Boy Meets Synth

Eagle-eyed readers of this blog may remember that I had a Roland HS-80 SynthPlus 80 , the home version of the Alpha Juno 2. I took the speakers out. But I also really liked the look of the original Juno 2. With its slim body and membrane buttons, it just exudes mid-80s cool. I had been wanting a new master keyboard to replace my Roland A-49, so after seeing YouTube star Espen Kraft using one I decided to sell off the HS-80 and get an Alpha. It arrived clean and in good shape, and even came with a plastic hard case. Nice. However, I sometimes noticed a faint, high-pitched whine coming from inside the machine. It wasn’t present in the audio but was definitely audible when I put my ear near the casing. But then it went away and I forgot about it. The Alpha Juno 2 was originally released in 1985. The younger brother (in age, not size) to the Alpha Juno, the 2 added an extra octave and touch sensitivity, something that makes it a great master controller even to this day. Unlike the ...

Summer vacation had arrived. I finally had time to do all the work on the Juno-106 that I needed to do. And there was still quite a bit that needed doing: new battery, new tact switches, rebuilding the sliders, cutting out fader dust covers, and doing something about those ugly buttons. Being a junior high school teacher, I had the whole summer off to get things done. Here’s how it went. Starting with the battery seemed like a good idea. Although the old one was still putting out a good amount of charge, I figured since I was ripping everything out I may as well get the module board out too. I unplugged the numerous amount of cables, got the board out, and swapped out the battery. No sweat. The next order of business was getting the panel board out from under the top of the synth to deal with all the things that needed addressing there. Out came the many cables running into the panel board, off popped the slider caps, and out slid the board from its slot under the panel. I pulled...

Although I love my Yamaha SK20 , as a string machine it honestly leaves a little to be desired. Sure, it has some nice strings but it’s more of an all-around 70s synth than a satisfyingly smooth stringer. For that, I needed a Solina. And because I’m just a humble junior high school English teacher I settled for a Roland RS-09. There are plenty of string machines that will do more than the RS-09 but where this thing excels is the ensemble effect. Four (count them! Four!) bucket brigade circuits work together to create a glorious, heavenly whirlpool of phasing sound. There are two speeds, slow and less slow, and they’re both luxurious. I could hold down a chord and listen to the cycling BBD magic all day. And if that wasn’t enough, the RS-09 has an external in so you can add a touch of heaven to any signal you want. You may remember that this is not my first dance with a Roland RS synth. While this one didn’t stink like my RS-101 it did have a number of other problems lurking belo...

With the refurbished voice chips installed , and the original factory presets loaded in, I was really enjoying playing my Juno-106. I even decided to use it as the primary source in a synth-pop cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” But something kept nagging at me. What if it overheats? What if it just dies? What if all my work and expense is for naught? It was time to open her back up and do a little more work before continuing with the music. Of  course, there’s a lot more work to be done—greasing the sliders, changing the tact switches, brightening the buttons—but none of that will mean anything if the power transistors fail. There’s a big heat sink connected to the power supply board, with a number of transistors bolted to it. I’m no electronics expert, so my knowledge here is limited to what I’ve gleaned from the internet, but it seems like these transistors are pretty important. Because of long use, the solder joints connecting these transistors to the PCB can devel...

After not very long at all, the voice board for my Juno-106 came back from the Synth Spa . Frankly, I was a little jealous. While I was working away in busy, noisy Tokyo, my voice chips got to spend a nice vacation relaxing at the spa in Tennessee. It obviously did the trick because they sound great now. I opened the box to find the six chips stripped of that horrible black resin coating. They’ve been installed in sockets now so they can be easily removed. They’ve even been autographed by Allen, thus identifying his handiwork. Remember, Allen honors his work for eight years so it makes sense that he’d want to be able to identify them. After screwing the board in and re-attaching the wire to the test point ( remember , I have a “rare” rev 1 board) I fired it up. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t have been surprised if angels had flown out of the thing, it sounded so good. Here was that famous Juno sound in all its glory: thick pads (there’s really only one oscillator here?), bouncy ...

I freely admit that the main reason I wanted a Roland JX-3P was because of the way that it looks. Those red accents. Those silver buttons. Those rainbow-like racing stripes. The DX7 and Poly-800 might be in a two-way tie for the most '80s-looking synthesizer, but the JX-3P is not far behind. However, unlike the two former synths, I absolutely adore the design of the JX-3P. It also doesn’t hurt that it sounds incredible. It has a shimmer to it, a heat haze glow that is unique among the '80s polys. Aluminum vapor. Summer days and gleaming fiber optics. Holographic alchemy. Magic, in other words. The relative rarity of the machine only adds to its allure. It’s quite possible that I never even saw a JX-3P in person until mine arrived at my door. I remember seeing pictures and thinking how odd it was that it had a separate programmer, the PG-200. Why not save everyone the trouble and just put those controls on the front panel like a Juno-106? It’s not like it saved the consu...

After much deliberation , I decided to send the voice chips to Synth Spa in America to be refurbished. I like that Allen stands behind his work with an 8-year guarantee. His prices are also reasonable. But mostly, with all there is to do on this restoration, I’m going to need a good sounding synth to keep me motivated in the days ahead. According to their site , Synth Spa only takes in new work via eBay these days. I did a search on eBay for Synth Spa and two entries came up, and both are for the 106 voice chip restoration. One is slightly more expensive. It’s a little hard to tell the difference but the more expensive one seems to be aimed at the gigging musician. Perhaps the ICs are slotted in a more secure way. But really, I’m not sure. I chose the cheaper version and a few hours later, I received instructions via email to remove the board and send it through the mail. The instructions looked easy enough—just disconnect cables and unscrew the board from the base of the synth...

I had no intention of buying another synth, let alone a money-suck like a Juno-106, but there it was on Yahoo Auctions for only $500. I couldn’t resist, especially when the seller had it listed as “no voice chip issues.” Ha! More on that later. I’ve been wanting a Juno-106 for ages to replace the one I sold in 2001 when I was "downsized" and needed money to pay the rent. It was probably my favorite synth of my old studio, which also included a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Korg Mini-Korg 700, and a Realistic Concertmate MG-1. Of course the Juno sounded great, but I also found it to be a reliable workhouse that could handle pretty much whatever I threw at it: bass duties, filter sweep pads, effects. The fact that I associate the 106 with reliability will tell you how long ago that was. This was before the great 80017A VCF/VCA IC die-off. My new 106 arrived in a light gig bag with just a thin layer of bubble wrap between it and the elements.  I’m talking no box at all....