Did you finally manage to solve the problem with the screen? I have the same issue on my mkII( display just shows crazy characters, not even letters sometimes but if I take out the battery and put it back in, then everything is fine. After the drum machine has been left without power for several days, the problem returns( there is a feeling that some capacitor is discharging
Hi @maximustot8441 I have to be honest it is one of those projects that was put on the back burner while other things took priority. In the meantime I have bought a working screen for the Roland R-8. And your probably aware getting hold of screens for this instrument is near impossible, so I was lucky to find it on one of the portals. It is my intention to test the screen and logic chip over the summer 2024, so that I can put this drum machine back into operation at some point. Jon
Thank you for your video! I have a Roland R-8 and it has a problem of randomly resetting to the default factory setup. It doesn't store the programmed patterns (user patterns). I opened the drum machine and changed the battery with no positive results. Any thoughts, ideas, problem solving for this situation? Do you know a place that I can ship the unit to be completely checked and repaired correctly though? Thank you!
Have you subscribed :-) @Marcelo Quinones. To be honest it sounds like the RAM chip that holds the R8’s settings is not receiving power. I know that you have said you have opened up the R8 and changed the battery. Did you test the battery before install to ensure it is giving out 3.2v? The second think I would look at is the battery holder correctly seated, does it make contact with the circuit board. Get a meter and trace the track from both the positive and negative legs of the battery to another part of the board and see if you are still seeing 3.2V. The final test I would do is to look up the R8 service manual. I believe that there should be a +3.2V on pins 20 and 28 of IC10. This is the volatile memory chip where the settings and sounds are stored. If no voltage this could indicate a dry joint or broken board track. In terms of service centre. If you post your territory (not address) as a reply then maybe someone can recommend a local guy that could help you. Jon
If you play your R8 through external speaker, do you get any echo when you use the pads, e.g. dry kick has an echo of at least a half second and I do not know how to make corrections to eliminate the echo.
Hi @Victor Osborne There should be no difference between an external speaker and head phones. Both are amplified from the same source. Are you sure you don't have an echo or reverb in the audio circuit, maybe on a send / return? Have you tried a factory reset? Remember that this will wipe out any custom sounds you have in the unit, so remember to back them up. I think this video shows how to do a factory reset following the battery change . th-cam.com/video/g0pQWijUoCY/w-d-xo.html. Jon
Any luck repairing the display? I just pulled my R-8 out storage & the display is messed up. Turn it on & the display lights up with solid blocks & then fades to completely blank. I have changed the battery but it did not make a difference. Do LCD's go bad over time? I packed the R-8 in the OEM box with all original internal safety packaging as it came & stored it close to 20 years ago. It was working perfectly fine when put away & to the best of my knowledge has not been miss handled or damaged since. The battery I replaced is measuring 2.30V. & the new battery is 2.96V. Is this just a paper weight now?
Have you subscribed? :-) Absolutely none at the moment. The problem is that Roland In there wisdom used a custom display and I haven’t found anyone that has stock or anything that might be compatible. LCD do go bad they fad because they loose the liquid. This either leaks to the space between the glass and the display (which is normally a black display) or leaks outside the unit in which there is not enough to generate the characters and it starts to look faded. If I find a supply of these I’ll let people know through the channel. Jon
I have a older extensive Midi setup I used for years in live shows. I still use it and have two R5 and realized watching this that in close to 20 years I never changed the batteries out and how it has held the drum program memories is a mystery. I heard you say a R5 is more difficult to change. Question how do you save the internal memory when changing out the battery. Do you leave it plugged in and swap the battery out? I never saved these R5 to tape or Midi. I did with all the other keyboards over the years.
Have you subscribed? ;-) The think about these units is that they only use the battery when they are not plugged into the mains. If you have been using it all the time then you will not have too much draw on the battery. You need to back up the memory prior to swapping the battery as it will go back to default settings as soon as the battery is removed. There are two ways to back up the memory. One is very old school and save to tape. The second is a MIDI dump. I'll be doing a video on this on the channel shortly. Jon
@@TheMusicTechGuyUK thanks I did recently do a tape backup though I could do midi dump as well. I found I did this I guess many years ago but forgot. I did use both these units for years but then they sat off in studio a good 10 years and the battery has still the original one in unit thats close to 20 years and both units I own are holding memory and I did lots of edits a note assignments as one was always a backup in case one crashed at show when I used the R5 solid for 15 years. I found recently since I became very good at programming full songs from patterns I created along with fills and set full arrangments off the R5 as the 1st thing I do to set a new song up for recording. I use it now to record. If you set it up right EQ it add effects and record it in stereo it makes great drum recordings. It still has a great acoustic sound.
Hi Ed. As you say the R5 was a cracking drum machine. I was unaware of it existence until it arrived with my R8. The R8 used the same sound sources as the R8 so it is no wonder it gave good results. I will admit you have done well on the batteries. The manufacturers state a maximum working life of 10 years. Jon
The display on my R8 has gone totally black where the letters/numbers/info should be. It also doesn't function anymore. I also tried changing the battery to no avail. Looking forward to your next video.
Unfortunately, I think the LCD display has been damaged. The black you refer to is the Liquid from Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) has escaped and got between the front and display. I could be wrong but I feel that has what has happened. If this is the case then to be blunt the display is toast. The real issue with the display used in the Roland R8 is that it is a custom display, and again I may be wrong, but I do not think that there are OLED substitutes that could be used instead of the LCD used in the unit. Maybe an engineer out there can come up with an alternative. Jon
@@TheMusicTechGuyUK Happy to share. Looking forward to you showing how to do a midi backup before I swap out my battery ( should really be called a cell, but let's not get pedantic about it)
Did you finally manage to solve the problem with the screen? I have the same issue on my mkII(
display just shows crazy characters, not even letters sometimes
but if I take out the battery and put it back in, then everything is fine. After the drum machine has been left without power for several days, the problem returns( there is a feeling that some capacitor is discharging
Hi @maximustot8441
I have to be honest it is one of those projects that was put on the back burner while other things took priority.
In the meantime I have bought a working screen for the Roland R-8. And your probably aware getting hold of screens for this instrument is near impossible, so I was lucky to find it on one of the portals.
It is my intention to test the screen and logic chip over the summer 2024, so that I can put this drum machine back into operation at some point. Jon
Thank you for your video! I have a Roland R-8 and it has a problem of randomly resetting to the default factory setup. It doesn't store the programmed patterns (user patterns). I opened the drum machine and changed the battery with no positive results. Any thoughts, ideas, problem solving for this situation? Do you know a place that I can ship the unit to be completely checked and repaired correctly though? Thank you!
Have you subscribed :-)
@Marcelo Quinones. To be honest it sounds like the RAM chip that holds the R8’s settings is not receiving power. I know that you have said you have opened up the R8 and changed the battery. Did you test the battery before install to ensure it is giving out 3.2v?
The second think I would look at is the battery holder correctly seated, does it make contact with the circuit board. Get a meter and trace the track from both the positive and negative legs of the battery to another part of the board and see if you are still seeing 3.2V.
The final test I would do is to look up the R8 service manual. I believe that there should be a +3.2V on pins 20 and 28 of IC10. This is the volatile memory chip where the settings and sounds are stored. If no voltage this could indicate a dry joint or broken board track.
In terms of service centre. If you post your territory (not address) as a reply then maybe someone can recommend a local guy that could help you. Jon
5:49 and business end of the screw driver
Hi @Steven Clements
Yep you always mean business with a screw driver lol. Jon
If you play your R8 through external speaker, do you get any echo when you use the pads, e.g. dry kick has an echo of at least a half second and I do not know how to make corrections to eliminate the echo.
Hi @Victor Osborne
There should be no difference between an external speaker and head phones. Both are amplified from the same source.
Are you sure you don't have an echo or reverb in the audio circuit, maybe on a send / return?
Have you tried a factory reset? Remember that this will wipe out any custom sounds you have in the unit, so remember to back them up.
I think this video shows how to do a factory reset following the battery change . th-cam.com/video/g0pQWijUoCY/w-d-xo.html. Jon
Any luck repairing the display? I just pulled my R-8 out storage & the display is messed up. Turn it on & the display lights up with solid blocks & then fades to completely blank. I have changed the battery but it did not make a difference. Do LCD's go bad over time? I packed the R-8 in the OEM box with all original internal safety packaging as it came & stored it close to 20 years ago. It was working perfectly fine when put away & to the best of my knowledge has not been miss handled or damaged since. The battery I replaced is measuring 2.30V. & the new battery is 2.96V. Is this just a paper weight now?
Have you subscribed? :-)
Absolutely none at the moment. The problem is that Roland In there wisdom used a custom display and I haven’t found anyone that has stock or anything that might be compatible.
LCD do go bad they fad because they loose the liquid. This either leaks to the space between the glass and the display (which is normally a black display) or leaks outside the unit in which there is not enough to generate the characters and it starts to look faded.
If I find a supply of these I’ll let people know through the channel. Jon
I have a older extensive Midi setup I used for years in live shows. I still use it and have two R5 and realized watching this that in close to 20 years I never changed the batteries out and how it has held the drum program memories is a mystery. I heard you say a R5 is more difficult to change. Question how do you save the internal memory when changing out the battery. Do you leave it plugged in and swap the battery out? I never saved these R5 to tape or Midi. I did with all the other keyboards over the years.
Have you subscribed? ;-)
The think about these units is that they only use the battery when they are not plugged into the mains. If you have been using it all the time then you will not have too much draw on the battery.
You need to back up the memory prior to swapping the battery as it will go back to default settings as soon as the battery is removed. There are two ways to back up the memory. One is very old school and save to tape. The second is a MIDI dump.
I'll be doing a video on this on the channel shortly. Jon
@@TheMusicTechGuyUK thanks I did recently do a tape backup though I could do midi dump as well. I found I did this I guess many years ago but forgot.
I did use both these units for years but then they sat off in studio a good 10 years and the battery has still the original one in unit thats close to 20 years and both units I own are holding memory and I did lots of edits a note assignments as one was always a backup in case one crashed at show when I used the R5 solid for 15 years.
I found recently since I became very good at programming full songs from patterns I created along with fills and set full arrangments off the R5 as the 1st thing I do to set a new song up for recording. I use it now to record. If you set it up right EQ it add effects and record it in stereo it makes great drum recordings. It still has a great acoustic sound.
Hi Ed. As you say the R5 was a cracking drum machine. I was unaware of it existence until it arrived with my R8. The R8 used the same sound sources as the R8 so it is no wonder it gave good results.
I will admit you have done well on the batteries. The manufacturers state a maximum working life of 10 years. Jon
Will be interesting to watch your troubleshooting steps to resolve the funky display issue.
@Shawn Curran. Yep. that will be some head scratching and more researching. Jon
Urgently send me information in Roland drum with card card thank you so much
See the reply to your comment on 'when is a masterclass' video. Jon
For less than the price of a cup of coffee, support the channel, join the TMTG community: themusictechguyuk.me/Community
The display on my R8 has gone totally black where the letters/numbers/info should be. It also doesn't function anymore. I also tried changing the battery to no avail. Looking forward to your next video.
Unfortunately, I think the LCD display has been damaged. The black you refer to is the Liquid from Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) has escaped and got between the front and display. I could be wrong but I feel that has what has happened. If this is the case then to be blunt the display is toast.
The real issue with the display used in the Roland R8 is that it is a custom display, and again I may be wrong, but I do not think that there are OLED substitutes that could be used instead of the LCD used in the unit.
Maybe an engineer out there can come up with an alternative. Jon
Your battery checker will test the cell under load, the multimeter will just read the voltage, which is not quite the same.
Hi @Smelter57
Thanks for the clarification. Posted for the rest of the community. Jon
@@TheMusicTechGuyUK Happy to share. Looking forward to you showing how to do a midi backup before I swap out my battery ( should really be called a cell, but let's not get pedantic about it)
Hi @smelter57. Yes I will get around to making that video shortly. Jon
Good information bro but is 15 minutes of undoing screws and heavy breathing and 3 minutes of actual information necessary?
Hi @craigwilliams7620 Thanks you for your feedback. Jon