Prospective Juno-G buyer needs help

to me, the juno-g has some features that rival flagship workstations, but lacks some more basic, expected things.
for example, it has mirrors, but no smoke.

zedius, my two cents are:

1. Juno-G is indeed the best affordable workstation, it has more polyphony and more powerful sound engine than anything that costs even within the $1500 range.

2. I had no issue with ease of use, it's very intuitive and logical. Song composition and sound editing, all feels fast and comfortable.

3. With the 201, you'll have a very good combination, covering a wide range of sounds. You can also add an SRX board to the Juno for more sounds (like the piano board if you want a greater piano sound).

In fact, the Juno-G is more a downsized Fantom-Xa because the Juno has no pads, no pattern mode, no rps and no multisamples. On the other side, the Xa has no "audio tracks", but you can do the same with samples.

Funny about all this. I've got an Xa and a 201. I'm actually a guitarist who recently got interested in synthesis. I had a bit of spare cash and an eye on a well-kept, used Xa on eBay. I had thought I might want a J-G at a time when I never thought I'd be able to afford a "real" Fantom. But here was a "junior" Fantom for a price I could swing. Long story short, I went for it. Later, I bought the 201 to learn about analog subtractive synthesis and sound design, and tho I still know relatively little, it's helped me customize patches on the Xa (something I've only ventured to do recently).

In sum, this ol' git picker has been well-rewarded for the purchase of the Xa and the 201. They've really inspired me to play and compose, and that, near as I can tell, is what it's all about.

Zedius, the Juno G is brilliant. I've picked over the tiniest details in these forum threads and got very miffed on matters that really don't impede whatsoever the brilliant sounds that come out of this instrument. I get withdrawal symptoms if I'm away from it for more than a working day! I've got an old Yamaha TG500 sound module which was a serious instrument in its time, but the Juno shows how far sound quality has come in the last 16yrs. Other than that I've got korg and NI softsynths, including analogue replications, which to my mind produce more solid and better pitched bass end on bass/synth patches, but then each synth has its pros and cons. And you have your 201 for those sounds anyway. Yes, very classy real (non-synth) instruments sounds reproduced on it I think. My other synths have barely had a look-in since last Christmas! I think the keybed, despite no aftertouch, actually feels more sturdy than many others on much more expensive synths. Just don't expect perfection in the LCD screen (streaking icons in some busy screens - no one perfect contrast position for all), I've not seen one that's perfect, I've had mine replaced and seen the repair doccument stating mine was no different to normal. Now I've accepted that I'm just loving the sound of the machine... that's its primary function after all!

Most astonishing to me is the way the sounds fit all together in the mix. When I programmed songs on my old Yamaha SY-99 I had to equalize each and every track to make the final result sound good (which made it impossible then to replay it on stage). Now, with the Juno-G, I found only very little need to equalize one or several tracks, because they already fit so naturally to each other. Therefore, you can get really complete sounding songs out of the Juno-G.

For the sequencing part, I do miss some minor features (e.g. on track 3, from measure 5 to 17, downscale all velocity values by 30), but after a little while (= some three days) I got used to the system and can work efficiently on it.

Well, thanks for all your help guys. There's a lot of good info here, but I found an X6 that I could (barely) afford. So I went with that. I like the looks of the Juno-G, but I felt like if I bought it I might just keep wishing it was an X6. I guess I feel like if I'm gonna spend $1000 I'd better just spend $1400 and be in debt for a bit.

That's my approach to most things... LOL... like in a pricey restaurant, if you're gonna spend over the odds for anything on the menu, you might as well pay an astronomical amount and have what you want! BTW, I'm 29 and just spent three years as a peniless student! Oh for the day when the cost of a new Roland flagship might appear just a snip to me... wish me luck!!!

Tell you what, if I ever win the lottery, I'll share the wealth and donate some gear to this site for Artemiy to host a lottery for synth fans. Not before I've bought myself everything I ever wanted though!!! LOL