I am a hobby musician who plays multiple instruments. Although I had been vaguely curious to buy a synth for many years, I hadn't been motivated enough to actually do it. This changed when my kid told me that she wanted a keyboard instrument in the house. This gave me the push I needed to commit to buying my first synth.
So I started searching for a synth which would be simple enough for a kid to use, but deep enough for a hobby musician to explore and have fun. I did a reasonable amount of research about various alternatives, but honestly, I can't say that I considered the merits of every single product. The synth market is very crowded, and for a first-timer, it can be confusing to understand the specifications and limitations of all the various options.
After some research, I settled on the Roland Juno D6 as my choice. The main reason for this was simply that this seemed to be a solid, mid-range product from an established brand. A secondary criterion was the connectivity: class compliant USB-C (no drivers), and potential to be repurposed as a MIDI controller.
Once I had settled on the Roland Juno D6 as my choice, I still needed help with planning the setup. Here, the customer service team from Thomann were great. I had two phonecalls with Thomann customer service, who really helped me to decide on the right choice of accessories (stand, stool, speakers, cables etc). Both took the time to understand my requirements and help me to find the best fit for my situation. When the package arrived, everything was simple to unpack and setup (about 1 hour from opening the first box to sitting down and making music).
It is now 8 months since I got the synth, and I am very satisfied with it. I found it quite easy to learn the functions I was most interested in, and there are still lots of functions that I haven't fully explored yet. If you just want to sit down and make some music, then this synth delivers. It boots up very fast, the preset sounds are easy to navigate, and the keybed gives good expression.
Two standout features that I really like about this synth are: 1) The impressive number of built-in effects, which include various 'Boss classics', 2) The range and usefulness of the preset sounds, which include digital emulations/reproductions of some 'Roland classics'.
If I had to point out some weaknesses, my main criticism would be that certain functionalities seem to have been deliberately limited for commercial reasons. For example, the on-board live recording is limited to 64 measures (about 20 seconds of music). I am not an expert, but I presume Roland have imposed this limit to not undercut their more expensive workstations. I could make similar complaints about the number of simultaneous effects which can be applied, and the inability to sample. But honestly, this is to be expected when buying a mid-tier product from a big company.
Taken together, both my kid and I are really satisfied with this synth. It offers a good balance between deep functionality versus ease-of-use. The build quality seems robust, and if I ever move away from a standalone setup, I would be happy to repurpose this keyboard as a MIDI controller for software synths.
