Help me decide . Juno-G or Fantom S ?

hey, i believe both of them are great machines.

Both have very similiar (capable,powerful,etc) engines, its really up to you to dwelve deep inside.

If u need audio tracks, junog sounds good, if not, choose whatever that you like.

Perhaps its really up to you as to what type of music you're into and have you own any roland workstations before. Because that is the only MAJOR decision-making fact ( my opinion).

I'd pick juno g becoz its new. I'll pick S because its still capable. but, either way its good.

Roland Fantom Xa

I think your kinda splinting hairs with wanting to choose between these 2 beasts

your looking backward with the S the Juno is a Dip before the X
Overall get the juno but add some other external gear later to make up for the x feature...
or wait a little and get the X


X-Bugs.org

Results not Excuses

My Setup


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I don't care for the audio tracks.
But I really appreciate good quality keyboard .
Are the sounds different from one to the other in terms of clarity etc. ?
The juno-G is new , OK , but what does this mean if the sounds are the same ?

P.S. I have no experience with Roland workstations , but I own a Yamaha Motif ES.

pretty fast replies, took a shower and already a couple of posts.

In terms of clarity, they are afterall sample-based. Can't comment much on this, because im not familiar with either. But i believe they are the same.

With regards to roland's, it doesn't appeal to some people, hence the movement of gears from fantom-->triton-->motif-->kurzweil vice versa. Thats important as the ergonomics of fantom/juno may or may not suit you.

Roland Fantom Xa

If looks matter-imo-the juno is ugly. It just looks cheap to me. Sounds good though from what I've heard. I'd say go with the s or x if possible. No offense to the juno users and lovers!

juno-g sounds cleaner, warmer and of higher quality than fantom-s/x.

now, the 'synth sounds' programming is almost the same, and the acoustic sounds are better on the Fantom X.

I am actually talking about the sound quality (character)....many people have noticed this. Fantom-S/X are made with old converters, while the Juno-G sounds pristine.

if you wanna wait, wait till the new fantom-x successor comes out, i am sure they will update the electronics like on the juno-g...

or get a fantom-x and roland may provide support to convert the files over...like yamaha is doing for conversion from motif es to motif xs.

Jkon, the Juno-G is a very nice machine. Compare it to Yamaha and Korg workstations under $1000 and you'll clearly see who is the winner. Also, the Juno has taken a lot from Fantom-X.

Juno-G sounds are very nice, very well programmed. This is a matter of taste, but I really like them. The performance mode is powerful, with up to 16 patches and 3 effects you can layer, split or distribute sounds on other keyboards. That's more than the Motif! I had a Proteus Keys and an X5D but now I'm only using the Juno as synth, with the X5d as midi controller to play other parts on the Juno.

The XV Collection adds lots of "old" roland patches, the b4real emulator is really nice. All these things are true even for the Fantom.

So, which is the problem? The problem is that you say that you need a good quality keyboard, and the juno does not have it. Look, the action is not so bad... better than Yamaha MO6 or Triton LE, better than any <$1000 workstation I have tested. But it can't be compared with the Motif or Fantom (S or X) keyboard. These are instruments in another class.
What's more, the keys are a little bit shorter and smaller, and you should try it to see if it is a problem for you.
Keep in mind that the Xa also has a cheap keyboard (but the keys have regular size).

So, I think the Juno is good as a second synth, to play mostly synth (pads, leads, strings...) sounds, or for music production. Lots of wonderful analog-feel and '80s patches, many typical Roland sounds, but also good trance sounds.

Since you have a Motif, you could take the Juno as your second keyboard. Acoustic instruments (piano, acoustic guitars, brasses) on the Juno are not as good as in the motif or fan-x (unless you buy an srx expansion card...), but synths, electric pianos, leads etc are good.

But if you're concerned with build quality and keybaord quality, no matter which brand (be Roland, Yamaha or Korg), you should not get a cheap workstation (Juno, MO6, MM6...), but a used high-end workstation.

This is *my* opinion... of course you should try yourself.

Btw, the juno is not ugly... it is really nice! I love it.

Another thing... here it has been said that the Juno-G sounds better than Fantom-X. This may be true or not, but in any case we are talking only about converters or sound "clarity", whatever it means.

When it comes to patch quality, keep in mind that the Juno has a 64 MB wavetable, while the Fantom-X has 128 MB. The consequence is that, while synth sounds (generated from simple waveforms) will be more or less the same, some acoustic sounds (the ones that require more memory) will be very different. Just compare the Fantom-X Ultimate Piano and the Juno-G piano... while the former is one of the best pianos in a workstation, the latter is... just a usable piano patch (though it is not so bad).

This is true even for other brands. Take a Triton LE and it will have half the wavetable of a Triton. The only exception is the MO6 that has the same wavetable of the Motif, but terrible converters (and a terrible keyboard).

Ok. I shouldn't of said ugly. It just doesn't fit my studio scheme. I haven't really giving the sound a proper go. The s has a nice feel and build. I use to dislike the pads but they aren't that bad. Evertime we think we got it, they put out something that makes us want it. Get something that will satisfy your needs for awhile(or forever).

Thank you all for your replies . Especially Tompabes was very analytical .
The acoustic sounds are not my first priority since MotifES is very capable there .
Let me please understand one more thing . How exactly shorter or smaller are Juno's keys ? You know it isn't easy for me to try the synth personally .

read somewhere its 86:100 ? correct me if im wrong. im bad at numbers.

I tend to find them a little square edged as well

Roland Fantom Xa

You never really said what you're hoping to add with the Juno/Fantom-S?



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Roland Fantom X7, Alesis Fusion 6HD, Novation X/A-Station 25, Alesis Micron

some tunes and whatnot ...
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=405125

I'm not sure what do you mean .
I need the Juno-G ( or Fantom-S ) for a second synth , lighter than MotifES which is very heavy and is a problem for me carrying it for group practicing or gigging , but nice sounding , especially on pads , strings and hammond type sounds .

Well then, it's easy now: for rehearsal and gigging Juno-G is a definite winner. Only 6kg! My keyboard + case + pedals + cables weights 12kg, that's pretty ok to carry in one hand.

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Juno-G + SRX-07
Sao Paulo - Brazil