Advice needed for dead key issue (older Roland synths)

S

Smacdonald206

New member
Hi,

I have three Roland synths that I've kept stored away for some time. Now that I'm feeling inspired again, I want to get them working properly. All three suffer from a dead key issue. Meaning that here and there you get nothing when you hit the keys. So you'll be running through an arpeggio or something and notes fall off. The synths in question are a JX-10, a D-50 and a D-70. Any advice on how to fix this? Is it just dust getting into the contacts?

Thanks.

Scott MacDonald
Seattle, WA
 
Is it a single key, a zone of keys, or all keys?

Do the keys still transmit MIDI?

Can you still play the synth MIDI'ed from another keyboard?

I'm having my beloved D-50 repaired for a zone of dead keys. Apparently it'll require a major replacement of some master key thingie and cost me about $200. It's not worth it, but I'm a sentimentalist.
 
the first thing to do is give it a key switch cleaning.... take the bottom off look at the back roland likes to put screws there as well... it should at that point look relatively orvious how the key deck comes out... BUT be careful with the ribbon cables that go to the main board.. it's easy to screw them up... most of rolands keydecks you get to the switches from the bottom... so you pull all those little screws out and the board should come free in your hand... if you haven't been putting the screws in different cups now would be a good time to start... when you turn the deck over you should see stripps of little rubber boots... those are the switches... becareful they can tear and rolands are notorious for dry rotting... ya tear one it's over for that switch....
*important* before you tear the switches off take afew minutes to look it over so it'll be easier to put back together... when you take a strip off lay them out in order... look at the rubberbooties... there's deffinately a front and a back switch... and it's important for the velocity sensing... to clean them you use alcohol... dont use rubbing or that kinda stuff get the kind that the paint stores have... using a Q-tip rubb the black dots... they will look kinda gazed over at first and go to a flat black when cleaned... do the same for the board that they attach to the pads should be obvious to you now...

now you either reverse the process to assemble or you throw it away...

come up with a question PM me...
 
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