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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:
Korg Minipops |
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Hello all. Im looking for any info (esp a schematic) for my minipops jnr. Does anyone know if the start/stop control is just a shorting footswitch type or something else?
I'd like to try and modify it to sync upto my other analogue gear as the tempo control is via a 500k pot
Hope this is the correct area to post!
Thanks, Mark |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:47 pm Post subject:
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UPDATE!!!........
Just secured an Ace Tone FR8.........Which also has a Start/Stop jack...
While I was looking for info I discovered a guy on youtube who has midi'd his earlier Rhythm Ace with stunning results! Needless to say this looks like a plan.....
Any info on the FR8 would be fantastic!! |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:08 pm Post subject:
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Hey - I was just digging around and found out that the Rhythm Ace was a product made by the guy who started Roland! There are tons of free manuals for Roland equipment, but I doubt they'd go back that far.
Do you have a website of some tunes of yours? I've collected a handful of old drum machines and have been working on some tunes with them. _________________ One Player Game | OPG on SoundCloud |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:36 am Post subject:
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Hey One Player Game, thanks for the reply. I've just had a knock at the door and it was the ebay vendor, FR8L under arm! Still in the original box and it only really needs a quick squirt of contact cleaner and a wipe down with a damp cloth! Not bad considering I only won it last night!
Further to your post I did some digging myself. Sound On Sound carried a very informative history of Roland a few years back with a breakdown of the Ace Tone/Roland/Multivox/Boss relationship:
<http>
Well worth a read if you get half an hour.
Ive done some tunes myself over the years but not really in an experimental sense, move your run of the mill beats/samples/synths but Im still learning things from an electronic point of view (buying most of what I use faulty/dead and repairing where necessary) hence my desire for obsolete schematic diagrams!
Thanks again for the reply, if i get time I'll post some pics. Need to research the midi interface the dude on youtube was using with an earlier Ace Tone. He was triggering it from a (Davy) DX drum machine and he mentioned the interface was originally designed for the Atari 2600. I'll have to dig out the youtube link....
Thanks again, Mark. |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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LektroiD
Joined: Aug 23, 2008 Posts: 1018 Location: Scottish Borders
Audio files: 2
G2 patch files: 2
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject:
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Thanks, I'll take a look there! |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:
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bunker wrote: |
While I was looking for info I discovered a guy on youtube who has midi'd his earlier Rhythm Ace with stunning results! Needless to say this looks like a plan.....
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I figured you'd come across the MIDI version. Awesome.
BTW, what I'm doing with my analog drum machines:
I have two Tama Techstar drum modules (two in each, so that's four), a Syndrum module, and a few Roland dealies which are of course only CV-triggered. However, I have a Yamaha RX-11 drum machine that has individual outputs for each sample that I can trigger via MIDI. I haven't looked at the schematics for that guys MIDI "retrofit," (I'm not sure he's posted them or not), though. His, although requiring circuit work, probably sounds a bit cleaner. _________________ One Player Game | OPG on SoundCloud |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 5:16 pm Post subject:
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Mmmm...those chunks of analogue sound nice! Ive just got the Minipops jnr and the FR8L.
The FR8L turned up today and I set to work with a full service. A chump decided at some time it would be a good idea to glue the caps onto the slider stalks so I can't get the front panel off to get to the switches (in dire need of cleaning), but the sliders benefited from a quick blast of contact cleaner.
Did a bit more digging and Highly Liquid do a pile of 8 channel MIDI decoders with relay or transistorized outputs amongst others. Look pretty good on price too.
This is the controller he modded....
http://highlyliquid.com/kits/midi2600/
But maybe it would be easier with one of these, maybe the +5v output model....
http://highlyliquid.com/kits/md24/
I've got a copy of the service docs for the FR8L on the way so if you need any info, please let me know.
BTW I had a listen to some of your tracks before, Very Good! I like a lot, keep it up!
Mark. |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:12 pm Post subject:
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Thanks for the kind words.
Those kits look great! Very affordable, even if you pay the extra for assembly. Not surprised that the SKM 2 is discontinued _________________ One Player Game | OPG on SoundCloud |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:35 pm Post subject:
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Hey opg, I got the FR8L service manual by mail today. There are a couple of pages of circuit description in typical early 70's Japanese-to-English translation which makes humorous reading as well as circuit diagrams and pcb layouts.
I've not really studied the diagrams yet but it would appear that the diode matrix triggers the oscillators for each drum in the pattern and there looks to be 13 drums sounds withe some also adding varying levels of noise to different waveforms. There is quite a bit of control over the voices via trimpots but my only complaint is the low level of the kick drum in comparison to the other voices and the lack of a trimpot for the level. It shouldn't be a big job to amplify the level of the kick drum tho with a bit of stripboard and a couple of transistors.
Interestingly there looks to be space on the board for another inductor and is associated components to give a tambourine voice. This is the same situation as mentioned in the minipops thread whereby the Korg and Univox machines share a circuit board but with different voicing. I'm guessing the TR77 has the tambourine while the Ace Tone doesnt. I've not seen a schematic for the Roland so I don't know what value of components to use but there is a post from someone saying they have the inductors so I may go down that route.
Anyhow, back to the scope and schematic to suss how to midify my beatbox!! |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:31 am Post subject:
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Diode matrix. That's so old school
That sounds awesome! Keep me posted. I may need your help later down the road with two Roland ones I'd like to tweak _________________ One Player Game | OPG on SoundCloud |
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nuipb
Joined: Oct 06, 2009 Posts: 47 Location: France
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Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:51 am Post subject:
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Hi Mark, did you successfully MIDIfied your FR8L in the end ? |
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bunker
Joined: Mar 19, 2009 Posts: 58 Location: Manchester, UK
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 6:13 am Post subject:
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Hey nuipb, sorry for the delay . I didn't get it done yet but its definitely a job for the future. Just as soon as I've got my head around PIC programming! |
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nuipb
Joined: Oct 06, 2009 Posts: 47 Location: France
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 10:38 am Post subject:
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Thanks for remembering ! |
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blakeAlbion
Joined: Jun 16, 2020 Posts: 23 Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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