Boss RC-505 Loopstation Review Questions

Boss RC-505 Loopstation

I just received notification that my new Boss RC-505 Loopstation was shipped. That means I’ll likely have it in my hands to check out tomorrow afternoon or maybe morning even. I’ve been quite excited about this release mainly because of the five tracks, loop effects, and table top design. I’m also excited to use this not for what it was intended, a beat box looper, but rather a synth looper. I currently own the Boss RC-300 and while it’s a very good looper, the Boss RC-505 has more features that I wished were on the RC-300. I have some questions though and I hope to answer them tomorrow when the Boss RC-505 arrives.

1. How much can I control the RC-505 with my feet? I am hoping I can start, stop, and overdub record with a foot pedal. Indeed I can do that with my hands, but there are some synth parts that might make this difficult. Having the option to start/stop/mute/continue would be fantastic.

2. Are the effects global or can I record or use the effects per loop track? I believe this is already answered in the demo videos and catalog, but I’d like to know for sure how flexible the effects are with looping.

3. MIDI! Oh yes! How well does the Boss RC-505 sync with a drum machine or the Boss RC-300. Likely the RC-505 has to be the master, but will a drum machine stay in sync? We’ll see.

4. Boss RC-505 Manual – It will be nice to also have a manual to check out all the possibilities. Boss seems to be a little slow in releasing the manual. Likely I’ll get a Japanese manual since I’m in Japan, but hopefully soon an English one will be posted.

Those are basically the three main questions I have. The five tracks is huge with the Boss RC-505. Although three was great, there is a lot you can do with five. Plus you can load or dump the tracks as WAV files for further editing in a DAW.

The Boss RC-505 is going to be a lot of fun. I just hope it allows me to do a little bit more with my feet using external pedals. I’ll find out soon!!

Oberhiem Matrix 6/1000 Great 80′s Combo

Oberheim Matrix 6 Synthesizer

This week I scored an Oberheim Matrix 6 and Matrix 1000 combo in fantastic condition. I must say I LOVE LOVE LOVE this synth. The Matrix 6 is most definitely one my most favorite synths I’ve played no doubt. It’s important to note that I’m a big fan of the 80s, the decade I grew up in. When I browse through the patches I find so many that are useful for that 80′s retro sound. In case you didn’t know, the Matrix 1000 has just that…. 1000 patches inside. 800 are presets and the other 200 are user based. The Matrix 6 has 100 user patches. I use the OB6000 software editor to transfer patches to and from either the Matrix 6 or Matrix 1000 using a MacBook Air.

Both the Matrix 6 and 1000 are in like new condition. The Matrix 6 is black and looks wicked. They were sold to the used shop together by the original owner in Japan and so I figured it was best to pick them both up while I could. The video attached below was a MAJOR reason why I bought them. I must admit I didn’t know much about the Oberheim Matrix series synths, but the video convinced me I needed them for that cool 80′s vibe. Modern stuff I suppose would also be quite easy to compose on the Matrix synths as well. The video is of the Matrix 1000, but it sounds pretty much identical to the Matrix 6. I haven’t used them both enough to notice any major difference, but I’m sure they exist.

Oberheim Matrix1000

Now I am hoping these two synths just stay working over the next few years because they will definitely be front and center in my synth rig. They just sound great to my ears and they really ROCK when I’m jamming with them. At first I thought the Matrix 1000 would be redundant along with the Matrix 6, but I now find them to be quite useful together. The Matrix 1000 has so many patches it literally takes a couple of hours or more to audition them properly. I found myself checking the ones I liked and then dumping them over to the Matrix 6 for more tweaking. The Matrix 1000 also expands the Matrix 100 user patches by adding the 200 user patches it already has. The patches really are “so far” quite interchangeable. Another thing about the Matrix patches are that they really cover almost all the bases for any sort of 80′s synthpop band. Modern too!

The Matrix 6 and Matrix 1000 are wonderful bread and butter 80′s synthesizers. I know I’m going to have a great summer jamming with these two guys.

Roland JX-8P Stuck Note Syndrome

Roland JX-8P Synthesizer

This week I found a Roland JX-8P in great cosmetic condition. I’ve always been interested in this synth because I’ve heard it’s been used on the a lot those Italo Disco records for strings and pads. After testing it out and playing through the presets and internal patches it’s not all that bad of a synth. I feel I need to do some programming a bit and scour the web for some better patches, but I know with the right ones, the Roland JX-8P is going to sound great.

one problem I did find so far with my Roland JX-8P is the occurrence of a stuck note that happens completely at random. It also happens on different notes and not the same one. I’ve pretty much ruled out the idea that this is a dirty or problematic key due to the fact that it’s all completely random. ( Perhaps not so if some sort of diagnostic test could be run which I’m not aware of yet. I’m currently checking out the service manual ). I did find while search for similar problems a member on Gearslutz who reported the same issue. He fixed it by replacing a NEC D8253C-5 divider chip. I decided to investigate more about this.

I opened up the Roland JX-8P and found four divider chips labeled NEC D8253C-2 and NOT NEC D8253C-5. Does the “2″ and “5″ make a difference? I’m not sure, but to be on the safe side I decided to order a set of NEC D8253C-2 chips off Ebay which are readily available for around $4.00 each. I also noticed that these chips appeared to be soldered. This is not a big problem, but it does mean a short soldering job is in store. Am I sure this will take care of the problem? No, but it’s a start and with one success story it’s as good a solution as any at the moment.

Even with this sticky note problem, the Roland JX-8P is very playable and I found that if I could decipher the exact note right away, I could simply hit that note and it would go away. The stuck note is also mild and not “in your ear” blaring away! Hitting the note again did not make any sound rather it simply cut off the stuck note. The stuck note also happens very infrequently but enough to probably happen once or maybe twice during a song. For recording purposes, the stuck note is a non issue really. For live purposes this could be a problem if one is not paying attention. So I’m not completely worried about it unless it gets worse. For the price I paid, I expected a major issue. So far, I would say the NEC D8253C-2 chip problem is minor although I would love to find out which chip is the culprit rather than pulling all four. That’s 24 pins of soldering for each chip. I could test after each one and hope for the best and get lucky. We’ll see.

Currently I have yet to get accepted to the Yahoo JX-8P groups which often has discussions about these sort of issues. The good news is that it’s not a huge problem and most likely fixable with NEC D8253C-2 chips. After my Roland Juno 106 experiences, I really don’t want to be bogged down again with chip issues again….laugh.

I’m enjoying the Roland JX-8P. It was a nice find no doubt about it. I use the Midi Designer iPad app as a PG-800 controller. There is a brilliant Roland JX-8P editor in Midi Designer and it works awesome.

Here’s a demo on Youtube of the Roland JX-8P in action from Jexus. Great stuff!

Korg Karma Synth Workstation

Korg Karma

Wow! I just snagged a Korg Karma Synth Workstation in near mint condition today for $160 bucks. There also was a JV-1000 Workstation available right next to it for the same price, but I decided to run with the Red Karma. I didn’t feel like digging into another laborious red epoxy cleanup job with the JV-1000 like I had to do with the one I already have. For those that don’t know, there is a terrible red epoxy issue with both the Roland JV-1000 and XP-80 keyboard workstation whereby the weights come unglued under the keys and drips all over the place. I actually bent over and examined under the JV-1000 and sure enough, the red epoxy was breaking up. I warned the “Hard Off” store sales staff, but they kind of gave me a deer in the headlight look…laugh.

In any event, I’ve always wanted a Red Korg Karma and now it’s sitting pretty in my studio on the stand where I test new gear out. By the way, I do plan to post photos of my studio room as I’ve been getting quite a few emails about where I put all my gear since space is so limited in Japan. I’ll try to post some photos in an upcoming post this weekend.

I’m a little mystified as to why the used music store was selling the Korg Karma for so cheap. There were no EXB boards inside and it wasn’t equipped with the MOSS board either, although I didn’t expect that. I removed the EXB-PCM04 (Dance Extreme) and EXB-PCM05 (Vintage Archives) from my Korg Triton Rack because I heard they were “Karmafied” and put them into the Karma. They make a nice addition to the Karma. I don’t have the EXB-PCM09 (Trance Attack) yet, but “may” pick that up. The Korg Karma only has two expansion slots though. I’m on the fence about the MOSS board. I’m not sold on it yet, but if I find a good deal I may acquire that.

The Korg Karma is actually quite fun to play. There are a lot of combis that I’m not fond of, but overall there are some pretty good sets to work with. I may try to find a way to create my own custom bank to streamline things a bit, but for now it’s a really nice synth to jam with. I know there is software for this from Karmalabs, but I’m not sure about being tethered to a computer right now, BUT, you can create PCGs and GEs for storage in the Korg Karma, so that’s pretty cool.

The Korg Karma Synth is unique and I do believe it’s quite different than my Korg Trinity and Triton. I know there are some similarities, but how one approaches the Karma Synth is likely to be different than the Triton. I also believe that Korg Karma could become a classic one day. It might already be one. I was extremely surprised to see one for sale in my neck of the woods because Korg is very popular in Japan and I’ve never seen a live Korg Karma before. Thus it goes without saying, I was pretty excited to find one especially in the near perfect condition it was in. As always, the original Japanese owner took really good care of it.

Here’s a video found on Youtube that highlights exactly the stuff I like to do with the Korg Karma.

Yamaha QX1 Sequencer Replacement Floppy Drive

Yamaha QX1 Sequencer

Yesterday I took a gamble and bought a Yamaha QX-1 sequencer off Ebay for a decent price. I bought a Yamaha QX-3 about six months ago here in Japan and always wanted to have the Yamaha QX-1 as well. I really like these old school sequencers. As a kid growing up in the 80′s I could only drool over these in the music shop and now I can enjoy a little nostalgia and own them both. I don’t know a lot about the Yamaha QX-1, but it does have the 8 midi outputs coming out of the back, 8 polyphonic tracks, 80,000 notes, and an accurate clock resolution of 384 ppq (pulses per quarter note). It’s also a kind of a large sequencer and likely heavy. The one drawback is that it requires a working 5.25 floppy drive. I actually bought about 10 brand new boxes of 5.25 floppy disks about a year ago for under a dollar a box here in Japan. So I’m excited to have the media for it. By the way, the Yamaha QX-1 has been impossible to find in Japan lately which is why I elected to buy one off Ebay.

Although the LCD and Power have been tested on the Yamaha QX-1, I am still awaiting delivery of the unit to test the floppy drive. There is a very high probability that the floppy drive will not work. Thus the I’m currently checking out my options for either a replacement drive OR an emulator of sorts to throw into the Yamaha QX-1. I did read about a replacement 3.25 drive, but cringed when I found out it was from Route66Studios which, sorry I’m not a big fan of. Living here in Japan I’ve had to deal with a lot of mail order companies over the past 20 years and Route66Studios ranks at the bottom in my experience, so I’m going to try and look for another way should I require a floppy drive replacement.

Basically what I need to do is crack open the Yamaha QX-1 and inspect the factory drive and hardware controller. If I can learn more about it, I should be able to find out a suitable replacement for it. So my fingers are crossed that the drive components are not that ancient. Once I get the Yamaha QX-1 in the mail, I’ll update this post with some comments about the condition of the floppy drive. I’m just excited I get to “hopefully” use one of those new 5.25 foppy disks I bought recently. The last time I used a 5.25 floppy disk was back in University when I had to write a report using MS Word in the computer lab. That I believe was back in 1989 during my first year at the U of W! Wow!

UPDATE: I managed to get the HxC Floppy Emulator connected and working with the Yamaha QX-1. I no longer use the floppy drive. The QX-1 runs silent, faster, and can hold as many floppies as you can store on an SD card. The Yamaha QX-1 is much more usable now and with 8 midi outs, it’s awesome!!

Here’s a new video of the Yamaha QX-1 attached to the HxC SD card floppy emulator. I made this really quick and will do a follow-up soon. Thanks!

AKAI EWI3000m Analog Wind Controller – Thinking outside the box!

AKAI EWI3000 EWI3000m

Today was a day of experimentation with the AKAI EWI3000m and EWI3000 Wind Controller. Previously I wrote about my adventures with a used EWI3020 that ultimately resulted in taking it back because it was clearly defective after spending several days bashing my head against the wall. I practically ripped my lungs out trying to get that thing to work and indeed it was broken. Almost a year later I decided to try it again with a used but beautiful conditioned AKai EWI3000/EWI3000m set and my first impression was “Now this is how it is supposed to be!!”

I must mention that I am COMPLETELY new at using a wind instrument. I have a fascination for the synth aspect and the idea of using my breath to control synths in a unique way. As the title here says, I like to think outside the box and have always been curious how someone with ZERO experience on a wind controller could do something fun with it. Today, I was pleased to find that I did’t have to be a Wind Controller expert to have fun with the Akai EWI3000 and make music.

I bought the Akai EWI3000 and module used this week along with manuals, cable, and adapter. Everything with this unit is rare to say the least. You can’t find a manual anywhere on the web that’s not Japanese. That’s not a problem for me, but it is for everyone else I know. The adapter is a 15 Volt which is also not very common. Plus the cable itself I’ve heard is rare or expensive if you break it. So I felt lucky that I could get everything in excellent condition. The Akai EWI3000 is often talked about, but for some reason there is no info to be found anywhere about it other than at pPtchman Music. Thank goodness for Patchman Music!

The EWI3000m is an Analog Synth. It sounds very impressive to me and I absolutely “Love” the sync and bass sounds this thing makes. Oh man, this really is a nice sounding analog machine. The battery was low so I had to replace it which required soldering in a battery holder. I then had to scour the web for the reset procedure which I finally found after reading a lengthy FAQ. Patchman needs to either condense or organize that thing a bit. No wonder people ask on the forums and don’t read the FAQ. With that said, I’m VERY grateful he had the procedure there because like the Roland Alpha Juno 2, when you replace the battery, the system is whacked until you reset the unit. Now the Akai EWI3000m oozes with Analog sweetness.

Having no experience with an AKAI EWI3000 or a Wind Controller I feel is a good thing. I’ve read that often Wind Players have to re-learn how to do things a bit when playing either the Akai or Yamaha wind controller. Since I’m completely new, that means I can just jump in and not worry too much about being confusing. This is why I can say that for me, the AKAI EWI3000 is not hard at all to learn. Sure, as a keyboardist and guitarist, I have to learn how to play scales on a Wind Controller and get my breathing down, but for simple stuff ( like a recorder ), it’s not that difficult to pick it up and play some notes…. provided the thing works to begin with!!

Once you get some basic notes down, you can then have fun bending notes with your left thumb under the EWI3000. With your right thumb which is on the rollers underneath, you can slide between octaves. If you have a cool synth bass sound it is easy to create an arpeggio or a wobble like bass sound. If you get two or three notes that you like, you can easily create a bass line and add expression with your breath, tongue, or pressure on the mouth piece. Trills are simple and by blowing hard or softly you can get some cool effects. I mean, you can really get some creative results using a Wind Controller like this. It’s addictive too and you have to be careful to take a break or else you’re thumbs will get stiff and your mouth will get sore…laugh. Geez, after I put my Wind Controller down I just about cramped out. I walked away like a zombie I was having so focused and having fun.

I am no Sax player nor will I probably ever be one simply because it takes years like everything else to master. ( I prefer the keys and guitar, not to mention I also sing. ) However, it doesn’t take much to learn a few notes and scales on a Wind Controller so you can have fun getting creative with such a device. If I find a used Akai EWI4000s, I’ll probably jump all over it. The EWI4000s can use batteries, has internal sounds, and connects to other synths via MIDI. It also has a headphone jack so you could literally take it on the plane with you. How neat would that be?

The AKAI EWI3000/EWI3000m combo is FANTASTIC!!! I absolutely love the sound and as a synth keyboardist, the presets are far from cheesy. I’m glad I didn’t buy the Patchman EWI3000 pathces because programming this synth is not that hard and it really does rock as is!! In no way does the EWI3000 clone a real sax, flute, or clarinet for example. This is a synthesizer and as a result you get nothing but excellent synth sounds. It’s fun now to be able to take out the AKai EWI3000 and create a bass line or a synth chord riff ( Yes it plays chords! ) and get creative results. You don’t have to be a pro wind instrumentalist much like you don’t have to be a pro keyboardist to create that catchy synth hook. You just need to “think outside the box” a little. EnjoY!

Ensoniq SQ-80 Cross Wave Synthesizer

Ensoniq SQ-80 CrossWave Synthesizer

About a week ago I stumbled upon a used Ensoniq SQ-80 at the downtown used music shop called “Hard Off” here in Japan. The hard shell case was dinged up a bit and I didn’t know what was inside, but it said Ensoniq on the outside. At first I thought it might be an EPS sampler of sorts. I have never seen either an ESQ, VFX, or ASR-10 series keyboard in any used store, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was an Ensoniq SQ-80. The condition of it was really good with only one exception which was the door or lid of the floppy drive was missing. Other than the power cord there were no disks or other accessories.

This was my first time both seeing and playing an Ensoniq SQ-80, so I quickly checked the web with my iPhone in the store to get more info. It seemed to have positive reviews and definitely not all that common “in Japan”. So I dragged it up to the front desk and asked to give it a whirl. Immediately there was this patch that I played that sounded almost EXACTLY like the sync patch sound in the Cars “Let’s Go”. Now I know the SQ-80 was not the synth used on that record, BUT, it was very convincing nonetheless and it sounded just plain cool! What I also liked was how responsive the modulation wheel was. I could pump out a bass line and modulate it into some funky electro riff. It was instant fun playing the SQ-80 and I knew right then I had to take this thing home.

In total, the sales clerk allowed me to have it for $100 USD. I thought that was a pretty good price. I believe he reduced the price because he thought the floppy drive was broken. Later I found out that it was in perfect working order and just the front door piece was missing. The previous owner probably used the floppy drive quite a bit and it broke off or something. Not sure.

A couple of notes. I tried the sequencer and thought it worked very well. You definitely can create some interesting 80′s oriented stuff with the sequencer for sure. It was pretty easy to record a pattern, loop it, and add tracks which was fun. It’s not a loop sequencer, but it comes close. I need to fine the Ensoniq CVP-1 Expression Pedal as nothing worked from either Korg, Yamaha, or Boss. Not event he Boss EV-5 worked at all. The Ensoniq appears to be very picky with what Expression Pedal it takes. I’d like to use it to control the modulation wheel so I can keep both hand on the keys. I just love that MOD wheel with some of these SQ-80 bass and Sync patches.

I also was able to send patches to and from the SQ-80 with ease using Sysex Librarian on my Mac G4. Some patches I found on the web had the extension .MDX, but I found that if I simply changed that to .SYX, SYSEX Libarian would load and transfer the patch bank just fine. So I guess .MDX is the same as .SYX for at least transferring patches. There are some great patches to be found on the web and apparently you can also use any of the ESEQ-1 patches as well. I was surprised a little to see that there were still many commercial patch sets up for sale. With a synth this old, I generally encounter free patches, but it seems the SQ-80 is still in demand, so patches are still priced at a premium. There are also cartridges available, but I found having a working Floppy Drive to be sufficient. The prices on these cartridges for all Synth Brands are crazy these days.

All in all, the Ensoniq SQ-80 was a fantastic purchase. I also have the Ensoniq EPS Classic and love that sampler as well. Ensoniq makes great stuff and I’m pretty excited about the SQ-80 and EPS combo. They definitely make a unique and wonderful sound.