JUNO-D6 Synthesizer | 61-Note Keyboard with Synth Action | ZEN-Core Engine with Over 3800 Onboard Sounds | Intuitive Creative Tools | USB-C Audio/MIDI Interface for Mobile & Computers

First Roland Synth I have bought new, mainly just to have a Zen-Core sound engine in the studio. Fairly simple to get to grips with, not a massive amount of menu diving if you don’t want to and lots of presets to play with, plus the ability to add a lot more from the Roland Cloud. Good connectivity and the ability to be USB-C powered is good for street use if that’s your thing. Drum pads are small but nobody is buying this for the drumming ability alone. Key features like a good size screen to see what is going on, an easy to use sequencer, connectivity options and a sound quality that I found impressive. The D6 built quality is a good balance of not silly heavy if you are carting it about on the road and not cheap feeling by any stretch. Only thing that jumps out as a possible negative is the wiggle stick, not sure how much abuse it could take if you are heavy of hand and I wouldn’t swap it for a touch strip style but time will tell. All in all it’s good value for what you get.

Excellent all Rolands greatest sounds including my favourite D50, with a sequencer, and drums. It is 8 part mulitimble and work well with an external sequencer, for more than 64 steps

While the video audio is good its extremely confusing with the manual showing how to do use it properly. So the it is a waste of time. i have the keyboard, it is good but there is a problem that most reviewers did not touch upon, in fact there are many problems. All if not all sound presets have a echo effect, which is not like the original sounds of a piano or keyboards, the makers seeem to have gone nuts with adding chorus and reverbs to everything. The keys are cheap, i mean dirt cheap, they are not full keys like you get on piano or high end keyboard. Also they are not weighted in the slightest, so if you are coming from weighted keys your going thave to get use the cheapness of the keys, they just like toys. The sounds are good but i find they have virtually useless due to the echo and chorus effects. The manual while ok is massively complicated and it does not help. So i find people pushing this keyboard are either paid by roland or just like them, they also have a good sound set up with great speakers. Also i fear some manipulated the sound in the videos to make the keyboard and sound a lot better. One utuber said he might do that in a other video by adding some reverb. i find that dishonest and a presenting distortion of what he was playing. So is the keyboard good yes but do not expect it to be brilliant. It is not, just ok but it more like toy than a real keyboard. Update. i have gotten used to the keyboard, the above stands stil but with some caveats, the keys stiff feel cheap but maybe i am not used to the synths. The sounds on them are massive i mean massive and you can edit them, its just a bit convoulued. Improving on this keyboard is great, i mean just ot add some strings and then a piano and uur off to the races. Also a great feature is you can buy more sounds from roland and they are pretty cheap foir min of £5, -£20. I just got two and they are great plus there are free ones as well from rolands. So i would give this a four out of five instead of three out of five. Oh and it can be used as a midi controller which is good,

This is the most fun I've had with Synth in 30 years. It has the Juno 60, Juno 106 & a new Juno X presets selection along with iconic Roland Drum machines such as the TR808 & 909. It also has a new Arpeggiator i function that can note how you are playing & change the arp pattern to match what you play, but the choice is yours.. the built in speakers are adequate for practice & with all this & a sequencer there is no room left inside this wonderfully built solud aluminium box of tricks.

** THE SEQUENCER 3 mode sequencer -max 64 steps / 4 bars - musically speaking barely enough for a question and answer phrase. 1, live record with ** no input quantise (if you play sloppy when recording it will not quantise), max 64 steps - allows 7 further over-dubs per track part - no last undo for track take - loop must be started again if you screw up on over-dubs - you can further edit with the step sequencer but this is somewhat laborious. Allows for recording of cutoff and rez sweeps etc. 2, A step sequencer allowing 8 layers per track /part - max 64 steps. Allows for recording of cutoff and rez sweeps etc. 3, dedicated drum TR-REC for scene drum 8th part Working Method: Records 1 part/ tone of a scene per Sequencer track NB: multi-part layers record separately to their assigned tracks if unmuted. NB : ** NO sequence chaining for saved scenes I.e you cannot switch scenes with sequence parts that continue play . Although scene remain is true for live switching scene sounds it is not the case for sequencer scenes where you wish play to continue. NB: ** Sequencer function can be extended by using an external midi sequencer assigned to parts within a scene. All sequencers listed below allow for live quantize omitted in the Roland D. Naughty Roland. 4 parts per scene - Arturia KeyStep Pro 8 parts per scene - **Roland MC-707 (8-part full sequencer, live quantize, chaining)** - Elektron Digitakt II, Akai MPC Key37, (Logic/Ableton) via USB-C MIDI fully unlock D6's 8-part multitimbral capability ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** SCENE & TONE SLOTS Scenes: 128 preset (2 banks × 64) + 128 user scenes total ​Tones: 3,800+ factory presets + 128 user tones (ZEN-Core edits/imports only) Drum kits: 95 preset + user slots share the 128 tone area ------------------------------------------------------------------------- BACKUP = ALL-OR-NOTHING **SINGLE BACKUP FILE contains:** • All 128 user scenes • All 128 user tones + drum kits • Favorites + system settings **RESTORE = OVERWRITES EVERYTHING** - no individual tone/scene recovery possible CRITICAL USER WORKFLOW LIMITS No per-tone exports from backups - can't swap one tone without full restore Scenes reference user tones - importing new tones breaks scene assignments Roland Cloud Sound Packs (SVZ) CONSUME your 128 user slots - each pack overwrites existing user tones **Real-world math:** 384 user tones needed for 3 Cloud packs? → Only 128 slots exist → Delete 256 tones/scenes to import → Backup current setup first → Restore later if needed ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** SEQUENCER , SCENES AND TONE COMPARISONS TO OTHER ROLAND MODELS: Jupiter-Xm: 256 user tones, 256 scenes, 5-part 64-step sequencer (4 synth models + drums), YES live record quantize (Hi/1/8T/1/16 grids + strength %), YES sequence chaining (16 patterns chainable per part), motion sequencing Juno-X: 512 user tones, 512 scenes, clip-based + TR-REC sequencer (16 clips), YES live record quantize (1/8T/1/16/1/32 grids + swing), YES sequence chaining (clips chain into songs), pad clip launching Fantom-6/7: 2,048+ user tones, 2,000+ scenes, 16 full tracks (unlimited pattern length), YES live record quantize (1/16-1/192 resolution + strength %), YES sequence chaining (patterns arrange into 16-track songs), TR-REC + piano roll editing ------------------------------------------------------------------------- **TONE vs SCENE FX DOUBLE-DIPPING CONFUSION: - Tones have their own FX/EQ settings - Scenes have separate FX/EQ on top - Change Part FX within Scene → "Save new Tone?" prompt appears when saving scene Result:** Unintended tone variations fill your 128 user slots when you only wanted scene-specific FX *Scenes should reference tone + override FX without creating duplicate tones ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** DESIGN ISSUES: Issue 1 : the microphone input is off to the left on the back panel - had it been centred it would have worked well with a goose neck dynamic mic - but off to the left you have to be a contortionist to play and sing using the vocoder using a dynamic gooseneck microphone. Issue 2, the menu button and shift button are all the same black - no differentiation for low light or for visually impaired people. It grieves me when manufacturers over look the kind of clarity required for visually impaired users. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROS: 1, 3,800 cool Roland sounds in banks - great sounds. Worthwhile going through them all and listing your favourites with a description for future sound design. Roland give a pdf list of all sounds to help you with this 2, Lovely clear screen with good fidelity. 3, Well considered layout design particularly for live play and immediacy of use . A minus for the issue of no tonal or colour differentiation on certain function buttons. 4, The ability to stack tones/ parts in a multi part scene and balance volume for building tonal nuance 5, Ease of setting up keyboard splits and dual sound scenes 6, The ease of adding fx to parts without editing tones 7, the ability to be able to edit Zen-Core tones natively For what it actually is vs the hype I still give it 5 stars but if a cheap mini Yamaha PSS-A50 can allow you to record a memo of a song using 'phrase recording' I ask myself why Roland were A, so tight with the sequencer steps in the D series or B, give no ability to record a memo of a tune you're working on for later recall such as the phrase recording mentioned. Review based on latest Firmware V1.2

Awesome workstation!!!

I had a DS61 before...but this is a mega upgrade