This has been a very interesting thread for me, cos unlike any other previous thread I can think of, this is one where I think I've actually made a complete U-turn as the thread has gone on.

I came into this thread thinking all vintage synth buyers were childish musical snobs, but I must admit, Pauls reasons for buying the Minimoog seem totally valid as far as I can make out.

Vintage synths can only increase in their value if looked after, which surely makes them a worthwhile buy in itself.

And, there's not doubt, the simplicity factor CANNOT be underplayed. I mean, with my own synth, I reckon I spend much more time reading my synth manual than I do actually playing the thing. Oh, and let me stress, I'm not some compugeek. The LAST thing I want to be doing with my time is sit reading a manual.

Thanks to this thread, I think I may just trade in my modern synth for a Juno 60!

How about that for a response?

By the way, does anyone know anything about Roland Juno 6 keyboards.

There's one on Ebay.co.uk going quite cheap and I was just wondering what the verdict was on them. So far I had only ever heard of 60's and 106's.

I will agree with you on mannuals being too complex to read equalizer. You almost need a masters degree in computer electronics to figure those things out (just kidding). I should know I owned a Roland JX-305 and a K5000s and both had rather thick manuals. My mannuals for my two ARP synths are not that thick either. And really you don't need a manual for either one.
As for the Juno 6 it's just like the Juno 60 just no program memories, and no MIDI as well. Only the 106 has MIDI. The Juno 6 sounds exactly like the 60, and is very easy to use and work with that you don't even need a manual for it. Manufactures make thick manuals becuse alot of todays electronic synthesizers and worksations are basically mini computers. Although I can figure my PC out better than I could my JX-305. Half the stuff in there is designed to make creating music easier. Yea Right! If you believe that I have some ocean front property in Nevada to sell you.
My problem with manufactures is makeing all these complex machines and hard to comprehend manuals to go with them. That's why the have manuals on Video Tape and/or DVD. Sounds to me like you would rather make music and try and read how your stinking synth works. Not that your synth stinks per'se. Any way, I try as much as I can to stay away from things like the Korg Triton, or the Yamaha Motiff or Rolands New V-Synth. I don't even want to see the manual for that one. What ever happened to the days when manuals were simple easy to follow steps. I have manual from a Poly-61 and 800 that are so easy to read and understand it's not funny.
Opps! I went off on a tangent again. Sorry! Here wait I have to say but you don't have to take my word for it. First get rid of all of your synths with big thick complicated manuals (obviously they are not doing you any good) Second buy the Juno 6 if it is priced reasonabely. Lokk you want a synth that you can work with, without looking at a manual then get the Juno-6. Leave those big expensive toys to the profesinoals to play with. They hire people to know the In's and Out's of there keyboards.
So just buy the Juno-6 and start maeking music.

Yes the Juno-6 is the same as the Juno-60 except the Juno-6 has no program memory . There are alot of analog snobbs out there , I admit back in the 80s and 90s , I was one of them .
Thanks to the VA stuff though , I ignore most of the analog gear . All of the synthesizers I bought from 1983 till around 2000 were analog . It took a while for the VA gear to make it here in Georgia , but now I'm in heaven again . Even the Clavia Electro gives me all the electric piano sounds I can want . No more tuning and working on a Rhodes or Wurlitzer . Anyone here ever spent time doing that ? What a pain in the ass !

The V-synth is still new so I can't say anything about that . The Triton , Trinity , Z-1 all have the same sound library . The only difference is the Triton samples . The Roland XV , JV , XP , and Fantom have the same sound libraries .
Yamaha S series and W series and the CS1X and CS2X have the same sound libraries .
This is why I don't bother with any of these machines , they are sample playback machines rehashing the same samples over and over again . They change the effects , add an arpeggiator and call it something else .
Since they are sample playback , there isn't really much else they can do .
The VA gear and analog gear offer a chance to make music rather than read manuals and scratch you're head wondering how to get 128 note polyphony out of the thing .
I remember when the Poly-61 came out , and then the POLY 800 . No one ever imagined a polyphonic programmable synthesizer could be so inexpensive .
The Prophet 5 was an innovative machine , the PolyMoog was not . The PolyMoog was an organ , not a synthesizer . The PolyMoog , Arp Omni , Arp Solina 4 , Crumar Orchestrator , Roland RS-202 , and Korg Poly Ensemble S are essentially organs .
They Use top octave divide down circuitry found in combo organs .
The PolyMoog had one good preset , the VOX HUMANA . The string sound on the ARP OMNI was far better than the PolyMoog . I would have to say the Freeman String Symphonizer , ARP SOLINA 4 , and Korg Lamda ES-50 are my favorite string machines .

There are a lot of very good, build them yourself modulars today as well, such as the MOTM and such. Also don't have to worry finding part for a while.

As for big manuals and such, it depends what you do. Physics in audio alone is enough to try and comprehend, let alone electronic attempts at emulating various things though various types of synthesis is another. Depending how far you want to go in understanding what is going on and what type of control you want over your instrument determines how deep into all of that you would like to go.

Depends on what floats your boat, but just like a guitar, if you want to master the instrument you have to study and practice. There is no way to make physics any easier to understand than it is. heck we still don't know how the human ear totally works.

With that in mind, there isn't anything wrong with know three chords and making great music with just that.

Creativity and the science of sound are two different topics. But for a synthesizer to offer exstensive controll and various synthesis options, such as a Kyma or a Kurzweil, then your gonna have a huge manual to explain how they implement Granular, FM, subtractive, or whatever else they offer. Before you make the most of them, your going have to have some idea how the pricipals work as well. Then your going need to apply them to something relativley standard like a two speaker stereo playback system. This can go on as much as you would like. Nothing a manufacturer can do to make the ideas simpler, they could just can make the UI managable.

I'm not concerned about physics, I was makeing a joke. About how complex the manuals for todays equipment are. Plus I don't have the patience to build a modualr one or the electronic know how.

If something works....don't fix it!!
Still playing and lovin' my T3

There you go!

Equalizer, the Juno-106 is a great synth. You should consider it as a reinforcement and not as a do-it-all instrument. It only has 6 voices, but you get beautiful strings out of it.

Download a track called 'Nine' by Autechre. It was made almost entirely on a 106. It's on a CD called 'Amber'(1994) if you want to go out and get it.

-tek