How About This as a Project Synth?

[MIDI_Thru_Kid]

It's a Roland D-20, has some problems...



Well, it "makes noise..." that I'm kinda scared about, becuase it could seriously be anything.

There is a huge chunk of plastic broken off of one of the corners, which I don't care about, I have plastic, BONDO, and paint for that... (all I have on hand)

Looks like the floppy disk drive is all jacked up, too. That's like another $35, right?

So based off of what I see, and the description, perhaps it was dropped and some sort of chip or other connection got jostled loose somehow, or it could be something worse, but I'm thinking not too much worse, otherwise it would probably produce no noice, right?

After some research, this thing is an "OK" synth, I've heard, sorta like a cheap alternative to the D-50 (!), but sorta similar also to the Ensoniq SQ-80 (!!).

I dunno, what do you think? For under a $100, it's not too bad of a deal? Or is it just a waste of time?

I of course don't have the money for this, I'm just looking around for potential "Project" synths. Who knows? Maybe this thread will serve as a good resource for information for the future.

Thanks for any insight in advance!

[Malpine Walis]

Dude, it is not worth $1. Stay far away from this.

[sequentialsoftshock]

Yeah, I'd stay away from it. You can find working ones for $100..

[MIDI_Thru_Kid]

You can find working ones for $100..

That I didn't know.

Thanks for the input. And nice avatar, Gene Simmons.

[sequentialsoftshock]

This one is $200, but it includes all the original s**t and is guaranteed working.
There's also one in an auction right now going for $30. But if you were only considering this because of the cheap one you found and no other reason, you might still be happier with something else.

[th0mas]

I used to take on projects like this but I have trained myself to think of it as another thing keeping me from making music. Is my hobby fixing synthesizers? Or is it making music? Which do I want to do? It has helped me only buy working gear since (or ridiculously good deals). But no more "$ + who knows how much time + parts" to *maybe* get a mediocre outcome.

[rhino]

Agree with other posters: not worth any repair unless - like me - your hobby IS repairing busted synths.
IMHO the D-20 was a cut-rate, dumbed-down low-price beginner synth.

[madtheory]

Yep, the D-20 has no redeeming features. Hold out for a D-50.

[Malpine Walis]

Another point on that is that the floppy drive may not be trivial to replace. Back then, it was supposed to be a great deal for companies to make what looked like normal parts but were different from one machine to the next. So when you needed parts, you had to get them specific to that machine. Basically, they had a guarantee that you would come back to them because you had no choice.

I had to dump an older computer from then over the fact that the floppy drives were like that. So yes, while it is still possible to buy floppy drives, you may spend money only to find out that they will not work as intended.