Roland Juno-D6

I am a hobby musician who plays multiple instruments. Although I had been vaguely curious to buy a synth for many years, I hadn't been motivated enough to actually do it. This changed when my kid told me that she wanted a keyboard instrument in the house. This gave me the push I needed to commit to buying my first synth.

So I started searching for a synth which would be simple enough for a kid to use, but deep enough for a hobby musician to explore and have fun. I did a reasonable amount of research about various alternatives, but honestly, I can't say that I considered the merits of every single product. The synth market is very crowded, and for a first-timer, it can be confusing to understand the specifications and limitations of all the various options.

After some research, I settled on the Roland Juno D6 as my choice. The main reason for this was simply that this seemed to be a solid, mid-range product from an established brand. A secondary criterion was the connectivity: class compliant USB-C (no drivers), and potential to be repurposed as a MIDI controller.

Once I had settled on the Roland Juno D6 as my choice, I still needed help with planning the setup. Here, the customer service team from Thomann were great. I had two phonecalls with Thomann customer service, who really helped me to decide on the right choice of accessories (stand, stool, speakers, cables etc). Both took the time to understand my requirements and help me to find the best fit for my situation. When the package arrived, everything was simple to unpack and setup (about 1 hour from opening the first box to sitting down and making music).

It is now 8 months since I got the synth, and I am very satisfied with it. I found it quite easy to learn the functions I was most interested in, and there are still lots of functions that I haven't fully explored yet. If you just want to sit down and make some music, then this synth delivers. It boots up very fast, the preset sounds are easy to navigate, and the keybed gives good expression.

Two standout features that I really like about this synth are: 1) The impressive number of built-in effects, which include various 'Boss classics', 2) The range and usefulness of the preset sounds, which include digital emulations/reproductions of some 'Roland classics'.

If I had to point out some weaknesses, my main criticism would be that certain functionalities seem to have been deliberately limited for commercial reasons. For example, the on-board live recording is limited to 64 steps (about 20 seconds of music). I am not an expert, but I presume Roland have imposed this limit to not undercut their more expensive workstations. I could make similar complaints about the number of simultaneous effects which can be applied, and the inability to sample. But honestly, this is to be expected when buying a mid-tier product from a big company.

Taken together, both my kid and I are really satisfied with this synth. It offers a good balance between deep functionality versus ease-of-use. The build quality seems robust, and if I ever move away from a standalone setup, I would be happy to repurpose this keyboard as a MIDI controller for software synths.

tant à la recherche d'un clavier qui m'apporterait certaines libertés dans la création de sons et modifications en live, j'avais dans un premier temps opté pour un DeepMind12.
Mais après avoir testé le Deepmind12 j'ai compris que je recherchais une WorkStation.
J'ai trouvé mon bonheur avec le Roland Juno-D6.
Il répond exactement à mes attentes :
Il me permet de travailler me morceaux en solo, en éditant des "scènes" qui conservent tous les caractéristiques et réglages que je retrouve lors des répétitions avec mon groupe ou sur scène.
Mes réglages sont sauvegardés en double sur clé USB grace au branchement prévu à cet effet.
La partie séquenceur est un outil extra pour pouvoir enregistrer des pistes que je partage ensuite avec mes collègues pour qua chacun puisse travailler de son côté. J'aurais aimé avoir possibilité d'étendre les séquences sur une durée plus large, mais l'outil reste très bon.
Ce que j'adore, c'est de pouvoir modifier mes sons en live et d'avoir la liberté de programmer les fonctions sur les boutons de mon choix.
Je pourrais rentrer dans les détails en passant en revue tout ce que j'aprécie sur ce clavier, mais je vais me limiter à cela.
Je terminerais par une solution que j'affectionne tout particulièrement.
Cette fonction n'est malheureusement pas expliquée dans les manuels et c'est ce que je relverais comme point négatif car il m'a fallu fouiner sur internet et décrypter des vidéos pour trouver cela :
Il est possible de scinder le clavier en 2 parties avec 2 sons différents grace au bouton "Split", mais ce qui est bien plus excellent est que lorsque vous avez une scène composé de 8 sons différents, vous pouvez les attribuer à différentes partie du clavier en appuyant simultanément sur les touches "Shift" et "Menu" … et ainsi scinder votre clavier jusqu'en ! parties.
Pour résumer, c'est un superbe produit.
Si je devais revenir sur mon achat je prendrais le modèle supérieur avec D7 76 touches, voir le D8 avec 88 touches.