Synth: Roland HS-60 Review by: Mitch Anderson (DJMaytag@aol.com) Summary: this is a version of the JUNO-106 that was marketed towards the home crowd. it has an amplifier (with external inputs) and a pair of 5" speakers in wood enclosures inside the synth. otherwise the HS-60 and JUNO-106 are identical. Years Made: ???? Polyphony: 6 voices Multitimbrality: no MIDI: Note on/off: yes MIDI controllers (aftertouch, CC, etc): pitch/mod wheel Sysex patch storage: yes Sysex parameter control: yes Other inputs/external control: CV/gate: no Clock: no Other CV: no Audio: yes, but only into the built in amplifier Proprietary (DCB, etc): no Programmer: no Outputs: stereo/mono Patch storage: 128 patches Patch dumping (MIDI, tape, etc): tape, midi Voice architecture: same as JUNO-106: dco: pulse, saw, and square (1 oct. down) lfo: rate and delay vcf: non-resonant high pass (4 positions) resonant low pass (4 pole?) with invertable env, lfo, and keyboard mods env: gate and adsr vca: level and gate/env chorus: stereo off/1/2 (only one is selectable unlike the JUNO-60) Interface: switches and sliders which are supposed to send out sys-ex information. Sequencer/arpeggiator: no Keyboard/rack: 61 keys Known problems: Accessories: Related synths/gear: HS-10 (juno1 with amp and speakers) HS-80 (juno2 with amp and speakers) JUNO-60: not quite as fat, but has a COOL arpeggiator JUNO-106: they're exactly the same sound wise Price range: depends, if the seller knows what's inside high, if the seller doesn't know what it is then i'd say VERY low! Availability: these don't come around too often, most vintage synth dealers haven't heard of the HS-60 Strengths: slightly fatter and punchier sounding than the JUNO-60, has a sub-square wave to get more low end, can use all three waves at once (to make up for single osc) uses digitally controlled oscillators for greater stability, sys-ex transmission of parameters, built in amp and speakers with ext.input for those of us that are too poor to buy any monitors!! Weaknesses: single oscillator, single envelope, no arpeggiator Other comments: a great way to get JUNO-106 sounds at a fraction of the cost (i got mine at a dealer and paid only $175.00!!) provided that you can find one. the circuit boards on the inside are printed HS-60/JUNO-106, so if anyone is skeptical about it, yes the HS-60 and JUNO-106 are the same!!