Hello again,

I must say that after I made my piece with the fact that I’d probably need to use two keyboards after all (one as an arranger and one as piano), the choice was rather simple:



For less than $1K it seems like the only option to get a lot of keys (76), not heavy ones, in a lightweight body (15 lbs). I tried it several times at store and decided that piano voice was rather decent.

A pleasant surprise was that at axial.roland.com there was an expansion with additional piano sound (EXP-09). It has 4 stage velocity switching, which, I believe, is the same number as Yamaha P-121/125 has.

So far I’m still adjusting to a new keybed and new sounds. It brought back to me feelings I had when I played an acoustic piano. So far I’m fully devoted to it;

I plan to show you other voices later. It was not only a piano voice which I was after, but also electric piano voices; so there’re things to share.

Looks like full keys too. Nice keyboard , enjoy it.

You certainly made a smart choice,
The Roland Juno DS 88 can do alot of things..
take advantage of all it's wonderful features.
it is perfect for your style of playing and sounds really incredible!!
having an arranger & workstation is very useful for so many things.
I wish you all the luck with your new acquisition.
Please make beautiful music and share it with the world.

good luck!

Congrats-sounds great!

Kab,

Have fun. I love my MX61 and it's just fun to work outside the 'box', so to say.

Thank you guys for your support.

I’ve been reinstalling Windows and all the software, so it took few days to make some new videos

These are some of EPiano voices:

SA EPiano - Roland Juno DS Voice Demo


Pure Wurly - Roland Juno DS Voice Demo


Vintage EP - Roland Juno DS Voice Demo


EP Bells - Roland Juno DS Voice Demo


After a week I can give a short review:

Comparing to PSR-s950 I got an impression that PSR doesn’t really have piano samples for soft touches (pianissimo). It imitates it with a filter. For this reason it’s hard to play PSR as a solo piano – your left-hand-background tends too much to be in a focus.

Juno’s piano sounds well with soft way of playing. It’s not perfect: one or two piano notes have samples which are a little bit “out of the picture” because of their different brightness. But I finally told myself that I should not expect it to be a perfect digital piano for this price.

I’ve been playing it all this week, mostly as a piano, and so far can’t get back to the PSR.

I expect that Yamaha MODX would be a much more powerful instrument; for example, a piano expansion for MODX is half a gigabyte, while for Juno DS it’s just 40 megabytes. But because of its price, MODX should be compared to Roland FA series, not Juno.

For some reason, manufacturers used to avoid 76 keys versions of keyboards: Yamaha had no such options for MO series, neither it had it for MOX, MOXF. Only TOTL Motif had this option. Finally, they came up with MODX 76; but in order to fight Juno, they have to make it based on MX series.

Juno DS, in my opinion, is primarily focused on pianos and e.pianos. It has some good orchestra sounds, nice pads, some synths. It’s not good when it comes to guitars or saxes. But I don’t see how you can play a saxophone voice with no styles.

As for arpeggiator, it looks like a pretty basic one.

The build quality is rather high. Everything, including keybed, looks and feels solid. Buttons are plastic, knobs, sliders and a dial wheel have some rubber coverage. Audio signal is clean, with no distortion or noise even at high volumes.

Audio can be recorded through USB cable (I did so in my videos).

There are some rhythms which you can launch with phrase pads, so far I didn’t find it useful, but I expect that over time I will find some useful things – after all, it’s rather sophisticated instrument with possibilities to adjust different parameters and add new content.

I intend to use it to the fullest, and not only at home.

Have a thought: it can work on batteries. Imagine, with popular nowadays portable speakers, you can perform with it anywhere with no electricity at all. Also, it has a microphone input with effects.

By the way, it has the same look as E-A7. I really want my next arranger to be some portable, so I’m looking forward to some PSR-S670 replacement, but who knows, maybe Roland will come up with something, too.

Meanwhile, I’m doing okay with no styles at all, but it can be just a phase.

Some additional observations about Juno DS:

Transpose takes to buttons to adjust, unless you just the transpose it on and off.
But there’s something like “master transpose” in settings, so you can use this “on and off” methods for the two values you need.

76 keys are better than 61. But you can easily run out of it as well. After I try to put it in my car I may change my mind.

After playing PSR for years, it’s not easy to switch even to this “lightweight” keybed. The point is - any adjustment takes time.

I used to think that giving 76 keys to a PSR would be a perfect solution. Now I think that PSR has a piano voice which is suitable mostly for playing with styles; so keyboard is just a half of a problem.

In general, PSR feels like a more finished product than Juno DS: all of tones are polished and usable straight away. But that can we a weakness, too. Juno’s samples are not so “sterilized”, and you get more of a “piano character”.

So far I have a feeling that I got what I needed, rather than what I wanted. I wanted, certainly, a Genos, but this way I still have my car :-) Actually, had no chance even to try it, stores at Moscow do not seem eager to display it.

For sax.. try #114 blow alto vib

Pianos also try the 88 stage grand, Pure EP, Back2 the 60's.
( three of my favorites on the EA7).

Kabinopus, Мне очень понравилось слушать демонстрационные песни. Я рад видеть, что вы наслаждаетесь своей новой клавиатурой. Я знаю, что вы получите много часов удовольствия и создадите музыку из своего сердца. Вы, безусловно, сделали мудрый выбор. Удачи тебе.

Translation: Really enjoyed listening to you demonstration songs.
I'm am glad to see you are enjoying your new keyboard. I know you will get many hours of enjoyment and will create music from your heart.
You certainly made a wise choice. Good luck to you.

I enjoyed your videos very much. You play beautifully. I wish you the best of times with your new keyboard. Nothing more fun than new gear.

Hi , thoroughly enjoyed your demos.
Have you considered a software arranger if the styles aren’t all that necessary.

Kabinopus....coincidentally I've been looking at this keyboard also. I was all set to buy a Yamaha P125 when I saw this (and some other new keyboards also).

You're a pianist like myself. If you had to do it over again, would you go with this Roland Juno DS 73 keys? Are the keys weighted enough to give it a piano feel. The sound seems to be a "thumbs up."

I'm not really good at "checking out keyboards." Not even good at figuring out reviews (like yours).

Same as in YOUR situation, I can find most of the Yamaha's and Casio's in the store, but it will be a crapshoot for me if I order something I haven't played.

Roland Juno DS keyboard

Mark, so far it bugs me that one note (one piano sample) of a default piano (which sounds the best to me) is a bit too loud and too bright; it keeps me from calling this product perfect. I think I found a way to partly solve this problem with a transpose (this way this note shifts to a black key and I don’t hit it this hard that often), although with any product at first I always have a phase when I’m too critical, usually later I forget about most of these things.

The keybed is tougher than PSR but it is not weighted. This is what I wanted exactly, but not for a true pianist, I think.

The overall sound of a piano is the reason I bought it. It’s very different from what I get from PSR, your left hand just starts to sound right, with a proper bass, staying in the background (not fighting with a right hand, I mean).

Also, as I’ve been saying, there’s an additional piano as an expansion. I found no such problem with it as with a default one, but so far I like the default one better.

I assume that at this price I can’t demand any perfection, otherwise, what would be a point of such products as Yamaha CP73, which are much more expensive. So it’s a choice between one compromise or another. Frankly, even having extra money I’m not sure I would buy something different, because there’re always other things to buy as well (like a guitar which I can’t help wanting).

I tried Yamaha P-121 just once at a store. I could be wrong, but I seemed to me too close to my PSR-S950 sound wise, so I didn’t invest more time to study it.

So far, with all concerns, I keep playing Juno as crazy, not only because I plan to start playing it in public, but just because it’s so refreshing to have this piano sound and not to depend on any additional rhythms or styles.

Also, I must say, that I didn’t like any of YouTube demo of this keyboard, so now I believe more in trying it personally before judging.

Donny Thank you for your kind words. The translation is almost perfect, although in Russian there are to kinds of “you”, like in French (tu and vous) and in your message they a both used.

Solomon8 Thank you

Rikki Thank you, too. So far I try to separate music and computers as long as I’m not recording. Also, I want it all to be stable enough to play live in public.

Fran Thank you for your suggestion. So far I tried almost all of the voices, they are not bad, but I still think that as for acoustic piano, the default voice (DS Grand Pho) is the most sophisticated one in this machine. As for saxes, they are good, but Yamaha did something, I dare say, outstanding, it’s hard to beat.

Also, would like to add on a topic of perfection.

I read about Genos, that even a slightest move of a slider instantly affects a keyboard's parameter. For example, if a volume slider is set to zero, then you turn on the keyboard and start to play, but then even by a mere shake the slider is moved - the volume (or other parameter) is set to almost zero!

So I checked it on Juno: the first changes of a knob or a slider are ignored - so you have to really move it intentionally.

This is how perfection is not really guaranteed no matter how much you pay. But at least at reasonable prices you are more ready to compromise.