Softube Model 84 (Juno 106)

[starflakeprj]

I am curious too. We saw Model 72 in 2020, Model 84 in 2021, so looks like there could be a new instrument this year. The expectations will be really high and surely they won't release anything less than what we have seen thus far.

Hmm... Model 96 in 2022 then? Which synths were released in 1996?

Ensoniq MR-61
Roland JP-8000
Waldorf Pulse
Kawai K5000
Kurzweil K2500

To name a few found on VintageSynth.com. Naah, -96 weren't the best of years, so I hope they're not following that pattern

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

If they do put out another synth emulation I just hope they don't call it Model YY again. On the one hand, doing so puts all of the plugins next to each other in the FX browsers, but the downside is it will get really easy to select the wrong one if you've got Model 72, Model 77, Model 79, Model 84, etc.

[zvenx]

True and I find the names too long...If it was just Model 72 or Model 84...."Model 72 Synthesizer System"

rsp

[tibah]

Just 2 days of noodling with Model 84 and some delays on top. Great stuff. I rarely buy new stuff these days, but this one is a keeper.

[BONES]

The whole synth is one giant sweet spot for me.

What do you use it for? I've got a couple of decent bass patches out of it and it does OK synth strings, although I have better options for that. The best stuff I've got out of it are a couple of big, gnarly lead/pad things with lots of unison but, again, I have a tonne of other synths that can do that, too, so it's hard to justify the CPU hit a lot of the time for me. Every now and then, though, it works really well, so I keep pluggin' away with it. I like working with it so I'd be keen to find a lot more use for it but it never seems to happen.

[Introspective]

The whole synth is one giant sweet spot for me.

What do you use it for? I've got a couple of decent bass patches out of it and it does OK synth strings, although I have better options for that. The best stuff I've got out of it are a couple of big, gnarly lead/pad things with lots of unison but, again, I have a tonne of other synths that can do that, too, so it's hard to justify the CPU hit a lot of the time for me. Every now and then, though, it works really well, so I keep pluggin' away with it. I like working with it so I'd be keen to find a lot more use for it but it never seems to happen.

I'm actually a little surprised that you use this one at all (since I am familiar with your music). It's not "modern," and is really meant as an emulation of a classic synth. ...the target audience is really those of us who wish we could have a real Juno 106.

For me: I just love the Juno sound, so I'll use it for anything: basses, leads, pads, plucks, retro sounds, sound effects... It's got a very "pure" and satisfying sound, since it's really only one osc (and a divide-down bass). A bit like perpetual3 said, it's nearly impossible to get a "bad" sound out of it.

THAT said, despite that, it's a very specific sound. It ... sounds like a Juno. ... I infamously picked on Absynth in another thread, saying that people who think it's a cracking synth with no modern equivalent are struck with nostalgia bias. (They are.) This synth is ALL ABOUT nostalgia bias, and it makes no apologies for it! ...That's what makes it great.

You're almost always going to find a modern synth that "can do that." The Juno sound is one of the prototypical sounds of synthesis! Every synth wants to cover this territory. The Model 84 just ... well.. models the original particularly well. (It really does.)

I suspect that why you're drawn to this synth has to do with that: since this is one of the synths that really defines synthesis, it probably appeals to that nostalgia in you.

[BONES]

The Juno sound is one of the prototypical sounds of synthesis!

Hardly. Synths had been around for decades before there were any Junos and, even in their day, there were much better sounding synths. For prototypical, think MiniMoog, ARP 2600/Odyssey, Oberheim SEM and Korg MS-20. Even the original Juno 6 was a third generation synth, an entry level one at that. People bought them because they were cheap, no other reason.

I suspect that why you're drawn to this synth has to do with that: since this is one of the synths that really defines synthesis, it probably appeals to that nostalgia in you.

There is no nostalgia in me, everything new is better than anything old, pretty much without exception. It's only the extended parameters in Model 84 that make it useful to me - velocity modulation and control over unison - if it was a stricter model of the original, I am pretty sure it would be useless.

In 1984 I bought my first serious polysynth and Juno didn't even enter my calculations. It was a three way tussle between a Poly61, a DX-9 and a JX-3P, which were all around $1500 at the time. IIRC, the Juno 106 was the same price as the JX-3P, even though the JX had dual oscillators. I honestly don't understand why anyone bought them. I ended up with the DX-9, a decision I regretted for several reasons, not least of which being how impossible it was to program.

[LoveEnigma18]

I am curious too. We saw Model 72 in 2020, Model 84 in 2021, so looks like there could be a new instrument this year. The expectations will be really high and surely they won't release anything less than what we have seen thus far.

Hmm... Model 96 in 2022 then? Which synths were released in 1996?

Ensoniq MR-61
Roland JP-8000
Waldorf Pulse
Kawai K5000
Kurzweil K2500

To name a few found on VintageSynth.com. Naah, -96 weren't the best of years, so I hope they're not following that pattern

Good one. Not familiar with these synths either, so I will go with what you said. Hopefully something else, but also not something that has been emulated by many. Something as versatile and popular as Juno-106 but with a different sonic character would be nice IMO. Both Model 72 and Model 84 sound fantastic and are very usable, so I hope they continue in this direction.

[Introspective]

The Juno sound is one of the prototypical sounds of synthesis!

Hardly. Synths had been around for decades before there were any Junos and, even in their day, there were much better sounding synths. For prototypical, think MiniMoog, ARP 2600/Odyssey, Oberheim SEM and Korg MS-20.

I think you're confusing "prototypical" with "paragon" (or something). Of course there were lots of synths around before it. There were lots of synths around before the DX7 too, but would you claim that isn't a prototypical sound? Or the D-50? The M1? Wavestation? And, yes, there were lots of synths that sounded better. It was the number of Junos used and the pervasiveness of them in popular (and "popular" electronic too) music that make them a prototypical synth sound today. ...especially given how characterful and distinctive they are.

Arp, MiniMoog and MS-20, yes. Lots of music use those, they are part of the zeitgeist.

SEM ... probably not. That was less common and mostly only nerds even knew it existed. A great synth! I love them. ...but not a prototypical one. OTOH, the OB-8 / OB-X / OB-Xa ... clearly those are!

I suspect that why you're drawn to this synth has to do with that: since this is one of the synths that really defines synthesis, it probably appeals to that nostalgia in you.

There is no nostalgia in me, everything new is better than anything old, pretty much without exception.

Yes, I have gathered that about you over the years, and given your musical style. That's why I suggested the Model 84 speaks to you on a subliminal level. As a synth, it is ooooold. There is nothing new about it! There must be some hidden reason it appeals to you. Deep-seated, unconscious nostalgia is my guess.

[chk071]

If Softube does a OB-8 or OB-X one day, it'd be a insta-buy for me.

[zvenx]

This is the one of the ones I want from them.
rsp

[kmonkey]

If Softube does a OB-8 or OB-X one day, it'd be a insta-buy for me.

You usually buy plugins before you test them on your system?

[zvenx]

I don't usually but there are some developers that I trust enough to do that. u-he, softube, spectrasonics are in that small set.

rsp

[LoveEnigma18]

If Softube does a OB-8 or OB-X one day, it'd be a insta-buy for me.

Was thinking about the same synths (but OB-Xa to be precise).

[chk071]

If Softube does a OB-8 or OB-X one day, it'd be a insta-buy for me.

You usually buy plugins before you test them on your system?

I probably would demo it first, but, those synths are great, Softube does good emulations, it's likely that it will be good.