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Tom Szakaly is a virtuoso keyboardist and electronic instrument builder.
His band Noddy's Puncture is considered one of the best ELP cover bands in the world, and Keith Emerson himself made several appearances with them, maintaining a very strong friendship.
Tom Szakaly comments:
"Here is the Roland JD800 which I bought - smashed up and also with numerous issues both electronic and mechanical. It might not look 'as new' but it now plays great. I just couldn't see it end up scrapped...!"
And here's another video, with Keith Emerson playing. In this case, the JD-800 is used as a controller for a QSR and the Leslie speakers. Fantastic result.
The JD-800 is Roland's answer to half a decade of hard-to-program
synthesizers. Covered in sliders that act as dedicated editors just like
a classic analog synth, the JD-800 is an extremely programmable and
hands-on digital synthesizer. It is also an interesting and great
sounding digital synth with incredible flexibility and control. Internal
ROM based waveforms are combined to build your sounds. The sounds are
based on Roland's D-50, but updated for the nineties with multimode
filters - uncommon but welcome at the time.
The JD-800 came in a tough metal case capped off on the sides with
large plastic covers. Programming may be a little too flexible for some
users, but once you know what you're doing with it, almost any sound you
can dream up can be dialed in and stored.
The JD-800 is a digital synthesizer that uses leading-edge digital
technology in conjunction with Roland’s analog synthesizer expertise.
Some of its main features are as follows. High-quality sound source The
JD-800 uses a PCM sound source which contains 108 different types of PCM
waveforms including sawtooth waves, pulse waves, noise waveforms,
one~shot waveforms, and looped waveforms. Additional waveforms can be
loaded from a WAVEFORM card (SO—JD80 series; separately sold).
Furthermore, these PCM waveforms can be processed by filters to
provide an extremely wide variety of sound-creation possibilities. Front
panel design for intuitive sound creation The JD—800 provides front
panel controls for all basic Tone parameters, bringing an analog type
interface to a digital synthesizer. Since parameter controls are
arranged in the order of signal flow, the sound shaping process is easy
to understand. You can also adjust the sound parameters in realtime as
you perform.
On—board effects processor The JD-800 has an on-board DSP (Digital
Signal Processor) that provides a wide variety of effects. in Single
mode, you have eight different digital effects; a three-band equalizer
for each Patch, and also distortion, enhancer, phaser, spectrum, delay,
chorus, and reverb.
ln Multi mode, you have four different digital effects; a three-band
equalizer for each Patch, and also chorus, delay, and reverb. You can
specify how the effect will be applied to each of the five Parts and the
Special Part. Two play modes ; Single and Multi The JD‘800 has two play
modes; Single and Multi. ln Single mode, the entire JD-800 plays a
single Patch. This mode is appropriate when you are playing solo parts.
In Multi mode, the JD-800 functions as a multi-timbral sound source
with five Synth Parts and a Special Part. When used with a sequencer or
MTR, this mode allows the JD-800 to simultaneously play all the parts of
an ensemble.
External expansion The JD-800 has two card slots; DATA card (M-256E,
sold separately) and WAVEFORM card (SO-JD80 series, sold separately).
When a DATA card is inserted, you can select from a total of 128
Patches, including the 64 internal Patches. If a WAVEFORM card is used,
you can also create sounds using PCM waveforms from the card.
Brand
Roland
Model
JD-800
Device
Synth
Type
Keys
Engine Type
Digital
Engine
Wave
Voices (max)
24
Multitimbral
5
Oscillators
4
LFO
2
Engine Detailed
ROM waveform data, 4 osc. per patch
Filter (VCF)
TVF: Lowpass/bandpass/highpass-filters with resonance and envelopes
Envelope (VCA)
TVA envelopes and pitch envelopes
FX
Delay, Reverb, Phaser, Distortion, Chorus, EQ
Memory
64 patches
Keys
61
Key type
Keys
Velocity
Y
Aftertouch
Channel
Midi
I-O-T
Produced:
1991 - 1993
Legend:
Obvious
Y: Yes, N: No, N/A: Not Applicable
VCO
Voltage Controlled Oscillator
DCO
Digital Controlled Oscillator
LFO
Low Frequency Oscillator
Sub
Sub Oscillator
VCF
Voltage Controlled Filter
VCA
Voltage Controlled Amplifier
Velocity
As with a piano, the harder you hit a key, the
louder the sound, unlike most organs which always produce the same
loudness no matter how hard you hit a key.
Aftertouch
Pressing a key after you activated it. Channel
Aftertouch, no matter which key, it will send a Channel message. Poly
Aftertouch, sends the pressure per key instead of the whole channel.
Values for OSC, LFO, Filter, Envelope are per voice unless stated otherwise.
Thanks to Scott MacLean we have a new video showing a lot of how the JD-800 works in practice and explaining each section.
His comments:
"I realized recently that there are very few (I couldn't find any) YouTube videos that do a deep dive on how the JD-800 works, and how sound design is done on them. So I decided to rectify that.
In this tutorial/review, I go over everything you ever wanted to know about the Roland JD-800: The history of the synth, how the engine works, how to manipulate patches, how to do sound design, how to edit the effects, and more!"
We received this interesting relate about the red glue from Eric Frampton.
"22 de dez. de 2023,
I’ve just finished the lye treatment on my red glue JD-800. I wanted to add my $.02 to the notes:
Someone elsewhere on the web recommended LA’s Awesome Cleaner (undiluted) for spot treatment. I can concur that this softens up the red glue enough that, with a fingernail and some careful scrubbing, you can get excess glue off the exterior lower key rail without removing paint.
When I did the lye treatment, it clouded up (left a white film on) a bunch of the black keys, and fogged up most of the white ones. I used Novus #2 Plastic polish (Fine Scratch Remover) to polish, and everything cleared up very nicely. This was after lye/dish soap/etc.
Classically trained in piano from age five, Eric wears many hats including keyboardist, producer, composer, and technician. He has worked with a diverse range of artists including the B-52s, Boston, Paul Simon, Lionel Richie, Collective Soul, Yanni, Billy Currington, Mother’s Finest, Greg Manning, Tate Stevens, Stuck Mojo, and Fozzy.
Eric has written six musicals, performed on hundreds of album projects, produced commercial music for everyone from the Atlanta Braves to the QVC network, and even recorded cues for a couple of feature films.
You can also catch him performing with his 80’s tribute band, Electric Avenue.
Something that is frequently requested are alternatives to replace the JD-800 keybed with another that is similar as it is practically impossible to obtain a replacement.
We asked our friend Paulo Audiocare (Brazil) who is a technician with long experience in maintaining synths and the suggestion was as follows:
"The best keybed to adapt to the jd800 or U-20 is the Roland W30 (or D50, which is the same).
Just make the adjustments to the matrix.
The mechanical part is very close and the drillings are almost exact."
This was posted by Alex Ball at Youtube in a recent work posted September, 13, 2023.
Thank you!
This JD-800 now is with Andrew Ward who gently allowed this video.
Sorry, no Sysex is available nor is there a possibility of getting it. This is explained in the video.
Citing Akex's words:
"Here's a look at Tony Banks' Roland JD-800 that he used live throughout the 1990s.
In this video, we have a listen to the tour patches stored on the instrument and get a little glimpse into how Genesis did things in front of stadiums full of adoring fans.
Huge thank you to Andrew Ward for the loan of this historic instrument.
Gaining access to the internal parts of the JD-800 is a simple process but requires a little care.
Removing all screws may do your internal components fall.
You must remove only the screws AROUND the bottom and two screws in the center line, they are at 1/4 from side, and may be you can see a few bigger hole where thy fit to.
Sometimes the bottom have some "dust" acting like glue to.
Photo: Gwydion Elderwyn
How to remove the panel. JD-800 Manual. (click to enlarge) Source: Roland Co.
As a JD-800 lover, maybe you perceive I really love this synth, I was after this for a long, long, long time. To be clear, since 2002 when I got the JD-800 and created this site.
In short, the JD-800 SE is a Brazilian edition with the Strings Card plus exclusive patches but the same original factory presets.
In practice, the JD-800 SE included all 5 cards.
In the early 1991-92 years, people from Roland's Brazil asked for a group of very experimented Brazilian musicians to help create new patches for the JD-800.
This version received an entirely new set of patches that were not included in the factory presets.
But this was a problem too because almost all users forgot to save the internal memory into a memory card (not included), so those patches become lost for a long time.
So, if you have a JD-800 SE and restore factory presents, you will lose the SE version patches! This happened to most of them sadly.
My first contact with the JD-800 SE was in 2005 with Elberto Ronald Manske who had a very nice studio and with all cards.
After nearly two decades, I found someone who still has the patches saved plus the original prints included with that special model.
And yes, I have the JD-800 SE, but I was after such patches for a long time, and still, sadly I do have not the String Card (a really fantastic one).
The new patches were created due to the great work of:
Eric Persing
Adrian Scott
Paulot Roberto T. A. de Oliveira
Lucas K. Shirahata
Carlos Alberto F. Merussi (Pardal)
The patches:
After finding this, I commented in local groups and then another colleague made a simple video about it, and for sure the JD-800 SE deserves a better one, but he has not the String Cards and his machine sadly is in bad shape, using another keyboard as a controller.
The original credits to these great guys:
On this page below you can download this rare set of patches. Copyright @Roland Co.
Also, watch this video made after we got the material to get a very simple idea. Tiago is using a controller without the Strings Card.
Anyways, no matter who made what, I give thanks to this beloved great friend who gifted me with the original material after decades so we solved the mystery of the JD-800 SE!
A very good video from Scott MacLean with a full JD-800 repair, restoration and modification.
It's a really very complete video, including links for all the parts and products used!
His words:
"The Roland JD-800 is a virtual analog synthesizer produced from 1991 to 1996. Like the D-50, it uses Linear Arithmetic synthesis, which combines samples with digital synthesis. There are 108 built-in waveforms, with the ability to expand this with cards. This is a JD-800 I acquired that was in sad shape - it was suffering greatly from the "red glue of death" - a common problem with Roland synths of the time. This epoxy failure causes sticky, red glue to drip out of the keys and into the synthesizer, gluing keys in place and destroying circuit boards. In this video, I show how I take the synth apart, fix the red glue mess, then do some modifications to the aftertouch and power supply."
Mr Katsunori is a well know musician and his reviews are always great!
In his words:
"The Roland JD-800 was an epoch-making synth that combined the operability of a digital sound source and an analog feel. The character that is clear and has a strong presence is wonderful even if you listen to it now! .. The famous no.53 piano is still very nice! Katsunori UJIIE"
Thanks to all lovers of the JD-800, here's a very complete work about the new PCB that has been designed by Guy Wilkinson with the help and manufacture of PCBWay.
We cited them in a recent topic too. Thanks, guys!
Please follow the link bellow for the very complete material I'm sure all you will love it!
Our colleague Igor Kopman posted about the problem, and here what appears to be the main trouble, so he posted this first solution:
"Hi guys. Many people have Trailing distortion after every effects based patch on JD800. This is the DAC problem. Very easy to fix. Just replace the R100 resistor to another with a lower resistance on output board, and the problem will gone."
Igor Kopman the original resistor has to be measured out of circuit. Do you still have your original and what does it measure? The schematic and colour code says it should be 470k
So after more replies from many colleagues in the group and thanks to Igor Kopman for presenting this need, Julian Campposted what appears to be a more simple solution:
Replace VR1 with a high quality multi turn pot and it will fix the issue. The original VR when turned all the way counterclockwise or clockwise reads around 440ohm. The VR wasn't going low enough in resistance. Resistors R100, R101 and R102 tested within spec.
Thanks to everyone for supporting this great music machine! I love this synth and all you!
Manuals available:
If you need the JDs Service Manuals plus all the others JD' manuals just enter at this page:
The original topic text messages for credits, many people helped for sure!
** Igor Kopman
Hi guys. Many people have Trailing distortion after every effects based patch on JD800. This is the DAC problem. Very easy to fix. Just replace the R100 resistor to another with a lower resistance on output board, and the problem will gone.
** Radek Tymecki
You think that changing the resistor is the key? Caps are ok?
** Jym Mccullough
Can you be more specific on "lower resistance?" How about an exact value that works?
** Kevin Nolan
Jym Mccullough It looks like a 46 Ohm Resistor - hard to tell but I think I'm seeing Yellow-Blue
** Igor Kopman
Jym Mccullough I will open my JD800 and check it.
** Igor Kopman
Jym Mccullough Ok the resistor is 137k
** Kevin Nolan
Igor Kopman Yup - 46 Omhs - 137k - I was almost right 🥴 (ye know - on the cosmic scale of things...)
** Julian Camp
Igor Kopman the original resistor has to be measured out of circuit. Do you still have your original and what does it measure? The schematic and colour code says it should be 470k
** Igor Kopman
Julian Camp I think it was 240k or 270k
** Julian Camp
Igor Kopman that's what it would measure in circuit. Did you measure it out of circuit?
** Julian Camp
You have to take the resistor out of circuit to measure it. Mine reads 480k. The schematic and colour code shows it should be 470k. So this resistor shouldn't be the issue unless my cheap meter is correct and it is 10k out of spec. Will replace with a … Ver mais
** Julian Camp
470k. Color code Yellow Violet Yellow Gold
** Gilberto Strapazon
Thanks Igor Kopman!
Please, you or someone else with the same trouble may check about the measure out of the circuit of the probably damaged part?
This topic will be replicated at the JD800center if we have more info.
Appears the kind of problem with a easy solution and this means Gold!
I'm saving all the topic (with all replies for credits) for a post at my site.
I'm sure many people will be after this information too.
Thanks for more replies so I will soon post at the JD800Center too.
** Jym Mccullough
Gilberto Strapazon Thanks for maintaining your website. I've looked there many times for info and tell others as well.
** Julian Camp
I will replace the three resistors going to the trimmer pot and report back. Will be replacing with original values. R100 - 470k, R101-1M, R102-200k.
** Eric Vaubel
My JD-800 and my PCM-80 both do this. Will investigate!
** Julian Camp
UPDATE!
Replace VR1 with a high quality multi turn pot and it will fix the issue. The original VR when turned all the way counterclockwise or clockwise reads around 440ohm. The VR wasn't going low enough in resistance. Resistors R100, R101 and R102 tes… Ver mais
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