Rhodes Chroma Polaris vs Roland Juno 60

[ryryoftokyo]

Might be able to trade a Juno 60 for one. Good idea? I really love the sound of the Juno 60 and have almost no time with the Polaris, but I've heard these are nothing shy of amazing. Thoughts?

[Jabberwalky]

I have no experience using a polaris, but I've seen one sitting around in a studio and it seemed to be rather flimsy feeling. The Juno60 wins in build quality/sliders department.

[ryryoftokyo]

That's a little worrying considering that synth is supposed to be heavy as h**l.

[Z]

I recently picked on up to flip. It is heavy, but did not seem flimsy. I've never spent any significant time with a Chroma Polaris to give any opinion on it sound, but the Chroma Polaris does have velocity sensitivity which is lacking in many vintage analog synths.

[Jabberwalky]

Yeah, it was just sitting around, so didn't lift it or anything. I did play around with the keys and sliders and wasn't impressed. In comparison the Juno 60 just felt better imo.

[Stab Frenzy]

I really love the sound of the Juno 60

I would keep it then.

[Carey M]

Having owned a couple Juno-60s and now having the Polaris, I would do the switch in a heartbeat. That said, you can't beat the Juno for immediacy and there are some things it does better (fast, percussive stuff, etc.), so if those types of sounds are essential to you... I would buy the Polaris (maybe sell your split-8) and keep the Juno

the Chroma Polaris does have velocity sensitivity which is lacking in many vintage analog synths.

And the weighted keybed feels great to me. And for all the Vangelis crazees, it responds to polyphonic aftertouch over MIDI. And it can convert MIDI clock to sync pulses. And the other way round.

[monolith]

I'd keep the Juno, especially if you are happy with it. but I'm not too into poly synths.

[Sir Ruff]

Might be able to trade a Juno 60 for one. Good idea? I really love the sound of the Juno 60 and have almost no time with the Polaris, but I've heard these are nothing shy of amazing. Thoughts?

The Polaris is a much deeper synth overall and sounds great. The downside is that you will have a to work harder to get the kind of "sweet" sounds you're probably used to with your 60, and some you won't be able to get at all. The flip side is that you'll have a much broader sound palette on the Polaris. I would do it, but I could see someone else saying not to (i.e. the people who apparently have never played one )

[winningatlife]

Own both and have for a long time. The Polaris is definitely the superior instrument by a long shot, two osc per voice and great modulation capabilities, vs. the Juno's One DCO per voice and single LFO. In addition, if you are a more expressive keyboard player, the velocity sensitivity on the filter and VCA is very cool. The MIDI on the Polaris is handy too, though rudimentary.

I still like the arpeggiator on the Juno and find the chorus, while noisy, useful.

The downside? Well, the Polaris has two main weaknesses, a small plastic ribbon cable inside the synth that is prone to disintegrating and the membrane switches, which if they wear out you are pretty much screwed. That being said, replacement panels are available I believe and the ribbon cable can be fixed with a little wire-to-wire resoldering and creativity.

If you can find one in good shape and don't plan on moving it around or taking it on tour then I say go for it 100%.

[ryryoftokyo]

...and that's the big problem right there. I'm a touring musician.

[Carey M]

Even with the new panels that fix the ribbon problem, I wouldn't want to tour with the Polaris. It is heavy!

[ryryoftokyo]

I've given up on worrying about the weight of my gear. As it is, my live rig consists of:

Sequential Circuits Split 8, Roland JX8P, Roland TR-505, TWO Korg Poly 61s, microKorg, DX7 MKI, Roland Juno 60, Roland Alpha Juno 2, Yamaha AN1x, Korg Monotron Delay, Ace Tone FR3, Zoom RT123, Korg Electribe MX, Korg Electribe EA 1, a tube pre-amp, a memory man, a rack mount master FX unit, a Kaoss Pad Quad, a mixer to fit all that c**p, and the stands/cables/power stuff to go with it.

As you can tell, weight is just at the point of a non factor.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

In terms of features, the Chroma will wipe the floor with the Juno. I would always opt for the Rhodes, the Roland is a simple bread-and-butter type of synth. Nothing I would seriously take into consideration, honestly, but of course, each to his own.

Downside of the Chroma is the Mylar frontpanel with membrane switches... the Juno is a bit sturdier there, having dedicated mechanical switches. Also, the Juno seems to be a bit more popular, hence spares should be easier to come by.

Stephen

[Ned Bouhalassa]

Speaking of dear old Chroma Polaris, here's my first short track with my new addition to the studio. It's got character/quirks (zip a dee doo da, zip a dee LPF if you go too fast), and that's just fine by me.



https://soundcloud.com/ned-bouhalassa/t ... ma-polaris