Roland D70 screen, MB revision and editor
Posted: 22:36, 12 February 2024
Hi all, i'm very glad that someone picked up the glove and resurected the forum (thank you Sir, Madame whoever you are :) ).
I bought a pristine D-70 a while back from the first owner (it had been more or less sitting for 30 years in the same spot). It came with a number of ROM and RAM cards (the 256 one) and there is almost no issue with it, except for the annoying beep from the inverter. My plan is to replace the screen with a more modern LCD (running 5 or if it is 3.3 volt), and this time around i was thinking i'd be lazy and buy something that is more or less "slot in". But apparently there are two revisions of the mainboard.
Recently, i found the various firmware versions for the D-70 and they mentioned that there were some "breaking point" depending on what revision you were on. Version 1.00 to 1.12 (as the highest) for one revision and anything up to 1.19 for the later revision. My unit runs 1.16 currently and i was thinking if it was ok to assume that 1.16 means the later revision (which in turn means revision 2 of the mainboard?). Or do i rather open up the bottom to find out physically?
After taking care of the screen issue, i wanted to find some editor if such exists out there. I know about the MidiQuest one, but that (i think) come as this multi-editor with heaps of instruments that i'm not interested in editing. So i wonder if there are alternatives out there for the D-70? I realize it was never a huge "hit" but as there are editors available for extremely nished instruments, perhaps there is one for the D-70 as well?
I bought a pristine D-70 a while back from the first owner (it had been more or less sitting for 30 years in the same spot). It came with a number of ROM and RAM cards (the 256 one) and there is almost no issue with it, except for the annoying beep from the inverter. My plan is to replace the screen with a more modern LCD (running 5 or if it is 3.3 volt), and this time around i was thinking i'd be lazy and buy something that is more or less "slot in". But apparently there are two revisions of the mainboard.
Recently, i found the various firmware versions for the D-70 and they mentioned that there were some "breaking point" depending on what revision you were on. Version 1.00 to 1.12 (as the highest) for one revision and anything up to 1.19 for the later revision. My unit runs 1.16 currently and i was thinking if it was ok to assume that 1.16 means the later revision (which in turn means revision 2 of the mainboard?). Or do i rather open up the bottom to find out physically?
After taking care of the screen issue, i wanted to find some editor if such exists out there. I know about the MidiQuest one, but that (i think) come as this multi-editor with heaps of instruments that i'm not interested in editing. So i wonder if there are alternatives out there for the D-70? I realize it was never a huge "hit" but as there are editors available for extremely nished instruments, perhaps there is one for the D-70 as well?