Roland XP-80 Workstation
This past weekend I received a free Roland XP-80 workstation that powered up just fine but with no sound. The reason was that under the keys, a gooey substance was oozing from under the keys which had them stuck together. After careful review, I found that it was an epoxy of sorts that was breaking down and under hot humid temperatures would change to a red or pink gooey substance. Many of the weights for the keys had already fallen down and some of the epoxy was seeping into the other areas of the keyboard. Fortunately, the Roland XP-80 did power up and for the most part, the epoxy was confined only to the key areas. Thus I feel a successful repair of the key bed on the Roland XP-80 is possible.
Another lucky find, (from a used sales shop I frequent in Japan), was that the sales clerk neglected to check for expansion boards. So in addition to a free Roland XP-80, I also received for free an SR-JV80-10 Bass & Drums board, SR-JV80-11 Techno board, and an SR-JV80-03 Piano expansion board. Amazing!
Update #1: So far I have removed all of the black and white keys. I cleaned them with a special cleaner in Japan which I can’t decipher the name of. Cleaning the keys was tedious but ultimately the cleaner worked. I found that my black keys all had weights, however, I am missing eight weights for the white keys. I read that someone was able to use 10g fishing weights as a replacement. I weighed the metal piece under the key and indeed the weights are 10g. ( without key attached ). Putting the keys back together should be the easy part. Currently I am cleaning the metal chassis and should hopefully have the Roland XP-80 ready for testing by Thanksgiving.
I probably could have called Roland in Japan and asked about a replacement key bed, but I originally thought someone had spilled liquor or some sort of candy substance on the keys. So I had already started to take apart the keys before I realized it was the notorious red epoxy problem. I still may have to in the near future remove the keys again and try to remove the weights on keys that still have the red epoxy in them, but for now I am aiming to test the overall operation of the Roland XP-80. We’re heading into the Winter, so perhaps this spring I’ll have time to properly remove the leftover affected weights.
The sales clerk understandably had no idea about the problem. As long as the Roland XP-80 had power I felt I could at least connect via midi so I accepted the big bundle of epoxy mess. The Roland XP-80 is now looking very clean and in excellent condition, so I’m feeling pretty good now about getting the keyboard back on it’s feet. I’ll update this article shortly as I progress.
Note that to the best of my knowledge, the red epoxy problem also applies to the Roland D-70 and JD-800 keyboards. I’m not sure if any others are but if I find additional info, I’ll update my post. Anyone else out there have any experience with red epoxy oozing from their Roland keyboard?
Update #2: I have now fully restored the Roland XP-80. It works beautifully now with no issues at all. While restoring the XP-80 I noticed the following things that may help others.
1. When replacing the keys, I found I had to also replace the green felt to prevent keys from sticking. This was easy to do.
2. After removing the plastic strips to remove the black and white keys, I used double sided sticky tape to place the plastic back into place.
3. I used 10g fishing weights to replace missing key weights.
4. DeoxIT was used to clean the contacts of the expansion boards and sockets. After cleaning I got no sample output distortion. Previously some of the expansion boards were not detected, but all that was cleared up by vigorously cleaning the contacts.
5. I also had to “generously” clean the carbon key contacts both on the PCB board and the Silicon strips in order to revive dead or weak sounding keys. This took a few times but ultimately all keys were brought back to life and the XP-80 sounds great.
6. I also bought a few tubes of cement to shut close the weights inside the keys to ensure they both don’t fall out or that any remaining epoxy doesn’t leak out.
The Roland XP-80 sliders, knobs, jog wheel, LCD Display, and Floppy Disk drive all work excellent. The Roland XP-80 is a fun keyboard and I’m glad I could get it back into playing shape. Hope this info helps others with the epoxy or other problem.
UPDATE: I have the Roland XP-80 up and running in perfect working order now. Here is a clip I recorded using the Jazzy Rhodes in the 60′s and 70′s keys expansion board.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for that post, it was good to see it’s not just my xp80 with the problem. Can you tell me what you used to clean the epoxy off and replace the weights with?
Tim.
Hello Tim!
I’m living in Japan so my wife had this special cleaning solution called “Magic Cleaner” that she purchased from the hardware store. I’ll have to check and see what’s actually in it, but what we did was soak the keys in it and the epoxy substance dissolved over a period of about an hour or two. We then sprayed the “Magic Cleaner” on bad areas of the metal chassis and bottom metal cover which also worked to dissolve the epoxy. In my case almost all of the metal weights had fallen off the keys and stuck to the bottom metal cover. Only a handful were left in the keys. The “Magic Cleaner” helped me to get the remaining weights out after soaking the keys over night. I think compared to some other Roland XP-80 owners, my process of cleaning the keys was slow. I think it took 2-3 days to completely remove all the red epoxy, however time will vary depending on how much actually drips onto your synth.
I had 8 weights missing when the sales clerk gave me the Roland XP-80. I had read on the internet somewhere that somebody used 10 gram fishing weights to replace the old weights with. I weighed one of the original weights and sure enough it was exactly 10 grams. I then went to a local fishing store in Nagano-city, Japan and had the sales staff show me so fishing weights that were 10 grams. Surprisingly they showed me quite a few. I picked the ones that I felt were flat and small enough to glue onto the keys. I then took a hammer at home and pounded them a little bit more to make them flatter. It worked like a charm. The fishing weights work great because they are small and have actual weight values on them. Otherwise you’ll need to bring a small scale. You could also likely use some sort of bracket or metal hinge for weights too.
I then found some new epoxy that would glue metal and plastic together. Again with my wife’s help I found some epoxy at the local Japanese hardware store and so far it is working great for gluing the weights back into the keys. I’ve been playing the Roland XP-80 now since writing this article and so far have not experienced any weights falling out so I’d say any decent epoxy used for metal and plastic should work for you.
Finally I should mention that it’s worth changing both the green and white “felt” if you get a chance on the metal chassis. It really makes a difference with making your keys more quiet and more smooth to play with. I just replaced my felt strips with felt material from the fabric store and the key action is much much better now. A lot of people complain about the key action the Roland XP-80 has I’ve read and replacing the felt strips really worked well for me in bringing up the quality level. It’s now a very nice keyboard. In fact, it’s fantastic!!
Hope this info helps. Thanks!! – Jim
The 76-note XP-80 is an integrated workstation with 64-voice polyphony, 16-part multitimbral capabilities and Roland’s acclaimed 32-bit RISC chip processor for integrated sequencing, arrangement and synth layering possibilities. Expansion slots accommodate any four of the SR-JV80-Series expansion boards simultaneously.
Pro-quality 76-note weighted-action workstation keyboard, velocity/aftertouch-sensitive
64-voice polyphony, 16-part multitimbral capabilities
8 MB of internal waveform memory; 40 MB and more than 1,500 Patches when fully expanded
Accommodates up to four SR-JV80-Series expansion boards simultaneously
16-track MRC-Pro sequencer with direct-from-disk playback
New sequencer functions like “non-stop” loop recording for added ease
Huge 320×80 full-dot backlit LCD for instant verification of all parameters
Onboard sequencer memory: 100 patterns, one song, 60,000 notes
Advanced arpeggiator including MIDI sync and guitar strum mode
Realtime Phrase Sequence (RPS) for on-the-fly triggering
42 insert effects: reverb, chorus, delay, ring modulation, distortion, etc.
Two pairs of independent stereo outputs
Quick Palette with four assignable sliders; Click out with volume knob
Collection of dedicated function buttons for increased operational ease
To check the version of your synth –
Press [SEQUENCER] button to enter Sequencer mode. Then press [SHIFT] + [ENTER] + [EXIT] simultaneously. A screen like the following should appear:
1.04 EXT0088 CPU1.01 96/06/13 14:41 XP3
The first number on the display (1.04 in the above example) is the ROM version. The second version number preceded by CPU is the CPU version. Press [EXIT] to leave this screen.
*****************
XP-80:
ROM 1.10, CPU 1.04 are the latest versions reported.
CPU 1.02 fixes a problem with the PR-C:098 patch. Sometimes when played ‘popping’ and ‘clicking’ can be heard. This bug appears to be very specific and only occurs on patches with similar structures and parameters to PR-C:098.
ROM 1.10 fixes a bug when assigning GM patches 041-056 to Performance PR-A:01 Part 1 no sound is heard. When loading and converting a SMF format 1, track 15 may be merged into track 16 and track 15 will be empty. In track info screen, track 16 _may_ show the information for a previously loaded song. When using soft thru and there are multiple note on messages, the XP _may_ only transmit one note off message. While recording the timing may have occasionally drifted.
ROM 1.08 fixes a bug when recording with the Quantitize function ON, very rarely the XP may miss recording.
ROM 1.07 fixes a slave mistep bug, an external sync to clock bug and a chain play bug.
ROM 1.05 correctes a timing problem with the sequencer syncing to patches (drum loops) from the Dance exp. board.
ROM 1.04 apparently fixed some sequencer timing problems when large amounts of MIDI data was being received.
Hello Jim, where were you able to find DeoxIT in Japan (have you found Fader Lube too by any chance)? I’ve looked around locally but cannot seem to find either one of these anywhere.
Thanks,
/KRM
Hello! I find Deoxit either on Amazon Japan or at most Hard Off stores. Today in fact I bought a small can of Deoxit for my Roland MKS-20. It’s a bit expensive but it works very well which is why I reluctantly fork over the dough. If it gets my synth fixed, I’m sold!
Jim
hi jim,i’ll be visiting tokyo end of this mth.stayin in shinjuku-ku (Hyatt).are there any 2nd hand music stores nearby? i am also trying to source for the LCD display for my XP80 (2 units) .any leads? tnx a mil!!
Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my experience for the red epoxy glue drip issue. I have the Roland JV-1000. I used Rubbing Alcohol. Basically I applied a little of the alcohol in each black key where the weights are mounted, let it sit for 10mins and then with a precision knife scraped out all the glue and pulled the weights out with a needle nose pliers. Then I cleaned the keys, applied a small amount of glue on each side of the weights and glued every weight in. For the white keys, same thing…. but was not able to remove the weights since they are the flat type. Instead I just soaked the weight area with alcohol and scraped all the surrounding glue. This still maintained the flat weights. I then took clear silicone and applied around the flat weight. Finally, I cleaned all the keys with soap and water, air dry and rebuild the key bed. The whole process was tedious but really not that bad. There were some glue residual on some rubber key contacts and the Contact Boards. Believe it or not, I cleaned the boards with the same rubbing alcohol. Fortunately for the Rubber Contacts I had one little glue spot which I was able to remove. I also carefully cleaned the carbon contacts on the Rubber Contacts with a damp alcohol but not touching the rubber part. As for the green felt strip on the key bed I did exactly what Jim mentioned by scraping out the glue. Thanks Jim!! I used Detox as mentioned for the Contacts but did not work for me. Instead cleaning with the Rubbing Alcohol did a better job. Every key including velocity works Great!! Thanks for all the tips on this Forum.
Hey guys! I´ve Just assembled the keybed but noticed that some keys are not working, i think its the rubber contacts or the carbon contacts on the board…what do you think i can use to clean the contact on the board? and the rubber contacts may i clean those too?
Some help would be appreciated.
Thkx to Jim for all his help!
Yes, I had the same problem with my keys after fixing the epoxy problem. I used alcohol cleaner with a Q-tip to gently rub the carbon contacts and the silicon rubber strips. After putting it back together, all the keys worked great. If the problem persists and you can identify a pattern with which keys do not work, then likely you have a broken trace. I suspect though that it’s simply a matter of cleaning your contacts. Glad to hear you have your board working again! – Jim
Jim
I am in process of removing keys from my Roland xp80 because of the epoxy issue and just wonder if you can elaborate on HOW to get keys out. I have removed the bottom, the board over the keys and the stripe that holds keys in but can’t seem to get them out for fear of breaking them. Any help would be appreciated!
Hi there! It’s a bit tricky to maybe explain in written form, but if I you basically have to grab the tip of the key and push inward back towards the end of the metal frame. Then you can lift the key off the chasis. As you already mentioned, you need to make sure the plastic strip holding the keys into position is removed. You can easily replace this with either double sided sticky tape, or in some cases just putting it back on with the existing sticky leftovers in place. Note that with mine, I had an occasional epoxy drip embedded in between the keys and the metal chasis, so at times some of the keys were difficult to remove. However, I was able to exert a bit of force without breaking the keys as long as I pushed them back in “level” fashion. Hope this makes sense! Best of luck. The Epoxy problems is just nuts! I’ve had it on three Roland keyboards thus far.
Thanks for the reply. I have discovered there is a spring that is attached to the key and then to the metal bracket and that’s what was keeping me from pulling keys out. Very hard to get back in!!
Hi Jim!
I am so thankful that you posted this! I was ready to throw out my Roland XP 80! Now I’m wondering if it’s fixable! This happened to me as well and as a musician/songwriter I’m extremely feeling the withdrawal from my Keyboard.
My keyboard still turns on okay and some of the keys still make sound. However, I am concerned that the majority of the keys fail to make a tone. Did yours do this as well? I’m wondering and hoping it would be worth my time to try and “heal” the Roland.
If it does not work I will need to purchase something new as I am constantly hired for gigs. I’ve rented quite a few for the time being in hopes that the XP 80 could be repaired.
One question for you. I have never taken apart a keyboard and am a little hesitant (though concerning the circumstance I’m not really afraid since it’s useless at the moment). Do you mind please telling me how you took the keys off? If you have any pictures that would be amazing as well! But I’ll take what I can get!
Thank you for your inspiration! I’m excited for another project and crossing fingers
Blessings
~ Ris
So glad to have found this site. My girlfriend owns the XP-80 and has loved it but the LCD screen is dead. Does anyone have a source for a replacement LCD and can you tell me if it is difficult to replace or not? Thank you for any info you can share.