My review

31 Jul 2009, 01:44

(haha, I spent about ten minutes trying to think of better subject for this post, and that's the best I came up with. That just shows how good my english is, so I won't be using any fancy words...)

Ok, let's get started. I've had the Di for about a day now, so I really haven't spent that much time with it yet, and therefor this isn't going to be an in depth review.

First thing I noticed when I got it out of the box, was that it really is light! I could lift it up with just on hand (try doing that with a G or a XS). In fact it was a bit TOO light. I mean, when I put it on my stand, and started playing, the damn thing just slid back and forth on the stand, so I had to make some stoppers under the DI so it would stay in place.
Also I noticed that it really isn't that ugly as in the pictures. (me and my friends have been making fun of it cause we thought it looked really, really ugly).

The keyboard feels nice, and the short travel of the keys isn't really a problem for me. It just allows me to play a bit faster

I have a Triton Le 88 with "piano-like" keys, I'll have to try using it to control the Di later.

There are just too many sounds there to really go through them all in such little time. One thing I notice thou, was that the acoustic guitars SUCK, big time. They sound really bad, like some $50 kids toys. The drums are quite useless too.
On the other hand, the pianos, choirs, distorted guitars and strings are amazing (at least considering the price of the Di). There are tons of good leads, in fact a bit too many for my taste

I mean, going through all of them and trying to find the good ones takes a lot of time.

The performances are really good too (well, most of them), but there could have been more of them. I have to admit, that until now I've mostly been playing with presets on my keyboards, and now since there's so few of them, I think I'll actually have to learn how to make my own

So, atm the pros clearly outnumber the cons, and I'm really happy with the Di!

I'll probably write another post later, now I have to go and get to know the Di better

(Sorry, no pics or sounds demos (yet), I've never done any demos so I don't know how to...)

Kohisten paloi Mairen Datsun

Re: My review

31 Jul 2009, 06:47

Thanks for the review. Surprised to hear the acoustic guitars aren't that great. I thought Roland added a few of the good velocity switching guitars from the Fantom line. The acoustic guitars on the D/Le were't worth much either

Curious.., are the drums better or worse on this model compared to the pevious Juno-D? Did Roland scale back the quality of the drum kits?

Re: My review

31 Jul 2009, 07:46

Well, maybe I was just a bit cranky in the morning

I played some of the acoustic guitars again, and found a couple I MIGHT use. Nylon guitars still sound bad thou, they sound more like a really bad harp...

I don't know how the drums compare to the previous models, this is my first Juno ever. I had a TRITON Le before

I have to say, that when I compare the sounds to my previous synth, it's a bit unfair, since I used to own a Motif XS, and it's guitars were absolutely beautiful!
The drum sounds aren't really a problem to me, since I always use a vst to do my drum tracks

Hope you get yours soon, too, I can't wait to see how you like the Di

Kohisten paloi Mairen Datsun

Re: My review

31 Jul 2009, 08:19

Man.., if you owned a Motif XS then that Di won't stand a chance in some areas

What I've noticed over the years when changing boards (especially if you go from one mfg to another).., you gotta give your ears time to adjust. If you've been playing Yamaha's for years or Korg for years.., buying a Roland make take a little time to get used to.

Play with those patches a little more

Look for articulations within them too. Sometimes Roland's default velocity settings need ajdustment as well. Good example is my Roland RS-70. Had that board for a little time before I realized Roland really jacked up the default velocity settings and many patches had more articulations to them beyond what I was hearing.

Remember though.., you got a great software editor with the Di. You'll be able to create some very nice patches by using the editor because there are so many more patch editing options in the program.

I'm hoping to get mine soon. We'll see I guess. Sweetwater changed their availability status three times in less than 24 hours on it. It still says Confirmed Shipping from Roland though.

Re: My review

31 Jul 2009, 08:53

I guess you're right. This is actually my second Roland ever, first one had just basic midi-sounds and wasn't that great... I've had the Triton for many many years, and I think I'm just used to the sounds there. Yamaha sounded really thin to my ears, I owned it for about five months and it didn't change. Roland's sounds on the other hand are really rich and balanced.

I'm sure I'll find lots and lots more positive things when I just keep on playing

And it might seems that I'm whining about things, but don't get me wrong, I already love this synth!

Kohisten paloi Mairen Datsun

Re: My review

3 Aug 2009, 08:30

How are you liking the Juno Di now that you've spent more time on it? Share the juice man

Re: My review

4 Aug 2009, 02:18

Actually, I've been quite busy, and haven't had as much with the Di as I wanted :/

But every time I have the time to play, it just sounds better and better! It's totally worth the money, and I think it's going to be my favorite piece of gear for many, many years!

Only thing I find annoying is the categories. It's quite hard to look for a particular sound when they're packed in so few categories. But I guess I'm just used to a different type of search. Check out Motif XS to see what I mean. Heck, even my OLD Triton Le has a better search function...

I'm planning on composing some songs using the Di, if I get anything done I'll post it here!

<3 my Di

Kohisten paloi Mairen Datsun

Re: My review

15 Aug 2009, 07:28

Just got a new Juno Di here in Australia. Its a nice machine but haven't been able to devote much time to it yet.
It has many great sounding patches. For the price it is terrific.

If you want to modify a sound in detail it is essential to load the software editor as a lot of things can't be done from the keyboard front panel.

A very nice complement for my G6.

Re: My review

18 Nov 2009, 09:47

Hi! I thought I'd post my review on this thread so they don't get scattered all over the place.

I've had my Juno-Di little over a week now and I've played it at home and also took it with me to our band practice. It's made very well and seems sturdy enough to gig with no problems, although it is only plastic. One thing that surprised me was that the knobs move with very little force. Overall the synth looks very nice and it's very well build.

I like the key action and in my opinion it's very expressive. It doesn't feel cheap and you tend to forget the action and focus on the playing and that's always a good thing. Synth style action also keeps the board very light so it was a breeze to use in band situation (I think the whole thing weights less than my guitar in its case).

There are a lot of patches to choose from although some of them are almost duplicates with slight variations. There are a lot of usable sounds, but sometimes it takes a lot of time to browse through them if you have something quite specific in mind. This is sometimes a good thing because it can bring some new perspective to what you are doing if you accidentally stumble upon a new sound that you didn't think of.

My particular favourites are the pianos, they sound quite good and basses have good beefy low end. Also there are lots of nice pads. Because I also play guitar I think the guitars are not so good (although the screaming cosm patch is almost too much fun..), but there are decent ones for some purposes. Also the drums don't sound very inspiring.

Overall and especially considering the price, I'm very happy I bought this keyboard. Other options I considered was the Yamaha MM6, but I'm very happy I went with this one.

I also attached I sound clip I recorded very quickly, hope you'll enjoy the screaming lead guitar piercing through your ear drums. All Juno-Di, although I added a little compressor and such.