Tips

How do I implement chord memory?

Press the write button while holding the chord memory button down. The display will respond with "Write CHORD". Play the chord you wish to record. When all the keys are released the chord data is recorded and the display will respond with "temporary !!" (if the memory protectswitch is on) or "Write Complete!" (if memory protect switch off). If the memory protect switch is set on the chord will be erased when power is off. The chord memory can be used to store a minor 7 chord allowing you to play house riffs easily with one finger.

How can I access the Alpha Juno's MIDI controllers?

It doesn't have direct controllers for the filter, its all done in sysex. That's how the PG-300 changes the settings for the Junos and MKS-50. Here's the sysex data for editing the cutoff and resonance:

Cutoff: F0 41 36 09 23 20 01 10 XX F7
Resonance: F0 41 36 09 23 20 01 11 XX F7
XX = Here you insert the desired value.

You can however assign variables such as cutoff and resonance to faders and dials in sequencers supporting MIDI-mixiermaps

Sysex Dumps

"According to the front panel, the Alpha Junos has the ability to do MIDI-dumps. When I try doing this, I get 6 bytes (F0 41 40 09 23 F7). The Juno says it's still doing the dump, but can the Alpha Junos really do MIDI-dumps?? "

Yes, but it's waiting for another JU-1/2/MKS-50 to respond. If you press down DATA TRANSFER, WRITE and DUMP then you should get lots more data. This just spits out stuff. The easiest way I have found to use these three keys at the same time is to first press the DATA TRANSFER key and then, while still pressing DATA TRANSFER, press the WRITE key and while still pressing these two keys, press the BULK DUMP key.

If you want to write patches into you Juno, you do as instructed above, but you press the bulk LOAD instead of the DUMP.

Trimmer Pots

"When I opened my Alpha Juno there were trimmer pots labeled 'filter' that I was scared to tweak. Has anyone messed with them to see what they do? You might be able to get interesting sounds out of it with those..."

I once opened my Juno-2, and tried to play with those little thingies. I was hoping that it would result in higher resonance, but the only thing that happened was that the tones became different sounding at different keys... If you are trying to tweak these, remember to sketch down how their original settings are, our pour nail polish on them to get them back to the original settings.

Constant Length Notes

Let's say you want a sound that's a specific length, no matter how long you hold down the key; this can make some hand-done arpeggios sound more uniform, if that's what you're into. The logical thing to do would be to set L1 to 127 and T1 to zero, giving you the sharp rise, L2 to 127, to give you a level to stay at, and L3 to 0 and T3 to 0, giving you an instant decay. They you would vary the width of the envelope using T2. However, if L1 and L2 are sufficiently close, T2 will have no effect and the note will always be quite short. I'm not sure what this threshold is, but it you lower L2 a little you can make it happy with little change to the sound.

Missing Aftertouch

The aftertouch is provided by some sort of pressure sensitive resistor that's mounted between two strips of felt. If you play the hell out of your Juno, you probably need to replace the filt, which involves taking the whole keyboard unit apart. The problem can be the lame design for connecting the aftertouch-resistor to the main circuit. It is almost guaranteed to come out,unless you never move the keyboard. Be however aware of that you must press down the keys very hard to get aftertouch on the Juno-2. But if it's not even then working, here's how to (possibly) fix it.

1. They never make it clear how to take it apart. Then, it's a trick to reassemble it. Here's what you do: unscrew the screws that go around the perimeter of the keyboard, that anchor the plastic case. Then loosen the screws towards the back on the bottom that go into little dimples in the metal pan. Then unscrew the few screws on the back that aren't holding any of the interface connectors on. From the back, gently lift up, and then tilt the top of case back. The whole thing should come up and out, trailing bundles of wires.
2. On the left edge of the keyboard assembly, there's one of those funny flexible flat membrane cables. Corresponding to it is a little socket into which that flat cable is meant to be seated. If you've shipped or moved or bumped around the Juno-2, most likely it has popped out. This is the connector for aftertouch! Plug it in, and carefully reassemble the Juno-2 and you've got your aftertouch back!

Factory Settings

Turn Memory Protect switch to Off while unit is turned on then turn off, power up holding PORTAMENTO & DATA TRANSFER. The display should then read "Initlz funct ram". You should do this when your Alpha is jammed and won't respond to any of the controls.

This procedure erases the MIDI and TUNE/FUNCTION settings!!

Juno-1; To check the RAM without losing data, press and hold the oct Down and MIDI buttons while powering up. To initialize the RAM and start over from scratch turn off the memory protect switch with the power on then turn off the synth and press and hold the Portamento and Data Trans buttons while powering on the synth. Turn the power off to resume normal play mode.

Juno-2; Same as above but checks cartridge too if you hold Oct Down and Parameter select buttons while powering up synth.

If you have messed with the trimmer pots inside, you could pour nail polish on them and they'll get back to the original settings.

How to Open it Up

Here's what you do: unscrew the screws that go around the perimeter of the keyboard, that anchor the plastic case. Then loosen the screws towards the back on the bottom that go into little dimples in the metal pan. Then unscrew the few screws on the back that aren't holding any of the interface connectors on. From the back, gently lift up, and then tilt the top of case back. The whole thing should come up and out, trailing bundles of wires.

The Analogue Cycle Trick

On the back of the synth there is a "PEDAL SW"-input. When this is activated the Juno steps through the patches in each bank. You can use this to create some unique effects. Fix up a MIDI-module so it makes a loud 'tick' on each beat, or even around it. Plug it into the Pedal SW input and hit play. Hold down a few chords on the Juno and the patches will cycle round in an impressive way.

If you go to the TUNE/FUNCTION menu, you can choose what the switch-pedal is going to control. You can make it control: Patch shift, Portamento and Chord memory.

Full Spatial Sounds

Take your favorite synth patch and increase the MOD RATE until the sound changes pitch and is severely detuned. Now, slowy decrease the MOD RATE until the sound just starts to sound slightly in tune again. Now, increase the BRILLIANCE slightly. You should notice a fat, stereo effect on your synth patches. Try this with an external flanger/panner on the JU-2 for a really cool effect.

Saving Tuning & MIDI settings

Set the tuning where you want it, then press WRITE (it will say write tune fcn) and then press TUNE still holding down the write button.The same applies to setting MIDI parameters.

Getting the touch back

"One of the keys on my JU-2 always fires at maximum velocity. All of the other keys seem to work correctly. How can I fix this?"

On an Alpha Juno-2 the two contacts are tiny graphite cylinders housed inside a little rubber damper. Chances are that they have jiggled loose. You have to take the keys off which is a trick in itself, possibly a whole row of keys depending where the damaged key is. Then take the rubber damper thingy off (carefully). Then push the graphite contacts all the way back up. Clean the contacts while you're at it. That should take care of it.

PG-300 MIDI Channel Selection

You have to set a MIDI channel on it by setting the Sub Level and Noise Level sliders according to the chart below, and then power it up while holding down the manual button.

Recording PG-300 Tweaks

You have first to make sure that your sequencer has the ability to record system exclusive messages.

If it can then you should plug the PG-300 into your midi interface as a controller. Then in the sequencer you should set the PG-300 to be a controller for the Juno. And you should have the MIDI channel in the PG-300 set to the same as your Juno. Then you can record your realtime stuff into the sequencer and play it back.

Recording a single patch

"How do I record a patch-dump (only 1 patch) in Cubase, so I never have to search for the right sounds that belongs to a song?"

You want to dump only one Sound? OK... then select the bank and number of the sound...Cubase record switch is on...now press the memory button (on the Juno). (Important: the Juno must be switched to LOCAL ON)

Controlling the Filter with an Expression Pedal

Make up a foot controller, or buy one. Then stick it in the expression pedal input on a HS10/80. Now press MIDI options until it says expression pedal destination bla bla bla. Make it assigned to aftertouch. Make up some funky knuckle acid bass line / instrument (with vcf after at 15/ and vco after at 0) and program some cool riff. Now while it's playing slip and slide that controller for some acid man squelching.

You can make a controller with a 100mm cross fader. Note the 1/4 inch plug that goes in is the stereo type.