2020/09/20/new-digital-waveform-user-oscillator-for-korg-multi-engine-synthesizers/
Thanks, that’s nice indeed.
Roland Cloud offers a D-50 emulation and Arturia V emulates both the Prophet 5 and VS
I completely forgot about Arturia’s VS. Thanks for the heads up!
I’m afraid hell will freeze over before I’ll ever go down the Roland Cloud route, though. 😉
CA is a great developer an I wish them well with this although personably I would like to see more VM stuff, I am sure this will come (as will more cheap VST modules based on what is being developed in the rack)
Love it! Finally a realistic Juno 106 vst that is cheap (and not subscription) and works/sounds good. Just wish it had another envelope.
You can now purchase a lifetime licence for Roland Cloud plugins without subscription. Of course, the plugins are more expensive, but premium plugins have their price (Diva, etc)
Dan, do you work for Roland?
I had the full Roland cloud software when I subscribed first, my favourites were the Sh 101, Juno 106 and the 808.I own a FA06 and JV1010 so I have plenty of 106/101 sounds but i bought the cherry audio DCO 106 anyway. Roland are charging €149 for the models I liked, so buying the DCO 106 was a no brainer. The DCO 106 sounds, looks and feels wonderful. If cherry audio or some other company could do an 808 emulation like the Roland’s I would be delighted, I can live without the sh101 and many of the other Roland cloud emulations but the 808 was amazing. My hardware copies don’t match in terms of workflow and sound character. Roland are pricing their VSTs too high in my opinion, especially if companies like Cherry Audio keep producing instruments like the DCO 106.
https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/6935-DCO-106
Cherry Audio DCO-106 Sale
Cherry Audio’s DCO-106 lovingly recreates the unique sonic footprint of one of the most iconic 80’s polysynths in exhaustive detail. Save 35% off and buy now for only £18.95 / $25
I tried the DCO-106 again…this time compared to a freebie in the NI Reaktor library, I can pull transpose the DCO-106 patches into the Reaktor one and they sound near exact except the Reaktor one has bigger bottom end, more like the real thing. Doesn’t have all the additional bells and whistles of the DCO-106 but I’m fine without those. If anyone wants to save (the admittedly not bad price of the DCO-106, and if you own Reaktor…go for the free Juno-106 (there’s 2 of them actually) in the User Library. Only drawback for me is the NI one’s GUI is super small compared to the DCO-106.
Former 106 owner, this thing is freaking sweet. The 25 dollar intro price tag makes it a no brainer for those lovely Juno sounds.
Well i really wanted it to sound exactly like the juno, but its not quite there.
The Roland plugin is phenominal though. i sold my real 106 because i needed the space and it was that good.
but i do miss the actual sliders at hand.
hopefully they can get nearer in further updates ?