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.

jimmy

September 21, 2009 @ 11:14 am

HOOOVEEERRRRRRRRRR!!!! What the...............

Joe

August 5, 2009 @ 8:11 am

In other words, they sound just as good as the 106, but not as good as the 60.

Joe

August 5, 2009 @ 7:12 am

In my opinion, the Alpha Junos are just smaller, cheaper Juno 106's, with more hassle.
People give the Alpha Junos so much criticism. The demos that are over the internet do not demonstrate its sound potential.

Computer Controlled

May 21, 2009 @ 4:42 am

The @Juno-1 is a great sounding synth with the options for some rather unique sounds due to it's Sawtooth wave having the ability for various pulse widths. One being able to be modified by the PWM Depth and Rate parameters. This can result in some sounds that are only available on the Alpha Junos/MKS-50. Another feature not found on any other Juno synth is the multi-stage EG with Key Follow. I also don't feel this synth is thin sounding at all. The Sub Osc can add quite a bit of beef to the low end. It does some really good basses. Get the PG-300 for easier control over the editing. Though i find the filter steps at high resonance settings. (the filter doesn't self oscillate btw)

marc

April 15, 2009 @ 7:00 pm

there is a solution to the alpha wheel... look around a little online, there a several easy to use and very nice editors for both the pc and the mac. after trying a few, i now use one called EZalpha. definitely feel like i am getting the full potential out of this little guy now.
i agree with previous post about being a little thin to stand alone (except for possibly some pads), but with a little help from one of the visual editors one can really thicken the sound up.
i also run it in through the audio in (and midi in for that matter) on my ms2000 and layer them up - quite an interesting contrast and can get really intense...

<987654321>

 

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.