Roland Juno-Di (when will it be available for USA?)

[SqueakDog]

Anyone at Sweetwater or anyone here know when the new Roland Juno Di will be available for order/pre-order?

[elwoodblues1969]

This product is still too premature to the market for you to get any such info as of yet....I would wait until the Summer Namm later this month,as you may find out then.
Depending on how much the Juno Di will be retail,you may be better off with a Casio if the Di is any more than 7 or $800.
You may end being better off going for the Juno stage instead,if you really need to have a Juno.
To each his own,but I found the sounds of the Juno Di to be terrribly tinny & fake and the Casio WK-series blows the Juno Di out of the water.
If your going to use your next keyboard beyond live playing,I'd suggest that you seriously consider a Korg M50 or the upcoming Kurzweil PC3LE,which is slated for release in September.

Just some food for thought.......

-Thom

[SqueakDog]

Sorry I have to disagree. I've owned MANY Casio's over the years. NO Casio to date will hold a candle to the Juno Di. I don't know what demos you heard.., but the Di's sound engine is based on the Fantom G workstation. Not only that the software editor puts the Juno Di's internal patch editing at the PRO level. Not too mention 128 note poly on the Di where the Casio's can't even come close to that. Plus the Di has Roland's 88-Stage Grand as one of its pianos..., NO Casio can even touch that sample. Again.., sorry but you must have heard some very LOW quality audio demos that sounded terrible because of the equipment used to record it.

RolandUS hinted at the release date for the Di to be this month too. The M50's nice.., but lower poly and NO user areas for custom patches. Everything has to be saved by overwriting a preset.., which then screws up the Combis if you save to a patch location that's used by one of the preset combis.

[elwoodblues1969]

I'm not talking about many Casios over the years,as I am referring to the WK series,but no matter...as I think that the overall synth quality of the WK series is impressive for the price and yes,the polyphony is low on the Casios,but like the Juno Di,the keyboard is not a workstation,so polyphony is not an issue.
I own the M50 and your wrong about there being no user presets-as there are in fact,24 user locations.
As for pro level editing via a computer,the M50 is as professional as it gets for the money

I've had my M50 for 7 months now and I've never had any issues with the 80 note polyphony....that being said,why are you so hot on having a keyboard with 128 note polyphony,when it's not a workstation?Just curious.
By the way,the demos that I've heard of the Juno Di,were on the Roland website...so I seriously doubt they used crap equipment to record the demos.
With regard to pianos,the M50's pianos are crap-as Korg had to cut corners in certain areas to keep the price tag at a budget,so it would not be hard for Roland to beat the M50 in terms of pianos...but as for every other category of sounds,the M50 blows the doors off of the Juno Di,in my opinion.
I had considered the Roland Fantom G at one point,but when I had checked one out at my local GuitarCenter,I was horrified at how thin the sounds were for the price...in fact,I thought they were just as weak as the previous Fantom series.
Some folks really liked the Fantom X series,but even those fans had many complaints about the quality of sounds on the G series,because they were expecting alot more for the price.
Being a Korg user for several years and also being a fan of Kurzweil & the Yamaha Motif XS series...I have been gravely disappointed with Roland workstations in general,as they tend to focus on flashy big screen displays and audio recording and seriously skimp on sounds,as I've found their program patches to be shockingly thin.That being said,I think the Roland workstations are nothing more than overpriced multi-track recorders,as their audio recording is the only useful feature on them.
I do like Roland's stand alone synths though,such as the V-Synth and Juno Stage,because what you pay for,is synth and sample sound quality.
Perhaps the piano sounds on the Juno Di are every bit as good as you say they are,but I have a strong feeling that the Juno Di might end up being overpriced for what it is and personally,I don't care to to over pay for an excess of polyphony I will never use and a built in media player that I'll never use,but I am sure that my recording needs are vastly different than your needs,so again-to each his own,as I was just throwing out suggestions.
With regard to release dates,company hints & Namm shows generally are very tentative,as it's very common for projected release dates to be push back.
More than likely,Sweetwater knows what you know about the Di release date,so your not likely to get any info from them any time soon.
In January of this year,the Kurzweil PC3LE was announced and despite Sweetwater's exclusivity with Kurzweil,I was unable to get any info on the PC3LE a few weeks ago and as it turned out,I ended up being well informed on the PC3LE,just buy scoping out some other forums....so looking into other forums might be your best bet on getting the skinny on the Di.

-Thom

[SqueakDog]

I need the 128 note poly because of the type of music I play. I do a lot of orchestral/film score.., I forgot the M50 has the 20+ user slots. First time I saw that it was a little shocking that Korg made that number so low too.

Casio has downgraded their WK line in that they no longer edit patches. These newer WK's may have expanded poly and VERY basic sampling options.., but I've yet to find one of these newer WK's (outside of the WK3800) that offers basic patch editing. I'm very familiar with the WK line as well. I've owned several of them. The last WK I owned was the WK-3500. I had no desire to upgrade to the 3700 or the 3800 either. Not only that.., Casio has gone backwards in that they're using older sounds again. Some of the tones are newer.., but holy crap they're back to adding those very low quality older tones. Whatever happened to them building upon the MZ-2000's sound set? They still have yet to make another arranger that offered what the Casio MZ-2000 was.

I like the Korg sound.., have owned numerous Korgs over the years too. The M50 is a nice sounding workstation...., but I currently know several people personally who compose the same style of music I do.., and constantly max the poly on their M50's. The M50's great for real-time play of this style by creating good thick orchestral combis.., but the poly shows its limits in a mix. I too don't really care for the pianos on the M50 either.

I'm not looking to the Juno Di as a workstation. I know it's not a workstation. It's a performance synth..., but with the editor software the Di makes a great 128 note external sound module that frees up a computers CPU. I'd be using the Di with a software seq. Using the software you get all the pro editing options of a top end workstation on the Di. They designed it as a budget performance synth.., but included a massive software editor for us seasoned players.

I contacted Roland US about the new Di..., they informed me that they would not know more until the unit ships "next month". I got that response from them in June..., making July the next month.

I know Kurzweil is coming out with the new Le model.., but I was looking for a budget economy car.., not a budget BMW I have a feeling the price on the Di will be very reasonable. I've got YEARS in music retail personally and have delt with the keyboard companies on the retailers end. If Roland repeats their system.., I think it's fair to say the Di will probably compete (price wise) with the Korg X-50. The Juno Di is really more of a budget Juno Stage rather than a budget Juno G. Still.., the Juno G is miles ahead of the Di.., and taking Roland's pricing into considering it'll be very likely to find a price difference of several hundred dollars between the Juno G and Di. The Juno G (in the US) sells for under $1,000 ($995). The Di would most likely be several hundred less. Even if it's at the price of the Korg X-50 ($699) it'll be worth every penny.., as the Di has a few options over the X-50.., and when you read Di's manuals for both the synth and the software editor.., in terms of specs..., the Di's right up there with the X-50. Both having their signature features.., but being in the same category of budget synths.

[elwoodblues1969]

Since you are a polyphony hog then you would clearly have no use for the Kurzweil LE,as it has only 64 note polyphony.
I had thought about buying the PC361,but the PC361 does not have semi-weighted action and given the in-depth editing features,the size of the screen is ridiculous.
Also,the PC3 has an xD S-type slot,so the only available memory cards for it,are online...which is equally ridiculous!
The LE uses thumb drives,has basically the same sounds & effects quality and it will be priced about $500 less than the PC3 and who needs all of those deep editing functions,when you have Reason 4?

-Thom

[SqueakDog]

Yeah...., I'm a big poly hog when it comes to recording orchestral/film music I can get away with 62-64 notes when I'm doing other styles though. For the life of me I cannot understand why Kurzweil is still using that very old and dated type of display! You can get full color displays on semi pro arrangers today. Hell the M50 at just over a grand has a touch screen! Kurzweil's sounds are great.., but you pay a steep price for it. Their VAST is freaking nasty too. They need a huge cosmetic make-over though.

[elwoodblues1969]

Each company has their own way of cutting corners and in the case of Kurzweil,the bean counters of the company are ultimately in control of the budget and they decide how the money is spent....and they chose not to invest their capitol in larger display screens.
Kurzweil is also recovering from near bankruptcy and aside from that,Kurzweil is a very small company in contrast to other companies such as Korg,so Kurzweil's budget is pretty tight.
In the case of the M50,the reason that Korg was able to provide a large touch screen,is due to many factors-primarily of which,is that unlike the rest of Korg's keyboards,they were all made in Japan,while the M50 was made in China.
The M50 is also the first keyboard to have a black & white screen and the ROM set is scaled down dramatically is size,there's no aftertouch,no seperate mod & pitch wheels,no ribbon controller,no additional outputs other than the stereo outs and the entire keyboard is made out of plastic...so this is obviously why they managed to include the touchscreen.
Ultimately though-in the case of Kurzweil and if I was in charge,I would have gone another way....I would have hiked up the retail price a bit,so that a larger screen would be included,because obviously-in the age of software workstations,a large display on a hardware workstation should be mandatory.
What's really interesting to me,is that Roland focuses entirely too much on excessively large display screens and skimps on sound quality,whereas Kurzweil goes in the other direction and puts all their money into sound quality and has minimal screen sizes,but screen size is nothing without sound quality and I think Kurzweil is assuming that alot of users will be hooking up thier Kurzweils to computers.
Probably the smartest thing Kurzweil could have done,was to include a VGA output,so that you could view everything from a computer monitor...that would really be killer!!

-Thom

[SqueakDog]

Well.., I pre-ordered a Juno-Di from Sweetwater today. I was spot on about the price too. So many people were bashing this thing "price wise" before the price was even announced. Speculation was putting it up in the $800 range. The price on it is only $699 That's an amazing price when you consider what all the Di does. It's priced to compete exactly where I speculated it would, and that's against the Korg X-50. It only makes sense as they're both aimed at the same crowd.

Roland however (by design of the Di in conjuction with the included editor) IMO has reached out to a far greater range or skill levels. The Di covers the Novice all the way up to the Seasoned player. The software editor was designed for the seasoned player to give the Di the level of patch editing and other options you'd find on a more expensive synth. It saved Roland money in production costs (and holy crap a company actually appears to have possibly passed that savings on to the consumer)!!!!!!

That 128 note poly is quite juicy IMO

[elwoodblues1969]

Hopefully the Juno Di will sound considerably more impressive in person,than it does from the demos.
Best of luck to you with your upcoming Juno...I hope it works out well for you.

-Thom

[SqueakDog]

Every Roland I've owned has sounded better in person than it did on their website. The online demos are always compressed. I've also noticed that "players style" in online demos can hide a synths sonic abilities.., and RolandUS doesn't always have the most skilled players showing their gear either (you ever see that horrible GW-8L demo by a Roland rep on Youtube)? I'll let ya know how it is once I get it from Sweetwater. I may post a review here if anyone's interested.

[Synthologist]

I've read a few negative online reviews of the Juno-D, mostly regarding poor build quality.

Check out all the buttons, keys and overall feel before you buy this newer model.

[SqueakDog]

I'm not worried about the build quality to be honest. Keep in mind how different the playing style of one varies to the next. Some people are heavy handed on the keys AND the buttons. Some are average.., some are in the middle, some are light.

One of the keyboards I currently own is a Roland RS-70 (which essentially is a Roland Juno-D on steroids). It's the exact same build quality (hell it's the same body, buttons, and 90% of the OS is identical too). I've had this board for years now and not one problem with any buttons or knobs on this unit and I've put many hours of play time on it over the years too. The RS-70 is the the same build quality of the Juno-D. The only difference is the keybeds aren't the same.

So I'm not too worried as I'm not a heavy handed player.., I baby my gear (never leaves the home.., stays in a climate controlled smoke free room, under dust-covers when not in use, gets cleaned once a week too). I don't think I'll have any probs

Some people out there are pretty hard on their gear too.

[Synthologist]

I baby my gear (never leaves the home.., stays in a climate controlled smoke free room, under dust-covers when not in use, gets cleaned once a week too). I don't think I'll have any probs.

Sounds well-cared for! I take some of my keyboards out on the road from time to time, so build quality is a very important factor.

[SqueakDog]

I used to gig full time years back. I totally understand the importance of well made gear that can stand up to road use. I left the gigging world years ago and since then music has become my home hobby now.

Boards for my use don't have to be to the level of a pro workstation for my home studio because as I stated I take really good care of my gear. One reason I take such good care of my gear is for "re-sale" purposes. I always turn over my gear when purchasing new gear. I'm currently in the process of turning over gear right now. I just sold off two major workstations (Fantom X and Yamaha Motif ES).., to make room for new gear. The Juno-Di is one of the new units coming I couldn't pass it up. The price was right.., Fantom based sounds.., and that 128 note poly was one of the deal-closers for me too. Right now I got my eyeballs set on a Kurzweil and a few other things to replace my two previous workstations.