SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator for Roland W-30 S-330 Samplers

SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator

Today I just purchased an SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator off Ebay for testing with the Roland W-30 and Roland S-330 Samplers that I have. I’ve been pondering whether to to do this or not and finally gathered enough info with my own research on the subject. I feel it’s worth giving it a shot to see if the SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator rev. C works with my Roland W-30 or S-330.

The SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator can replace different kind of floppy disk drive and allows you use SDCard media instead of floppy disk. I heard this Emulator will work with the Roland S-50. The Roland W-30 and S-330 are very similar if not the same as the Roland S-50. I really need something more reliable for my samplers and so I thought why not give it a test. I also have a couple of other synths that likely could work with the SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator, so all is not lost if it fails to work on the Roland W-30 and S-330. We’ll see!

It’ll be a couple of weeks before I receive the SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator in the mail. Please stay tuned for further updates on how I progress with this project. Thanks!

Progress Report:
Does the SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator work on the Roland S-330 and W-30 Samplers?

Roland S-330 – YES!
Roland W-30 – YES!
Roland S-50 – YES!
Korg T2 – YES!

Roland W30 LCD Backlight Replacement

Roland W30 LCD Backlight

After the success of my Yamaha SY77 “Cool Blue” LCD backlight replacement, I decided to see if I could upgrade a few other of my old keyboard if possible. Today I found a Roland W30 “White” LCD replacement backlight for a great price $26.00 on Ebay. There are other options around, but most are asking for $50 or more which I think is a bit much.

The great thing about this “White” LCD replacement, is that it should brighten up the Roland W30’s green LCD considerably. Note that this LCD backlight replacement can also be used for the Korg 01W and Wavestation A/D. I find myself playing in a lot of dark places and with the Roland W30 having a brighter display it should be more fun and less headache to work with. One BIG problem that will still exist is the power converter noise or hum in the Roland W30. I completely eliminated this whine from the Yamaha SY77 by replacing the LCD unit altogether, but I have yet to find the proper replacement hardware for the Roland W30. Until then, this White LCD Backlight replacement I bought from Ebay should suffice regarding the brightness of the display.

Once I receive and replace the Roland W30 LCD display, I’ll post some photos of before and after. As far as I know I simply need to desolder a couple of pins and the solder in the new replacement LCD sheet. Probably the most difficult or time consuming aspect will be taking apart the Roland W30 to access the LCD display. That was an all day job with the Yamaha SY77…laugh. Nonetheless, it’s kind of fun actually. Nothing beats the raw smell of those old vintage keyboards and synthesizers when you crack open the cases. Yeah right!

Enjoy! – Jim

UPDATE #1: Here is a video found on Youtube of someone replacing the old Korg Wavestation A/D backlight with a new “white” version similar to the one I purchased above. This video will show you the difference roughly of before (green) and after (white). It’s much brighter you can see. Awesome!

Yamaha SY77 Sequencing Handbook

Yamaha SY77 Sequencing Handbook

Today I just picked up the “Yamaha SY77 Sequencing Handbook” from Alexander Publishing off Ebay for $17 bucks. It’s a rare find and I have yet to find any information, photos, or comments about it. Thus my curiousity caused me to snatch it up. A while back I purchased both the Yamaha SY77 Cheater’s Guide & Cookbook/PDF and the Yamaha SY77 Sound Making Book: Level 1/PDF from Truespec, but they didn’t have the Sequencing Handbook. Whether this is a good find or not I am not sure as I am currently waiting for it in the mail, but I’m excited to finally check it out. Now that I have the new cool blue LCD replacement in my SY77 it should be easier to see what I’m doing at night. When I get the book, I’ll post the table of contents for those interested in what’s inside.

I’ll post the Ebay auction description info here for now for those interested. It’s as follows: Alexander Publishing Yamaha SY77 Sequencing Handbook. Contains 144 pages of tutorial learning so you’re the master of the technology. You’ll learn how to sequence using the onboard sequencer, it’s a walk thru of a real project from start to finish. It includes the complete written out score of the music you’ll be using to make the sequence. This way you’ll learn not how use the sequencer but also see how you can arrange using the sequencer since the example is based on Romance (opus 5) by Peter L Tchaikovsky. You might know some of his more famous pieces like the 1812 Overture, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet.

I’ll update this post when I receive the Sequencer Handbook for the Yamaha SY77. Stay tuned!

Jim