WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

Roland revamped Juno-D synths are ‘streamlined keyboards for gigging musicians and budding music creators’

Roland’s 2024 synth range is sprawling and can be a little confusing. Between the Aira and Boutique ranges, Fantoms, Junos, Jupiters and JDs, the iconic instrument brand has a multitude of hardware keyboards and modules to choose from, with a fair amount of crossover between models when it comes to the sounds and features on offer.

That picture has just gotten a touch more complicated with the introduction of another new version of an existing keyboard line – the Juno-D. The original Juno-D arrived in the mid-’00s, offering an affordable keyboard-workstation equipped for various styles of aspiring and gigging musicians. The range has evolved over the years, with the last instalments being the Juno-DS range launched in 2015.

Available in three variations: the JUNO-D6, JUNO-D7, and JUNO-D8. These updated Juno-D models are versatile-looking synth keyboards that borrow numerous features from the top-end Fantom keyboards, albeit at a more accessible price point. Roland describes the range as “streamlined keyboards with powerful features for gigging musicians and budding music creators.This on-the-go keyboard combines pro-grade Roland sounds and easy operation with a mobile design and flexible connectivity for any scenario”.

The Juno-D keyboards are all powered by Roland’s Zen-Core engine, the sample-and-synthesis system behind many of the company’s recent instruments. This gives each instrument access to over 3800 sounds, including staple synth tones, pianos, organs, orchestral sounds, percussion and a variety of classic sounds from Roland’s heritage gear. Sample import also allows users to create and play custom patches.

The Zen-Core ecosystem also allows users to expand the sounds of their hardware instrument via Roland Cloud. By creating an account, Juno-D users can access a selection of free expansion packs as well as purchase themed packs that can be uploaded to the hardware.

The Juno-Ds are lightweight and easy-to-use instruments pitched at aspiring players, small bands and gigging musicians. To that end, the instruments offer a broad range of hands-on controls and can be powered via either a mains input or a USB-C battery pack. The instruments’ USB-C input can also be used to play songs or backing tracks from a smartphone, flash drive or computer. The keyboards also include an integrated audio/MIDI interface.

The instruments come equipped with a versatile selection of playing options and tools. The sound engine is multitimbral and the keyboards can be assigned split and dual modes, or what Roland calls a Super Layer, which allows the user to stack and detune multiple instances of a sound. There’s also a multi-track sequencer, arpeggiator and chord mode, plus a system of favourites for quickly accessing sounds.

As well as playing the keyboard sounds themselves, the Juno-Ds feature a mic input that allows users to process their voice with a range of effects, including EQ, compression, auto-pitch and a vocoder.

The three models in the range only differ based on their keyboards, which the range inherits from the top-end Fantom keyboards. The 61-note Juno-D6 and 76-note Juno-D7 are equipped with synth-action keyboards. The Juno-D8 has an 88-note weighted-action keyboard with hammer action.

While much of the sound content here will feel familiar to anybody that’s kept up with Roland’s multiple variations on the Zen-Core keyboard theme, it must be said that these particular configurations look undeniably handy for players working in small bands or playing regular solo gigs.

Roland Juno-D6, Juno-D7, and Juno-D8 are available now priced at $899.99, $1,149.99, and $1,299.99. Find out more at the Roland website.

Released last year, UJam’s UFX Reverb is an algorithmic reverb plugin.

It may well be 2024, but music technology has not advanced so far and UFX Reverb remains a fantastic reverb plugin. What has changed is the price, UJam is now giving UFX Reverb away for free until the end of October, saving you a tidy $69.

The plugin’s 10 reverb modes would be more than enough for a freebie, offering conventional Spring, Plate, Room and Hall options alongside reversed and gated reverbs, but in addition to this you have a wide array of tools for sound design that makes UFX far more than just a bread-and-butter ‘verb.

On the right-hand side of the plugin’s UI you will find familiar controls for shaping its reverb including Time, Size and Pre-Delay, along with a trio of dials for tweaking its tonal character. Below this you have a handy Mix slider, along with controls for Ducking and Freeze, which’ll let you create rhythmic pumping effects and conjure infinitely sustained ambiences.

Towards the left-most portion of the interface you have a Filter section with a rather generous selection of 26 filter types, with presets that incorporate distortion, modulation and lo-fi effects. The Finisher dial opens up an even more impressive smorgasbord of additional effects with glitchy and rhythmic processors that slice, dice and mangle your reverbs into exciting new patterns.

Though there are Pros and Cons but it’s a free plugin, so don’t complain. What you can – and should – do, though, is hit the Surprise icon here to randomize UFX Reverb’s parameters and instantly dial in some inspiring and experimental sounds.

UJam UFX Reverb is available now in VST/VST3/AU/AAX formats for macOS and Windows. Download it here.

After achieving its target on Kickstarter, this sampling keyboard gets an official launch.

Launched on Kickstarter last October, Kiviak Instruments’ WoFi is a cloud-connected sampler inspired by classic ’80s and ’90s sampler keyboards.

The good news is that WoFi achieved its Kickstarter target of €100,000 and is now being shipped to supporters, but the even better news is that WoFi is now available for pre-order, with the first units shipping in mid-October.

WoFi is a ‘modern take’ on classic keyboard samplers from the ’80s and ’90s, fusing the fun, simplicity and sonic character of these vintage instruments with some decidedly contemporary touches.

The user can record samples into WoFi with the internal microphone or stereo input, or they can load samples and presets via the onboard WiFi connection from WoFi’s cloud-based sample management platform, mywo.fi. Samples can also be loaded through WoFi’s dedicated cartridge format, a design touch Kiviak have described as a “tribute to old gaming machines with cartridges”.

Samples can be edited, sliced, pitch-shifted, time-stretched and mapped to the keyboard before being played back with 10-voice polyphony. Sounds can also be processed through a number of emulations of classic samplers, giving them colour, texture and lo-fi character. They can then be run through an ADSR envelope (assignable to amp, filter, or both) and a digital low-pass filter with two slopes, 12dB and 24dB.

Samples can also be processed with WoFi’s Texturer, a harmonizing granular effect that Kiviak has described as “halfway between a shimmer FX and granular synthesis”.

WoFi is equipped with a tempo-syncable LFO with three different wave-shapes (triangle, square and saw) that can be assigned to any parameter on the instrument’s front panel to create evolving rhythmic patches. The instrument has a 16-step sequencer for programming melodic patterns, and a second sequencer that can be used to sequence parameter changes.

WoFi’s 25-key keyboard is velocity-sensitive and equipped with aftertouch: both of these can be assigned to any parameter for expressive performance possibilities. It is also battery-powered: this, along with the internal speakers and microphone, make it an impressively portable music-making device.

In terms of ins and outs, WoFi is pretty well-equipped and will play nice with external instruments and gear: we’ve got ins and outs here for line-level stereo audio, CV/Gate, analogue sync and MIDI, in addition to MIDI Thru, a headphone out and a USB connection.

Find out more on Kiviak Instruments’ website.