Obliq Museum: Korg Triton Restoration

Posted on February 12, 2017 by davealex

I have been wanting a Korg Triton synthesizer since they were released in 1999. At that time I had a Korg Trinity which we used heavily, as you may have heard in our Multicast tracks. The Triton has a built in sampler and expansion available for MOSS functionality (Korg Prophecy engine), which I’m now on the market for!

I found a Triton on Craigslist but it had some issues. The price was right so I went ahead and took the challenge of hopefully being able to find the issue and then fix it. I know that Triton parts are getting hard to find since it was discontinued. It has the two memory cards and also the EXB-PCM04 Dance Extreme expansion board. So an awesome setup once I get it fixed!

More restoration stories can be found here…

Korg Triton as it was when I brought it home, you can see the issue with the one “E” key

Here is the sketchy power. The whole assembly was broken and the power button was gone.

The person I bought it from was a vet and this synth had seen the desert and likely many other places upon this earth! It likely brought joy to many, so the karma is good! The plastic buttons and modulation joystick assembly were all heavily discolored, likely due to sitting in intense sunlight for a long period of time. There is no way to fix the plastic discoloration issue without replacing all those pieces, which would be very expensive (if you could find the parts) and given that is cosmetic I’m not overly concerned. Part of the character of buying a used synthesizer!

Here were the problems that I diagnosed that needed fixed:

Power assembly was completely broken, but still worked
E Key was broken
Something in the I/O boards were broken causing the touchscreen to now work properly
Several screws were missing and/or were not seated properly (cosmetic)

The big issue was the touchscreen issue. You couldn’t choose the drop-down menu (upper right) which rendered the synth very unusable. Upon troubleshooting this I found that it was a slider issue. The likely culprit was the Value slider. I found a replacement slider online but I wasn’t sure it was just the slider. I cleaned the slider but it still didn’t work, so I assumed it was the slider but I wanted to find a replacement of the 2085 control board if possible.

I found all the parts for the power assembly new at Keyboard Kountry (check them out, they have a great stock of replacement parts for Tritons and other keyboards). I also bought a replacement set of screws since some were missing and others were slightly stripped. Nice that they offered this! They also had the “E” key for a great price.

The 2085 board was a different story…there were no boards available on the internet that I could find, except one I found in Austria on eBay. I’ve had mixed results buying used parts on eBay in the past, but the seller had a good feedback rating and said it was 100% working, so I took a chance and purchased the board. It took 2 weeks to arrive.

Here are the boards after I removed them. The upper right is the jack board, the upper center is the 2085 human interface board and the lower tray holds the CPUs.

The keyboard assembly, the bottom (with floppy drive attached) and main control board still attached to the chassis.

Reference photos showing the headphone jack connection (there are two small sockets on the jack board that are the same, so I wanted to be sure to remember what went where)

Reference photo showing the wiring of the jacks and wiring harnesses

Reference photo of the main motherboard wiring

The parts came in within a couple of weeks, and I started to do the repair and reassembly work. The power assembly was simple, two screws and a simple plug into the power supply PCB. That took 5 minutes and now works like a charm!

Power assembly showing the jack into the PCB. Simple replacement; nice to find a full assembly with button at Keyboard Kountry!

Power looks much better and is safe!

To replace the broken key, you have to remove the keyboard assembly entirely, which is a bit of effort! At the top of the keys there is a plastic clip that sits along the entire assembly. Sliding this off, you now have room to slide the key upwards and it will pop right out. Putting the new key in is the same, in reverse. Then re-position the clip and you’re good to go!

Most keyboards are similar to this, there is a plastic “clip” that sits on the back edge of the keyboard assembly, removing this provides a small amount of space that allows enough room to slide the keys back and they will pop out

This shows the broken key from the back, the plastic guides should be showing like the other white keys; those were busted off and the key needed replaced

If you are missing a key entirely, you MUST make sure you get that metal insert–this replacement key didn’t come with one so I got lucky that I already had it! Without this metal piece the key will not work properly. If you are replacing the key like I am, you transfer this metal to the new key. Notice the broken plastic guides that render the key useless

The most difficult part of the reassembly was the wiring. I noted this and added some tape with reference letters to help me remember where the harnesses attached to. Note that the wiring is “just long enough” to reach its destinations, so that also helps with reassembly, as does the different amounts of wires in the sockets/jacks–only a couple were the same size and coupled with the wire length being exact it made it easier to know what went where. But given there are a lot of wiring, reference shots and labeling as you disassemble are always a good idea!

There are two small audio connectors on this jack board. I highlighted here (in red) the headphones jack that runs to the front, lower left, of the unit.

Now the Korg Triton is fully functional! Awesome! The sounds are killer and I’m just starting to play with the synthesis engine! The unit was pretty dirty so i scrubbed it down and was able to pull off some of the grime; but unfortunately there are many scratches that are more than skin deep and again that is the “character” you get when buying synthesizers second hand!

Overall this restoration project consumed about 8 hours of time and parts cost a little over $100. Parts are getting difficult to find, however, and so even if the synth isn’t “vintage” it may still be a difficult restoration project…note to self! I got lucky on this one that I was able to procure all the parts immediately without having to put together repetitive web searches like I’ve done for other classic synthesizers in the past!

Here are some great resources for the Korg Triton:

Obliq Museum – Elektron Octatrack Repair

Posted on October 5, 2015 by davealex

I’ve recently been really getting into the Elektron Octatrack sampler/looper. My band partner Jeff of Multicast came down the other night and we had a very productive session. But, I spilled a little bit of cider on the top of it and some got down into the unit before I could completely dry it off.

I turned it off for a while and a later when turning it back on most things worked, except for one pot and the crossfader. Bummer. Too much clutter in the studio and lack of discipline! I took the unit apart tonight with the goal of cleaning everything with q-tips and isopropyl alcohol and hoping for the best.

The octatrack goddess – the voice in the machine!

Taking the Octatrack apart is pretty simple. Some 2mm hex screws on the outside, and the User Interface PCB is a Torx 10. I wanted to take it completely apart so i could ensure that I got everything that seeped into the unit clean.

The CPU Board and Power Supply are attached to the bottom case

Upon taking it apart, I could see where the bottom CPU board needed a little cleaning and so did the bottom of the metal case enclosure. Nothing too bad, which was great to see.

User Interface PCB detached from the front face plate

The main user interface PCB looked pretty good too. I cleaned around the pots and otherwise there really was no staining or remnants of the mishap. Since Pot B wasn’t working, I cleaned all around that area including the pot itself.

Cross Fader assembly and PCB

The cross fader was interesting, much more mechanical than I would have guessed. A nice design to take a beating without breaking. You can see the PCB pulled from the rest of the assembly. The digital design would slide between the two “tents” on the PCB and IR light would reflect and get caught by the sensors. Everything was done by light, neat. This assembly needed some cleaning as the metal shafts were a bit sticky. The cross fader is an Infinium 45mm Crossfader DX400211.

Octatrack cross fader

Taking apart the cross fader (my warranty period expired a couple of years back) I noticed something making a sound, like a really small loose screw. I popped off these plastic covers showing the IR LED and light sensors and noticed that PT8 has a small piece of glass (?) that fell off. This is super small and i won’t be able to fix it.

Cover for the IR LED and holes the sensors read the light through the encoded pain on the plastic (next photo)

If you note in the above picture, there are 7 holes which allow the IR LED (bottom center) to reflect off of the “tents” and be ready by the sensors underneath. I presume that the reason for the plastic piece is to control the exact amount of light that each sensor can receive. I noted that a couple of these were covered by the cider, so I cleaned these up really nice.

Encoded paint with the IR light interacts with to allow the sensors to read where the fader is at.

Upon putting everything back together, the pot worked great, and the fader worked all but 5% of the extreme left in which it centers. I’m going to try and get a replacement from Elektron, but in the mean time I’m going to tape something to stop the fader from going all the way to the left, and that should be a work-around to the issue.

What is It’s A Boo(?) mean ?

Upon putting everything back together, all functions except for the extreme left on the fader are working flawlessly now. I put in an email to Elektron asking for the replacement cross-fader part. If it is cheap, i’ll buy two and have a spare. Happy that not much damage occurred to the unit; I could probably play using it without any change now; but I do want to fix the cross-fader if I can; meanwhile I’ll use the work-around.

Loop User Interface

Obliq Museum: Galaga Cocktail Lives Again

Posted on April 10, 2015 by davealex

I grew up in a small town, Johnstown Colorado, along the Front Range in Northern Colorado. We had one of those classic 2-block downtowns that you see on road trips! On the far end of the downtown was an arcade. If you ventured two blocks to the other side of downtown, there was another arcade.

I lived all the way on the other side of town; but every summer day I remember walking downtown and hitting the arcades! So did many other kids my age and older. This is the way we spent our summers that I’ll never forget!

Fast forward about 15-20 years. I end up with a Galaga cocktail of my own. Procured from a closed mall arcade in southern Kansas. Having it via MAME is cool and all, but nothing beats this Galaga! I have hot-rodded it in the following ways:

Rapid Fire
High Score
Ship Clock Tripler

Here are all the mod chips in my Galaga. Notice the Z80s…multi-Z80 machine. Awesome computing power!

This machine is amazing. As fast as you can pound the button, it will fire. The Clock Tripler makes the joystick control three times faster. You can dodge enemy bullets and kamakazee with ease. Challenging Levels are pretty simple to defeat. The game gets really difficult still, and once in the high-20 level and above it is a showdown (at least with my skill; some could do it on the un-modified machines).

About 4 years ago my Galaga went bezerk (not Bezerker). It was left on overnight and there was a lightning storm and in the morning it was dead. Looked at the PSU and it had several components visibly fried. I bought a Galaga replacement power supply PCB several years ago and it just showed the machine booting and then freezing. No dice. So assumed the worst; something on the Motherboard also got fried…

Here is the Galaga after the replacement CPU. It was frozen; many of the colors were "twitching" so not completely frozen i guess.

Here is the Galaga after the replacement Power Supply board. It was frozen; many of the colors were “twitching” so not completely frozen I guess.

I bought a working PCB set including PSU recently and installed into the machine. Immediately I was playing Galaga again, but just the normal version, which is boring compared to my ultra-hyped out machine. Knowing that the PSU was rock solid, I then put my original modded motherboard set back in and was playing my hot-rodded Galaga again. I’ve been waiting for this day for a while.

Here are the Motherboards. Notice the three connectors…very simple to change the PCBs out! Ensure you note the polarity of these connectors; they are keyed on the PCB but not in the connector themselves so you can put it on backwards. The power connectors (both) are keyed so no worries there…

Power Supply PCB. Just two connectors on this one.

This is the funnest version of Galaga available that I’ve seen. I forgot how tired my firing wrist becomes within just a single game. There is a physical aspect of playing this game; part of the challenge of success over these lethal aliens!

I now have my Galaga functioning again, which is worthy of me getting off of the computer blogging and playing again. Cheers!

Obliq Museum: Roland HS-60 (Juno 106)

Posted on December 29, 2014 by davealex

I purchased a Roland HS-60 Synthesizer a little while ago and am currently integrating it into my home studio. One thing I noticed was the front panel interface is the EXACT same as the Roland Juno 106 (it is the same synthesizer after all) and there was no way to mute the internal speakers based on the front or back panel controls.

I ended up reading the manual and buried in there was the answer. Seems like this could have been a little more obvious, but now that I know you have to plug in a cable to the headphone jack to turn off the speakers I am good to go.

From the Roland HS-60 Manual, here is the trick to turning off the internal speakers. Note that the Juno 106 does not have this speaker option.

Read more about the HS-60 from my original posting. The original owner’s manual is located here.

Obliq Museum: genoQs machines Octopus MIDI Sequencer

Posted on July 22, 2014 by davealex

The genoQs machines Octopus MIDI sequencer is the all-time KING of step sequencers IMHO. This hardware-only interface will boggle the mind of any laptop-jock, but for those like me that are into hardware this is probably one of the best sequencers that will ever be made. This German engineered musical instrument controller is actually quite simple, ergonomic and elegant and packs a ton of power into your studio! Any feature is less than two clicks away!

My only gripe is I’m not in my studio often enough and I tend to forget some of the steps for functionality; for example I always seem to hit the manual to remember how to put it in MIDI slave mode. That is what cheat sheets are for. If you have any handy cheat sheet references, leave a comment as I’d love to include them here. I’ll upload mine soon.

The rare, limited edition genoQs machines Octopus Black Sea edition (#8 of 20) – King of MIDI Sequencers

I was so excited when I read about the release of this MIDI controller I contacted the manufacturer in Germany and put one on order. Contractually I had to purchase through their US distributor but mine was the first one shipped to the USA. A while later I had the chance to acquire the ultra cool and very limited Black Sea edition. Although this is a beautiful edition, I ended up trading it and continued to use the original “Classic Legacy” edition in my studio.

Early in 2011 genoqs machines posted to the internet they were going to be going out of business; although they said they’d keep up their website and offer limited support. Fast forward three years and their website is down and manuals and OS versions are hard to come by. Often is the case with boutique equipment; I have no clue how many they sold, but with the several limited edition runs I suspect there are 200+ that made it to studios around the world!

UPDATE: On 2/13/15 on the genoQs_users Yahoo Groups list it was announced that genoQs Mahines have put back up their website at http://www.genoqs.com. This contains all the latest and greatest information that was there before. I’ll continue to keep these things up on my site, but great news!

genoQs machines Octopus (now called Classic Legacy edition) – First one imported into the USA – the brains in my studio (even when I’m there!)

I decided I would post what documentation and operating systems I had to the internet as these are scattered around the web (at best), and may become hard to find in the future. If you have other documentation that I don’t or OS versions and would like to add to this archive, I’d be glad to include it here, please contact me if that is the case.

Here are a couple of pretty useless videos i shot when I had both the Original and Black Sea versions; more eye candy than anything useful.

Here are some of the files, again if you have files that I don’t, I’d love to improve this archive so please let me know what you have!

Operating Systems

v1.60 (release notes)
v1.62 (release notes)

Manuals

Legacy v1.62
Black Sea v1.62 (NOTE: The Black Sea and other editions have exactly the same functionality, just different colored LEDs that are described accurately in this version.)

Other

Tutorials

Editing Track Directions
Emulating Notron Supersteps
LFO Type Modulations
Real Time MIDI CC Control
YouTube tutorials on my channel playlist below:

Links

Yahoo Groups (lots of documentation and updated OS for Octopus and Nemo)

Roland ProForm Series [TR-606 & TB-303] :: Obliq Museum

Posted on January 23, 2014 by davealex

Was doing some cleaning and found this ad from an old Roland Users Group brochure. I had no clue these were from the ProForm Series of musical instruments. What is lost with time…they don’t talk about what the TR and TB stand for… Transistor Rhythm and Transistor Bassline. Everything is COMPUTER CONTROLLED !

I love the tagline at the end… Roland :: We Want You To Understand The Future. I guess they hit that nail directly on the head!

Roland ProForm Advertisement TR-606 and TB-303

The new Roland ProForm Series is a group of interrelated products, each providing a specific musical function. Like individual members of a band, each of the ProForm products can sync with others in the series to produce a totally programmable musical performance. The first of the products in the ProForm Series are the TR-606 Drumatix and the TB-303 Bassline.

TR-606 Drumatix

The Drumatix is a totally programmable drum synthesizer sequencer. The Drum sounds available on the TR-606 include: Bass, Snare, Lo and Hi Toms, Cymbal, Open and Closed Hi Hat. Each sound has its own level control for total mix flexibility.

With the Drumatix, you can program 32 different Rhythm Patterns which can be arranged to play up to 8 complete Rhythm Tracks (songs). After the Track has been programmed, the TR-606 can easily sync to other ProForm products, or many other products to play the complete drum track of the composition.

TB-303 BassLine

As the Drumatix is to the drums, the TB-303 is to the Bass, a fully programmable bass synthesizer sequencer. The remarkable stable synthesizer section features full voice flexibility with dual waveforms and controls for Tuning, VCF Cutoff, Resonance, Envelope Modulation and Decay. The programmable Accent and Slide functions bring true bass technique capabilities to the TB-303.

With the facility to produce up to 64 different Bass Patterns, the TB_303 BassLine allows you to arrange these into 7 different Bass Tracks, which can then be synced with Drum Tracks you’ve programmed into the Drumatix. The BassLine also can be easily synced with many other products by the DIN Sync jack or the CV and Gate outputs.

The ProForm Series is bound to appeal to any creative person for writing music, practicing, or simply communicating ideas to other musicians. Each of the products (and their are more to come), is battery operated with AC adapter capability, totally portable, furnished with a carrying case, and also contains a built-in headphone amplifier which lets you plug in a set of phones and write and practice music anywhere.

Roland

We Want You to Understand the Future

Yamaha DX-7 :: Obliq Museum

Posted on July 22, 2013 by davealex

I had found this synthesizer on Craigslist about a month ago but I never heard back from the seller and thought that the synthesizer was already purchased…but several weeks later I saw the ad reposted so I tried again. This time I was able to get in touch with the sellers and made arrangements to pick up before I left for a quick weekend out of town. The weather, however, halted me near Manitou Springs because of a flash flood on Highway 24 at Cave of the Winds. Frustrated, I was turned back and didn’t know if I would ever be able to make the deal happen.

I was able to pick up the synth over a week later as the kids and I were using a rain check at the Topaz mine near Lake George and were passing through Florissant on the way. So on 7/20/2013 early in the morning we were finally able to meet up with the seller and pick up this classic vintage synthesizer.

Classic Yamaha DX-7

Upon getting the synthesizer home we plugged it in and everything was working as advertised. There were a couple of cosmetic flaws that need to be addressed:

1) The data slider cap is missing

2) The left side panel is broken

3) The right side panel, and back right-lower corner is bent, but luckily not broken. Obviously this has been dropped several times so I would like to try and pull out the dent in the corner of the metal.

4) The unit was near a painting project at one point of time and the left side is speckled with paint. The paint had gotten onto the keys too which gives them a not-so-pleasant playing experience.

5) When turning on, the “low battery” notification shows. I did the onboard battery check and it stated it was at 2.3V. The battery is soldered to the motherboard; so there will have to be some disassembly to work on this issue.

6) The volume slider needs cleaned; it is very scratchy when moving. Likewise, the data slider it jittery when trying to program; I suspect a good potentiometer cleaning will do the trick.

7) The lone mono output jack appears to be loose; which may be because it was dropped?

8) The modulation wheel is VERY loose; although still 100% functional. I should be able to tighten this up once I have it apart.

9) There is a crack on the front panel membrane on 28. I’m not sure how I’ll fix this; I may tape it from behind to prevent further cracking.

But given its age, all-in-all it is in great cosmetic condition and appears to be nearly 100% functional! I am ordering a used left side panel, brand new 3V battery and a used slider cap from syntaur.com. I will then open up the DX-7 and operate to fix all most of the issues, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I need to figure out how to remove the unwanted paint still; scraping the keys with my fingernails helped; but I am still not satisfied with the “feel” and have only done a half-dozen keys so far.

As an added bonus, the synthesizer came with several extras:

Switch pedal which can be used for Portamento or Sustain
Volume pedal which can be used for Modulation or Volume
ROM Cartridge #3 (Master Group / Keyboard & Plucked Group)
ROM Cartridge #4 (Orchestral & Percussive Group / Complex & Effects Group)
RAM Cartridge (in original box)
Sheet Music holder

Yamaha DX-7 Accessories

I found a copy of the “DX7 Bible” called The Complete DX7 by Howard Massey online (it is long out of print and hard to find original copies) on a Yahoo Group which I have read is a must for really digging into and learning to program the synth. Another resource is the June 1985 Keyboard Magazine article on programming. I found a HUGE stash and information site of commercial patterns/presets for the synth that can be loaded via Sysex! This site has a ton of information on the DX-7 too.

Reading through various forums, many folks recommend software editors but someone posted in an online forum that the User Interface is actually pretty logical and once you get your head around how it works it is pretty easy to program directly. I like to program without a computer so this intrigues me. I recently picked up a Roland JX-3P and most people are the same here; with the new user interface that was popular in 1983+ people now just hate when there isn’t a knob for every function to make programming very tactile. But I found that the UI of the JX-3P is *very* simple and I don’t need an expensive PG-200 programmer; furthermore other synthesizers of this era are selling for what I consider rock-bottom prices now; simply because of the UI; which is good for someone like me who doesn’t mind not having 30+ sliders/knobs! Back to the DX-7, on the forums another person gave the advice to learn the Envelope Generators and options first to make it easier and fun to program.

I am borrowing a Jabrudian Industries Missing Link wifi unit and there is a great editor for the iPad (or iPhone?) using TouchOSC that I can’t wait to try! I’m glad to have one of these classic “Analog-killer” Frequency Modulation synthesizers in the studio!

The Yamaha DX-7 came out in 1983 when the MIDI interface/protocol was brand new and was a smash; it’s line ended up being the top selling synthesizer ever! This was because the sounds were very contemporary and you could save all your sounds quickly for instant recall. At the time the 13-bit “digital” sound was new and clean (yet a bit grittier than later Yamaha FM synthesizers) and much easier to deal with and take on the road than an Analog beast.

Obliq Service Center – Elektron Repair

Posted on July 17, 2013 by obliq

Elektron Repair Session! Nathan and Jahnavi stopped by and we replaced broken potentiometers on our Elektron MachineDrums and MonoMachines! It was a great evening when we got everything working again!

Here are the basic repair instructions that inspired us to do this ourselves…although we found there wasn’t much of a need to take apart the encoders if you get all the solder with a good solder sucker and wick.

Check out Nate & Jahnavi’s photos of the session!

Moog Modular Schematic Blueprints :: Obliq Museum

Posted on May 1, 2013 by davealex

Moog 901-A Oscillator Controller, Drawing 1100, July 2, 1969

About 16 years ago I bought a PolyMoog Synthesizer from a Pawn Shop up in Brighton. It was in good shape and came with the PolyPedal, but didn’t have the legs or power cord. I found a computer power cord in the shop and asked the broker if I could give it a try. At first he was reluctant, but then allowed me to try. It acted as if it had a stuck key; I knew this could be a much bigger issue than just a key; so I talked to him and got a really good deal on it!

I bought the schematics and operations manuals online and took it apart and looked to see if it was something mechanical or “simple”…but I was unable to figure out the issue. I figured I’d send it out to a tech sometime; but given its weight I wanted the tech to be close to home. Meanwhile, I found a PolyMoog Road Kit on eBay and I won that auction. This parts kit was essential for bands who were on the road with one of these beasts, so I was told. This came from a former employee that worked in the Moog Trumansburg Factory. He included with this auction lot several Moog schematic blueprints and an EMU modular catalog!!! *BONUS* 🙂

Fast forward 15+ years… I found a great tech here locally just a few months back (Chris Rowland, offbeat electronics) — who I highly recommend, btw — who has put to good use that PolyMoog Road Kit. I hope to get my Moog back in pristine working condition here shortly. Meanwhile, I finally took some photos of these schematics that I have framed and hanging in my man-cave. Click on them for a larger image; and some didn’t come out as clear as I wanted; if you want higher resolution let me know and I’ll work harder to get a better shot!

Here are some more schematics and a great article.

Here is the full list of schematics:

901-A Oscillator Controller (July 2, 1969 #1000)
901-C Output Stage (February 14, 1967 #1126)
904-A Low Pass Filter (July 27, 1967 #1149)
904-B High Pass Filter (December 1966 #1118)
904-C Voltage Controlled Filter Coupler (July 14, 1967 #1148)
905 Reverberation (July 26, 1966 #1104)
910 Power Supply (March 8, 1965 #1058)
911 Envelope Generator (August 14, 1968 #1220)
911-A Dual Trigger Delay (July 13, 1967 #1146)
912 Envelope Follower (March 10, 1967 #1130)
914 Fixed Filter Bank (June 28, 1967 #1142)
961 Controller
1150 Ribbon Controller
Synthesizer 10 (December 30, 1969 #1374)
Console Panel 3 (February 27, 1968 #1170)

If you have any of these, or have images or links to others, please post in the comments; I would love to see more! These look great framed and hanging on the walls!

Moog 904-A Low Pass Filter Schematic, Drawing 1149, July 25, 1967

Moog 904-B High Pass Filter Schematic, Drawing 1118, December 1966

Moog 905 Reverberation Schematic, Drawing 1104, July 26, 1966

Moog 961 Interface Schematics

Moog Synthesizer 10 Schematics, Drawing 1374, December 30, 1969

Roland HS-60 / SynthPlus 60 / Juno-106 :: Obliq Museum

Posted on April 18, 2013 by davealex

Roland Home Series Synth Plus 60

I found this locally from a really cool guy near town this week. Ended up heading up during a blizzard and was stopped on the interstate due to multiple wrecks…ended up getting led off the interstate by turning around and going the wrong way to the nearest on-ramp…I thought the synth was gone as the seller said there were other interested parties…but the next day it was available and I went to pick it up.

The synth overall was in wonderful shape; there were only two real issues with it:
1) The rate slider was broken off; thus missing the slider cap too.
2) The Bender plate/mechanism is pretty loose.
3) The sheet music holder is missing
4) There is a screened on logo of the keyboard store in Omaha front/center of the unit (I would never have bought this new with that on it!)

Great shape except the broken slider, and screened logo of the original seller!

So, I pulled out the schematic from the internet and saw that all but the HPF sliders are 50K so I found one (with a Juno slider cap!) and have it on order. I should have this early next week and will pull this apart and fix that slider and tighten the Bender plate! I’m going to not worry about the other two issues.

Close up of the Control Panel...

The HS stood for Home Series and Roland had several in this line during the mid-80s. The thought I think was to give these to aspiring musicians and people taking piano lessons at home or school. To make it more “home” friendly they stripped the colors of the Juno-106 and added speakers–which sound very nice in my opinion!

The interface of this synth! MIDI In/Out/Thru and program protect are not shown

Even though there is only one DCO per voice; this 6 voice machine has classic, wonderful sounds. You can stack all 6 DCOs at once which has a really thick and aggressive sound! You can also add one of the two Chorus features which also thickens the sound…the Chorus functions are really sweet! I have owned several Juno-106s in the past; but for whatever reason I got rid of them (trades, etc) and lately I have been wanting back that “classic” Roland sound back in my studio! That occurred this week! I also got a hefty anvil case with this synth, although its a pretty tight fit…

The heavy duty Anvil case

Both kids like it as well! I look forward to plugging it into the genoQs Octopus sequencer and having some fun! I’ve also picked up the Roland JX-3P lately so I think I’ll have a dueling Roland session with the Octopus soon!

RESTORATION UPDATE: 4/27/2013

I purchased a 50k slider on eBay that had a slider cap (unfortunately white) and finally got around to taking the HS-60 apart and replacing that slider. Pulling off the 5 screws per side in the plastic siding, and then the 2 screws per PCB (main PCB and MIDI) on the back, and finally the 6 or 7 screws from the panel PCB.

HS-60 encased speakers

These speakers get REALLY loud; I usually have the volume at 3 or 4. The inside of the synthesizer was VERY clean!

Juno 106 and HS 60 Jack PCB.

The boards and assembly are really professional in the HS-60. The panel in on a taught hinge which made it really easy to work on.

The Panel Board - 50K rate slider Fixed!

The LFO rate slider is all the way on the left. This 50k slider was super quick to replace once I got to it. I had to take off the Panel PCB, MIDI Jack PCB and Jack PCB. Overall, this took about 45 minutes to complete.

Cool HS Shadows

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Category Archives: Synthesizer Museum