Roland Juno-60

About the Roland Juno-60

The Juno-60 runs six voices, each built around a single digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) plus a sub-oscillator an octave down - DCO here means a digitally stabilized analog oscillator, not a digital one, giving the instrument the tuning stability its analog competitors struggled with while keeping genuinely analog sound generation. Each voice feeds a resonant 24dB/octave low-pass filter that can self-oscillate at high resonance, paired with a four-stage, non-resonant high-pass filter that boosts bass response at its lowest setting. One unusual capability survived only in this generation of Juno: envelope-controllable pulse-width modulation, a level of dynamic timbral control the later, more common Juno-106 didn't retain. The signature feature, though, is the built-in stereo chorus - three switchable modes running modulation rates of 0.4Hz and 0.6Hz, hard-panned so the six voices sound noticeably denser and wider than a single-oscillator design should. Arriving four months after the memory-less Juno-6, the Juno-60 added 56 patch memory slots and a DCB port, Roland's own pre-MIDI protocol for linking instruments together.

Where to buy

• Reverb Roland Juno-60 synthesizer original brochure in German 55 EUR Best price View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 Original factory Patch and program data cassettetape 100 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno 6 Juno 60 Wooden Side Panels End Caps 146 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno 6 Juno 60 Wooden Sides Panels End Caps 146 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-6 polyphonic analog synthesizer w/ case ju6 Juno 60 106 1.631 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 1982 - 1984 - Black 2.850 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 1982 - 1984 - Black 2.900 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 1982 - 1984 - Black 3.170 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 + Flight Case (1982) 3.200 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer - Mint Condition! 3.303 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno 106 ✅ 61-Key Programmable Polyphonic ✅RARE from ´80s✅ Synthesizer / Keyboard ✅ Cleaned & Full Checked✅ Roland Juno-106✅ Roland Juno 60 little Brother 3.380 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 3.390 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer (Serviced / Warranty) 3.495 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 1982 - 1984 - Black 3.900 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 1982 - 1984 - Black 3.950 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 4.950 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 with Tubbutec midi + controller + hardcase, FULLY RESTORED, MINT! 4.999 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer 5.899 EUR View details
• Reverb Roland Juno-60 61-Key Polyphonic Synthesizer ✅RARE from ´80s✅ Synthesizer / Keyboard ✅ Cleaned & Full Checked 5.960 EUR View details

No platform selected – pick at least one above.

Some links below are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Source: https://reverb.com/item/101063522-roland-juno-60-61-key-polyphonic-synthesizer-1982-1984-black

Sound character of the Roland Juno-60

The Juno-60's reputation rests on wide, lush pads and strings alongside organ-like tones, with a filter reviewers describe as warm and fat, capable of self-oscillating into its own tone generator at high resonance. The built-in chorus is really where the character comes from: originally added to disguise the relative thinness of a single-DCO design, its hard-panned, dual-rate modulation gives the six voices a swirling, animated low end and an overall sense of width and density that belies the simple architecture underneath. The net result has been summed up as warm yet synthetic, organic yet futuristic - a voice distinctive enough to anchor entire genres (house music's earliest productions among them) while still blending unobtrusively into pop arrangements.

What owners of the Roland Juno-60 say

The Juno-60 is widely regarded as one of the first genuinely affordable polyphonic analog synthesizers and carries real cult status today - owners and reviewers alike describe its appeal less in terms of feature depth than in its musicality: it doesn't impress with elaborate modulation routing, but its sounds consistently fit wherever they're used, something one reviewer compared to a favorite old sweater that works with almost any outfit. Many decades-old units are reported to still function flawlessly, with wear concentrated mainly in small dents and chipping on the pressed-wood side panels rather than in the core electronics. That reputation, combined with limited surviving supply, has pushed used prices into what one German review flatly called astronomical territory - several thousand euros for a clean example today, up from its original list price under two thousand dollars.

Playability & handling of the Roland Juno-60

The control panel earns consistent praise for a clarity and directness rarely matched since - every sound parameter gets its own dedicated slider or knob, with no menu diving required to shape a patch. The 61-note keyboard lacks velocity sensitivity but is still considered genuinely playable by today's standards, holding up particularly well against period rivals like the Korg Polysix. A syncable arpeggiator with range and rate controls, plus portamento and a hold function, felt unusually modern and immediate for 1982, though the instrument notably has no dedicated chord-memory feature. On surviving units, the most common playability complaint isn't the instrument's original design but age: dirty or worn sliders are known to make values jump instead of sweeping smoothly, and corroded memory-chip pins can cause erratic patch recall - issues owners typically resolve with contact cleaner, silicone lubricant on stiff sliders, or a technician re-soldering corroded connections.

Recommended accessories & strings for the Roland Juno-60

Since the Juno-60 predates MIDI entirely, connecting it to a modern MIDI setup requires a DCB-to-MIDI converter rather than a standard cable - worth planning for before buying one with integration in mind. On an older, well-used unit, a can of contact cleaner spray and a dab of silicone lubricant for stiff sliders are the most practical maintenance items an owner is likely to reach for, alongside the occasional need for a technician to re-solder corroded memory-chip connections if patches start behaving erratically.

Technical data for the Roland Juno-60

Price history for the Roland Juno-60

Cheapest seen: 55 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 5.960 EUR

The history of the Roland Juno-60

The Juno-60 was Roland's answer to its own flagship Jupiter-8, a synthesizer that in today's money would cost well over $16,000 - the development line ran Jupiter-8, then Jupiter-6, then the Juno-6 and Juno-60, with the Juno name itself a knowing nod to Jupiter's mythological wife, approachable rather than imposing. Released in September 1982, four months after the Juno-6, it kept the same sound engine but added 56 patch-memory slots and a DCB port for linking to other Roland gear, addressing the Juno-6's complete lack of patch storage. Roland engineer Hideki Izuchi later credited a combination of deliberate design choices - chorus processing and targeted bass-boosting among them - for giving the instrument its distinctive voice rather than any single technical breakthrough. Production ended in February 1984 after roughly 30,000 units were built; the line continued with the MIDI-equipped Juno-106 (which dropped envelope-controlled PWM) and eventually the Alpha Juno, while the original Juno-60 sound lives on today in Roland's own software recreations, Boutique hardware and ACB-modeled PLUG-OUT versions.

Notable players & recordings featuring the Roland Juno-60

George Michael recorded every single part of Wham!'s 'Last Christmas' on a Juno-60, and Cyndi Lauper built one of her biggest hits around the same instrument; A-ha, Billy Idol, Berlin and Eurythmics all performed with it during the 1980s as well. In house music, Mr. Fingers' foundational 1986 track 'Can You Feel It' was built from nothing but a Juno-60 and a Roland TR-909, a combination that shaped an entire genre's early sound. The instrument's reach extends well past its original decade, too - contemporary artists including Nils Frahm, Animal Collective, Oneohtrix Point Never, Metronomy, Tyler the Creator and Neon Indian have all continued reaching for it.