Topic: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

An old geezer in my area decided to quit making new age trance-jams for his retirement center, so he sold me his trusty Alpha Juno 2. Does anyone have suggestions on how to use it? It's my first non-vst synth...

I'm particularly interested if anyone is controlling it through a DAW or some software editor (the wheelie thing is a bit slow).

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

That is one of the coolest analog synths around, there are a bunch of software editors on the PC and MAC and many other platforms, you can also hook up a Behringer BCR2000 editor and edit it with knobs thats what I do, before that I used a mac program called Alpha Juno Control http://xmidi.com/blog/alpha-juno-control/

Be sure to use the chord memory for big impressive exotic sounds. Looking at your avatar I guess you like Drexciya, they used this synth a lot.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

i just bought one a couple weeks ago. it's sounds pretty amazing.
i also got this for 10 bucks: http://www.icontrolmididesign.com/
haven't had a chance to hook that up yet, but it seems like a good thing to edit it with if you have an ipad.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Well if you like the Hoover/Mentasm sound, you've got the right tool for the job!

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Charles Webster talking about his.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … PNG4#t=86s

I'm looking to pick up the MKS-50, not enough room for another keyboard right now.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

defenitly one of the better one's! i love it how the filter is tuned it just hangs on the self oscillation point you can change it with some trim pots inside but i wouldn't recommend it because it is just perfect now!
just hoover away!
wish i had one again

Do synthesizers dream of electronic drums?

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

I miss my Alpha Juno.. Has real heart! Anyone have a MKS 50 they wanna part with?

+++ Dont be scared honey, thats just the resonance knob +++

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

there are some on the dutch www.marktpkaats.nl and on www.synthforum.nl

Do synthesizers dream of electronic drums?

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Just found an MKS-50, very excited for chord memory and storing portamento settings per patch sounds really handy.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Thanks for the suggestions, cerebus and Smackos. I decided to try out iControlMidi, and it really unlocks the Juno's potential. The UI, however, is pretty damn ugly. I might try this setup next http://palatialcrest.com/67/alpha-juno-touch-osc-layout, since it uses a snazzy touchosc layout.

And chord memory, oh god, chord memory. My neighbors probably think I've gone mad, with all the non-stop m7 chords coming from my apartment.  big_smile

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

I use and Alpha1 and got an MKS-50 for lightweight gig travel. Years ago I bought a behringer BCR2000 to control it which is pretty neat, but recently noticed that a New Zealand company called KiwiTechnics have started making some good programmers based on the PG300, but allow editing of Korg DW6000, DW8000, Matrix 1000, Cheetah etc etc. Worthwhile investment I think.


http://www.kiwitechnics.com/

Also, though Ableton has a sysex filter making things quite crappy, its difficult to control from there but the AU300 is a nice bit of free software for the mac that runs as an Audio Unit in Ableton, allowing you to map control data to the sliders and store patches within your computer.

http://www.au300.de/

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

i had an alpha 2 with pg300, but i'm glad its gone. unlike most people here, i was never too impressed with it. i don't like juno's in general, but this was the weakest sounding one by far. i was very glad some gabber guy paid me big money for it because he saw it in some video.. big_smile chord memory is cool, but lots of other synths have that..

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

rude66 wrote:

i had an alpha 2 with pg300, but i'm glad its gone. unlike most people here, i was never too impressed with it. i don't like juno's in general, but this was the weakest sounding one by far. i was very glad some gabber guy paid me big money for it because he saw it in some video.. big_smile chord memory is cool, but lots of other synths have that..

I agree with Rude66, I never got a hard one from the MKS50 aswell... it sounds so dull imo. And the filter isnt that tasty aswell. All my personal taste ofc. And not to speak of those cryptic uneasy envelopes....

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

whoa- that TouchOSC interface looks great.. do you use that in conjunction with the iControlMidi?

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnZJihkgnk0[/youtube]

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Yeah I have to say The Alpha Juno is a Marmite Synth its love or hate.. I am deffo in the Love camp!

+++ Dont be scared honey, thats just the resonance knob +++

17 (edited by Check Mate 2012-03-19 14:11:21)

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Same here too!
I borrowed an MKS-50 from a friend but did not play much with it.
I thought I could propably "emulate" it quite close with the G2.
After I gave it back I missed it and got me an @-Juno 1 last year for a really good price.
To me it has a great sound and I don't want to miss it!!

Welcome to the Future...

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-bBnfzz … re=related[/youtube]

I love my mks-50
Alpha Juno control and AU300 are great controllers.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Juno 2 rules... ever since i picked one up a few months ago i haven't even touched my 106.. the sound is much more versatile.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

I was very excited really when i got my Alpha Juno 2.
Spend days making all kinds of cool sounds using the virtual programmer, made a nice juno-only track, loved the compact look of the synth and even the alpha dial.
After some time though i also thought it sounded kinda dull, even had the feeling that it did not fit into my music anymore.
Thought about selling it, but instead packed it in it's case letting it alone for a while. This synth deserves a second chance.

21

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

i just got a aj2 yesterday. tried out a few editors and i think this one is the best..
http://www.auralnebula.net/Alpha%20Base/

so, if you don't have a controller, try it out!

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Check Mate wrote:

Same here too!
I borrowed an MKS-50 from a friend but did not play much with it.
I thought I could propably "emulate" it quite close with the G2.

Has anyone got any decent G2 emulations of the alpha juno/mks or any other interesting synths for that matter.
I know the G2 is great for imaginary stuff but would be nice do get a flavour of some other synths

23 (edited by Check Mate 2012-04-13 14:54:35)

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

Hi,

You can start digging in the electro-music.com patch archives. there are tons of patches to check out with some "emulations" too.
There are even 2 very nice patches by Smackos there!  wink 
http://www.electro-music.com/forum/index.php?f=44

As far as the Alpha Juno is concearned, I once patched a nice muffled sounding "Juno Chorus" which sounded good for my personal taste.
The special thing of the Alpha though are it's "special waveforms. Some of them can be reproduced with amplitude-modulation but I don't know how close this gets and you propably won't be able to nail all of them.
Therefore a very close emulation is hardly possible. But I'm also not a patching expert I must confess.
Someone patched an AM Patch with some Alpha-Waves once but I'd have to dig deep to find that patch.
If you're interested I can look for it but it'd take a while.
I gave up on it because I got myself the real thing.

Just one sidenote...the G2 is not there for patching an entire synth and emulating it but rather patching sounds that are to your liking.
It's a different approach and you'll love the G2 more if you see it as a "single patch" machine rather than a full synth!

Cheers  smile

Welcome to the Future...

24

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

hey smackos! did you get the 4 step parameters (noise level for example) to work properly with the bcr 2000? having trouble with that.

Re: Just acquired Alpha Juno 2... What can it do?

^^

I was using a kenton control freak and was able to map everything but the four controls on the membrane buttons, brilliance, envelope etc.  These are easy to change, so I didn't see the point anyhow.  They also control more than one parameter, so other than the mod control (which I think has a midi cc) I don't think it can be done.

Does the bcr have a 'learn' feature?  Or are you programming each one by hand?  I can probably give you the exact sysex for something if you need it.