Juno-106

Sets how much wobble (vibrato) the LFO adds to the pitch. Turn it up for a seasick, wavering pitch; leave it down for steady notes.

tip: A tiny amount adds life to leads and pads; a lot creates dramatic sci-fi wobbles.

Changes the character of the pulse/square wave from hollow and thin to full and buzzy. In LFO mode it controls how strong the automatic morphing is.

tip: The pulse wave must be switched on for this to do anything. A 50% width is a pure square; move away from it for more harmonically complex, reedy tones.

Adds a deep note one octave down to beef up your sound and make it fatter and heavier, especially for bass.

tip: Crank it for massive basses; back it off when you want a thinner, more delicate tone.

Mixes in a wind/hiss sound. A little adds breathiness; a lot creates wind, surf, explosions, and percussion effects.

tip: Combine noise with a fast filter envelope for snare/hi-hat-style percussion, or blend a touch into pads for a breathy edge.

Thins out the sound by removing bass. Raise it to make things brighter and less boomy; at 0 it fattens the low end instead.

tip: Leave it at 0 for full-bodied organ and bass sounds; raise it to 2 or 3 for thin, tinny, or telephone-like effects.

The single most important tone control on the synth. Turn it up for a bright, open sound; turn it down for a dark, muffled, mellow sound.

tip: Sweep this slider while playing for the classic filter-opening effect. If using ENV modulation, note the interaction: with positive envelope polarity keep this fairly low; with negative polarity keep it fairly high.

Adds a whistling, ringing emphasis at the filter's cutoff point, making the sound more electronic and 'squelchy.' Turned all the way up, the filter starts singing its own note.

tip: Combine high resonance with a slow cutoff sweep for classic squelchy synth sounds. Note: self-oscillation pitch isn't perfectly accurate across the keyboard — factory patches A-31, 58, 82 and B-21, 27, 28, 35, 36, 66, 72, 75, 85 use it as a sound source.

Sets how much the filter automatically opens and closes with each note press. This creates the 'wah' shape at the start of plucky, brassy, and evolving sounds.

tip: This is what gives notes their attack character. Pair it with a short Attack and Decay for a punchy pluck; use it slowly for evolving pads.

Makes the filter wobble open and closed automatically for a rhythmic 'wah-wah' or growling effect.

tip: Great for auto-wah rhythmic textures — set the LFO rate to taste and dial in a little of this for movement.

Keeps high notes as bright as low notes by opening the filter more the higher you play. Without it, high notes can sound dull compared to low ones.

tip: Usually best set near maximum so tone stays even across the whole keyboard, but lower settings can create deliberate brightness differences.

Sets the loudness of this particular sound. Use it to balance the volume so all your patches feel equally loud when you switch between them live.

tip: Match levels across patches here so live performance has no jarring volume jumps. If a sound distorts when this is high, that's normal, not a fault.

Controls how quickly the note fades in. Low = instant, punchy start; high = slow, gentle swell like a bowed string.

tip: Set to zero for percussive, plucky attacks; raise it for pads that bloom in gently.

Controls how fast the sound drops from its initial peak to its held level. Short decay gives a plucky, percussive feel.

tip: With a high sustain level, the decay has little effect — you need to lower sustain to hear decay working.

Sets how loud the note stays while you keep holding the key down. High = the note sustains fully like an organ; low or zero = it fades away even while held.

tip: For piano/plucked sounds set sustain low so notes decay away; for pads and organs set it high so they hold.

Controls how long the sound lingers after you lift your finger. Short = abrupt stop; long = a gentle fade-out tail.

tip: A moderate release makes chords sound smooth and connected; be careful with very long releases in fast playing or notes pile up.

Controls how fast the automatic wobble/movement is, whether it's affecting pitch (vibrato) or the filter (wah/growl).

tip: Slow rates give gentle, breathing movement; fast rates create tremble and buzz. This one rate controls both DCO and VCF LFO effects.

Delays the wobble so it fades in after you play, instead of starting instantly. This mimics how a real player adds vibrato a moment after a note begins.

tip: Set a short delay so notes start steady then gently develop vibrato — sounds much more natural and expressive.

The main overall loudness control for the whole instrument, including through headphones.

tip: Adjust headphone loudness with this knob, since the RH-10 headphones have no volume of their own.

Controls how long notes take to smoothly slide into each other, like a slide whistle or fretless bass glide.

tip: Only works when the Portamento Switch is ON. Best paired with Poly 2 or Solo mode for expressive lead lines.

Sets how dramatic your pitch bends are — from a subtle semitone wiggle up to a full one-octave swoop.

tip: A ±2 semitone (whole step) setting feels natural for guitar-style bends; save the full octave for dive-bomb effects.

Lets your pitch-bend lever also sweep the filter brightness, so bending a note can open or close the tone at the same time.

tip: Use a little for expressive, mouth-like 'wah' as you bend notes.

Controls how much vibrato you get when you push the bender lever forward. More depth = wider wobble.

tip: This gives you performance vibrato on demand — set it fairly deep so a quick forward push adds instant expression.

Decides whether the 'thickness' of the pulse wave stays fixed (MAN) or slowly morphs on its own (LFO) for a moving, animated tone.

tip: Set to LFO for classic slow, breathing string and pad sounds — the movement is what makes them lush.

Adds a hollow, woody, or buzzy square-shaped tone to your sound. Great for clarinet-like and classic synth-bass sounds.

tip: Combine it with the sawtooth (both switches on) for a fatter, richer starting tone.

Adds a bright, buzzy, full waveform — the classic sound for brass, strings, and big leads. It's the richest single waveform.

tip: Sawtooth alone is the go-to for lush pads and brass; it's the most-used waveform on the Juno.

Flips the direction of the automatic filter movement. Normal makes the filter open then close; reversed makes it dip down then rise, for unusual backwards-sounding effects.

tip: For reverse (negative) polarity, set the ENV Modulation knob fairly high or you'll barely hear an effect; for normal polarity, keep it fairly low.

Chooses how the volume behaves per note. ENV lets your attack/decay/sustain/release shape the volume smoothly; GATE just switches full volume on while the key is held and off when released.

tip: Use GATE for organ-like instant on/off sounds; use ENV when you want fades, swells, and natural release tails.

Switches the pitch-sliding effect on or off entirely.

tip: Turn on for smooth lead glides; leave off for normal, distinct notes.

Picks how high or low the whole keyboard sounds. Think of it as an octave shifter — 16' is deep and bassy, 8' is normal, 4' is high and bright.

tip: At the 8' setting, the third C from the bottom of the Juno's keyboard matches Middle C on a piano — useful when playing alongside other keyboards.

The normal playing mode — lets you play up to six notes at once, best for most sounds.

tip: Use this as your default for chords and general playing.

A subtly different polyphonic mode best suited to portamento (glide) playing, where the newest note gets a proper release tail.

tip: Pick Poly 2 when using portamento for smoother, more natural-sounding legato lines.

A hidden fat mode: press both Poly buttons together and all six voices pile onto one note for a huge, thick monophonic lead or bass.

tip: This is the secret to the biggest Juno bass and lead sounds — six oscillators on one note.

Lets you play in a hard key (lots of sharps/flats) using only the easy white-note fingering of C. Hold the button, tap the key you want as your new 'C,' and the whole keyboard shifts.

tip: To return to normal, hold the button and press Middle C until the display shows 'C' and the indicator light goes out. A dot in the display means a sharp (e.g. F. = F#).

Flips between the two big halves of the memory — group A and group B. Powering on always starts in group A.

tip: If your next patch is in the same group, you don't need to touch this — just press the new Bank and Patch numbers.

The 'tens' digit of choosing a sound — picks which shelf of eight patches you're looking at.

tip: You can press Bank and Patch in either order; the display updates to show your selection.

The 'ones' digit of choosing a sound — picks the exact patch on the current shelf.

tip: Combined, Bank + Patch gives you 64 patches per group. If you only want a different patch in the same bank, just press a new Patch number.

The 'what you see is what you get' button — the synth makes exactly the sound the front panel is set to, ideal for building a patch from scratch.

tip: Press Manual before designing a new sound so the controls behave predictably. It also acts as a stop button during tape save/load operations.

The save button. Hold it down and pick a Bank+Patch slot to record your sound there, overwriting whatever was in that slot.

tip: The Memory Protect switch (rear panel) must be OFF to write. The display briefly shows 'Pr' while you choose the destination. The old patch in that slot is permanently replaced.

Backs up all your sounds to an old-school cassette recorder. It plays a pilot tone, then a screechy data tone that the tape records.

tip: Set the tape recording level so the pilot tone reads around 0 VU. When the indicator goes out and the display shows '--', it's finished. Use tapes shorter than C-60.

Double-checks that your tape backup actually recorded correctly, without changing the sounds currently in the synth.

tip: Always verify right after saving. If you keep getting 'Er', clean the tape heads, use a fresh high-quality tape, or try a different recorder.

Restores your saved sounds from a cassette back into the synth's memory.

tip: Set Memory Protect to OFF first, and press Load before the pilot tone turns into the data tone. Set Memory Protect back to ON when done.

Sets which MIDI channel the Juno talks and listens on. Its hidden bonus: press it alone to instantly kill any stuck note or runaway vibrato coming in over MIDI.

tip: Powering on always resets to channel 1. Both send and receive use the same channel number. Make sure no keys are held when you press this button.

The Juno's secret weapon — adds width, shimmer, and richness. I is subtle and lush; II is deeper and more wobbly and obvious.

tip: Chorus I is the classic Juno pad sound; II adds more dramatic movement. You cannot combine both — it's one or the other.

The little number screen that tells you which sound is selected. When two dots appear, it means you've tweaked a knob and are now editing.

tip: Watch for the dots — they warn you that the current sound no longer matches what's stored in memory.

Your expression lever: side to side bends the note's pitch like a guitar string; pushing it forward adds vibrato wobble.

tip: Combine a small pitch-bend range with the push-forward vibrato for very vocal, expressive solos.

Nudges the overall tuning slightly sharp or flat so you can match other instruments that aren't at standard pitch.

tip: Leave it centered for standard tuning; use it to match an acoustic piano or a band that tunes slightly off A=440.

The on/off switch. Always turn the Juno on before your amplifier.

tip: If it won't work right after being switched off, wait a few seconds and try again. It's normal for the unit to get warm in use.

A safety lock for your saved sounds. Keep it ON normally; switch it OFF only when you deliberately want to save or load.

tip: Always switch it back ON after saving to avoid accidentally erasing patches.

Chooses how much the Juno shares over MIDI. Position I is basic notes only; II adds pitch bend and patch changes; III shares everything, so a second Juno copies the first exactly.

tip: Use I or II with non-Juno keyboards or recorders (they don't understand III's exclusive messages). Use III only when linking two Juno-106s so one perfectly controls the other.

Where you plug in to hear the synth. Use the stereo pair to fully enjoy the wide chorus effect, or the mono jack for a single cable.

tip: The stereo outputs make the chorus sound noticeably wider — worth using two cables when possible.

Plug in headphones here for silent practice.

tip: Control headphone loudness with the front-panel Volume knob, since headphones like the RH-10 have no volume control.

Plug in a sustain pedal here to hold notes after you lift your fingers, freeing your hands.

tip: Hold information is also passed over MIDI, so a sustain press affects connected MIDI gear too.

Plug in a footswitch here to flip to your next sound hands-free during a performance — one tap per patch.

tip: Use the Copy function to arrange your favorite patches in order within a bank, so foot-stepping through them makes musical sense live.

The cable from here goes to your cassette recorder's input when backing up sounds.

tip: Some recorders won't work with Save and Load cables connected at once — connect only the one you need.

The cable from your cassette recorder's output plugs in here when restoring or checking sounds.

tip: If your recorder has both Line and Ear/Mic jacks, try the alternate one if you get errors.

Lets another keyboard, sequencer, or computer play and control the Juno.

tip: Notes coming in via MIDI In are not affected by the Key Transpose function.

Lets the Juno's keyboard play or record into other synths, a sequencer, or a computer.

tip: What comes out here is separate from what comes in the MIDI In — the Juno doesn't merge incoming MIDI into its output.

Relays incoming MIDI on to another device so you can chain instruments together.

tip: Don't chain more than 3 units this way — use the optional MM-4 MIDI Thru Box for larger setups to avoid timing problems.