Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer 

Comments about Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer:

If you're looking for a "one does it all" type of keyboard without spending a ton of money... this is a good choice. It does a lot! The sound engine is very powerful and I love the splits/layers feature. It's a bit cumbersome to use some of the features because there are so many sub-menus, but once you get used to it, the interface is not bad to navigate. I really wish it had aftertouch, but other than that... this is a really good board. I recommend it!
This is a very powerful little keyboard! I am impressed! The splits and layers are very cool. You can create tons of unique sounds and save them the the user presets. The insert effects are amazing too. I also really like the favorties function. You can save up to 100 presets for easy single button recall. That is really handy. I do have a couple of complaints though. 1) Roland should've included a better action. This one is bit plasticy (though not bad) and it has no aftertouch. If this baby had aftertouch it would be a win win! 2) They crammed so much stuff into the Juno Gi that its often cumbersome to get to everything. I think they could've taken a few things out or added more buttons to make it a little easier to navigate.
I'm pleased with the keyboard overall, but I think the action is a little bit plasticy. I really wish they would've included aftertouch. Other than that, I really have no complainsts about the quality. I have had good luck with every Roland product I've ever owned and this one is no exception.
You really do get a lot of synth for the money with the Juno Gi. It has a lot of workstation class featrues and works great for simple arrangements as well. The sounds are very diverse and I don't think you'll ever run out of patches with this thing. It even has the option to run on batterites which is nice (although I don't think I would use that). Overall, I think it's a really fantastic value.

Comments about Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer:

Overall, this keyboard is average at best, nothing really special. I think Roland has slid way downhill over the past 10 or 15 years in terms of the quality of it's products, and it's recent products, including the Fantom, are boring. Bells and whistles don't mean much when you've got such lackluster tones to work with. Between this, the Korg M50 or the Yamaha MO, I'd definitely recommend the M50 or even MO over this.
I bougtht this board to replace my Fantom Xa, and I must admit that in many ways it is better than the Fantom Xa, but still not the best board I've ever owned. It does come with a lot of bells and whistles, and the editor/ librarian software is pretty good, but it does have it's limits. I've found in terms of preset tones, the electric guitars and lead synths are pretty amazing, and that's what I use the board for. The acoustic tones, such as pianos, guitars, basses and string and brass instruments I don't feel are really up-to-snuff. The pads and motion-synths are pretty lackluster and require a lot of editing to sound good, and the arp patterns don't really add up. The best thing about this board is the on-board track recorder. I like the fact that I can record audio tracks to the sequencer.
I've found the keyboard action to be cheap-feeling and loose, which makes it difficult to play fast-synth solos sometimes. Also I've had two real-time control knobs break and I had to have the power jack worked on. The sound quality has a real lack of low-end, and using the board to play bass sounds for instance, frankly sucks.
I don't feel that this keyboard is worth the money I paid for it. It just feels, plays and sounds more like a mid-level keyboard in the range of the Yamaha MM6, Juno-Di, Casio WK and Korg X-50. As I said, apart from the guitars and lead synths, I don't use it for anything else. The bells and whistles I think are just marketing techniques- they're nothing particularly special.

Comments about Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer:

I think this is an excellent keyboard that is worth every Penny. As far as what Horace said above about it not having MIDI Mapping, IT DOES, on page 133 of the Owners Manual, channels 1-16. I have heard a little better Pianos before, but there are numerous settings that can be adjusted in each of the Live sets that makes the Pianos a whole lot better, but that is after a little tweaking of the voices. I suggest looking at Youtube for videos for Roland Juno Gi to see what this Bad-Boy can really do, I'm convinced, after just watching the videos on youtube. I WILL be getting one soon.

Comments about Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer:

The following are just my opinons, with regard to the Roland Juno-GI synthesizer. It is not my intention to prove one brand better than another. I use several brands of instruments in my work and do not generally consider myself an advocate of any one brand. I hope this review aids a fellow musician in making an informed decision.I was actually in the market for a workstation (i.e. Fantom or Motif), but property tax increase and son's tuition caught me off-guard. In response, I had to buy what something to bridge the gap until the financial window of opportunity opened again.I researched the board via mfg demos on youtube and a couple forums as well as a couple colleagues' opinions. I lucked out and found someone in a bind and got one new one at a discount. However, the only part for which I am now thankful resides in the fact that I did not pay full retail. The following are the pro's and con's:Pros:1. magnificant pads, organs, and percussion. Every organ in the Live Sets is very convincing. 2. Great Amp-Sims, effects, useful stock arpegiators, and very good analog emulations.3. Very rugged construction (sturdy knobs and pots).4. Some of the Live Sets have velocity sensative accents something like Yamaha's XA effects which are adjustable(guitars particularly; frets and harmonics).5. Audio recorder capable of recording and applying effects to action on an outboard guitar or bass.6. Intuitive GUI compared to previous offerings.7. Wide range of real-time control.Cons:1. Most of the acoustic patches such as strings, basses, and pianos are unconvincing compared to those available in other models.2. The keyboard, though they are synth-style unweighted keys, is noisy, lack feeling, and are too small, believe it or not. The keys on this board are about 7/8, give or take, the size of comparable synth/piano keys. 3.No onboard 16-track midi song playback (knew it did not have a midi sequencer, but most synthesizers are designed to playback with DAWs through a 1-to-1 midi channel mapping. This one has not those facilities. In a nutshell, only 4 parts can be assigned to Cakewalk or Cubase with some configuration. I know there are work-arounds for it, but it's by no means a convenient solution for use with computer-based DAWs.4. Basically (for my individual purposes)it is a pad/percussion/organ sound module that is taking up a keyboard spot on my bench.I can clearly see this board's value for live performances, applicable to a wide spectrum of genres, with emphasis on those hinted with progressive/alternatative rock and trance elements, which is superb for so suited a user. However, I have IN NO WAY found it to live up to one-stop plug-and-play music production powerhouse the infomercials might lead one to believe. The only reason I will likely not trade it off is for the live sets of note I've listed, though I still hate having to make room for it when space is generally limited. In closing, as primarily a studio musician (taking into full consideration the attributes of this derivative unit), I will likely forego the purchase of the Fantom and look more in the direction of the Motif. Thank you for indulging me this opportunity.

Comments about Roland JUNO-Gi Synthesizer:

This keyboard is an absolute steal! It has an awe-inspiring amount of sounds and even more ways to change them. Couple that with the ability to record and have a USB port and a SD expansion slot is pretty cool. A song player is nice to have, but you need to have a Roland USB stick to use. I tried using another type and it didn't work. The keyboard noticed it there but didn't do anything for it.The keyboard's sound is pretty great as well. Get an external speaker for it and you could easily use it live. Problem is, it doesn't come with the cables to do so, but oh well, right? It also has the capabilities to be used as a MIDI controller, which was my selling point.Nothings ever perfect however. I did see it came with some sort of software, 2 discs to be exact. One was the driver for the keyboard and the other was Cakewalk's production plus program with Sonar 8.5 LE. I appreciated receiving free software but I absolutely HATE this. I found it to be too much of a pain to use, and I do have experience with others like Reason and Pro Tools and I didn't give up right away. I looked for tutorials and just experimented with it for a while but decided it wasn't worth it. I won't dock this keyboard for that, Roland has made a fun product with few faults.Looking for a universal synth? I suggest this one.