The Roland Alpha Juno series of discontinued keyboards are analog polyphonic synthesizers with a

digitally controlled oscillator A digitally controlled oscillator or DCO is used in synthesizers, microcontrollers, and software-defined radios. The name is analogous with "voltage-controlled oscillator." DCOs were designed to overcome the tuning stability limitations of early ...

manufactured by

Roland Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fact ...

from 1985 to 1987.

Versions

Two models were released in 1985: the Alpha Juno 1 (JU-1), and the Alpha Juno 2 (JU-2), which added one octave of notes, a cartridge slot and touch-sensitivity. Alpha Juno synthesizers presented a reduced user interface compared to other synths of the day, with a single "Alpha Dial" replacing many sliders and knobs - they represented Roland's first truly "knobless" synthesizers since arch rivals Korg and Yamaha having already made the change to a largely pushbutton programming interface some two years before with the Poly-61 and

DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 19 ...

, respectively. The keyboard features

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

in, out and thru, mono, stereo and headphone sockets. It also supports an external footpedal controller, and tape backup. The Alpha Juno offered a combination of frequency stability (using

s) with more "organic" quality of analog filters. The Roland programmer PG-300 offers complete control over all MIDI editable parameters of the Alpha Juno, the Alpha Juno 2 and the MKS-50. More recently, software has been written for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

computers which allows

graphical Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...

editing of Juno patches through

. The MKS-50 (1987) is a rack-mount version of the Alpha Juno. It has the same synth engine and architecture, with some added features like 16 programmable chord memories, and the ability to store velocity, volume, panning, de-tune, portamento and other similar parameters within each patch. Both Alpha Junos can create the "

Hoover sound Hoover sound refers to a particular synthesizer sound in electronic music, commonly used in rave techno, hardcore techno, gabber, breakbeat hardcore, trance, hard house and hard NRG. Originally called the ''"Mentasm"'', the name that stuck was ...

" popular in

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

and

rave music A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

. Artists who have used the Alpha Juno include

the Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

, hardcore/gabber music from the Thunderdome albums, Son Dexter and a great many other rave acts. The bassline on

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

was an MKS-50.

Factory presets

The factory presets for the Alpha Juno were created by

Eric Persing Eric Persing is an american sound designer, professional synthesist and producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as the Founder and Creative Director of the music software and virtual instrument company Spectrasonics. He has ...

and Adrian Scott.

References

External links

ROLAND SYNTH CHRONICLE:1973 - 2014

* ttp://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/ajuno1.php Alpha Juno 1 entry in Vintage Synth Explorer* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxoQ8a0qcZk Alpha Juno layered to create Mellotron effect
Sound clips, pictures and information on J-1

New patches from AnalogAudio1
{{Roland Alpha Juno Monophonic synthesizers Analog synthesizers Musical instruments invented in the 1980s