Roland has one of the fullest lineups of keyboards and digital pianos out there, with a variety of offerings built for just about every application. While we’ve covered much of what Roland has to offer in the digital piano space, today we’re going to circle back on a couple of synthesizer products that we’ve reviewed individually and compare them.
On that note, in today’s video and article we’ll be looking at the Roland Juno-DS88 vs FA-08. We’ll be discussing the similarities and critical differences, to hopefully clarify which product might be a better fit for you based on your needs.
While you shouldn’t sleep on other great options from Yamaha and Korg for this type of instrument, today will be a Roland-centric look.
Roland Juno-DS88 vs FA-08 – Background & Similarities
It’s important to point out right away that both of these pianos have been on the market for a few years now and are frequently in stock with most retailers. This begs the question – are these pianos still relevant? Are they still viable options for the discerning consumer? The short answer is a confident yes, and we’ll be getting into that as we go.
Ivory Feel G Keyboard Action
For now, let’s start by looking at some of the similarities between these two instruments. So, both of these instruments have the same fantastic 88-key action with the Ivory Feel-G Keyboard with Escapement. This is a slightly older action and precursor to the PHA4 and PHA50 which are most commonly used in Roland products today, feeling more like the PHA50 overall.
The repetition speed of this action is really good and it feels more substantial than the current PHA-4 overall.
On-board Sounds & Controls
Another similarity is that they both have a really great selection of onboard sounds. The quality of the sounds on the FA-08 is a little bit higher due to the presence of the SuperNATURAL engine which the DS88 and other JUNO series pianos (JUNO DS61 and JUNO DS76) do not have. If you’re somebody who needs a professional level of detail in their sounds, the FA-08 is definitely the better choice here.
Both pianos have the ability to set up live presets, including things like multi-layers and splits. For people who are thinking about a gigging instrument, these pianos are equipped for that. However, you’re limited to two different sounds at once over on the DS88, whereas on the FA-08, you could conceivably get up to 16 parts happening at once as a live patch.
Both pianos have some nice and intuitive real-time controls, such as a modulation lever, pitch bend wheels and sliders.
Roland Juno-DS88 vs FA-08 – Differences
Control Surface
The first big point of departure between these two pianos is the control surfaces. That said, both pianos have customizable and programmable LCD control surfaces that work to create custom sets of controls that you can call up for performances.
The DS88 has four assignable control knobs and a multicolor pad, whereas the FA-08 has six assignable knobs and quite a bit more functionality within each knob. You do however get four faders on the DS88, which is very nice, and these are not present on the FA-08.
Playing Modes
On the DS88, there are two setup environments. The first is Patch, which allows you to play one sound at a time, and the second is Perform, which allows you to save combinations of features, such as split and layer, and save into a performance preset mode.
On the FA-08, the same functionality is present with very similar language. The only critical difference here is that instead of switching back and forth between a patch mode and a performance mode, you have one part mode on studio set, and then getting into the full studio set with up to 16 parts is completely integrated with the sequencer engine.
If you’re a performing musician whose going to encounter situations where you would need several layers and different split points, the FA-08 gives you this expanded functionality.
Onboard Sounds
When it comes to selection of sounds, the same general categories are represented on both pianos, even if the engines themselves differ.
Roland doesn’t specify the engine on the DS88, whereas the FA-08 has a couple of different sound and drum kit engines, including the SuperNATURAL Acoustic and SuperNatural synth engines. The SuperNATURAL engines are capable of a more complex overall piano tone, and allow users a greater degree of editability.
Check out the video to hear a comparison of each piano’s default piano sound. Beyond the acoustic piano sounds and organ sounds, the DS88 has 1,200 sounds including things like electric pianos, strings, synths, world music instruments etc. These sounds are strong, but not quite on the level of what you would want for professional studio use.
The FA-08 has over 2000 sounds, and the quality and fidelity here is definitely professional quality and fit for studio use. Polyphony is equal on both pianos at 128 notes. Both pianos also have Wave Expansion Slots so you can actually extend the total number of sounds via Roland’s Axial Website.
Sequencer Functionality Comparison
When it comes to the sequencers, you’ll notice 8 buttons on the Juno-DS88 and 16 on the FA-08 making it easy to assume that the function is essentially the same and simply doubled up on the FA-08.
But this actually isn’t really the case. The DS88 has a basic sequence function which they call the Pattern Sequencer. It’s not a full non-linear 16-track editing type sequencer like you get on the FA-08, and is instead essentially a loop sequencer, which is great for sketching out ideas for songs and arrangements.
You can set the loop length to one, two, four or eight-bar sections and then play up to eight phrases to construct and playback a texture. This can be really easy and fun to play around with and because the DS88 offers battery operated power supply with a DC 9V or 8 AA batteries (you can plug in a wired power cord adapter too), you could pretty much take it anywhere to work on songwriting.
Over on the FA-08, we get into the full workstation style sequencer where you could conceivably build an entire backing track to a song that you were writing, whether or not to decide to keep it as the song develops. At the least, you’d have the MIDI information that you could render through even higher-quality plugins after the fact.
This is perhaps the single biggest difference between these two pianos – the sequence functionality.
Connectivity – Audio In/Out, USB & MIDI
Another important comparison between these two pianos is of course the connectivity specs. Both pianos have a very impressive list of ports.
On the DS88 we’ve got both pedal hold jacks and pedal control jacks, 1/4” mic input (with mic input reverb and vocoder sound effects and auto pitch), stereo mini EXT input and 1/4” L/MONO, R line outputs. There’s also a 1/4” headphone jack, MIDI in and out, USB memory port (USB flash memory) and USB computer which supports both USB MIDI and Audio – this is great for DAW control mode.
Over on the FA-08, the selection of connectors is even more impressive. To start, there’s a 1/4” headphone jack, main 1/4” L/MONO, R line output and a second 1/4” sub output. There’s a line in, a guitar or mic input, 3 different foot pedal jacks, MIDI in and out, as well a USB flash drive and USB computer port that supports USB MIDI and Audio high speed.
Comparison Summary
Let’s summarize the main critical differences between these two instruments. The sound selection is great in both cases, but there’s a difference in sound quality. You’ve got the supernatural engine in the FA-08 providing a thicker, lusher tone than what the DS88 can muster.
There’s a phrase pad sequencer on the DS88, whereas on the FA-08 you get full 16-track sequencing options. Both pianos have an assortment of real-time controls and multi-effects, while Roland offers a variety of keyboard stand options for folks looking for a compatible one.
Final Thoughts
In our view, the Juno-DS88 works really well for people who are looking for a casual, portable creative tool to take along with portability. Singer/songwriters and those who need synth functionality at live gigs but with an emphasis on piano and e-piano will really like this instrument.
The FA-08 is a very different beast. This is a full workstation for people who are either doing fairly complex live gig setups or for people who are fully immersed in music production and looking for that tactile connection you can’t get from a computer mouse.
Time with the owner’s manual will be a must for folks looking to capitalize on the potential available here.
Thanks for reading!
