Jupiter-X: Inside Photos

[scottrod]

Recently purchased a Jupiter-X. My height, the height of the keyboard on the stand, and the placement of the leds for the pitch wheel all came together to blast me in the eyes through the modulation wheel opening every time I would look in that direction, even with the intensity decreased.

I made up a baffle from a piece of aluminum angle, thin black plastic, and high-bond PSA tape to mount between the wheels. Works great.

While I was in there a took a few photos for the group, fwiw. First one shows the baffle in place between the wheels.

[TagPass]

Yeah, the gaps in the casing around the mod/pitch wheels certainly *do* leak a lot of white-hot light. How easy was it to open up the X to do your mod? Seems like a great idea!

[scottrod]

I'm a tech, so honestly I didn't give opening it up a second thought, but it's easy.

The synth goes on its face on the bench (lots of thick soft foam, of course). Then you remove every screw on the bottom panel, 27 total IIRC. The panel then easily comes off straight up.

At the modulation wheels, the led circuit board has to come off so you can get to everything properly. The small board can be pulled back out of the way removing 2 screws and a few connectors. In the second photo you can see it pulled back below the modulation wheels.

For the baffle I used a 1.5" x 3" piece of matte black plastic sheet cut from a report cover. The aluminum angle was 1/16" thick and 3/8" x 1/2" x 2.5".

Everything was stuck together with 3M VHB double-sided tape. Should last forever. Very pleased with the way the area looks now when operating.

[Foksadure]

While I was in there a took a few photos for the group, fwiw.

Nice pictures.

The PSU even seems to be the same PSB-5U than the JP-Xm, mounted internally with an IEC mains socket. Just like Waldorf did with the Q.

It would be cool to have a view on the electronics, mainboard, or audio mountings. Which are most likely shared between both units.

Did not notice at first that the midrange speakers and tweeters were mounted as is on the top front panel, without a bass port of some sort.
They are apart on the Xm, with the tweeters on the front panel and the midrange on both sides of the unit, but no bass enhancement either, or so it seems. Missed opportunity IMHO.

[scottrod]

I actually took a close-up of the power supply and speaker when I had it open.

[Foksadure]

Thanks. The build seems top notch.

No pictures of the CPU/DSP boards and chips though?

[scottrod]

>> No pictures of the CPU/DSP boards and chips though?

The business end of the circuitry is all on the opposite side of the boards, nothing chip-wise was visible or accessible without a complete dismantle job.

[Foksadure]

Thanks anyway.

I'll crack open my JP-X/m someday.

[MartinJ2EX]

Are the display and its specs visible?
Would be interested if an OLED with compatible specs is available to swap out for the JupX

[Xtrife]

Does this break your warranty ?

Also, it looks like the two side ends are easily removed by just removing a few screws? I'd be interested in removing them in order to paint them black.

[scottrod]

>> Does this break your warranty ?

No doubt. But Roland gear is pretty damn bulletproof these days, so I just took the risk it will be fine for two years. I've got decades-old Roland gear that still operates fine. Plus, there was just no way I was going to tolerate that light beacon in my eyes for two years.

[rpernett]

1. Damn, now I can't unsee the glare from the mod-wheel slot.
2. Where do you add memory? The default memory for a $3000 synth is pretty damn stingy.