My gear repairs, refurbs, and mods

[twonabomber]

If I pick up another board it'll probably be an M1. Or maybe just the rack version. But the Wavestation rack is pretty close to M1.

I'd be interested in a Roland JX-10 at the right price. I don't think I want any Roland newer than the D50. I was looking at the new JD-Xa though, but for what those run I could buy another three vintage pieces.

[Seshmeister]

Be wary about the battery on the M1.

I bought this thing I dunno around 7 years ago and played it quite regularly for about a year and gigged it once. Within a day of buying it off the guy the battery light came on. I went on Google thinking no problem and it turns out you have to take the whole thing to bits to replace it.
Fucking crazy design - one of those 2 hour jobs where you know you are going to have a pile of bits left over at the end.

Once the battery goes apparently you lose all the presets and your own sounds. This is a worry because I've never worked out how to copy new sounds back on.

To be fair it's pushing 30 years old now and last time I looked this little watch battery is still clinging on...it's like fucking Voyager or something.

[twonabomber]

I have Sound Diver. Came with an Alesis QSR rack, I really only bought it to get the software but the BIN on that one was under $130 so I kept it, too. I'm sure the factory M1 patches are out there. Any MIDI librarian will load them. May have to get a USB to MIDI cable but they're not that expensive. Save your banks, back them up to a CD or something, and you'll have them when the battery dies.

I haven't gotten in to the Casio to change it's battery. Pretty much the same as the M1, it's under the keybed.

[twonabomber]

The battery thing would be a good reason to get the M1 rack. Pop the lid and done in ten minutes. I'd need a bigger rack, but that would probably be cheaper than the full board.

I forgot, I am considering putting my vintage Roland SH-101 back in it's original box and picking up a System 1. Can load an SH-101 emulation into the board and it has "plug outs" that run on the PC.

[twonabomber]

Still in acquisition mode. Something arriving this week...

[twonabomber]

I forgot to update with the new arrival. I've been outside a lot, wrenching on Jeeps and going to car shows. Picked up a kayak in June and have been on the water a few times a week. And I bought a new bike, mostly for the winter. A fat tire bike, or just fatbike:



Mongoose Dolomite, motherfucker!

I'll ride it the couple blocks to the liquor store and around town. Going to get a rack for the back and add a tube to hold a decent sized bottle. Didn't like the pedals, seat, or shifter so those got replaced. Rides great in the sand, too.

So anyways...this showed up a few days before the bike. Roland JD-XA



Knobs and sliders, oh my.

What Roland calls a "hybrid" synth. Four analog parts, and a digital part. The analog can be stacked for four voice polyphony. The digital part is Roland's SuperNatural engine. Been noodling around with it here and there and it's got a great sound. Haven't done much programming yet but there are a bunch of sound sets on the Roland site that I downloaded. Pull up a preset and it's got the sound itself, and then you can add arpeggiator settings and a sequence. Effects, too. I'll probably start out getting a drum loop going on the PC and playing a bass line over it. Some music for my kayaking videos.

Found on eBay for a couple hundred less than what it's usually priced at. Seller says it was used but there isn't a scratch on it and all the stuff in the box looked like it had never been opened.

Picked up a parts donor for another project and passed on an M1 rack. I have enough to keep me busy for a while...

Friday is "909" day. Roland will be announcing 30 new products, a lot of pics have already been leaked. Next purchase? Must work more overtime.

[twonabomber]

I should change my tagline to "can't be trusted with money."

[Seshmeister]

Awesome!

Proper fat as fuck.

[twonabomber]

I have some practicing to do I am stuck on setting an arpeggio and twisting knobs.

You can stack the four analog parts and (I think) slightly detune them for a nice fat sound. Four mono analogs acting as one, then the digital part is 64 more voices, but that goes down depending on if those are layered.

[Seshmeister]

[twonabomber]

LOL

I mostly tweak presets. Sometimes all they need is a change on the ADSR and they're good.

[twonabomber]

Six unused channels. Well not really, the JD-XA is in the computer room and not with the other gear. So four unused channels...for now...

I had to buy cables today. There's probably a half mile of 1/4" plug end cables in the house.

[twonabomber]

Being single has its advantages

[twonabomber]

So last Sunday we headed down to Columbus for the Ohio Guitar Show. Held in the winter and summer, supposed to be a decent show. Well, it wasn't. A lot of cheap junk, and a lot of expensive stuff. Nothing in that three to five hundred spot that I like.

Ever seen the Epiphone LP's and SG's that GC blows out for $100 every few months? Guy had three of 'em, all priced at $250. Wait a couple months and GC will have 'em on sale again for a hundy. And a bunch of "anniversary" Gibsons from 1976, an Explorer priced (fittingly) at $1976 and a few on other tables for a little more. And way, way too many PRS guitars and shit Squire Bullets.

There are two Music Go Round (used chain) stores in Columbus, we hit both. I ended up with a used Roland Octapad II for $100 and a Yamaha hi-hat trigger pedal for $20.

Hit the GC down there as well, they were busy for 5 pm on a Sunday night. They had two Indonesian Wolfgangs (Specials?), one white with black hardware that I liked, and the purple burst. One of them had the unfinished fret ends, where you could feel them as you slide down the neck...kind of odd, presumably they come out of the same factory, you'd think the QC would be better. I was going to snag one off Amazon but if I don't know what the quality is like I may just find one local.

I did play an Ibanez Talman bass that I really liked. Punchy. Nicely priced at $300 or so. If I get another bass I'll have to get a small bass amp instead of running it direct.

[twonabomber]

Cables showed up the other day



I use Talent cables from Parts Express. Decent quality, and inexpensive. I don't move stuff around much so wear and tear should be minimal. MIDI cables are all Hosa.

As for the "cant be trusted with money" quip, I picked up a Roland System 8. Showed up on Dec. 23rd. Sweetwater had a four years same as cash promotion going on...made it an easy buy.



It's got the System 8 "engine," and then room for three plug-outs. Came with the Jupiter 8 and Juno 106 plug-outs. Think VST versions in a hardware box. So virtual analog in hardware.

Sounds so good! When in performance mode, you can split the keyboard, say with a Juno 106 bass on the bottom, and a Jupiter 8 pad further up the board. Then if you want to have one sound on the whole board, select upper or lower and it shuts the other one off. The arpeggiator is good, similar to the JD-XA. Has a sequencer that sends MIDI out as well as running the internal sounds but I don't know if I'll use that. There are a bunch of Jupiter 8 sounds from the 80's, a sync that is really close to the sound on the Cars' Let's Go and some good string patches. Would be easy to put the sync on one side of the board and the strings on the other, and use that for a live cover of Let's Go. Strings work good for Moving In Stereo as well. The Juno 106 was popular as a bass synth so those will find their way to the bottom end of most performances.

A couple nitpicks about the System 8 and JD-XA: power cords and switches are on opposite sides, as are the outputs. JD-XA uses a USB stick for extra memory, System 8 uses an SD card. JD-XA goes all the way from bank A to P, with 8 patches/performances in each bank. System 8 only goes from bank A to H, with the same 8 patches/performances, but there are 8 banks per plug out. AND System 8 doesn't have any blank memory locations, you've got to delete something to create a custom sound or performance. I know the System 1 started out with limited memory and it was expanded in an update, maybe System 8 will see the same improvement. Both boards have vocoders, but System 8 will accept a line or mic in, JD-XA only mic.

So the current state of the rig:



Can barely see the TV now. And I should have put more electrical outlets in there when I refinished the room.

Trying to find another Ultimate Support Deltex stand to leave in the computer room, I sometimes bring a board in there to load sounds or work on a sequence.

Found the funky table at a resale shop in town and the marble tray at Target. Tabletop needs refinished and I didn't want my drinks sweating on it and making it worse. Nice place for picks, markers, and a notebook too.

Going to clear out some old stuff and duplicates, I gave the Roland D-5 to my friend's kids and listing a couple samplers on eBay. Maybe a Yamaha FB-01 too, the TX in the rack is easier to program vs the FB.