Test: TAL TAL-Pha
TAL already has one of the best Juno-60 emulations on the market with the U-NO LX. Do we still need a replica of the less popular Alpha Juno? We tested it and were pleasantly surprised!
The Roland Alpha Juno was overshadowed by the Juno 6/60 and 106 right from the start, probably because Roland used membrane switches instead of direct operation with several faders. In terms of sound, however, the Alpha Juno also has a lot of character to offer. The so-called Hoover sound, which is based on a factory preset of the Juno programmed by Eric Persing (the mastermind behind Omnisphere), became somewhat famous. It was used in some Techno classics such as Dominator in the early 90s, and has enjoyed constant popularity as a driving, punchy lead sound ever since. But the Alpha Juno has much more to offer!
Extended DCO
It is, therefore, even more pleasing that TAL, a proven developer, has now taken on the emulation of the Alpha Juno and its rack version MKS-50. And the Swiss company has given the software some interesting additional functions. In the original, the basis of the sound is a single DCO, which is typical of Juno and can generate sawtooth and square waves together. There is also a sub-oscillator and a noise generator. The special feature is that both Saw and Pulse are available in different pulse widths, which also allows a kind of Pulse Width Modulation of the sawtooth and significantly expands the sound spectrum. With the TAL-PHA, the possibilities go even further. Here, you have two separate oscillators to choose from, which can be modulated individually. Thanks to switchable synchronization, even the classic cutting, metallic Hardsync sounds are possible in really good quality, or the waveform modulation with noise for LoFi sounds.
The downstream Lowpass Filter is also a complete success. It has the typical Roland beautiful sound, with very musical resonance that even offers different variations and, thanks to the boost, also enables self-oscillation (which the original unfortunately lacks). The filter frequency, as well as the pitch and volume, can be modulated using Aftertouch, even polyphonically. This enables very expressive playing when combined with keyboards equipped with PolyAT. TAL-PHA even supports MPE for multi-dimensional controllers.
With 3 Level and 4 Time parameters, the Envelope allows much more flexible progressions than a classic ADSR envelope. Unfortunately, as with the original, it is only available once; we would have liked to have separate envelopes for the Filter, Volume and, ideally, Pitch.
The legendary Juno Chorus is, of course, also on board, as are Delay, Reverb and an EQ for further customizing the sound. Unison, with an adjustable number of voices, Detune and Stereo Width for really fat and wide leads, is available on top. Arpeggiator and chord function (which already provided the classic short stabs on the original) are also available.
Voice Tuning/Editor
Another highlight of the TAL-PHA is somewhat hidden, and sits virtually on the back of the GUI. For each of the 6 voices, you can individually set deviations in filter frequency, pitch, envelope and stereo panning. To our ears, this sounds livelier and more „analog“, and the distribution of the voices in the stereo field immediately creates an Oberheim feeling.
As an additional treat, PHA-TAL can not only import Alpha Juno sounds, but can also send Sysex via a selectable MIDI output and, thus, be used as an editor for the original hardware.
Verdict
Does the world need an emulation of the Alpha Juno when there are already numerous successful replicas of the more popular Juno 6/60/106? The answer is, yes, because TAL-PHA not only offers a high-quality emulation of the Alpha sound, but also delivers sophisticated additional features.
The sound of TAL-PHA is impressive across the board with all classic synthesizer sounds for Synthwave and the like, but also with more modern sounds. In addition, it is easy to use, has very good presets and comes at a very fair price! ⸬