Cheez said:
Other than the outside, I see no resemblance to the original Juno-106 analog synth at all. It's engine is that of the Fantom - in fact, it is a stripped down Fantom without the sequencer in the form of Juno-106 casing. Roland's new "Juno" series are all the same concept including their Juno-D. I wonder what the last alphabet really means. And where is A,B,C and F anyway?
Actually, I like it mainly for the retro design. Not because I need another keyboard/rompler.
But it's not as stripped down as you make it, Cheez. I've already downloaded the manual and had a brief glance at it. It's 128 voice polyphonic (compared to the 62 voices Triton knockoffs that Korg is doing) and it does have a built in 16 track midi sequencer and can do audio recording (up to 4 STEREO tracks) as well.
It also allows you to upload your own samples to a DIMM chip (4MB standard, expandable to 516 MB) via a Compact Flash card or USB.
And 1 SRX expansion is catered for.
So, all in all, if it follows the original Juno philosophy of giving the biggest bang for the buck, it is indeed a very feature packed 1st keyboard for the beginner.
Blood hell, it even comes with it's own synth editor and SONAR LE to get you started.
If Roland were to release a Juno-H, mating the Juno-G with the VariOS-8 (software Jupiter8 emulation) and the VariOS-303 (software 303 emulation), I would go out and buy one. Immediately.
BTW, the Juno 106 sound is overrated. Heh, heh.