All about the Roland Jupiter-series

-----Original Message-----
From: GOrlandi@... [mailto:GOrlandi@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 3:35 AM
To: analogue@...
Subject: [AH] JP-4/Promars mem upgrade


I found an old issue of EM with a memory mod for the JP-4/Promars, it
doubles
the number of user patches. Has anyone ever preformed this mod? Is it even
worth doing?

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Vanaman [mailto:fvanaman@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 5:23 AM
To: analogue@...
Subject: Re: [AH] JP-4/Promars mem upgrade


Hi Y'all

My JP-4 has a similar mod (done by someone else), tho' mine was not a x2
mod but a x5 mod, namely 4 more memory chips are added in parallel for a
total of 40 user programmable slots instead of 8.

There's not much to it-- a piece of perf-board with 5 sockets on it (one
for the original mem. chip, 4 for the added ones), one socket having
long legs (e.g. wire-wrap) which can be plugged into the original single
socket. The remaining 4 sockets are wired in parallel to the fifth, and
a multi-position selector switch is used to select which chip is
enabled.

It works like a champ, although mine is off line at the moment because I
need to replace the Ni-Cd battery which sustains the memory.

Frank

GOrlandi@... wrote:

>
> I found an old issue of EM with a memory mod for the JP-4/Promars, it

doubles

> the number of user patches. Has anyone ever preformed this mod? Is it

even

> worth doing?

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Moravansky [mailto:tmoravan@...]
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 3:56 PM
To: GOrlandi@...
Cc: analogue@...
Subject: Re: [AH] JP-4/Promars mem upgrade

> I found an old issue of EM with a memory mod for the JP-4/Promars, it

doubles

> the number of user patches. Has anyone ever preformed this mod? Is it

even

> worth doing?

I have the plans as well, but never felt the need to install the
upgrade. The JP-4 is an early 'synth with memory' and as such
has some limitations. You don't have much control over the
sound after storing it. Slider and knob movements don't affect
the stored/preset sound so I tend to use the JP-4 like a
MiniMoog - front panel/manual mode only. I guess if you had some
basic sounds you liked storing more of them would be OK. I have
seen memory mods for everything from 2x to 4x the number of
slots.

--

___________________________________________________________
Tom Moravansky tmoravan@...

-----Original Message-----
From: Eric S. Crawley [mailto:esc@...]
Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 4:18 AM
To: analogue@...
Subject: Re: [AH] JP-4/Promars mem upgrade


Others have chimed in on this already but I'll add my quick $.02.

I modified my JP-4 back in 1980 by stacking two of the memory chips and
wiring the chip select to a switch on the front panel. I was gigging with
my brand new JP-4 at the time and the extra memories were *very* useful.
It's still going after 19 years and I have only had to replace the battery
once! Unrelated to this message, I actually came across 3 of the NEC RAM
chips used for this mod in my parts drawer. I could be persuaded to part
with them for not much more than shipping costs, if anyone is interested. I
don't know how common they are these days. They have been sitting in an
anti-static tube for 19 years so I can't guarantee that they work.

I would agree with the comment about the mod. Unless you are gigging with
the JP-4, it might not be worth the hassle. The JP-4 is fun and fast to
play with. I don't use many of the memories anymore either. However,
there was a really cool, heavily modulated sound that came out when I did
the mod. I think the RAMs powered up in a wild state. I don't know that I
could duplicate the sound on the front panel. Anyway, that sound stayed in
one of the memories...

Eric

>Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 22:35:15 EDT
>From: GOrlandi@...
>Subject: [AH] JP-4/Promars mem upgrade
>
>I found an old issue of EM with a memory mod for the JP-4/Promars, it

doubles

>the number of user patches. Has anyone ever preformed this mod? Is it even

>worth doing?
>