TAL-U-NO-LX: Juno 60 emulation review

Patrick Kunz, creating fantastic free software under the title Togu Audio Line for the last few years, has just released a new version of his previously free Software emulation of the Roland Juno 60. The Juno 6 is a classic in the synth world – one of the first to introduce polyphonic audio to the consumer market. The sounds of the Juno 60 have been heard in countless musical creations ever since its introduction in 1982. The concept of the software is simple – emulate as closely as possible the look and sound of the original synth, and with the TAL-U-No-LX, Kunz has followed through, creating a machine that will fool all but the most nerdy of Roland synth-heads with its authentic sound.

I particularly liked the layout of the plugin – as with the original synth, all the controls are there as sliders and switches, and it’s very easy to spend a lot of time tweaking your sonic creations, and saving them for later abuse. The setup is a simple affair – A DCO (digitally controlled osc) with the options of Pulse, saw and rectangle waves. These are modulated by either LFO, Envelope or manual slider. There’s also a sub osc with noise, High and Low pass filter, Chorus, a sync-able arpeggiator, and various midi control parameters.

The chorus effect really sounds excellent, and adds some lovely flavor to the sounds. In fact, it’s hard to come up with really nasty sounding patches, and the combination of great sound and simple structure is just fantastic for someone learning their way around the art of synthesis. Here’s a little sound cloud comparison of the patches on the TAL U-No-LX, as provided by its creator.

Conclusion

The TAL U-No-LX contains the entire factory patch collection of the original synth, as well as 3 other banks of presets. The sounds that come out of this little plugin are pure 80’s plastic awesomeness. Lush 80’s pads, Big fat bass, Warm filtered brass, Big arpeggiated chorus synth. I highly recommend getting this one if you’re wanting that sound. For a mere splash of dollars (50% off at until 9th sept) you get a very useful and excellent sounding soft synth!

Price
$60

…The sounds that come out of this little plugin are pure 80’s plastic awesomeness…

Product page

PROS

• Great emulation of the 80’s Roland Juno 60 synth
• Very easy to find your way around the structure of the synth
• Loads of great presets

LOVE IT OR HATE IT

• Great little synth plugin for a specific sound. Not a create-everything workhorse, but more boutique.

CONS

• Slight error in the authentication of the Plugin in Live ( Mentioned and worked around in the manual)