Behringer's JN-80 is shipping: an eight-voice Juno-60 clone with a full keyboard

Behringer's Juno-60 recreation has taken most of 2026 to go from trade-show unit to buyers' homes. MusicTech covered the official launch on 4 February, just after NAMM. On 15 October Synth Anatomy reported that the JN-80 is now shipping and the first batches have reached customers. In Japan, Shimamura Music listed a sale date of 18 September at ¥132,000 including tax. Synth Anatomy says the synth spent almost three years in development under the name Neptune-80.

What is the JN-80?

Behringer's product page calls it a fully analog, eight-voice synth "inspired by the legendary Juno 60". The signal path follows the original: a discrete DCO per voice with saw, square and pulse-width waves, a one-octave sub-oscillator and noise. After that comes a 24 dB low-pass filter based on the 3109 chip, a VCA based on the 662 design, and a multi-stage bucket-brigade (BBD) chorus. Like the original, there is one envelope and one LFO. Synth Anatomy notes that Behringer hasn't added a second of either.

The changes are in the voice count and the keyboard. The Juno-60 had six voices, as Synth Anatomy and See Rock Live both note, and the JN-80 has eight, with poly, unison and dual modes. It has 49 semi-weighted full-size keys with velocity and aftertouch, an LCD with an encoder, polyphonic portamento, and an arpeggiator with up, down and up-down modes that can follow a tap-tempo pedal. Every parameter can be controlled over MIDI with NRPN and CC messages. Behringer says 200 presets come loaded, 100 of them from the third-party Ultimate Patches library.

Is it really $569?

Outside the US, roughly. Synthtopia puts the price at $569 outside the US and says Behringer doesn't publish a US price. Its readers report US pre-orders costing about $100 more because of tariffs, and one commenter says they paid $669. Synth Anatomy lists pre-orders at $569 or 569 euros, with Musicstore.de selling stock at 559 euros. Behringer's own page shows no price. If you're in the US, budget for the higher figure.

What does Behringer's spec sheet actually promise?

Read the product page closely before you buy, because it disagrees with itself in two places.

• Memory. The feature list says 256 user program memories. The "Modern Memory" section on the same page says you can save up to 400 presets. Shimamura and early coverage use 400.
• Aftertouch. Behringer's page now says "Aftertouch" without saying what kind. The feature list that Synth Anatomy and Synthtopia reproduced in February said poly aftertouch, and Synth Anatomy flagged the polyphonic keybed as a point of interest. Shimamura and See Rock Live also say polyphonic. We couldn't find a Behringer statement that settles it. Polyphonic aftertouch lets each held note respond to its own pressure, while the more common channel aftertouch applies one value to every note. If that matters to you, confirm with your dealer or in the manual before you order.

How does it compare with Roland's own Junos?

Roland sells the Juno sound three ways, and none of them matches the JN-80's mix of keys, voices and analog circuits.

• JU-06A Boutique. The spec sheet lists four voices, with 60 and 106 modes and 64 patches for each. It has no keys of its own. The K-25m keyboard, with 25 velocity-sensitive keys, is sold separately, and audio comes out on mini-jacks. It runs on batteries and adds a step sequencer and chord memory, which Behringer doesn't list for the JN-80.
• JUNO-X. A full keyboard with 61 keys and channel aftertouch. It runs the ZEN-Core engine, with models of the Juno-60 and Juno-106 and a third chorus mode. It weighs 11.6 kg and does much more than a Juno, so it is a different kind of purchase.
• JUNO-60 software. Roland's own plug-in uses its ACB circuit modelling. Notably, it also runs up to eight voices, so Behringer isn't the only one that thinks six was too few. It comes with Roland Cloud Pro and Ultimate memberships or as a Lifetime Key.

Then there's the newest Boutique. As we covered, Roland's JUPITER-08 offers up to 32 voices and comes with the K-25m dock, at $549.99 in the US. For about the same money outside the US, you are choosing between a battery-powered tribute to Roland's flagship, played on 25 small keys, and an analog Juno copy with 49 full-size ones. Roland files its Boutiques under "Analog/Modeling", while Behringer describes the JN-80 as fully analog.

Is it a clone, and does that matter?

Behringer's page names the Juno 60 and copies its layout, but never mentions Roland. The comments under Synthtopia's launch post show both sides of a long-running argument. Some readers dismissed it as one more fake. Another answered that it is a real analog polysynth sold close to what the original cost to build. A third asked why Roland doesn't make something like this itself. Synth Anatomy raised a different point: Behringer's own DeepMind 12, which it says is based on the Juno-106, already offers more features for not much more money. So the JN-80 is up against Behringer's own range as well as Roland's. We couldn't open the Gearspace launch thread, which blocks our fetches.

What we think

For players, the JN-80 fills a gap Roland has left open for years. Roland sells the Juno sound as a four-voice module with an optional 25-key dock, as a 61-key ZEN-Core workstation, or as a plug-in. It doesn't sell an analog, mid-sized, knob-per-function keyboard at this price. For a keyboardist who wants Juno pads at a gig without a laptop, eight voices and 49 full-size keys are what matters, and we don't know of another new instrument that offers both with Juno-60 architecture at this price. That's why it will sell, however you feel about clones.

The clone debate is mostly about who gets paid, and that question doesn't go away just because the product is good. Roland dates the original Juno-60 to 1982 and still sells the name through software and Boutiques. Behringer takes the design, adds voices and memory, and sells it without Roland's name on the product page. Our reading is that buyers win on price and access, while Roland loses the one product type it chose not to make. We expect Behringer to keep doing this for any classic its original maker leaves unserved.

Check the paperwork. A product page that gives two different memory counts and has quietly gone vague on aftertouch suggests a spec sheet that wasn't finished when the product shipped. If poly aftertouch or 400 slots are why you're buying, confirm both before you pay, especially if you're paying the US tariff premium.