JX-305 LCD screen needed!

found the answer to my own question for anyone else who may be looking;

The mc-505 replacement screens will work with a jx-305, however it will be a royal pain in the @$$ to get it to mount. You'll have a hard time getting it in there, but if you're up for it, they DO work.

I'm curious about an update on this. I'm on the fence about a Roland JX-305 and would like to know if you were able to find an LCD replacement. Have you had any other issues?

Thanks!

Jim

My display also shows signs of degeneration. A vertical line has gone out.
I had the flash rom desoldered in 2012 and was happy it worked well.
Hopefully it will work for some years to come?
Does anyone know where to get replacements or do I have to cannibalise another unit where the flash rom has gone?

Ok, I found this blog: http://blog.loco-toys.de/wordpress/2011/08/jx-305-wiederbelebung/
I think I will use this Info and do the repair myself with a blue(!) LCD. It´s written in german btw. If someone is really interested I can translate what is written.

I've fixed the display of an MC-505 with a new blue one. Works fine and looks wayyy cool. Now I got a JX-305 with display outages AND the freezing problem. Replaced the display temporarily with an original 505 one which also works fine (applied the ironing trick before). The freezing appears only now and then and recovers whec you physically press on the chips on the mainboard. So it really seems some kind of microcracks in the soldering joints. Right now I'm unsure what to do as the soldering on the mainboard is so tiny, I don't think I can do that myself. Anyone know as service shop who does that for some money?

@tempo0310 - Where do you live? Here in Berlin you can go to http://www.xtended.de Xtended. One of the very motivated technicians did the soldering for me. He also described the method to me. You have to use a 15W iron with a small needle on top, the thin long ones you used to pin shirts together with. It´s a very painful method but it worked after reloading the firmware. Good luck!

Thanks for the lightningfast answer Saxifraga! I challenged my luck and first resoldered the power cable points (was mentioned elswhere as a possible fix) which did not help anything and then - carefully - started with IC1, top side of the PCB. It looks like this now:



Well, the force was with me - it was the right spot on the first hit! The machine is working flawlessly for more than 3 hours now. Now I'm waiting for two new blue displays (shipping from Hongkong) to permanently fix this machine and another MC-505 i got for cheap and am reworking now. Have you already replaced yours? Oh btw, I live near Wuppertal, so bringing it to Berlin would not have been the nearest choice :)

That's nice to hear. Another great synthesizer has been saved from an early grave. (Ok, it´s just a ROMpler) ;)
I wonder how many JX-305 have been destroyed because the owners had no clue how to fix this production problem (SMD). I think there should be an EU Norm requiering ICs to be seated in sockets.

I haven't found time yet to replace the display, but all parts are allready here. Will try it maybe next week.
Do you know where to connect to the +5V, if I remember the correct voltage? The photos I got from the above mentioned webpage are not very specific regading the cable connections. If you know the exact location I would be very happy to see a photo in your next post!? (We can also talk about the details with PMs in german. It´s sometimes not easy to explain it in english.)

Have a nice tuesday!

I just bought one this Thursday from a pawnshop for rather cheap, in good condition, I was looking into the hardware sequencers range but MC series and Akai MPCs are not that easy to find, and I remembered I saw this one for months in the shop, so lucky I was to be able to find a nice multitimbral midi loop sequencer in a keyboard format, and with styles and rhythms and arp and hundreds of sounds with that!

The LCD has a few dead lines but it's still readable perfectly, and I hope the chip issue won't bother me too soon... I guess if it made it till now it'll last.

At first it's a little confusing but now that I read the manual it's the perfect tool for what I'll be doing with it : real time midi looping/jamming with the Integra-7 and a bunch of other synths and keyboards. I'm surprised it sounds so good compared to the Integra-7, I mean it's not so bad for a synth that's 15 years old, at least it's not 10 times worst that I could expect comparing the prices of the two.. But I'll be using it mostly as a midi engine/keyboard, since the Integra and the other synths I have in the midi loop cover for the sounds.

I can describe the loop, Korg M1-> Roland JX-305-> Yamaha DX7II E! Grey Matter!-> Behringer BCF-2000-> Integra-7-> Roland D-550-> midified Juno-6. On the other side, a 73 Rhodes with a Clavinet D6 on the top of it. I could have done with the Korg sequencer, but it's short in memory and you can't loop more than one pattern at a time. The DX7II E! offer complete 32 channel multitimbrality and a sequencer, but it's not fun to use (also it's a nice classic synth with a good keyboard to play), the CDH midified Juno-6 (which also have an audio input mod providing chorus for a console send) is attached to a EHX 8 step sequencer for the filter, with the voltage gate mod to sync without the need of a midi through box. Add a few effects and amp sim with audio looper, wah for the electromechanical keyboards, and it's a fun real time/improvisation oriented setup with vintage and classic instruments, far from the computer and it's dead workflow (after many years of using it for me at least), and also far from the do-it-all Yamaha Motif kind of solution, which I refuse even if it's fun to toy with.

Anyway, I updated the firmware of the JX-305 to 1.06 but couldn't find the 1.07 because the ftp at Roland's is dead. Would anyone happen to have this file to pass me over by any chance please?

Hi lol, I looked but couldn't find a download for the JX-305 1.07 eiter. The best I found was a linklist at Roland Greece, where many international Roland sites are listed, some of which indeed host their own asset library:
http://www.roland.gr/, then click on links. Where did you find the 1.06 download?

I found the 1.06 firmware here http://techno-id.tripod.com/synthes.htm

Don't send the 16 mid files too fast (I did it @120 but maybe faster would work good too), and make sure you leave a few seconds between each segment so that the JX calculates the checksum properly for each. You can check the result each time but if should work good anyway. The procedure to get to the update in the JX is described here for instance http://boomboompash.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/repair-braindead-roland-jx-305/

Tadaa! After successfully blueing and reconditioning two MC-505s and waiting 3 weeks for a delayed LCD shipment, I finally implanted my first blue LCD into my 305 today. And this is what it looks like now:



blue night shadow:

So that's great now you've got the screen working perfectly!

One thing you might want to do is to change the 56 tactile switches so that it feels responsive as new, about 30-45 depending on currency, for example VintagePlanet has them, selling on ebay in some country or direct order, very reliable and fast shipping! I just did that to my pawnshop jx-305, it's not long, just make sure you write it down the where and how to reassemble, and pay attention to the cables they have no plugging sockets and can get damaged easily I guess. You can also swap the pots and the encoder for new ones but it's hardly that they would become dead as tactile switches can be (or having you forcing on the buttons, which lead to break them and use the synth less and less as it's a pain to have it functioning well)

While you're at it you can wash the casing and the buttons with some detergent.

Then the next move could be to get to the attic and find your card reader that could handle 5V Smartmedia cards, because you will absolutely want to get hold of one of these cards to deal with easy backups and memory shortage, and you can buy one from this seller on ebay who is inexpensive, fast and reliable : http://www.ebay.com/itm/2MB-5V-5volt-SmartMedia-Card-SM-GENUINE-Brand-NEW-Made-in-Japan-ROLAND-BOSS-/370652355092?pt=Digital_Camera_Memory_Cards&hash=item564c9a1a14 It's only 2MB cards he's selling, but it's plenty enough for storing and moving data around!

After that, about this jx-305 synth, I find personally it's a really greatly velocity scaled keyboard for playing synths parts fast and expressively (saying that from a pianist perspective), and it's got assignable pedal input for any cc you'd like, potentiometers and buttons for real time midi control, direct panel access to midi channels 1-7 and 10, a neat sequencer allowing for serious sketches and real time 8x midi looping (up to 8000 events in an 8 parts x 32 bar pattern at a time, plus song mode) and a nice real time mute and mixing ability as well. There's also a useful complex arpeggio at your disposal, complex yet easy real time groove control and swing quantization. There's also this real time phrase thing that I didn't yet investigated much as it seems not to relay midi. I won't be using the local sounds much (no time for that, but it's certainly worth investigating on this too!), but I can't imagine a better midi keyboard with such a great sequencer for the ~250 price range I paid for it (all expanses included). If you are tired of mousing around to make music, this machine can do a lot to start making music again for real!

So and about the latest OS 1.07, still no a good soul to pass it over please? I can't find it anywhere..

the cables they have no plugging sockets and can get damaged easily I guess.
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