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.

John

January 8, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

Initially I was a bit dissapointed as I couldnt get a tight enough attack on the lower notes but with careful EQing and tweaking I have finally found a sweet Bass that will serve me well for my type of music, not just a poor mans 106 after all. It has a really nice soulful tone, especially when using the stereo outs. Recently got the Oberheim1000 to complement it but I prefer the sound of the Juno. Everytime I think about selling it I discover a new sound/method of using it and decide to keep it. One time it started sounding odd, so I opened it up and cleaned all the dust out, now good as new!

cj-303

January 7, 2011 @ 4:28 pm

This synth deserves more recognision than it gets!!awesome machine!!A dream for PWM lovers!!and if u want double phatness from it, add a mks-50 to it via MIDI an detune them!!AWESOME MACHINES!! (:

Ester

November 18, 2010 @ 10:56 am

Hi! Betty, I saw your comment about inheriting the SynthPlus 10. Wondered if you ever found the power cord or bought one. Would appreciate if you could tell me where to fine one. Thanks so much!

Betty

November 6, 2010 @ 2:11 pm

I inherited an HS-10 keyboard without any attachments. Anyone know what I need besides a power cord if I just want to use it at home for fun? I don't even know if the keyboard is in working condition; is it worth trying to get it into working condition? thanks

keith

October 22, 2010 @ 12:35 pm

the ezalpha editor is simple but wonderful. really helps delve into the options of the alpha juno. we've had an alpha in our set up for years, but it's really come into its own since we got the ezalpha editor. definitely highly recommend it. it even gives you a simple 16 step sequencer to use with juno!

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