Roland Promars - strange slow pitch drift

Pulling out your hair? Don't know what to do or where to go? Ask in here.
Forum rules
READ: VSE Board-Wide Rules and Guidelines

If your Help request has been solved, please edit your first post in order to select the Image Topic Icon to let others know your topic has been solved.
Post Reply
zingo
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:06 am
Gear: Trident Polysix Poly800 DSS1 JX8P JX3P Juno6 Jupiter4 D50 JD800 JV1080 MKS20 MKS50 K3m K5000S K5m CS15D SK20 DX7 SY22 SY77 Matrix1000 ESQ1
Location: Sweden

Roland Promars - strange slow pitch drift

Post by zingo » Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:28 pm

Hello everyone, I wonder if somebody has any ideas about the following problem. A few days ago, I noticed that the main oscillator on my Roland Promars was slowly dropping. By now it's approximately three octaves below normal pitch and the instrument is unusable. The Roland Promars is basically a monophonic, two-oscillator version of the Jupiter 4. Everything else seems to work fine, including the tuning on the second (auxiliary) oscillator. Looking at the service manual, my best guess is that some component on the module board for the main oscillator (OP-106) is slowly failing but any ideas which components to primarily suspect would be greatly appreciated. I know this synth is quite rare, but as far as I understand it this board is very similar to the four found in the Jupiter 4 (I have one, and it certainly looks very similar). Perhaps someone has experienced a similar problem with their JP-4.
Kind regards.

User avatar
shaft9000
Supporting Member!
Supporting Member!
Posts: 2046
Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:13 am
Real name: Dave
Gear: Whips chains and a contract.
Location: VanNuys, CA USA
Contact:

Re: Roland Promars - strange slow pitch drift

Post by shaft9000 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:06 pm

not a promars/JP-4 guy myself,
but this seems like a capacitor problem. i'd replace caps in the PSU too; heck, all of them. a capacitor is basically like a battery although it lasts longer - so caps will wear out (depends on type, but commonly after 15-20 years) no matter what. result is the synth often gets noisier, more and more out of tune etc
2600.solus.modcan a.eurorack.CS60.JP-8.JU-6.OB-Xa (6v).A6.sunsyn.JD-990.TB-303.x0xb0x.revolution.
.svc350.memotron
youtube.com/shaft9000 <- various synth demos and studies

zingo
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:06 am
Gear: Trident Polysix Poly800 DSS1 JX8P JX3P Juno6 Jupiter4 D50 JD800 JV1080 MKS20 MKS50 K3m K5000S K5m CS15D SK20 DX7 SY22 SY77 Matrix1000 ESQ1
Location: Sweden

Re: Roland Promars - strange slow pitch drift

Post by zingo » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:10 pm

Thanks - I'll begin with looking at the capacitors then.

Post Reply