Custom-built multi-bank Roland M-256/M-512 memory cards

[bassman4d521]

Another VG8EX user here that would definitely buy one!

[6581Sound]

Great, this is an interesting project. I was looking for a roland memory card on the net, but would rather buy a new updated one instead of a used one of course. As owner of Roland D50 and Roland R8, I'd like to buy two M-256 cards if that is possible.

[dojoe]

Quick update -- oof, has it really been two months already?! Here's what I've been up to lately:



That's Zaichornok's GC-8 sitting on my workbench -- he was having issues with the card that and friend and I could attribute to what appears like signal reflections at the card interface, causing intermittent fake write pulses that would slowly corrupt his card -- if you squint, you can almost make out the small yellow spike on the scope. Nothing a small capacitor at the right place can't fix =) This is a weird interaction between my card and the GC-8 specifically, and apparently none of the previous beta testers had any problems so far so they should be fine as long as they don't start using a GC-8

The remaining rev.B cards will be shipped with filtering capacitors botched onto the control signals, and I will eventually layout a rev.C (but I'll wait for feedback about the remaining rev.B cards first) and go though another prototype run of these before I think about mass production.

I have also gotten word from my parts supplier -- they will take back the bent ICs and I will be refunded, so I can order new ones. So I should be able to complete the remaining rev.B cards soon and send them out to beta testers.

[SoundWerx]

Thanks for the update

[Anarkand]

Wow that sounds real good let me know if you need testing. All the best from Denmark

[martin8or]

I tried to do this myself and didn't get it working properly, was using a GC-8 for testing too which might explain why.

[localhero]

Hi everybody,

I have received the multi bank memory card yesterday (thanks Joachim !).
It's a 16 banks of 256 Kbit each, so 1024 patches storage available

Very nice looking card. At the beginning it didn't want to be inserted in the JD990.
I didn't want to force and to break something, but I have tried again and this time the card was inserted.

Then I have sent some sysex files from my computer to the JD. And then saved the internal patches received to the card.
No problem. Next try was to switch banks and fill several banks from different sysex files.

I have filled 4 banks, the 4 JD banks with all the patches for the Vintage expansion card (as explained here http://www.donsolaris.com/?tag=roland-jd-990).

It works perfectly

A very happy user.
I can sell my old M256 original card now.

I will try the card in my Roland D5 when I will find time (the D5 is not plugged for the moment).

Happy sunday to you all and a big thank you to Joachim for the hard work
David

[madtheory]

Great news!

[aladan]

I have received the multi bank memory card yesterday (thanks Joachim !).

I think you must be a beta tester (like me). I don't think the cards are officially available for sale yet, until it is confirmed they work properly in all machines.

Cheers,
A.

[dojoe]

I think you must be a beta tester (like me). I don't think the cards are officially available for sale yet, until it is confirmed they work properly in all machines.

That is correct. I am currently hand-picking beta testers based on the hardware they have so I can maximise test coverage for the cards. I sent a card to aladan and localhero so far, still waiting on responses from Marpytoys and Headless68. It's vacation time right now, so I'm not expecting quick responses at the moment

Very much looking forward to hearing of your experiences with your many synths, aladan =)

[gj67]

Hi Joachim,

If you need any testing done on a Roland D70, let me know and I can arrange this for you. (I actually own 2 of them)

Kind regards,
GJ.

[dojoe]

If you need any testing done on a Roland D70, let me know and I can arrange this for you.

Thanks for the offer, but I got the D70 angle covered already.

[baz99]

Very nice looking card. At the beginning it didn't want to be inserted in the JD990.
I didn't want to force and to break something, but I have tried again and this time the card was inserted.

Yes, insertion and extraction can be a bit difficult as the Roland card slots are so slim.

Roland used raw chips without any plastic casing inside their cards to make the chips fit in these slim cards (I opened up an original Roland card, that's why I know this). This is something dojoe obviously can't do so he has to work with the size of the standard commercially available chips. I don't think there is any way dojoe could have made the cards any slimmer.

Luckly dojoe's cards with the standard chips are just about slim enough to fit in the slot but it's a tight fit, so insertion and extraction has to be done carefully.

For me this is not a problem as with the 8 banks of 64K available on a single card (or 16 banks of 32K) I don't need to ever swap out the card, one card provides all the storage space I will ever need in my JV-1080.

[localhero]

Very nice looking card. At the beginning it didn't want to be inserted in the JD990.
I didn't want to force and to break something, but I have tried again and this time the card was inserted.

Yes, insertion and extraction can be a bit difficult as the Roland card slots are so slim.

Yes, as a beta tester I was reporting my first impressions, trying to avoid any damage to the lovely card. But the second try was good, no problem at all.

For me this is not a problem as with the 8 banks of 64K available on a single card (or 16 banks of 32K) I don't need to ever swap out the card, one card provides all the storage space I will ever need in my JV-1080.

I totally agree, once inserted I think I won't need to pull the card, with these 16 banks. 16 cards is enough

[ʝɵʝɵ]

Luckly dojoe's cards with the standard chips are just about slim enough to fit in the slot but it's a tight fit, so insertion and extraction has to be done carefully.

It's worth noting that as with all other dimensions of the cards (just remember that the original revision was designed to be a few cm shorter!), this varies from synth to synth though. On the D-50, the card sits rather loosely in the slot, for example.