Roland have been making big strides in the synth and electronic keyboard department as of late. Back in 2005 Roland revived the Juno range of synths, and recently they have released the Roland Juno Gi Workstation – one of the most useful and well rounded synth and music production synths on the market today. We also saw the release of the Roland GAIA SH01 analogue synth, just preceding the release of the Gi. The Roland GAIA is a very different animal compared to the Juno Gi. The GAIA was not made to function as a digital audio workstation, but instead a fun, high performance analogue synth with BIG sound.
Roland introduced their first synthesizer on to the market in 1973, the SH-1000 was a great piece of kit at the time, featuring 10 simple preset voices and a few effects. It is archaic compared to the Roland synthesizers of today – especially when you compare the 10 preset voices of the SH-1000 to the 1,300 preset high fidelity voices on the Roland Juno Gi synth. Their latest synthesizers are top quality synths that are definitely worth a look…
Got an idea or a concept for a song? Get it down on to a track easily with the Roland Juno Gi. Plug a guitar, bass or microphone into the Roland Juno-Gi and get recording with a touch of a button, it could not be easier. The ease of use makes it the perfect keyboard and synth for songwriters and singer songwriters. The included Cakewalk Sonar LE 8.5 software gives you the extraordinary ability to get creative with your songs as this powerful editing software works seamlessly with the Roland Juno Gi – all combining to make a compelling DAW.
The connectivity of the Juno Gi is impressive to say the least. As previously mentioned it has mic, guitar and line inputs to hook up your instruments to the inbuilt 8 track digital recorder of the Juno-Gi. It has a USB port which allows for MIDI and audio functionality and is compatible with SD cards and SDHC cards (192 hours can be recorded on one 32gb card!). By connecting the Juno Gi up to a computer you are also able to import and export track data.
Lets move away from the flashy workstation features of the Gi. The Roland GAIA SH01 is an altogether different sort of unit. It is an analogue synthesizer that strips down the synthesizer of a lot of unneccessary features that manufacturers have felt the need to include over the years just because they can. That is not to say it can not synthesize well, it can, it simply uncomplicates the whole process. This makes it the ideal piece of kit for a beginner.
Lets get down to specifics. The GAIA SH01 has 3 virtual analogue engines which have their own oscillator, amplifier, envelope and LFO. The control panel is very intuitive – great for synthesis and particularly for beginners learning how to synthesize. Connectivity-wise the Roland GAIA has USB ports that allow you to save user patches and hook up to computers for audio and MIDI compatibility. This really is the synthesizer to choose for uncomplicated synthesis. Some of the onboard effects inbuilt are: reverb, distortion, fuzz, flanger, phaser, bit crash, pitch shifting, low boost and delay. Tweaking the effects in real time is ridiculously easy.
The GAIA SH01 comes with a very attractive price tag. A fun, easy to use synth, the GAIA is an ideal synth for someone looking to learn how to synthesize. For its price it can do a lot of things that you would not expect, such as the amount of effects it can do, its external input options and audio/MIDI interfacing. The Juno Gi on the otherhand is a fully featured workstation synth. Its ability to record multiple sources and edit on the fly is fantastic, you could play about with this thing for hours and still not scratch the surface of what it is capable of. It is perfect for a songwriter or band looking for a synth that can do it all. Both of these Roland synthesizers are excellent at what they do, if you are unsure of which to choose then first assess what you want out of your synth, I can guarantee that between the Roland GAIA and Juno Gi your synthesizing needs will be more than satisfied.