i got my juno 60 for a year now, and it has been my first real analog synth. it’s amazing, and still makes me happy every day.
but it’s quite an old lady, and needs maintenance from time to time. i ran into a lot of questions when doing repairs myself, but with loads of help from the internet i figured everything out so far.
i wanted to create this thread because i’m interested in if and what mods you installed (for midi in and out), and if you are happy with them. also, i’d love to know how you use your juno, what effects/gear you pair it with and how you use it in your setup. i’ve seen quite a few people here on lines owning junos, would be really interesting to see how they use theirs (maybe in some more experimental ways too).
right now i’m using mine with a usb dcb interface from valpower, it’s been fun sequencing it from ableton with creative sequencers like lil pup or polyrhytmus and recording it back into ableton, then running it through my crappy dynacord tape delay and mixing the signal with the original recording, but offsetting the tape delay recording a bit.
the only thing that bothers me is the noise that gets into my juno output path once i connect the usb dcb interface to the juno with usb. in the juno service manual they mention that models before serial number #253800 had ground loop problem. they fixed it in the factory for later units with an updated version of panel board b, but if you have the old one you can easily do a modification yourself.
the strange thing is, my juno is #243427, but already has the updated panel board b inside. nevertheless i get this strange flickering noise when i connect the dcb interface (which is quite load).
maybe anyone has experienced a similar problem?
excited to hear about your synths and what you do with them!
your juno might be fine but it might be the valpower interface that introduces a ground loop.
might be worth it trying with a USB isolator / ground loop eliminator thingy.
That’s interesting to know. I’ve been considering the Valpower MIDI-DCB converter (not the USB version) for a while, though it lacks the filter connection as well as other useful tricks of the (more expensive) Kenton unit. I’ve never experienced any ground loop issues with my Juno-60 (built in June 1983 according to the serial number range, which is in the 31000s) in the last ~20 years of having it around.
Until such time as I can get a MIDI adapter, I sync the arpeggiator to the clock output of a Korg Monotribe, which works perfectly; and if I want to sync to other MIDI devices I use a Volca of some variety in the same capacity. I’ve also found running the Juno-60 through an Analog Drive pedal to be a worthwhile endeavour, but for the most part I just enjoy its sound as is, with or without that lovely chorus.
Your post is also a good reminder that I’ve not used the Juno in a good while, and need to take the dust cover off more often and have a play.
already tried a usb cable with a toroid filter, but it maybe worth a shot with some other dongle that eliminates the ground loop. do you have a recommendation for that?
interesting! other than the ground loop noise i’m really happy with the dcb-usb interface, it’s really inexpensive and tiny (compared to other dcb solutions). i’m thinking about adding the tubbtec mod for a while now, but am a little scared of removing the original chip and everything. anyone here already using this mod?
that sounds lovely! i’ve been enjoying some distortion with the soundtoys decapitator too recently. especially for swalls and paired with the lfo.
I dont own a 60/6 but I’ve installed a couple Juno-66 upgrades, it’s a great way to add a lot of functionality without messing too much with the original controls.
If you dont have experience desoldering I would not recommend doing it yourself - desoldering can be tricky business, CPUs especially, and this would not be an ideal first experience for that. If you do have desoldering experience it’s a pretty straight forward install, but you would also have to drill holes in the rear panel for midi jacks.
i have some soldering experience but not a ton of, so i would definitely do this together with a more experienced friend. i’ve desoldered faders for cleaning and repairs on my juno already, but desoldering a cpu is another thing.
can you tell something about noise with the juno 66 upgrade? does anything sound different than before? i know that the voice chips and everything remain untouched, but replacing the cpu sounds like a huge invasion (in features which is great, but anything else really behaves the same?)
Take this with a grain of salt as I’ve only ever jammed on an upgraded 60/6 for testing purposes, but I cant say I’ve noticed any differences in noise with a Juno before and after the mod. I’ve also not used a DCB interface so no personal experience on how that can effect noise. Not sure if this applies to to your synth but I do know that there are some Juno 60s out there with excessive noise in the audio path that manifests as white noise plus oscillators bleeding quietly in the background. A coworker of mine spent a long time trying to solve that specific issue on a couple Junos with no success.
& I know a CPU swap seems like a really invasive mod but with the tubbutec upgrade the most invasive thing is the desoldering/drilling jacks. I haven’t noticed nor would expect any changes in the core sound after this parricular upgrade. This would maybe be more of a concern with something like the Prophet 600 where the envelopes are generated by the CPU, and therefore there can be alterations in slope, etc with the gligli mod, for example. But the Juno 60/6 has all of it’s core synthesis functions implemented in the analog domain.
I did this mod on mine for basic MIDI function since note on/off is all I really wanted, so that I can sequence it for live shows, and this mod is SUPER easy to install so I didn’t need to pay to have a specialist do it for me. Definitely recommended.
uh, stumbled over this back when i got the juno, really interesting! note on/off is the main thing i’m looking for too, but midi out would come in handy to use for live shows etc.
so you have no problems with any noise introduced with the mod or anything?
Some of the features of the Juno-66 upgrade may expose problems in the 60 which may not have been as noticeable otherwise. The 60 has significant DC offsets after the VCAs, which are not filtered until after the mixer. This only became an issue when for example using the new unison modes with the arpeggiator at some envelope settings. It took a while to track down the source of the problem. Replacing the old DC blocking caps on the chorus board significantly reduced the clicking. TLDR old synths need recapping.
Have any Juno 6/60 owners swapped in new Xvive MN3009’s in the chorus? Mine isn’t too noisy to be usable (and honestly I hardly use the chorus these days, since it’s so recognizable that it’s starting to feel a little bit overplayed again lately, and the raw Juno sound is a lot more flexible) so I haven’t done it yet, but I’m curious to hear about anyone else’s experience with it. If they sound close to the originals I might as well just install them with sockets now and keep the old ones around jsut in case I want to pop them back in for some reason.
Although, has it ever really been established that the Juno chorus noise is actually the 3009s aging? I ask because I own or have owned about half a dozen other early 80s things that use MN3009’s over the years (string synth, rack choruses and delays, pedals, including a few that are also Roland-made with very similar circuits) and not a single one of them had even the slightest hint of the kind of noise that’s so common in Junos. I really wonder if it isn’t something unique to the Juno rather than the chips themselves that might be solved without swapping them out, but I’ve never found anything even vaguely conclusive about it, just people speculating.
This site claims the Xvive chips sound “better” than the originals, but to me that’s an argument AGAINST installing them unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Also, cosigning the Tubbutec mod, it’s really nice. At some point I’m going to make a little, dedicated hardware controller for mine. I have an old Highly Liquid MIDI CPU board that I’ve been saving for a special occasion.
EDIT: unfortunately my scope died (or at least, it won’t sync - it still works fine in X-Y mode but for simple waveform measurements it’s useless now) so I can’t actually set the bias of the chorus correctly, but I don’t really hear anything that sounds like it’s misbiased, just the classic LFO bleed ocean noise.
EDIT 2: I just found this site, and it was really surprising to note how different the Juno 6 and 60 chorus specs are, I haven’t used a 60 in years and assumed that the chorus was identical but it turns out in modes I and II the LFO on the 6 is a tiny bit slower, but on 1+2 it’s 8x faster than the 60 and the depth is 25% vs. 8% on the 60s. Which is a big difference. I’ve always preferred the 6 but I mainly put that down to the differences in the highpass filter.
EDIT 3: 7 months later and I still don’t want to risk it.
