Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 03:20:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Tom Moravansky To: carl.hulten@riverton.se Cc: analogue heaven Subject: Re: Jupiter-4 - two versions? >=20 > hey everyone , > I=B4m on the lookout for a Roland Jupiter-4 , but there are hints in the= =20 > archive about two versions. Are the differences mainly on the surface of = the=20 > thing (the wooden ends) or are there internal changes as well? > I should think that there were no changes , but just to be on the safe si= de=20 > it would be nice to know what to look out for , you know. >=20 >=20 There were a number of revisions to the voice cards. This is only important if you need to replace a voice card or want to buy an extra one. The service manual details which revision can replace other revisions. It also shows how to modify a card to be compatible. I believe (although I haven't looked at the schematics in a long time) that the latest rev (D) cannot be plugged into an early motherboard that supports the early (rev A) cards. Once again, it's only important if you need to replace a voice card (or buy a second JP-4 for parts). Functional differences are 0. The presets may sound slightly different, but I don't spend a lot of time listening to the JP-4 presets so.... Also - if you buy a JP-4, get a service manual from Roland. It is essential for tuning and for adding any mods like separate cv/gate for each voice. Service manual aside: I know that Mark Glinsky, myself, and others provide copies of service documents when asked, especially for out of business companies or out of print manuals, but I still feel that if the synth company is still in business, and they still have originals, that is the best thing for you to buy. Don't try to save $15 by getting a copy from the net folks. The main reason is that the original is often multi-colored to show the various circuit paths and components and the printing is often very fine and some of that is lost when you go to a black and white copy. Also, some companies (Roland, Yamaha) love to have very large foldouts. Sometimes these foldouts are larger than 11x17. I know I would easily pay $30 for an original set of Jupiter-8 schematics= =20 because I can't read all the part numbers on my circuit board layout pages= =20 on either of my copies (one from Roland, one from Mark). --=20 ___________________________________________________________ Tom Moravansky tmoravan@netcom.com