Get familiar with one of the greats for no money.
Roland‘s vintage Juno-106 synth is readily available on the second-hand market, but it’s expensive. If you don’t have the money to buy one however, you have the option of playing an emulation in your browser.
The 106.JS is not endorsed by Roland in any way, but its layout is a faithful recreation of the 1984 synth’s front panel, featuring the same waveforms, LFO and chorus function seen on the original.
The 106.JS also supports MIDI over Google Chrome, allowing you to play it with a keyboard that isn’t part of your laptop. Developer Steven Goldberg has offered basic instructions on how to use the synth and its MIDI functions at his Github page.
It’s not a patch on the sound of the original, but it does a pretty decent job of recreating its dense, analog sound considering it’s being done in a browser. Play it here.
If you like the 106.JS but can’t justify a vintage model, Roland last year created a compact replica of the Juno-106 as part of its Boutique line, the JU-06. [via Ask.Audio]
Read next: 10 addictive browser instruments for making music on your lunch break
