Roland Juno DS88 keyboard

[Shooshie]

I bought a Roland Juno DS88 keyboard for my daughter. I spent a few hours at her apartment today waiting for it to be delivered, as she had to work, and once it came, I set it up and played it.

I don't think I've ever played a more natural-feeling piano keyboard on a synth. Felt like sitting at a grand. It's even better than my Kurzweil 2600, though things have probably come a long way since then.

The sound is fantastic. Pretty much unbelievable. Of course, I'm not a gear guy. I buy what I need, then forget about it until it breaks. With the Kurzweil 2600, that's going on 15 years now. So you can imagine where my head is at, gear-wise. I'm just catching up on a lot of stuff.



So... anyone who knows about this stuff, tell me what I got. Is this a mid-range pro-instrument? High-end amateur? I mean, it cost a fraction of what I paid for the Kurzweil, 15 years ago. Have things just gotten that much better for the price? I confess to buying this at a store, not really doing my homework in advance, but just trying out a couple dozen keyboards. I mean, I'm not a total idiot; I know a good keyboard when I see it and play it, but I don't know the extent of what this thing will do. Seems to have a lot of synth-top real-estate devoted to making patterns and using them creatively.

If she never uses a button on it, and just plays piano with it, it's $900 well spent. But I'd like to think that it's easy enough to use that she will start experimenting and doing interesting things with it. She's a concert pianist/guitarist, who sings originals and foreign language songs. Musically she's a natural. But I'd like for her to learn some of the stuff I know, and this seems like a good way to get her into it.

Interested in hearing others' opinions about the Juno DS88.

Shooshie

[edit: the name is Juno DS88, rather than just Juno DS ]

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I don't know that instrument, but bought a Korg SP-280 last year. About $600. I had bought three electric pianos that week and returned two of them. I won't go into the reasons except to say that they were inferior in both sound and touch.

You are correct, things have come a very long way in these instruments. I've had several electric pianos, mostly from Kurzweil (PC88, PC2, etc) at about $2500 each. The Korg isn't quite as nice as the PC2 but it's way better than the PC88 and very capable in a variety of pro settings, at least for piano work.

Sampling technology has improved over the past decade, as has action. I'm excited for you and your daughter, and I'm very interested to try out the Roland. One thing that is a factor (not critical, but certainly a consideration) is the overall weight of the instrument and ease (speed) of setup. After that, other features come into play. Of course it HAS TO sound great and feel great and the Korg also delivers there.

The dealer never went into detail about the instrument, but I should add that the Korg has a headphone out (which mutes the excellent built in speakers) and also has a line and main outs, which DON'T mute the speakers. It also has a line in and that gets mixed into the speakers as well as the output, so when I use a two keyboard rig I don't need a mixer, just a line to the PA or house. The built-in speakers act as my stage monitor. Very cool.

On the down side, the instrument does NOT have an input for a volume or CV pedal. There is a "soft/sostenuto pedal" you can buy from Korg dealers for about $50, but the connection is via a small plastic cable connector with the wires just pinched in a small white plastic "locking" connector that is recessed and VERY difficult to remove. OK, if you're going to set it up and leave it, but not road worthy AT ALL. So I'm w/o a volume pedal with that instrument. The velocity is adjustable, as are the effects - which are NOT remembered at power down.

I'm curious how the Roland compares in these regards and will see if I can find out. Thanks for the report, Shooshie. It's good to stay on top of these things and a recommendation from you is very valuable to me.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Just scanned your link. A vocoder!!!! Papa must have! There goes the egg money. I promise not to tell my wife who turned me on to this. I'll blame Frodo. She likes him and might only make him pay for some pancakes...

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'm getting 'cited!

[Shooshie]

I thought the features were outstanding. I haven't cracked the manual yet. Had to leave SOMETHING for my daughter to open! Besides, she has a degree from a very classy college. She should be able to figure that thing out in a flash.

I did play with the loop recorder, and that seems promising if I can figure out how to program the instrumentation for it. I was mainly interested in playing classical pieces on the piano, because it just sounded so good.

It does have a port for an expression pedal in addition to a CC#64 pedal. Or you could probably plug in a Roland FC-300 via MIDI and do all the pedaling you want.

Yeah, the vocoder looks fun. Haven't tried it. One thing for sure: it's got plenty to keep her occupied and reward her with kick-ass sounds as she learns some of this basic synth and MIDI stuff. She's never wanted to use that kind of thing, preferring acoustic instruments, but this might make the difference.

Shoosh