Roland Alpha Juno-1

The Alpha Juno is a great sounding Juno type synth! Not quite as warm in sound as the previous Juno's but still a nice addition to any techno synth rig. Sliders and buttons were replaced by membrane buttons and the Alpha Dial which is used to edit and browse through the extensive selection of parameters: DCO digitally controlled oscillators, LFO, bend, ENV, pulse, waveforms, noise, PW/PWM, high pass filter, VCF (filter) with freq/env/res/LFO/kybd, VCA envelope, chorus, and more. The PG-300 synthesizer programmer gives you traditional slider control of each parameter for much easier and faster editing.

Other nice touches include better MIDI implementation than previous Roland synths, 64 presets and 64 user patches, a nice LCD display, an LFO capable of a very slow rate for some cool sweeping effects, and a great bass sound (especially nice for acid basslines) and noise effects! It also has chord memory which is perfect for rave & techno, portamento and keyboard transposing. The Alpha Juno 1 was soon replaced by the Alpha Juno 2 which added a few MIDI & keyboard enhancements. The MKS-50 is an upgraded rackmount version of the Alpha Juno. The Alpha Juno is used by Mundo Muzique, Vince Clarke, Matt Megaton Haines, Paul Hardcastle, Massive Attack, Bomb the Bass, The Prodigy, Youth, Joey Beltram and Human Resource.

Roland HS-10

The HS-10 Synth Plus 10 is an Alpha Juno for the casual home user, with a slightly less appealing cosmetic appearance, and the HS-80 was a similar repackaging of the Alpha Juno 2.

Tom

May 5, 2013 @ 12:45 am

HS-80 Ram Init Procedure

1) The HS-80 must be powered off.
2) The Memory Protect switch must be off.
3) While holding down the BRILLIANCE and DATA TRANSFER buttons, turn on the power.
4) Release the buttons.
5) The display will show something like “Initlz Funct RAM”
6) Turn the power off.
7) Turn the power on.

Tom

May 5, 2013 @ 12:43 am

1) The HS-80 must be powered off.
2) The Memory Protect switch must be off.
3) While holding down the MOD RATE and DATA TRANSFER buttons, turn on the power.
4) Release the buttons.
5) The display will show something like “Ver 4.6h 3.19 86”
6) Turn the power off.
7) Turn the power on.

Why

April 19, 2013 @ 5:29 am

ken - Yes. It's called a "sequencer". The Juno doesn't have an appregiator or sequencer on board. MIDI'er up to a sequencer & you'll be good to go. BTW, that repeating synth line on "Kids in America" sounds a lot like the Juno's stock P-11 PolySynth1 patch.

Not_now

April 19, 2013 @ 5:20 am

In the last 2 years I've done a little speculating & picked up 2 Juno 2s & 4 Juno 1s (had 1 already from '92), all for under $150 each. Now I will tell you why. Jupiter 8s are creeping towards $10k & CS80s are @ or near $15k. I expect those prices to double or even triple over the next 2 decades. That will place them far out of reach for average musicians, who will then seek out cheaper Junos, Poly-800's, etc, which by then will also have increased in value. Mine have been professionally serviced & are stored in a climate controlled environment. I plan to sell then in 10-20 years & retire. =D

Kirk

March 17, 2013 @ 6:07 pm

What an amazing little synth. Great sound and great features in a fun little portable package. Portable not because it runs off batteries of course, but due to it's handy size you can program it/write songs in bed, in the garden etc.

Such a sweet sound and a bargain in the analog world just because of a lack of sliders. Any midi box will sort that problem out.

4/5 rating.

<14131211109876>

 

Post Comment!

Your Name: (Required.)

Email Address: (Required, not published.)

Image verification: (required)

Message:

 

Posting Rules:
Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

I have read and understand the posting rules.