-=[THE SYNTH ZONE]=-

seriously though, fun stuff.

wow!

The chorus on my 106 is loud af, sounds like the ocean when it's engaged.

Thanks for checking it out! I'll add "failing voice chips" to the list of future features. ;)

I want to take a break from working on it because I've been super immersed in this thing for a few weeks, but I also kind of want to dive back in and implement MIDI learn -- WebMIDI is quite young still, and I haven't come across any other websynths that do that yet.

broken roland chorus is a known issue. Both my 106 and Alpha Juno have the problem, it's pretty much unusable at this point, especially on the Alpha Juno.

The crackling voice chip is a whole other epidemic with an interesting history, with years of people swapping out chips then putting in cloned chips before the discovery that the crackling was because the roland plastic coating was melting and causing it to short and the realization that you didn't need to replace the chip, just remove it, melt off the rubber insulation with acetone, and put the chip back in and it's 100% good.

never knew about the chorus problem before... mine works ok (though with a lot of hiss).
had the chip fix a couple years ago.

here's a juno question: in unison mode, does everybody experience sort of a weird in-and-out of sync effect with the oscillators? kind of a rapidly changing timbre, note to note?

On my 106, yes. It's nearly unusable except for with percussive sounds. On my Alpha Juno 1 it's fine.

It might be a calibration issue. I need to get the 106 serviced anyway.

There's no oscillator spread in the Juno's unison mode, so it doesn't sound very good. There are some aftermarket mods that address this, like this one for 6/60 which has been going around today and looks really neat: http://tubbutec.de/juno-66/

oh that polysex mod looks nice... I'd love the detuning function!

I updated my synth so you can share patches. For example: Smooth Pad

But apparently I can't format a link. Once more:

Smooth Pad

Also Chrome 43, which includes WebMIDI, is the new stable version, very exciting times

In a similar vein to the Juno-66, has anyone tried one of these for their 106?

http://kiwitechnics.com/kiwi-106.htm ?

No but I dream of it. And getting the appropriate overlay:

http://www.synthgraphics.com/kiwi-106.html

Indeed, especially the Jupiter version.

You should jump on it - it's a bit of a slap in the face for here as they don't accept Australian or New Zealand dollars...

106 owners: did you replace your 80017As with clones or acetone-bath the existing chips?

I replaced the first crackly one with a clone, back before anyone knew about the acetone bath.

Then when further ones started to go, I sent the entire motherboard to Synth Spa on eBay to do the acetone on all the voice chips and it's been perfect since.

Now the chorus is extra noisy though. I'll get that fixed eventually but actually don't use it that much.

synth spa here... worked like a charm, but now I need to replace the battery since I can't store patch memory anymore!

I've read bad things about synth spa's turnaround times, but his work has a good reputation.

That said, I might try to find a local tech. I've got an Akai AX-60 in worse shape that was super-cheap. If they can get that fully working, I'll trust 'em with the Juno.

New 106.js update that I'm pretty excited about.

You can now map every control to any MIDI CC message, so you can play and tweak with your hardware controller. It supports 7-bit or 14-bit CCs for those smooth filter sweeps. Your mappings will be remembered per-input, so you can have multiple mappings for multiple devices, and your last-used device is loaded by default when you bring up the page. As far as I know, this is the first web synth with a MIDI learn feature.

So I went to my boss' house yesterday for my party. He collects Fairlights, and Fairlight discs, and check out one of the discs that he's acquired:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/382/18319804365_98198f2c9f_b.jpg

!!!

no way!!

that's beautiful

whoa

"collects Fairlights"

What is he, a hedge fund manager?

holy smokes

nbd, I collect Synclaviers and RCA Mark IIs.

fucking hell

that is fucking rad

Founder of D@nger (which sold to MS)...

Just ordered the JP-08 (http://20khz.gizmodo.com/mini-versions-of-classic-roland-synths-let-you-recaptur-1734254763). I got to play a real Jupiter-8 a few sessions ago, and LOVED it, so hopefully I won't regret this purchase.

I really want the new Moog Mother-32.

maaan, i want that JP-08. such a sucker for tiny synths (especially since i have a very limited amount of space in my little studio).

Anyone try the JD-XA yet?

this looks kinda dumb/unnecessary but also fun, like if you got one for free: http://uk.novationmusic.com/circuit/circuit#

i wonder how playing chords works with the pad layout.

Pretty cool, but those grid controllers are pretty mystifying for this piano player...

Those Rolandz are nifty, but I like my tiny synths to be REAL COOL DIGITAL like the Reface DX (or the DX100 for that matter) (or the VSS-200)

^ All machines by Yamaha, the best musical toymaker

yeah, as i already own actual juno 106 and alpha juno 1, i'd probably go with the Reface DX. Been wanting to add some FM to my arsenal and bought a TX-802 which is about as badass as FM gets, if you can get it to work, something I'm having a good deal of trouble with. The Reface DX looks fun, would love to play around with it.

Holy shit, that Page R screenshot!

had a play with a reface CS - don't really want a VA synth (it sounds p good) but it felt like a high quality build, miles beyond old mate microbrute. I want a DX one. or the piano!

I'm trying to avoid anything that doesn't have patch memory these days. Actually I'm trying to avoid buying anything for a while now as i probably have more than enough synthesizers for my budget and lifestyle.

you can still get a DX7 pretty cheap, right? i kinda want the electric piano one, although for that money i might be able to get a used Rhodes of some type if i haunted craigslist.

plenty of DX7s round for cheaper than a reface. they're a hefty beast, though! I honestly don't have room for one.

Check out the Yamaha DX100 then!

Don't have room and DX's aren't super cheap. I'm curious about the way the reface is programmable, how different it is.

Otherwise if you just want a 4op FM, DX100 or TX81Z aren't that expensive.

Wow

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EMS-Synthi-100-insanely-rare-analogue-synthesizer-/281819554519?roken=cUgayN

guys let's pool all our resources, we can do this

I've got $8.

so we have $9 then!