The Juno 108: Birth of an 8-Voice Synth Legend
The Juno 108: Birth of an 8-Voice Synth Legend
How Two JU-06As and a PolyChainer Created My Dream Machine
As a child of the 80s, when I hear the lush pads, plucks, and poppy bass sounds of a Roland Juno 60 or 106, something inside me just... feels right. And while I would love to have a vintage Juno 60 or 106, the prices of these highly sought-after keyboards have skyrocketed. However, I still wanted that familiar DCO sound that only a Juno can satisfy.
Enter the Roland Boutique series, particularly the Roland JU-06A. Most folks who are into analog synthesizers have heard of these, so I'm not going to go into detail about what these are, other than to say this hardware synth does a great job of replicating the sound of the original Juno 60 and 106.
The Polyphony Problem: Why 4 Voices Aren't Enough
However, its biggest drawback is that it has only 4 voices. This is a deal-breaker for me, as I love to play 6 or more notes at the same time with long tails on the regular. I thought I could get around this, but every time I play the JU-06A, I'm disappointed with voice stealing when I play more than 4 notes at a time.
“Well, I can just polychain two JU-06A units together and get 8 voices,” you say. Problem solved, right? Well, not entirely. Technically, this is possible, but due to the way Roland has implemented their polychain algorithm, this still results in voice stealing after the 5th note is played while the tail on the first 4 notes is still playing after release.
The StereoPing PolyChainer: The Solution to Voice Stealing
So, I started to look around for solutions and found a device that solves this problem very easily. The StereoPing PolyChainer is a MIDI bus-powered 2-port MIDI polychain device that sends the incoming notes played on a MIDI controller to 1 of the 2 MIDI out ports in a round-robin fashion, or both at the same time, depending on how you have the Mode switch set.
In Chain mode, the PolyChainer sends each note to a different MIDI port one after the other. This is often referred to as round-robin or ping-pong mode. If we connect a Roland JU-06A to each of the two MIDI out ports on the PolyChainer, when I play note 1, it goes to the first synth. When I play note 2, it goes to the second synth, and this repeats for notes 3, 4, 5, and so on.
The net effect of this is that we can now play 8 voices all at the same time without any voice stealing. This allows us to play large chords with long-lasting tails that don’t get cut off after the 5th note is played.
Adding Organic Warmth with Detuning
One of the other interesting things we can do with this is slightly detune one or both of the synths to give it a more organic, analog sound. With the Roland Boutique JU-06A, you go into System Settings by holding down the ARPEGGIO button and pressing button 1 at the same time. The LED display will show you A 440, and you can use the VALUE knob to change that 440 to a number slightly higher or lower on each of the two synth modules. The result is that every other note is slightly out of tune with the prior note.
The detuning effect is even more interesting when you layer both synths using the PolyChainer Layer mode.
A Portable Juno 108 with Retro Flair
Of course, part of what makes the Juno 60 and 106 attractive is their solid tuning, so you might not want to put your synth modules out of tune, but it's a nice option to have if you're looking for something different.
Arguably, nothing can replace having a real Juno 60 or 106, but if you're looking for a hardware solution that sounds nearly identical to the real thing without the 4-voice limitations of a single JU-06A, then this setup might be for you.
Coming in at about half the price of a Juno 106 and a quarter of the price of a Juno 60, not only are you saving money and avoiding the headache of having to maintain a vintage keyboard, but you're also getting 8 voices instead of 6 in a much more portable package.
Speaking of portable, I feel these two synths belong together in their own little portable setup. So, I found this nice, solid oak 2-tier Roland Boutique cradle on Etsy, which will add some retro flair and a premium feel to my new... what should I call this? The Juno 108?
If you want this amazing 8-voice Juno 60/106 setup for yourself, you can pick up one or more brand-new Roland JU-06A synth modules starting at $66 per month for 6 months with no credit check required from our affiliate music store, zZounds, which also offers fast, free shipping.
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