My Roland story is a Jupiter-4. A friend told me he'd seen a used JP-4 for sale at a local dealer. I tested it out at the store and fell in love with the sound and bought it then and there. I didn't do my homework though because one of the 4 voice cards wasn't working properly. Taught myself electronics trying to fix that synth and eventually diagnosed a broken op-amp. Managed to buy another broken voice card and salvaged its op-amps and repaired the JP-4. I still have that JP-4 in my studio and love it to bits.
Custodian, archivist, researcher, historian, storyteller, composer... musician through & through--damn, Alex, you make some wonderfully valuable content. Cheers for sharing it with us!
Fantastic stories Mr. Ball! My notable Roland story, aside from being named Roland at birth, an evergreen opportunity for jest by salespeople at music stores, is that I found my first synth, a Juno-60 on the street, intended for pickup by the local refuse company the next morning. As I often do on "garbage night", while walking back from a restaurant in my San Francisco residential neighborhood, I paid attention to what had been left out for the next morning pickup. I've found lots of great stuff over the years, but nothing like what I was about to find. Leaning against a tree, next to a garbage bin, was what looked like fairly large keyboard. Moving closer I saw that it was a very dirty Roland Juno-60. While I pulled it away from the tree to examine all sides, a woman's voice, raspy and suggesting a heavy smoker, penetrated that night's thick fog. "It works. You just gotta plug in some headphones." I asked if I could take it, she said yes and I brought it home. The cord was attached with only the ground broken off. I plugged it in. It powered up. And after a few minutes it was producing sound. The key transpose button was missing, but otherwise intact. It cleaned up nicely and although I should still bring it in for service, it works admirably well. This was about 10 years ago and the beginning of a mid-life synth journey.
I bought my SH-5 in 1996 (7500 SEK Swedish crowns). It was 20 years old and newly serviced. That was almost 27 years ago. Just seeing it inspires me. It's very much alive and never quite stops bleeping and blooping. The filters sound really special and sending drums through it gives this sweet distortion. Brutal, but never harsh.
The SH-5 is a really great one, I can imagine that continues to inspire! I also love how they put "computer interface" on the rear of it, meaning "this is where you connect the CV/gate to a sequencer". That and the Data-70 font and you can see where their head was at, but the analogueness of it is what it's all about. Glad yours is still getting love.
Love the System 100M-stories! :) I have a few similar, but seldom related to Roland. My dearest Roland memory involves my very first analogue synth. It was a SH-09 that belonged to my high school in the late 80's. It was my first encounter with synthesis, synths in general and the raw and unprocessed sound of a plain mono through an amp and I was hooked. Add the digital craze of the day, my mum the music teacher, communal cleaning frenzy and me being there to save it from a bin and presto... it's still here in my studio to this day. bonus: My SH-5 was bought from a hip hop collective who had just used it as a (very bulky!) bandpass filter. :D
Ah, glad you saved the SH-09, I salute you! I've heard similar stories of amazing synths (e.g. ARP 2600) being cleared out of educational establishments. I think Daniel Miller even got a Synthi 100 that way. SH-5 - a great bandpass filter, perhaps a tad big, ha. Reminds me that a friend sold an RS-505 to a band who used it as a giant chorus pedal via the external in.
My first memorable Roland story was back in 1990 and the autumn vacation that year. I had saved up about 1500 NOK (approx 150 USD) to buy the less fabled Roland MPU-IPC-T, MIDI interface for my 80286 AT at the time. My mom drove me the entire 1,5 hrs drive from our hometown down to Gjøvik Musikk - the closest and at the time, best music store there was. Now, at this point, I only had my Technics KN-1000 arranger keyboard, and nothing else to use with it. However, being totally awesome (and they still are), the guys at the store let me borrow the CM-32L for the entire week I had my vacation. I remember playing every possible computer game from Sierra, Lucasarts, Microprose and all the other until I almost collapsed early in the morning! At the time, this module cost about 500 USD and was well out of my reach, but just a year or two later it was dropped to about 150 USD and I of course snagged it instantly! I still have this in my collection and have added several of the others and some extras these past few years. I also remember borrowing an MKS-30 at this time from a guy, but I never realised what I was holding in my hand and I didn't really care for the sounds then. Without the programmer, it wasn't easy to use either. This and an Oberheim Matrix 6 was almost forgotten in my bedroom. It seems I could have kept them and the guy wouldn't notice... but being honest as I am, I told him about it and returned it. Kinda wish I hadn't these days, but I have my own MKS-30 now, so it's alright. ;)
Ah, those are some nice stories. I contributed to the section that covers the CM-32L in the Roland book funnily enough. Matrix 6 / MKS-30 - that is interesting. I guess there was a period where these were just dated synths that sounded like music from 10 years ago, making them basically useless. Who knew?
I was stationed in the UK in the 80's at RAF Alconbury near Huntingdon & Cambridge. I was a gear head, still am and spent a lot of time at the Cambridge Rock Shop. I was noodling on a Juno-106 they had and asked if I could buy it. The price was a little steep but I traded a DX-7 for it. The 106 followed me around the world, the case is bent Ive had to replace a board and repair another due to movers, but almost 40 years later sounds great plays great.
My schoolmate bought a 606 in 86. We ended up using on House music demo’s that DJ Jazzy M played on his radio show the Jackin Zone on LWR. I still have a couple of the shows on tape, but found even more stuff he played of ours on YT which I’d forgotten about. In some cases I’m glad I did forget:). Also used on the first few records put out. I know he sold the 606 years ago as we started using samplers. I still use many Roland VST’s, escpecially the 727.
Impressive that the tapes survived! You've reminded me that I have a 606 that's been out for a couple of years now. Will have to grab it back soon, fun little box.
The first synth I brought brand spanking new was a Roland JP8000, purchased with my first two months salary after leaving uni. I'd only gone into the music shop to buy a couple of MIDI leads. 23 years later, a few internal battery changes, and a complete refurbishment, it's still going strong. I have no idea what happened to the MIDI leads.
@@AlexBallMusic Just remembered another Roland story, but this time a near miss. Back in the early 2000s, I used to walk past a second-hand shop on my way home from work, and they had a Juno 106 in the window for what must have been several weeks, or even months. They were asking £350 for it, and that was what my monthly rent was at the time, so - as much as I drooled - I couldn't justify the purchase. Jeez, how much do I regret it now!
My favourite Rolands are made by Behringer these days, they seem to have "chased down the ghost" successfully, despite Roland's best advice. So have KORG, Sequential, Moog and everyone else apparently, they put dents in my wallet alright. I wish it was an authentic re-issue instead of gold. There's nothing wrong with soft synths, it's just that my PC runs them better.
Broke my back in a ski accident. Stucked in my room in pain and so depressed... my parents rented me a D50 to cheer me up... and let me tell you it cheered me up all right... never felt so happy in my life... forgot the pain and all...!
Great video Alex! My Roland story? As a teenage synth pop addict in the 80s, my fantasy career was to stand nonchalantly behind a keyboard on ToTP. So when the first student loans were handed out in the early 90's, I headed to Denmark Street in London and spent the lot on a Juno Alpha. Imagine my excitement on the train home. Then imagine my disappointment as I plugged it in and remembered I had - and still have - absolutely zero musical talent. With regret I sold it a few months later and bought a large pair of loudspeakers instead which made a much nicer sound than I ever could.
I call the 100m "the Godular", but amazingly, the System 700 sounds even fatter. Although there is an even fatter 70s synth.....and I got one that's being restored. Watch this space. 😀
So one day maybe 20 years ago I was able to get my hands on a Jupiter 4 - for about 50 pounds - imagine! It was not in great condition, but it could do the one thing really really well. The LFO goes into self oscillation which makes a magical sound. I toured with it for many years and it always thrilled me to do the track where it would shine! The band dissolved and I put the JP4 into storage until I got a studio up and running. I took out the keyboard and switched it on and smoke started filling the room… I guess it was mad at me for keeping it in a closet… now it sits as a centerpiece in the studio and even though it doesn’t work, it fills me with inspiration and joy. I’ve started picking up circuit parts, ic’es and so on and will soon attempt to restore it… Thanks Alex for the best RUclips channel on vintage gear by far!
The JP-4 is a lovely thing. You should definitely get that up and running again, they need to live on and keep making music. Glad it makes you smile in the meantime!
Lovely stuff Alex thank you :). A very famous song writer / producer would visit our little island of Jersey in the mid 80s & befriended a local studio owner. This famous song writer sold his friend the studio owner a Jupiter 8.. By the late 90s after years of use it developed a fault & was relegated to the garage, years passed, a friend borrowed, the studio owner moved away., 20 years on, a few friends garages later its ready for the bin… Luckily ( being a small island, we all know each other ) this Jupiter 8 has now found its way to the loving hands of our local loved synth repair guru where it is slowly but surely being rebuilt.. Heres the thing.. this isn’t any old Jupiter 8.. the famous song writer that visited was the late, great Rod Temperton..... its always been a part of local legend between the few that knew, but this is with 99% certainty the Jupiter 8 that 'Thriller' was written on !! 😯 ( and many other massive Temperton tunes during that period )
Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher, or Wil Wheaton in this life, was/is a fan of 808 State. When Pacific State came out, in the days before t’internet, he tried to find out where this brilliant band came from, and arrived at the conclusion that they were from Hawaii, what with the whole Pacific State thing, and the dialling code for Hawaii being 808….I wonder if he was disappointed when it tuned out to be Stockport. Massively appreciate your channel, it deserves a much bigger audience.
I've heard legends of the Yamaha Anniversary golden DX7 with the glow in the dark keyboard, it would be the most incredible thing ever if someone could actually use one of these with the golden Jupiter X for the ultimate 1% 80s jam.
In around 1987 or so, a local Canadian music store had a TB-303 under glass. I was very familiar with the 606, and knew nothing about the 303. The guy behind the counter said they wanted to get rid of it and he'd sell it to me for 70 Canadian dollars. (That was about 50 USD, or even less GBP) I was with my buddy/bandmate at the time, with cash in my pocket. I asked him if he thought I should get it and he said "it probably sounds like shit." I shrugged my shoulders and went on to look at mixers.
Very much so, yes. I know others with an equally unique system with a different prototype in it. Maybe one day we could get them together. 3 found, 2 to go.
My Roland stories are not quite as interesting as yours…….. I bought a brand new TB303 for £99. Sold it for £50 a couple of years before they were going for £2k+ I passed up a Jupiter 8 for £800 opting instead for something which is now in land fill!!!
aww man. Roland stories. Like when we blagged our way onto Tomorrow's World because I'd built a MIDI interface for my Spectrum and my mates knew the director and we talked our way onto the show and then got a loan of every bit of first-gen MIDI gear from Roland UK and played the show out live and extremely badly. It's pn RUclips. I'm not saying where.
My Roland story: Bought a used JX-3P, sold it for what I paid as I couldn't source a controller - Stranger Things and Mac DeMarco come along, shit doubles (+) in price. The end.
Got a Jupiter 8 for 'chump change' many years ago off Craigslist.... guy was selling it for his friend and was sitting in the back of a closet of old practice space for some time. It was missing about 1/3 of the guts inside and a bunch of cables were cut, looked like a mess but I bought it as-is. Sat in my closet for a few months since I assumed it would be quite a project..... Pulled it out one day and within an hour or two had it up and running, worked perfect! The only guts really missing was just the power supply, and 1 wire harness to a card that was flipped backwards. God I love Roland!
I have an SH-1 that I bought for $50 because the previous owner didn't like the fact that it "never made the same sound twice". I've had it for years, and I've cleaned it up a bit, but I don't want to properly restore it because of the exact reason the previous owner wanted to sell it. Thing's a bass beast.
JD800… percussion and leadlines for my songs in the first WipEout game on PlayStation One. Instantly fell in love with the sound and all those sliders!
Here's a small one for you . When I first got into production mysepf and friend of mine decided we needed an Roland Alpha juno for the types of sounds we wanted long time ago. ( A bit clueless we were really in hindsight). Any way we both payed half of the cost from a guy who lived in Brighton. Eventually my freind lost intrest in production so I pretty kept hold of it. Do you know what his name was ?...yep same as yours Alex Ball , hand on heart no word of a lie .
My first synth was a Juno 60, which I din't really like. I think the yellow and red made me feel it wasn't a 'real' synth. I upgraded to a Jupiter 6, which was great. I also had a TR-909, which I loved and a CR-78. Sold it all when I came to (somewhat ironically) Japan.
Bougt my TR909 in 1989 for a cheap price, sold it two years after for about the same price. about 2000 NOK (200 GBP) :-( Stil sad . . . . Not for the sound , witch is available all over the place, but for having the hardware :-(
I passed up an 808 for £1,000 thinking that was crazy money. It was about 2007, so that's more like £1,500 now, but still. Ouch. Also a Forat modded Linn 9000 for peanuts and an Oberheim DMX for about £750 if I recall. All overpriced at the time. Lol.
Thank you for your stories! Amazing stories and how you tell them, it'd be great to more stories from people on the internet, it's funny how we go through experiences just to acquire this things. ps. Jupiter X Gold is a right proper bad boy keyboard - never seen that before.
Love your stories, and the gold Jupiter X is very, very nickable! I'd do exactly the same... I think I told this story on a recent video, but...Juno 6 for me too. Back in 1990, my secondary school got a budget to do something for Glasgow's City of Culture shindig. A mate and I co-wrote the score, assembled the pit band and set to putting our stuff together: we had offers of and access to, all kinds of wonderful things, but ended up with a rented Rhodes PCM760 as the 'sensible' machine, and the school's own Juno 6 for all the gonzo stuff and crazy FX. The poor thing had languished in a cupboard for years, unloved and caked in dust, and I'd like to think we saved it. It was cantankerous and temperamental, it never made our lives easy, but it thrashed the Rhodes senseless in 'smiles per hour'. The organ 64' stop sound we made through a bass amp had fittings in the school hall resonating! Just utterly joyous. I was offered it a couple of years later for (iirc) £250, but I turned it down, cos no MIDI, and I couldn't be bothered doing the mod. Yep, I'm kicking myself now, better believe it.
My Roland story. My first synth was bought in 1982, a Roland SH-1000. But … I always wanted a JP8. Fast forward to 2009 & I go on eBay & buy a Jupiter 8 for $4700. When it arrived I almost passed out. It was as new. It turns out the original owner was a music teacher & he bought it to learn about electronic music but rarely ever played it & it never left his bedroom. He died & his family sold the synth. It came with the original sales brochure, manual & sales receipt! Not a mark on it. Not even a nick. It was as new … pure MINT. It’s worth a lot more now but few are left in this condition so it can’t be replaced.
Not a quirky story, just a happy ending. I was contemplating selling my alto sax - "too loud man" (as the bunny said) so no practicing. Every time I wanted to play it my embouchure would die in minutes. So I had a look around the wind synth market and the Roland Aerophone was the only choice (must have bite sensor but no touch pads). AE-30 eventually arrived but for 18 months the sax was ignored because I was having too much fun with the wind synth. However, when I did eventually pick up the sax my embouchure was 90% there. Within 20 minutes I had everything under control and was busy scaring the cats (my harshest critics). I still play the AE the most but when the family goes out the sax comes out and I can play as long as I like!
Ah, that's a nice bit of serendipity. Cool that it fed back into your saxy shenanigans. I can imagine that your cats preferred the wind synth, because we all know this: www.catsonsynthesizersinspace.com/
OK Alex, question for you. Within obvious reason, is there anything missing from your collection that you really want, something that we as viewers might be able to help you find?
Ooo blimey. Yeah, aside from crazy expensive god-tier synths, there's some bits I'd enjoy being a custodian of. A Musciaid branded analogue claptrap to accompany my SDS-3, because that's British synth history. I only ever see Simmons badged ones, the later digital one and/or the originals for thousands, which I can't afford. The other System 100m protos would be the dream. I know where two are, but the owners are keeping them and they're good guys, so that's reassuring I guess, as much as I'd love them all in one place.
First synth was a Roland SH-09 received as a birthday present circa 82, after prolonged begging of my skeptical and not particularly financially blessed parents. There had been a Roland ad in one of the music magazines that showed a SH-09 next to a CSQ-100 and I got very obsessed. Surprisingly versatile for a single osc and capable of great Human League style filter resonance bass drums. Still love that brief era when their products appeared to be made from recycled tanks.
When I was about ten, an uncle had a friend with some gear ( this is circa 84' ) he brought me with him to pick some "stuff". To keep me distracted from the illegal activity I was put in a room with an mc-202 and a sh 101 any this began my love for electronic gadgetry and it all started with 2 awesome little machines so big up and Happy 50th anniversary to Roland...also stoked thAT the re 201 space echo went on sale the year I was born 74'
Back in 1980 I was very lucky to have been given £1000 (I was only 14 and that was a fortune back then). My immediate reaction was to get on a train to London and visit Rod Argents in Denmark street and get a Jupiter 4. Alas they didn't have any, so as I also played guitar, i bought the Roland GR300 + G303 guitar synth (and a Pro One). The Pro One has long since gone, having been traded for a Poly 800 as I needed a poly synth for the band I was in. But i still have the GR300 and G303 which will never be sold! Another quick story is that I once swapped an Alesis HR16 drum machine for an SH101 plus £25 about 30 odd years ago, Still got the SH10. Good swap i'd say.
I don't know if the source of your 'un-findable' 100M modules was Indonesia or not, but that's where in 1999 I found my similarly-NOS Korg VC-10 and MC-01 mic, immaculate and never used since it's manufacture in the late 70'/early 80's. Happy days, but probably long gone now sadly.
Roland should spend less time making limited edition Xs for RUclipsrs and more time trying to get the damn thing back in stock Been waiting almost a year for sweetwater to have them in stock.
Oh they are trying. Global chip shortage and very good sales means there's unfortunately a backlog. They want nothing more than to get them out of the door. The limited ones were made some time ago in anticipation of the anniversary. There's only 4 of them and they're placed around the world.
My sad Roland story is somewhat cliched and many probably share a similar one. I got rid of my Juno-60 back in the day to get a Korg DW-6000. The Korg sounded worse even at the time, but it had MIDI, so I could use it with the sequencer software of my brand new Yamaha CX5M computer. MIDI retrofits for the Juno weren't available to me back then. The DW-6000 did serve a purpose in my musical development, but I can't even remember what happened to it!
When, I was 12 y/o, 1984, my parents got me a red Roland SH-101 for Christmas. Cool, made a few noises with it (often got a fried pan sound out of it), not really knowing what I was doing. The "impress your friends and girls" factor was rather low. ah yeah, you could play it like a guitar, but... So I finally traded it at the local shop a few months later for a Norman acoustic guitar... 🤷♂
Had a Roland HS60 in the mid 90's (Juno 106 with speakers built in). The seller said it was only so cheap because it smelled of smoke. Apparently it had been saved from a school fire! I was a smoker, so couldn't smell the smoke anyway 😀 Lots of classic gear went for 30 to 50 quid back then, sourced from weekly Buy/Sell newspapers and driven to by using a fold out map.
🟥🟧🟨⬜ - 1984 i purchased a Red SH-101 and TR-606, got a DE-200 and Teac 244 then a DEP-5, an Alpha Juno and JD-800, this year I sold my 101, got a TR-06, TB-03 , SH-01A and TR-6S, a new PC and Roland Cloud Pro with the Legendary Jupiter 8 and TR-808, oh and if that wasn't peak Roland I also have Zenbeats Max unlock on my phone.
Alex Ball...THE Synth Detective!... I could sit all night with you and talk synths! lol... Great video man. 😎 I'm 58 years young now, My first real synth purchase was a Korg MS500 Micro preset as used by OMD, from an advert in the selling section in a local newspaper, I did my paper round to buy that thing through very cold winter months, I saved £69.00 to buy it, got on my bike and picked it up lol...then my "major" synth purchase (£800) from Soho Soundhouse in London..was a Juno 60 in 1994 after watching TOTP and seeing AEIOU performed by "Freeze" thinking they did all that fancy sampling stuff on a J60 lol... I loved it even though it was never gonna be a sampler (which i got into soon after with a Casio SK5...but that's another story lol).. I loved my new Juno 60, then bought a SH101, then a Drumatix TR606, then a TB303, then a few months later moved to London from Hull, East Yorks, to play professionally in a band, the movement was life changing...but i'm still poor, and I loved every minute of my days lol... While in London I was "GIVEN" a Juno 6 and a TR808, yes really!... PX'd them for a Roland TR505 (shit) and a D50 (better) lol.. that was in the 90's digital revolution...please forgive me... Synths are a part of all our lives when a nerdy geek like me screws up with hindsight. Still following the dream ha!.. great stuff!
Treasure! My first Roland purchase was the GR-55 guitar synth. First Roland speaker was the KC-110 that I took to a bar to use as a stage monitor but it wasn't loud enough. The clanking of a glass of beer was louder than me! What a disaster! First Roland keyboard was the RD-64 (excluding midi controllers) and my first Roland synth was the SE-02. Pretty boring...
My first synth was Roland Jupiter 4 which I bought in 1991. The funny thing is I traded Commodore 64 computer for it which became very cheap at the time and I was all into Atari computers and Cubase anyway. Shame I sold it in 2000 for not that much, but I needed money. :( I had a lot of analogues and digitals at the time, one of them TB-303 which I didn't find very useful, except for those acid basslines, really. It was marketed in the 80s as a kind of cheap accompaniment synth bass along with TR-606 for guitar players. It was never meant to be a serious tool. :)
I got my SH101 when I was 19 in 2018. It was my first vintage instrument and since then my most valued possession. It came with a hole on the case by the side of the sequencer buttons. The seller stated that the hole was made to insert something that held the buttons pressed (?). Anyways, this 101 used to power the solo shows of Hawkwind’s Robert Calvert’s s back in the 80s. The seller was in fact his keyboard player, snd stated that you can hear his (now mine) 101 on the Queen’s Hall live album on youtube.
When I started producing a few years ago I needed to know if the vintage synths were the real deal and got really bad GAS..one day while sitting on the toilet 🚽.. I said to myself I haven’t searched in a while and came across a Juno106s for 500$ cad.. of course didn’t know about voice chips and was told I could fix it myself.. tried delicately and failed. Ordered the chips from Texas to Canada.. got someone else to fix it. Sounded nice but realized… nope.. my Jupiter-X sounds exactly the same… and sold it for 2500$ thinking I should sell it before these prices drop drastically when the juno-X came out..I had spent about 1200$ in total on it and played it for 2 months literally in my kitchen cause my studio was full. Let’s face it.. Juno’s are kitchen synths 😂 they’re fun to play and sound great but for space savers a system-8 or JP-X also does wonders.
A Golden Jupiter?!? - That sounds like something Thomas Dolby, Quincy Jones or Nile Rodgers might have owned! - HAHAHA! 🙂 - Can't WAIT to hear the "Real Story!" 🙂
i was 15 in 1985 and lived in Australia, when i purchased a Roland Jupiter 4 complete with a road case.... which was huge and both synth and case weighed a bloody ton! It was $400 and got it out of the Trading Post in Brisbane after selling my Korg Mono/Poly to fund the purchase of the Jupiter.
Just thinking out loud here, the system 100 modules, couldn't a clever modular builder make the missing modules for you, assuming they had the schematics/diagrams to follow like for like circuitry ? the superficial stuff like face plate, sliders, connectors & knobs etc is easy enough so could someone build the rest..?
I was hoping there would be a joke about a "cereal" interface for the TB-303. I have plenty of music stories, but specifically Roland. Hmmmm. My first Roland gear I bought in 1979 was a Roland Bee-Baa Fuzz unit, an SH-09, CSQ-600, RS-09 and a Boss Tuner which used moving LED's for tuning and was very accurate. In 1994, my house was robbed and pretty much gutted, but they left the Synthesisers as mentioned above but took my guitars and the Boss Tuner which was irreplaceable, but left the BEE-BAA. They obviously didnt know anything about Synthesisers. I still have all of the above and am grateful for it. Great video Alex. BTW, that Gold Jupiter-X looks like something a drug dealer or casino would own. I think it looks awful 😞.
Alex your work is a joy for all to behold! It is no accident these incredible pieces ended up in your hands. I can think of no better person to have such an honor than you my friend. Cheers!
My first contact to Roland equipment was the venerable MT-32, wich I borrowed from a friend to hook it up to my PC running the Voyetra MIDI sequencer. Being in possession of (or being possessed by?) a Gravis UltraSound card, a short while later, had me convert a Kurzweil K2000 KRZ sound bank of MT-32 patches/samples to the UltraSound bank format and use this, instead. I always looked up somehow to keyboards and synthesizers, but I've always been a software guy. Nowadays I use "real hardware" for drum synthesis (eg. ATV aFrame) and still stick to software for all other things synthesis. The Juno-6 interlude reminds me somewhat of the German "Sandmännchen" melody. Now this gives away my age ;) Thanks for the brilliant and in-depth video!
Our band, Neu Modell, back in the 1982 had a Roland line as the main instruments. We had Juno6, SH-101 and DR-808 + Korg Poly61 and acoustic drums and electric guitar. quite typical setup of the time… As we got more money we got Tama Techstar, second drummachine was added as DR-909, which was important as it had MIDI and Sync, so 808, SH-101 and JUNO6 could be synced in a chain.. Techstar also was triggered from 808/909 outputs for “simmons” sounds.. drummer wasn’t very happy with that back in a day. (our friend had a minimoog and Polysix, but he was in the band only a few monts as we didn’t get along with him, but synths were nice to have for recordings) But we were behind as the soundscape of pop was going, so we tried to keep up and that degraded our sound (easy to say afterwards). We bought Yamaha RX5 to replace Roland DR’s, we bought new digital age Roland synths like D50 and super JX-10 and very lousy sounding D20 (we thought that the seq would be nice, but it was unusable in practise). And then the sampling prices dropped with Ensoniq Mirage, althou as Roland guys we bought S10 (which was awful) and then finally S-550, which wasn’t good enough either.. Then as we moved to 90’s, band dissolved and all of us sold our old analog gear and finally the multitimbrality came a big issue and for ex. I switched to D70, which was sonically weaker than D50, but it has 5 + 1 part multitimbrality… .. fast forward, nowadays using softsynths only BUT as Roland Jupiter X came, I decided to by a hardware synth again..
So much Roland-gear I’ve had and loved. Started with a Juno-60 in 85 at the age of 11. Also managed to have RE-201, JX-3P, TR-707, S-50 and SH-2. Then got my very own Jupiter-8 in 1994 for a price that will make everybody cry. That one was stolen from me in London a few years later. I’ve been on the lookout for that sweet sound ever since and only just found records of it’s serial number and the good old owners manual ;) My current Roland setup consists of a JX-8P and an SH-09. They actually sound pretty good together and I’m finally getting past grieving the Jup, bless him 😊
I bought a Juno 6 and a microKorg at the same time. Poor Roland didn't have a chance.. Bought & sold a D10 earlier this year: didn't get on with it. Got an SH1000 and an EPsomething stored somewhere. The trouble is: Korgs. Micros (plural) Delta, m500..
my Roland Story is one with long pauses. First Roland synth contact was a Juno 6 (owned by a friend) back then in the 80s, but I was not impressed. Got my first Roland gear so around 1989/1990, a Boss DR-550, did not last long. After passing my exam in 1991, I got a secondhand JX-10 with case but without programmer, replacing my Polysix which had no MIDI (I would later reget that). Some years later, I got the programmer and in 2002/2003 I sold it because the keybed drove me crazy. In the 90s I also got an JV-1080 (up to today I can't remember why), which I sold some years later because Its presets were everywhere - after that, I avoided all digital Roland synths - until around 2018. First, I needed a lightweight keyboard with a decent Rhodes sound for live sessions, so I came across the Juno G with an SRX-12 board. Luckily, it did not have any of the presets of the JV-1080. The same year, Roland released the new Fantom and after playing one at Thomann, I immediately bought it because sound and workflow was much better as the gear I was using at that time (and it had no JV-1080 sounds inside, lol). I also hat an JD-Xi for a short time, but that was not my cup of tea. In 2020, I got myself an MC-707 which I sold a year later for a Deluge. Then, I tried to replace the Juno G for live since its LCD kept failing, and I tried FA06, Juno DS and Sonic Cell but then the Fantom 06 was released. Great. Bought it for live use, but that was not the best idea because of Rolands addon polictics, so I sold it and got an MC-707 again for use as sound module with different master keyboards, which proved to be much more flexible, and I still have my Fantom 6 and never regret buying it - funny thing after avoiding Roland Gear for a long time :)
Alex, brilliant as always - the Interlude Juno 6 piece took me right back to BBC Schools Programming in the 1970s / early 80s, the genius of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Bravo!
My first contact with a Roland synth was in 1979, my piano professor's brother came back from Japan with a SH-09. I was 8 :) In 1988, my friend "Nounou" lent me his blue SH-101 for a couple of months. Good vibes :) In 1989 I bought my first own synth, a Roland D-20. It still works overall but unfortunately the keyboard is slowly dying, 5 or 6 keys are dead. A few years ago a friend gave me his deceased dad's old synth. It's a Roland D-50, almost as good as new.
My First Roland was a battered TR 707 at the monthly big flea market (what you Brits might call a "car boot sale") at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California It was 1998, I had just started getting into synths and been introduced to the legendary Roland gear thanks the recent release of the Rebirth software. Finding an original piece of kit was quite the experience! It was $50 USD. That piece kicked off my vintage gear journey. The messages I got was "There's treasure out there! You just gotta find it!" In those early years I was lucky to score things like a tr606, cr 68, Moog Prodigy and Linn Drum for $50 or less each. This was before the internet took the hunting out of the mom and pop music stores and put it online What a time to be alive!
I got my SH101 ridiculously cheap on ebay (at least half of what they typically go for). Was some guy who found it in the attic and wasn't 100% what it was. All it had was the typical power button issue and a few crackly sliders - since I fixed those up, I could easily sell it for cheap and still get a profit. My first experience with vintage Roland synths was when I used to work in a small music shop back in 2005/2006. In a small Irish village, no less. They had a whole storage area full of them upstairs - Juno 60s, Jupiter 6s, JX10s, JX3ps, TR606s etc, just gathering dust! I used to sneak up there during lunch, plug them in and play with them - most were still working perfectly.
My Roland stories actually are not exciting.... but thinking about it, I got all of them really cheap and I'm sure they'll increase in value one day too. First one was my JX-8 P. Was in a music shop playing with it. Talked with the synth guy of the shop turned it was his own one. Told me how cheap he got it. and he wouldn't like that much... that was his mistake. I then got it for 300 DM which is 150€. They haven't risen up yet but I'm sure they will. The D-50 I got on ebay for 450 Euro I think that prices stays... yet. JV-2080 3 years ago... was bundled with a T3-ex for 200 Euro on Facebook ads. Felt like I betrayed that guy, back in 1994 this would have been like 4000 Euro. Both are higher already for one of them and I think they'll rise as well. For Roland I think there are always opportunities to get currently undervalued gear for cheap which is sought after later.
Whoa... That throaty sound on the intro is incredible... While I dearly love the relatively recent acquisition of a Promars and I like the Go:Mixer Pro quite a bit. I got turned off of Roland gear because of not being able to even pay Roland to repair a JD-800 I had with the red glue issue. I ended up selling it (I didn't really want to though). The only good thing is the JD-800 was a gift from a friend, so I didn't buy it. It took me seeing some of the real vintage stuff of Roland to come back to them. Anyway, great stories... Loved the outro.... Well all the interludes also... PS - I would love a cereal that provided Roland gear as the included toy. (So what did you get in YOUR Apple Jacks box? What a TR-727..?)
My first Roland (and synth) was an MC202 back in '93. I'd seen an SH-5 in a local music store for £150, I went to grab my dad to ask for it as a 21st birthday present (as I was on a waiting list for a TB303 from Music Control). In the 30 mins it took to get my dad and return to the store, the SH-5 had gone and I got an MC202 instead. It had no manual, so I learned to program it from the quick start guide... My 303 arrived at the beginning of '94, Music Control asked to borrow it for a while as a comparison machine for the Deep Bass Nine they were building.
I would rather have that 50th-anniversary book than the Golden Jupiter. HA! And Alex - please give us that coffee table book. Born in 1980, I’ve been alive for most of Roland’s biggest sellers. However, I didn’t learn about most of them until I was 20. The first time I got my hands on an analog polyphonic, it was my mentor’s JX8p w/ PG800 programmer - both of which now belong to me. The first reaction I had was how thrilled I was to be playing and noodling on a classic analog (for what little I knew of them at age 19), and my second one was what a great educational tool it was for someone like me that had to learn about both subtractive synthesis and patch memory storage from the ground up. It’s nearly 2023 as I comment. In the 24 years since I first touched the 8p, I’ve done most of my comparisons where Roland is concerned off of it. That includes the similar models I have also bought in the time since (JX10 & MKS70). Most people gauge Roland polyphonic off of the Jupiter/Juno models and monophonic off of the SH models. However, the 8p has been my litmus test most of the time.
My Roland story is not particularly exciting, but it is... something, at least. I've been doing Kontakt scripting for Steve Howell of Hollow Sun fame for quite some time, then at some point he introduced me to Dani Wlison of Hideaway Studios, who also wanted to put out some Kontakt libraries with the rare and awesome gear she has. This was all relatively simple fare as far as the actual scripting is concerned, but either way a number of products were released and it was about time to talk about remuneration. This ended up in Dani shipping me her Roland MKS-70, fully refurbished and recapped, along with the PG-200 programmer! I didn't even have to pay for shipping. It's maybe not a super special thing as your System 100m, but hey - it's the only synth that I have that is exactly old as I am (1986). So this is how I got the MKS-70 for basically free (when you love the work you're doing, it doesn't feel like work). In a similar vein I got a Yamaha FS1R for free from another person. :) Both of these things are steadily increasing in value, too... I should probably do the Vecoven OS update. Not sure if I should do the PWM modification, though...
In 2015 I did a midnight run, moving out of an abusive GF's place and landed in a house with a few guys and when I arrived to move my stuff into my room there was a Roland SH-3a on the floor. I asked who's synth it was and was told it was the previous occupant of that room and when he showed up a few days later I asked him about the synth and his response was " It's yours if you want it" ... He was the original owner, had it since he was a kid .... and it became my first vintage mono synth. I've since had it serviced and it works and sounds great ( I also own a JX-3P and 4 of the Boutique reissues)
My Roland story is not that interesting as your 100M one, but I've got SH-201 as my first HW synth back in winter 2010. Traveled across the country to get it. My friend was selling it, so after the deal went down, we sat down in a pub a chatted for a little bit and then I spent the weekend there. On my way back, I was so nervous, because I couldn't bring the synth into the bus with me, so it had to stay in the luggage compartment down below. The whole 3 hour trip, all I was thinking about was how the knobs are gonna be fucked up and that some luggage fell on top of it, damaging it. I was relieved, that non of that happened when I have arrived back home, so I rushed home, and finnaly, after weekend of think about how am I going to make tunes with it, I finally could. Had it for long time, and made several tunes with it. I fancied the feedback oscillator on it, because it was such a hard sound to fit in a track. The track, that I am most proud of, that was made almost entirely on SH-201 is this one ruclips.net/video/qZE12OrIVFY/видео.html The feedback oscillator is the jumpy synth playing along the whole. Can be heard best in the breakdown.
Weirdly, I've not got a lot of Roland gear, though I like what I have. Best buy was a Gaia SH-01 for £150 just before Covid, absolutely mint and 15 minutes drive away. They go for around £450 new, so bit of a bargain, and a capable synth for the money, nufairly maligned.
great stories, great storytelling. my roland story: as a teenager i saved all my pocket money to buy a juno-60 as a first synth back in (probably about) 1985. with a midi converter box included in the deal. second hand from a guy i didn't know at the time. years later we happened to play in the same volleyball team. sold the synth for a much too low price somewhere in the early years of this century. will regret it until my end. 🙂
Always wanted a jx3p, ended up with an 8p. Had it from around 1986 - 1996. Never appreciated it because. I never programmed on it. I would love to go back with what I know now and give it a try. Wait a minute, where's all the buttons, sliders, and knobs?
Fall 2005: I was 20 and had moved to Olympia WA earlier that year and had saved up my tip money to buy my first synth- a MicroKorg (for 350 used, thin on the ground then!) and was pretty quickly disappointed by it. In walks this new housemate to the place I was living carrying an SH-09. We get to talking in the kitchen and bring them both out to try on an amp and I say "I really like that synth you've got" and he went "I really like the synth you've got...wanna trade?". After thinking about it for a day I came home from work and we immediately swapped for my first analog synth and the one for me by which I measure all others. The rest is history. I wound up having to sell it years later (that guy still owns it!) and I magically got another one with the silver vinyl gig bag. Never letting this one go, missing grounding pin on the power cable and all!
Couldn’t think of a better care taker of that system 100m ! My stories aren’t anywhere near that spectacular. But a friend recieved a mint JX-3P and PG-200 (in box!) as payment for some work he did for the local school back in the 00’s. I myself managed to get a JX-8P for free from a friend who was moving out of town and couldn’t be bothered to bring it with him :) Both machines are still with us to this day 🎉
A golden Jupiter? I would be happy if Roland would soon deliver my normal Jupiter-X, which I've been waiting for since May 2022 (and which I will have to wait for more months!!!).
Congrats a system to cherish and what a marriage 182/mc4 love the new look JPX wow James Bond synth, I usd to work at a pawn shop in El Monte CA. and folks brought there gear to sell or pawn but the owner was cheap so I would give a better deal of courtafter work hrs. So I collected tons of stuff from dr-55/sh7/5 etc… I was a lucky man in the 90s karma really comes back at you and like you in the arse
What's the cereal number of the TB-303? 🤣
😂
I don’t know but it sounds Grrreat!
I'm not so sure... I heard a snap, crackle and pop when it was turned on
Joke of the week!
Funny nut loops.
My Roland story is a Jupiter-4. A friend told me he'd seen a used JP-4 for sale at a local dealer. I tested it out at the store and fell in love with the sound and bought it then and there. I didn't do my homework though because one of the 4 voice cards wasn't working properly. Taught myself electronics trying to fix that synth and eventually diagnosed a broken op-amp. Managed to buy another broken voice card and salvaged its op-amps and repaired the JP-4. I still have that JP-4 in my studio and love it to bits.
Excellent work. Sounds like it's very much in the right hands.
Is it rev 1 or rev 2?
Custodian, archivist, researcher, historian, storyteller, composer... musician through & through--damn, Alex, you make some wonderfully valuable content. Cheers for sharing it with us!
You missed out "sexy", but I'll take the rest. 😉
@@AlexBallMusic Well your System 100 certainly sounds sexy! 👍🏻😎
😄
Brilliant stories, mate! I love the fact you're that custodian of the 100M. I can think of no better person for that job :-)
Like you and a DX-1 sir. :)
Always a great day when Alex posts a new video!
Here, here!
💯
Fantastic stories Mr. Ball! My notable Roland story, aside from being named Roland at birth, an evergreen opportunity for jest by salespeople at music stores, is that I found my first synth, a Juno-60 on the street, intended for pickup by the local refuse company the next morning. As I often do on "garbage night", while walking back from a restaurant in my San Francisco residential neighborhood, I paid attention to what had been left out for the next morning pickup. I've found lots of great stuff over the years, but nothing like what I was about to find. Leaning against a tree, next to a garbage bin, was what looked like fairly large keyboard. Moving closer I saw that it was a very dirty Roland Juno-60. While I pulled it away from the tree to examine all sides, a woman's voice, raspy and suggesting a heavy smoker, penetrated that night's thick fog. "It works. You just gotta plug in some headphones." I asked if I could take it, she said yes and I brought it home. The cord was attached with only the ground broken off. I plugged it in. It powered up. And after a few minutes it was producing sound. The key transpose button was missing, but otherwise intact. It cleaned up nicely and although I should still bring it in for service, it works admirably well. This was about 10 years ago and the beginning of a mid-life synth journey.
I bought my SH-5 in 1996 (7500 SEK Swedish crowns). It was 20 years old and newly serviced. That was almost 27 years ago. Just seeing it inspires me. It's very much alive and never quite stops bleeping and blooping. The filters sound really special and sending drums through it gives this sweet distortion. Brutal, but never harsh.
The SH-5 is a really great one, I can imagine that continues to inspire!
I also love how they put "computer interface" on the rear of it, meaning "this is where you connect the CV/gate to a sequencer". That and the Data-70 font and you can see where their head was at, but the analogueness of it is what it's all about.
Glad yours is still getting love.
Love the System 100M-stories! :) I have a few similar, but seldom related to Roland. My dearest Roland memory involves my very first analogue synth. It was a SH-09 that belonged to my high school in the late 80's. It was my first encounter with synthesis, synths in general and the raw and unprocessed sound of a plain mono through an amp and I was hooked. Add the digital craze of the day, my mum the music teacher, communal cleaning frenzy and me being there to save it from a bin and presto... it's still here in my studio to this day.
bonus: My SH-5 was bought from a hip hop collective who had just used it as a (very bulky!) bandpass filter. :D
Ah, glad you saved the SH-09, I salute you! I've heard similar stories of amazing synths (e.g. ARP 2600) being cleared out of educational establishments. I think Daniel Miller even got a Synthi 100 that way.
SH-5 - a great bandpass filter, perhaps a tad big, ha. Reminds me that a friend sold an RS-505 to a band who used it as a giant chorus pedal via the external in.
Oh wow, I’m not sure if I’m more jealous of the cereal box 303 or the mystery module find! Lovely tracks as always too :)
I've many more stories like these too. Been very lucky.
My first memorable Roland story was back in 1990 and the autumn vacation that year. I had saved up about 1500 NOK (approx 150 USD) to buy the less fabled Roland MPU-IPC-T, MIDI interface for my 80286 AT at the time. My mom drove me the entire 1,5 hrs drive from our hometown down to Gjøvik Musikk - the closest and at the time, best music store there was. Now, at this point, I only had my Technics KN-1000 arranger keyboard, and nothing else to use with it. However, being totally awesome (and they still are), the guys at the store let me borrow the CM-32L for the entire week I had my vacation. I remember playing every possible computer game from Sierra, Lucasarts, Microprose and all the other until I almost collapsed early in the morning! At the time, this module cost about 500 USD and was well out of my reach, but just a year or two later it was dropped to about 150 USD and I of course snagged it instantly! I still have this in my collection and have added several of the others and some extras these past few years.
I also remember borrowing an MKS-30 at this time from a guy, but I never realised what I was holding in my hand and I didn't really care for the sounds then. Without the programmer, it wasn't easy to use either. This and an Oberheim Matrix 6 was almost forgotten in my bedroom. It seems I could have kept them and the guy wouldn't notice... but being honest as I am, I told him about it and returned it. Kinda wish I hadn't these days, but I have my own MKS-30 now, so it's alright. ;)
Ah, those are some nice stories. I contributed to the section that covers the CM-32L in the Roland book funnily enough.
Matrix 6 / MKS-30 - that is interesting. I guess there was a period where these were just dated synths that sounded like music from 10 years ago, making them basically useless. Who knew?
I was stationed in the UK in the 80's at RAF Alconbury near Huntingdon & Cambridge. I was a gear head, still am and spent a lot of time at the Cambridge Rock Shop. I was noodling on a Juno-106 they had and asked if I could buy it. The price was a little steep but I traded a DX-7 for it. The 106 followed me around the world, the case is bent Ive had to replace a board and repair another due to movers, but almost 40 years later sounds great plays great.
Yeah! I love the multi-decade stories. Warms the heart.
My schoolmate bought a 606 in 86. We ended up using on House music demo’s that DJ Jazzy M played on his radio show the Jackin Zone on LWR. I still have a couple of the shows on tape, but found even more stuff he played of ours on YT which I’d forgotten about. In some cases I’m glad I did forget:). Also used on the first few records put out. I know he sold the 606 years ago as we started using samplers. I still use many Roland VST’s, escpecially the 727.
Impressive that the tapes survived! You've reminded me that I have a 606 that's been out for a couple of years now. Will have to grab it back soon, fun little box.
The first synth I brought brand spanking new was a Roland JP8000, purchased with my first two months salary after leaving uni. I'd only gone into the music shop to buy a couple of MIDI leads. 23 years later, a few internal battery changes, and a complete refurbishment, it's still going strong. I have no idea what happened to the MIDI leads.
Hoorah for impulse buys that last!
@@AlexBallMusic Just remembered another Roland story, but this time a near miss. Back in the early 2000s, I used to walk past a second-hand shop on my way home from work, and they had a Juno 106 in the window for what must have been several weeks, or even months. They were asking £350 for it, and that was what my monthly rent was at the time, so - as much as I drooled - I couldn't justify the purchase. Jeez, how much do I regret it now!
My favourite Rolands are made by Behringer these days, they seem to have "chased down the ghost" successfully, despite Roland's best advice. So have KORG, Sequential, Moog and everyone else apparently, they put dents in my wallet alright.
I wish it was an authentic re-issue instead of gold.
There's nothing wrong with soft synths, it's just that my PC runs them better.
Broke my back in a ski accident. Stucked in my room in pain and so depressed... my parents rented me a D50 to cheer me up... and let me tell you it cheered me up all right... never felt so happy in my life... forgot the pain and all...!
oh PLEASE publish a 'Kitchen Synth' coffee table book, I'd buy that
Might do at some point, I've got piles of photos. Maybe when I reach 150 or something.
Same.
I would love to have that on my coffee table … oh yes..👍☢️
Great video Alex! My Roland story? As a teenage synth pop addict in the 80s, my fantasy career was to stand nonchalantly behind a keyboard on ToTP. So when the first student loans were handed out in the early 90's, I headed to Denmark Street in London and spent the lot on a Juno Alpha. Imagine my excitement on the train home. Then imagine my disappointment as I plugged it in and remembered I had - and still have - absolutely zero musical talent. With regret I sold it a few months later and bought a large pair of loudspeakers instead which made a much nicer sound than I ever could.
Roland forgot about the JP-6 :(
(or the alpha-junos for that matter)
Immense gear and brilliant stories. What a big THICC sound these old Roland synths have.
I call the 100m "the Godular", but amazingly, the System 700 sounds even fatter.
Although there is an even fatter 70s synth.....and I got one that's being restored. Watch this space. 😀
I think Roland should be entrusting you as the custodian of one of those golden Jupiter-X units, of all people.
So one day maybe 20 years ago I was able to get my hands on a Jupiter 4 - for about 50 pounds - imagine! It was not in great condition, but it could do the one thing really really well. The LFO goes into self oscillation which makes a magical sound. I toured with it for many years and it always thrilled me to do the track where it would shine! The band dissolved and I put the JP4 into storage until I got a studio up and running. I took out the keyboard and switched it on and smoke started filling the room… I guess it was mad at me for keeping it in a closet… now it sits as a centerpiece in the studio and even though it doesn’t work, it fills me with inspiration and joy. I’ve started picking up circuit parts, ic’es and so on and will soon attempt to restore it… Thanks Alex for the best RUclips channel on vintage gear by far!
The JP-4 is a lovely thing. You should definitely get that up and running again, they need to live on and keep making music.
Glad it makes you smile in the meantime!
Lovely stuff Alex thank you :). A very famous song writer / producer would visit our little island of Jersey in the mid 80s & befriended a local studio owner. This famous song writer sold his friend the studio owner a Jupiter 8.. By the late 90s after years of use it developed a fault & was relegated to the garage, years passed, a friend borrowed, the studio owner moved away., 20 years on, a few friends garages later its ready for the bin… Luckily ( being a small island, we all know each other ) this Jupiter 8 has now found its way to the loving hands of our local loved synth repair guru where it is slowly but surely being rebuilt.. Heres the thing.. this isn’t any old Jupiter 8.. the famous song writer that visited was the late, great Rod Temperton..... its always been a part of local legend between the few that knew, but this is with 99% certainty the Jupiter 8 that 'Thriller' was written on !! 😯 ( and many other massive Temperton tunes during that period )
I dont have a Roland story, just that some of My favourite soft sythersizors copying Juno and Jupiter patches.
Star Trek’s Wesley Crusher, or Wil Wheaton in this life, was/is a fan of 808 State. When Pacific State came out, in the days before t’internet, he tried to find out where this brilliant band came from, and arrived at the conclusion that they were from Hawaii, what with the whole Pacific State thing, and the dialling code for Hawaii being 808….I wonder if he was disappointed when it tuned out to be Stockport.
Massively appreciate your channel, it deserves a much bigger audience.
Great story. 😂
that 2nd 100m interlude is a real headcleaner, nice job!
Cheers!
I've heard legends of the Yamaha Anniversary golden DX7 with the glow in the dark keyboard, it would be the most incredible thing ever if someone could actually use one of these with the golden Jupiter X for the ultimate 1% 80s jam.
In around 1987 or so, a local Canadian music store had a TB-303 under glass. I was very familiar with the 606, and knew nothing about the 303. The guy behind the counter said they wanted to get rid of it and he'd sell it to me for 70 Canadian dollars. (That was about 50 USD, or even less GBP)
I was with my buddy/bandmate at the time, with cash in my pocket. I asked him if he thought I should get it and he said "it probably sounds like shit." I shrugged my shoulders and went on to look at mixers.
Ouch.
Wow never realized your System 100M was such a unique one!
Very much so, yes. I know others with an equally unique system with a different prototype in it. Maybe one day we could get them together. 3 found, 2 to go.
Alex, your videos are absolute gold. I'm always excited when I see you've uploaded a new one.
Thanks!
Good stories, good vibes!
Thanks Alex!
My Roland stories are not quite as interesting as yours……..
I bought a brand new TB303 for £99. Sold it for £50 a couple of years before they were going for £2k+
I passed up a Jupiter 8 for £800 opting instead for something which is now in land fill!!!
aww man. Roland stories. Like when we blagged our way onto Tomorrow's World because I'd built a MIDI interface for my Spectrum and my mates knew the director and we talked our way onto the show and then got a loan of every bit of first-gen MIDI gear from Roland UK and played the show out live and extremely badly. It's pn RUclips. I'm not saying where.
My Roland story: Bought a used JX-3P, sold it for what I paid as I couldn't source a controller - Stranger Things and Mac DeMarco come along, shit doubles (+) in price. The end.
Got a Jupiter 8 for 'chump change' many years ago off Craigslist.... guy was selling it for his friend and was sitting in the back of a closet of old practice space for some time. It was missing about 1/3 of the guts inside and a bunch of cables were cut, looked like a mess but I bought it as-is. Sat in my closet for a few months since I assumed it would be quite a project..... Pulled it out one day and within an hour or two had it up and running, worked perfect! The only guts really missing was just the power supply, and 1 wire harness to a card that was flipped backwards. God I love Roland!
I have an SH-1 that I bought for $50 because the previous owner didn't like the fact that it "never made the same sound twice". I've had it for years, and I've cleaned it up a bit, but I don't want to properly restore it because of the exact reason the previous owner wanted to sell it. Thing's a bass beast.
All black keys. Probably works ok in a studio environment but not so hot to gig with.
That was a neat trick moving the Arpeggiator rate on the Juno-6 as you played. Definitely stealing that one.
Free Omnichord right there, yep. :)
JD800… percussion and leadlines for my songs in the first WipEout game on PlayStation One. Instantly fell in love with the sound and all those sliders!
Loved your music in that game
Still have a PS One that we bought cheap when the PS-2 came out. Don't have a copy of Wipeout, will have to look that up for your music.
Here's a small one for you . When I first got into production mysepf and friend of mine decided we needed an Roland Alpha juno for the types of sounds we wanted long time ago. ( A bit clueless we were really in hindsight).
Any way we both payed half of the cost from a guy who lived in Brighton. Eventually my freind lost intrest in production so I pretty kept hold of it. Do you know what his name was ?...yep same as yours Alex Ball , hand on heart no word of a lie .
What a strange coincidence! Maybe there's a rip in space time and there's another me.
My first synth was a Juno 60, which I din't really like. I think the yellow and red made me feel it wasn't a 'real' synth. I upgraded to a Jupiter 6, which was great. I also had a TR-909, which I loved and a CR-78. Sold it all when I came to (somewhat ironically) Japan.
Something about the metal, wood and silk screening of those old instruments that rather lovely.
@@AlexBallMusic I'd probably agree now, but didn't get it at the time, lol!
Bougt my TR909 in 1989 for a cheap price, sold it two years after for about the same price. about 2000 NOK (200 GBP) :-( Stil sad . . . . Not for the sound , witch is available all over the place, but for having the hardware :-(
I passed up an 808 for £1,000 thinking that was crazy money. It was about 2007, so that's more like £1,500 now, but still. Ouch.
Also a Forat modded Linn 9000 for peanuts and an Oberheim DMX for about £750 if I recall.
All overpriced at the time. Lol.
Thank you for your stories! Amazing stories and how you tell them, it'd be great to more stories from people on the internet, it's funny how we go through experiences just to acquire this things. ps. Jupiter X Gold is a right proper bad boy keyboard - never seen that before.
Love your stories, and the gold Jupiter X is very, very nickable! I'd do exactly the same...
I think I told this story on a recent video, but...Juno 6 for me too. Back in 1990, my secondary school got a budget to do something for Glasgow's City of Culture shindig. A mate and I co-wrote the score, assembled the pit band and set to putting our stuff together: we had offers of and access to, all kinds of wonderful things, but ended up with a rented Rhodes PCM760 as the 'sensible' machine, and the school's own Juno 6 for all the gonzo stuff and crazy FX. The poor thing had languished in a cupboard for years, unloved and caked in dust, and I'd like to think we saved it. It was cantankerous and temperamental, it never made our lives easy, but it thrashed the Rhodes senseless in 'smiles per hour'. The organ 64' stop sound we made through a bass amp had fittings in the school hall resonating! Just utterly joyous.
I was offered it a couple of years later for (iirc) £250, but I turned it down, cos no MIDI, and I couldn't be bothered doing the mod. Yep, I'm kicking myself now, better believe it.
My Roland story. My first synth was bought in 1982, a Roland SH-1000. But … I always wanted a JP8. Fast forward to 2009 & I go on eBay & buy a Jupiter 8 for $4700. When it arrived I almost passed out. It was as new. It turns out the original owner was a music teacher & he bought it to learn about electronic music but rarely ever played it & it never left his bedroom. He died & his family sold the synth. It came with the original sales brochure, manual & sales receipt! Not a mark on it. Not even a nick. It was as new … pure MINT. It’s worth a lot more now but few are left in this condition so it can’t be replaced.
Not a quirky story, just a happy ending. I was contemplating selling my alto sax - "too loud man" (as the bunny said) so no practicing. Every time I wanted to play it my embouchure would die in minutes.
So I had a look around the wind synth market and the Roland Aerophone was the only choice (must have bite sensor but no touch pads). AE-30 eventually arrived but for 18 months the sax was ignored because I was having too much fun with the wind synth. However, when I did eventually pick up the sax my embouchure was 90% there. Within 20 minutes I had everything under control and was busy scaring the cats (my harshest critics).
I still play the AE the most but when the family goes out the sax comes out and I can play as long as I like!
Ah, that's a nice bit of serendipity. Cool that it fed back into your saxy shenanigans.
I can imagine that your cats preferred the wind synth, because we all know this: www.catsonsynthesizersinspace.com/
@@AlexBallMusic LOL 😂
OK Alex, question for you. Within obvious reason, is there anything missing from your collection that you really want, something that we as viewers might be able to help you find?
Ooo blimey. Yeah, aside from crazy expensive god-tier synths, there's some bits I'd enjoy being a custodian of.
A Musciaid branded analogue claptrap to accompany my SDS-3, because that's British synth history. I only ever see Simmons badged ones, the later digital one and/or the originals for thousands, which I can't afford.
The other System 100m protos would be the dream. I know where two are, but the owners are keeping them and they're good guys, so that's reassuring I guess, as much as I'd love them all in one place.
First synth was a Roland SH-09 received as a birthday present circa 82, after prolonged begging of my skeptical and not particularly financially blessed parents. There had been a Roland ad in one of the music magazines that showed a SH-09 next to a CSQ-100 and I got very obsessed. Surprisingly versatile for a single osc and capable of great Human League style filter resonance bass drums. Still love that brief era when their products appeared to be made from recycled tanks.
There is a solina on Facebook market for free
Loved that Juno-6 interlude.
When I was about ten, an uncle had a friend with some gear ( this is circa 84' ) he brought me with him to pick some "stuff". To keep me distracted from the illegal activity I was put in a room with an mc-202 and a sh 101 any this began my love for electronic gadgetry and it all started with 2 awesome little machines so big up and Happy 50th anniversary to Roland...also stoked thAT the re 201 space echo went on sale the year I was born 74'
Not for sale? What's the point? That's a Jupiter-X I might actually buy!
I stole it. I'll sell it to you for....ruclips.net/video/l91ISfcuzDw/видео.html
Maybe Roland will make a deal: An exchange of the M100 141 module for a golden Jupiter X.
Only 1 141, there's 4 Jupiter-Xs. They'll have to give me all of them. 😉
Back in 1980 I was very lucky to have been given £1000 (I was only 14 and that was a fortune back then). My immediate reaction was to get on a train to London and visit Rod Argents in Denmark street and get a Jupiter 4. Alas they didn't have any, so as I also played guitar, i bought the Roland GR300 + G303 guitar synth (and a Pro One). The Pro One has long since gone, having been traded for a Poly 800 as I needed a poly synth for the band I was in. But i still have the GR300 and G303 which will never be sold!
Another quick story is that I once swapped an Alesis HR16 drum machine for an SH101 plus £25 about 30 odd years ago, Still got the SH10. Good swap i'd say.
I don't know if the source of your 'un-findable' 100M modules was Indonesia or not, but that's where in 1999 I found my similarly-NOS Korg VC-10 and MC-01 mic, immaculate and never used since it's manufacture in the late 70'/early 80's. Happy days, but probably long gone now sadly.
Roland should spend less time making limited edition Xs for RUclipsrs and more time trying to get the damn thing back in stock
Been waiting almost a year for sweetwater to have them in stock.
Oh they are trying. Global chip shortage and very good sales means there's unfortunately a backlog. They want nothing more than to get them out of the door.
The limited ones were made some time ago in anticipation of the anniversary. There's only 4 of them and they're placed around the world.
@@AlexBallMusic I'm just being a whiny tit lol
Thanks for the response Alex, great video as always.
My sad Roland story is somewhat cliched and many probably share a similar one. I got rid of my Juno-60 back in the day to get a Korg DW-6000. The Korg sounded worse even at the time, but it had MIDI, so I could use it with the sequencer software of my brand new Yamaha CX5M computer. MIDI retrofits for the Juno weren't available to me back then. The DW-6000 did serve a purpose in my musical development, but I can't even remember what happened to it!
When, I was 12 y/o, 1984, my parents got me a red Roland SH-101 for Christmas. Cool, made a few noises with it (often got a fried pan sound out of it), not really knowing what I was doing. The "impress your friends and girls" factor was rather low. ah yeah, you could play it like a guitar, but... So I finally traded it at the local shop a few months later for a Norman acoustic guitar... 🤷♂
Keep Roland', Roland', Roland',
Though the streams are swollen,
Keep them dawless Roland', Dawhide!
Always a good time when Alex posts a new video! Thanks, Alex!
Had a Roland HS60 in the mid 90's (Juno 106 with speakers built in). The seller said it was only so cheap because it smelled of smoke. Apparently it had been saved from a school fire! I was a smoker, so couldn't smell the smoke anyway 😀
Lots of classic gear went for 30 to 50 quid back then, sourced from weekly Buy/Sell newspapers and driven to by using a fold out map.
TIL Roland is almost exactly one month older than me.
This year is 50 years for Roland, and next year is 40 years for MIDI.
🟥🟧🟨⬜ - 1984 i purchased a Red SH-101 and TR-606, got a DE-200 and Teac 244 then a DEP-5, an Alpha Juno and JD-800, this year I sold my 101, got a TR-06, TB-03
, SH-01A and TR-6S, a new PC and Roland Cloud Pro with the Legendary Jupiter 8 and TR-808, oh and if that wasn't peak Roland I also have Zenbeats Max unlock on my phone.
Alex Ball...THE Synth Detective!... I could sit all night with you and talk synths! lol... Great video man. 😎 I'm 58 years young now, My first real synth purchase was a Korg MS500 Micro preset as used by OMD, from an advert in the selling section in a local newspaper, I did my paper round to buy that thing through very cold winter months, I saved £69.00 to buy it, got on my bike and picked it up lol...then my "major" synth purchase (£800) from Soho Soundhouse in London..was a Juno 60 in 1994 after watching TOTP and seeing AEIOU performed by "Freeze" thinking they did all that fancy sampling stuff on a J60 lol... I loved it even though it was never gonna be a sampler (which i got into soon after with a Casio SK5...but that's another story lol).. I loved my new Juno 60, then bought a SH101, then a Drumatix TR606, then a TB303, then a few months later moved to London from Hull, East Yorks, to play professionally in a band, the movement was life changing...but i'm still poor, and I loved every minute of my days lol... While in London I was "GIVEN" a Juno 6 and a TR808, yes really!... PX'd them for a Roland TR505 (shit) and a D50 (better) lol.. that was in the 90's digital revolution...please forgive me... Synths are a part of all our lives when a nerdy geek like me screws up with hindsight. Still following the dream ha!.. great stuff!
Treasure!
My first Roland purchase was the GR-55 guitar synth.
First Roland speaker was the KC-110 that I took to a bar to use as a stage monitor but it wasn't loud enough. The clanking of a glass of beer was louder than me! What a disaster!
First Roland keyboard was the RD-64 (excluding midi controllers)
and my first Roland synth was the SE-02. Pretty boring...
I love this video. My Roland story
.. Well.. Go to the zaptronic RUclips channel and check the live streams... You will see it...
My first synth was Roland Jupiter 4 which I bought in 1991. The funny thing is I traded Commodore 64 computer for it which became very cheap at the time and I was all into Atari computers and Cubase anyway. Shame I sold it in 2000 for not that much, but I needed money. :( I had a lot of analogues and digitals at the time, one of them TB-303 which I didn't find very useful, except for those acid basslines, really. It was marketed in the 80s as a kind of cheap accompaniment synth bass along with TR-606 for guitar players. It was never meant to be a serious tool. :)
Got my JX3P (w/ PG200) for U.S. $300, JUNO-60 for U.S. $350, but kinda overpaid for the JUPITER 6 (w/ flight case) U.S. $500
I got my SH101 when I was 19 in 2018. It was my first vintage instrument and since then my most valued possession. It came with a hole on the case by the side of the sequencer buttons. The seller stated that the hole was made to insert something that held the buttons pressed (?). Anyways, this 101 used to power the solo shows of Hawkwind’s Robert Calvert’s s back in the 80s. The seller was in fact his keyboard player, snd stated that you can hear his (now mine) 101 on the Queen’s Hall live album on youtube.
When I started producing a few years ago I needed to know if the vintage synths were the real deal and got really bad GAS..one day while sitting on the toilet 🚽.. I said to myself I haven’t searched in a while and came across a Juno106s for 500$ cad.. of course didn’t know about voice chips and was told I could fix it myself.. tried delicately and failed. Ordered the chips from Texas to Canada.. got someone else to fix it. Sounded nice but realized… nope.. my Jupiter-X sounds exactly the same… and sold it for 2500$ thinking I should sell it before these prices drop drastically when the juno-X came out..I had spent about 1200$ in total on it and played it for 2 months literally in my kitchen cause my studio was full. Let’s face it.. Juno’s are kitchen synths 😂 they’re fun to play and sound great but for space savers a system-8 or JP-X also does wonders.
A Golden Jupiter?!? - That sounds like something Thomas Dolby, Quincy Jones or Nile Rodgers might have owned! - HAHAHA! 🙂 - Can't WAIT to hear the "Real Story!" 🙂
i was 15 in 1985 and lived in Australia, when i purchased a Roland Jupiter 4 complete with a road case.... which was huge and both synth and case weighed a bloody ton! It was $400 and got it out of the Trading Post in Brisbane after selling my Korg Mono/Poly to fund the purchase of the Jupiter.
Just thinking out loud here, the system 100 modules, couldn't a clever modular builder make the missing modules for you, assuming they had the schematics/diagrams to follow like for like circuitry ? the superficial stuff like face plate, sliders, connectors & knobs etc is easy enough so could someone build the rest..?
I was hoping there would be a joke about a "cereal" interface for the TB-303. I have plenty of music stories, but specifically Roland. Hmmmm. My first Roland gear I bought in 1979 was a Roland Bee-Baa Fuzz unit, an SH-09, CSQ-600, RS-09 and a Boss Tuner which used moving LED's for tuning and was very accurate. In 1994, my house was robbed and pretty much gutted, but they left the Synthesisers as mentioned above but took my guitars and the Boss Tuner which was irreplaceable, but left the BEE-BAA. They obviously didnt know anything about Synthesisers. I still have all of the above and am grateful for it. Great video Alex. BTW, that Gold Jupiter-X looks like something a drug dealer or casino would own. I think it looks awful 😞.
Alex your work is a joy for all to behold! It is no accident these incredible pieces ended up in your hands. I can think of no better person to have such an honor than you my friend. Cheers!
My first contact to Roland equipment was the venerable MT-32, wich I borrowed from a friend to hook it up to my PC running the Voyetra MIDI sequencer. Being in possession of (or being possessed by?) a Gravis UltraSound card, a short while later, had me convert a Kurzweil K2000 KRZ sound bank of MT-32 patches/samples to the UltraSound bank format and use this, instead. I always looked up somehow to keyboards and synthesizers, but I've always been a software guy.
Nowadays I use "real hardware" for drum synthesis (eg. ATV aFrame) and still stick to software for all other things synthesis.
The Juno-6 interlude reminds me somewhat of the German "Sandmännchen" melody. Now this gives away my age ;)
Thanks for the brilliant and in-depth video!
Our band, Neu Modell, back in the 1982 had a Roland line as the main instruments.
We had Juno6, SH-101 and DR-808 + Korg Poly61 and acoustic drums and electric guitar. quite typical setup of the time…
As we got more money we got Tama Techstar, second drummachine was added as DR-909, which was important as it had MIDI and Sync, so 808, SH-101 and JUNO6 could be synced in a chain.. Techstar also was triggered from 808/909 outputs for “simmons” sounds.. drummer wasn’t very happy with that back in a day. (our friend had a minimoog and Polysix, but he was in the band only a few monts as we didn’t get along with him, but synths were nice to have for recordings)
But we were behind as the soundscape of pop was going, so we tried to keep up and that degraded our sound (easy to say afterwards). We bought Yamaha RX5 to replace Roland DR’s, we bought new digital age Roland synths like D50 and super JX-10 and very lousy sounding D20 (we thought that the seq would be nice, but it was unusable in practise). And then the sampling prices dropped with Ensoniq Mirage, althou as Roland guys we bought S10 (which was awful) and then finally S-550, which wasn’t good enough either..
Then as we moved to 90’s, band dissolved and all of us sold our old analog gear and finally the multitimbrality came a big issue and for ex. I switched to D70, which was sonically weaker than D50, but it has 5 + 1 part multitimbrality…
.. fast forward, nowadays using softsynths only BUT as Roland Jupiter X came, I decided to by a hardware synth again..
So much Roland-gear I’ve had and loved. Started with a Juno-60 in 85 at the age of 11. Also managed to have RE-201, JX-3P, TR-707, S-50 and SH-2. Then got my very own Jupiter-8 in 1994 for a price that will make everybody cry. That one was stolen from me in London a few years later. I’ve been on the lookout for that sweet sound ever since and only just found records of it’s serial number and the good old owners manual ;)
My current Roland setup consists of a JX-8P and an SH-09. They actually sound pretty good together and I’m finally getting past grieving the Jup, bless him 😊
I bought a Juno 6 and a microKorg at the same time. Poor Roland didn't have a chance.. Bought & sold a D10 earlier this year: didn't get on with it. Got an SH1000 and an EPsomething stored somewhere. The trouble is: Korgs. Micros (plural) Delta, m500..
my Roland Story is one with long pauses. First Roland synth contact was a Juno 6 (owned by a friend) back then in the 80s, but I was not impressed. Got my first Roland gear so around 1989/1990, a Boss DR-550, did not last long. After passing my exam in 1991, I got a secondhand JX-10 with case but without programmer, replacing my Polysix which had no MIDI (I would later reget that). Some years later, I got the programmer and in 2002/2003 I sold it because the keybed drove me crazy. In the 90s I also got an JV-1080 (up to today I can't remember why), which I sold some years later because Its presets were everywhere - after that, I avoided all digital Roland synths - until around 2018. First, I needed a lightweight keyboard with a decent Rhodes sound for live sessions, so I came across the Juno G with an SRX-12 board. Luckily, it did not have any of the presets of the JV-1080. The same year, Roland released the new Fantom and after playing one at Thomann, I immediately bought it because sound and workflow was much better as the gear I was using at that time (and it had no JV-1080 sounds inside, lol). I also hat an JD-Xi for a short time, but that was not my cup of tea. In 2020, I got myself an MC-707 which I sold a year later for a Deluge. Then, I tried to replace the Juno G for live since its LCD kept failing, and I tried FA06, Juno DS and Sonic Cell but then the Fantom 06 was released. Great. Bought it for live use, but that was not the best idea because of Rolands addon polictics, so I sold it and got an MC-707 again for use as sound module with different master keyboards, which proved to be much more flexible, and I still have my Fantom 6 and never regret buying it - funny thing after avoiding Roland Gear for a long time :)
Alex, brilliant as always - the Interlude Juno 6 piece took me right back to BBC Schools Programming in the 1970s / early 80s, the genius of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Bravo!
My first contact with a Roland synth was in 1979, my piano professor's brother came back from Japan with a SH-09. I was 8 :)
In 1988, my friend "Nounou" lent me his blue SH-101 for a couple of months. Good vibes :)
In 1989 I bought my first own synth, a Roland D-20. It still works overall but unfortunately the keyboard is slowly dying, 5 or 6 keys are dead.
A few years ago a friend gave me his deceased dad's old synth. It's a Roland D-50, almost as good as new.
I have no vintage Roland stories. Wish I did. Apart from OctaMed and Soundtracker, my teenage years were spent abusing fretboards and moshing.
My First Roland was a battered TR 707 at the monthly big flea market (what you Brits might call a "car boot sale") at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California
It was 1998, I had just started getting into synths and been introduced to the legendary Roland gear thanks the recent release of the Rebirth software.
Finding an original piece of kit was quite the experience! It was $50 USD.
That piece kicked off my vintage gear journey. The messages I got was "There's treasure out there! You just gotta find it!"
In those early years I was lucky to score things like a tr606, cr 68, Moog Prodigy and Linn Drum for $50 or less each. This was before the internet took the hunting out of the mom and pop music stores and put it online
What a time to be alive!
I got my SH101 ridiculously cheap on ebay (at least half of what they typically go for). Was some guy who found it in the attic and wasn't 100% what it was. All it had was the typical power button issue and a few crackly sliders - since I fixed those up, I could easily sell it for cheap and still get a profit.
My first experience with vintage Roland synths was when I used to work in a small music shop back in 2005/2006. In a small Irish village, no less. They had a whole storage area full of them upstairs - Juno 60s, Jupiter 6s, JX10s, JX3ps, TR606s etc, just gathering dust! I used to sneak up there during lunch, plug them in and play with them - most were still working perfectly.
My Roland stories actually are not exciting.... but thinking about it, I got all of them really cheap and I'm sure they'll increase in value one day too. First one was my JX-8 P. Was in a music shop playing with it. Talked with the synth guy of the shop turned it was his own one. Told me how cheap he got it. and he wouldn't like that much... that was his mistake. I then got it for 300 DM which is 150€. They haven't risen up yet but I'm sure they will. The D-50 I got on ebay for 450 Euro I think that prices stays... yet. JV-2080 3 years ago... was bundled with a T3-ex for 200 Euro on Facebook ads. Felt like I betrayed that guy, back in 1994 this would have been like 4000 Euro. Both are higher already for one of them and I think they'll rise as well. For Roland I think there are always opportunities to get currently undervalued gear for cheap which is sought after later.
Whoa... That throaty sound on the intro is incredible...
While I dearly love the relatively recent acquisition of a Promars and I like the Go:Mixer Pro quite a bit. I got turned off of Roland gear because of not being able to even pay Roland to repair a JD-800 I had with the red glue issue. I ended up selling it (I didn't really want to though). The only good thing is the JD-800 was a gift from a friend, so I didn't buy it.
It took me seeing some of the real vintage stuff of Roland to come back to them.
Anyway, great stories... Loved the outro.... Well all the interludes also...
PS - I would love a cereal that provided Roland gear as the included toy. (So what did you get in YOUR Apple Jacks box? What a TR-727..?)
My first Roland (and synth) was an MC202 back in '93. I'd seen an SH-5 in a local music store for £150, I went to grab my dad to ask for it as a 21st birthday present (as I was on a waiting list for a TB303 from Music Control). In the 30 mins it took to get my dad and return to the store, the SH-5 had gone and I got an MC202 instead. It had no manual, so I learned to program it from the quick start guide...
My 303 arrived at the beginning of '94, Music Control asked to borrow it for a while as a comparison machine for the Deep Bass Nine they were building.
I would rather have that 50th-anniversary book than the Golden Jupiter. HA! And Alex - please give us that coffee table book.
Born in 1980, I’ve been alive for most of Roland’s biggest sellers. However, I didn’t learn about most of them until I was 20. The first time I got my hands on an analog polyphonic, it was my mentor’s JX8p w/ PG800 programmer - both of which now belong to me. The first reaction I had was how thrilled I was to be playing and noodling on a classic analog (for what little I knew of them at age 19), and my second one was what a great educational tool it was for someone like me that had to learn about both subtractive synthesis and patch memory storage from the ground up.
It’s nearly 2023 as I comment. In the 24 years since I first touched the 8p, I’ve done most of my comparisons where Roland is concerned off of it. That includes the similar models I have also bought in the time since (JX10 & MKS70). Most people gauge Roland polyphonic off of the Jupiter/Juno models and monophonic off of the SH models. However, the 8p has been my litmus test most of the time.
My Roland story is not particularly exciting, but it is... something, at least.
I've been doing Kontakt scripting for Steve Howell of Hollow Sun fame for quite some time, then at some point he introduced me to Dani Wlison of Hideaway Studios, who also wanted to put out some Kontakt libraries with the rare and awesome gear she has. This was all relatively simple fare as far as the actual scripting is concerned, but either way a number of products were released and it was about time to talk about remuneration.
This ended up in Dani shipping me her Roland MKS-70, fully refurbished and recapped, along with the PG-200 programmer! I didn't even have to pay for shipping. It's maybe not a super special thing as your System 100m, but hey - it's the only synth that I have that is exactly old as I am (1986). So this is how I got the MKS-70 for basically free (when you love the work you're doing, it doesn't feel like work).
In a similar vein I got a Yamaha FS1R for free from another person. :) Both of these things are steadily increasing in value, too...
I should probably do the Vecoven OS update. Not sure if I should do the PWM modification, though...
I was always a Korg user, but I had the Roland TR-606 and TB-303 back in the 80s. Then I got a Emu Drumulator to replace the 606.
In 2015 I did a midnight run, moving out of an abusive GF's place and landed in a house with a few guys and when I arrived to move my stuff into my room there was a Roland SH-3a on the floor. I asked who's synth it was and was told it was the previous occupant of that room and when he showed up a few days later I asked him about the synth and his response was " It's yours if you want it" ... He was the original owner, had it since he was a kid .... and it became my first vintage mono synth. I've since had it serviced and it works and sounds great ( I also own a JX-3P and 4 of the Boutique reissues)
My Roland story is not that interesting as your 100M one, but I've got SH-201 as my first HW synth back in winter 2010. Traveled across the country to get it. My friend was selling it, so after the deal went down, we sat down in a pub a chatted for a little bit and then I spent the weekend there. On my way back, I was so nervous, because I couldn't bring the synth into the bus with me, so it had to stay in the luggage compartment down below. The whole 3 hour trip, all I was thinking about was how the knobs are gonna be fucked up and that some luggage fell on top of it, damaging it. I was relieved, that non of that happened when I have arrived back home, so I rushed home, and finnaly, after weekend of think about how am I going to make tunes with it, I finally could. Had it for long time, and made several tunes with it. I fancied the feedback oscillator on it, because it was such a hard sound to fit in a track. The track, that I am most proud of, that was made almost entirely on SH-201 is this one ruclips.net/video/qZE12OrIVFY/видео.html The feedback oscillator is the jumpy synth playing along the whole. Can be heard best in the breakdown.
I have loved Roland's synths from the Juno 6 era forward! I owned a JX-8p and two modules stuffed with presets - played them along with a Korg MS2000.
Yeah, nice period of instruments for sure. Still not played an MS2000 though, hopefully will at some point.
Weirdly, I've not got a lot of Roland gear, though I like what I have. Best buy was a Gaia SH-01 for £150 just before Covid, absolutely mint and 15 minutes drive away. They go for around £450 new, so bit of a bargain, and a capable synth for the money, nufairly maligned.
great stories, great storytelling. my roland story: as a teenager i saved all my pocket money to buy a juno-60 as a first synth back in (probably about) 1985. with a midi converter box included in the deal. second hand from a guy i didn't know at the time. years later we happened to play in the same volleyball team. sold the synth for a much too low price somewhere in the early years of this century. will regret it until my end. 🙂
Always wanted a jx3p, ended up with an 8p. Had it from around 1986 - 1996. Never appreciated it because. I never programmed on it. I would love to go back with what I know now and give it a try. Wait a minute, where's all the buttons, sliders, and knobs?
Fall 2005: I was 20 and had moved to Olympia WA earlier that year and had saved up my tip money to buy my first synth- a MicroKorg (for 350 used, thin on the ground then!) and was pretty quickly disappointed by it. In walks this new housemate to the place I was living carrying an SH-09. We get to talking in the kitchen and bring them both out to try on an amp and I say "I really like that synth you've got" and he went "I really like the synth you've got...wanna trade?". After thinking about it for a day I came home from work and we immediately swapped for my first analog synth and the one for me by which I measure all others. The rest is history. I wound up having to sell it years later (that guy still owns it!) and I magically got another one with the silver vinyl gig bag. Never letting this one go, missing grounding pin on the power cable and all!
Couldn’t think of a better care taker of that system 100m !
My stories aren’t anywhere near that spectacular. But a friend recieved a mint JX-3P and PG-200 (in box!) as payment for some work he did for the local school back in the 00’s.
I myself managed to get a JX-8P for free from a friend who was moving out of town and couldn’t be bothered to bring it with him :)
Both machines are still with us to this day 🎉
A golden Jupiter? I would be happy if Roland would soon deliver my normal Jupiter-X, which I've been waiting for since May 2022 (and which I will have to wait for more months!!!).
Congrats a system to cherish and what a marriage 182/mc4 love the new look JPX wow James Bond synth, I usd to work at a pawn shop in El Monte CA. and folks brought there gear to sell or pawn but the owner was cheap so I would give a better deal of courtafter work hrs. So I collected tons of stuff from dr-55/sh7/5 etc… I was a lucky man in the 90s karma really comes back at you and like you in the arse