I have a Roland Juno-G synthesizer, which I've had for a number of yaers now. I like playing music with it every so often, but in the last few months, I've noticed its LCD display seems to be starting to fail. I've heard LCD failure is a common problem with this model synthesizer. I turned on my Juno-G a few months ago and the LCD was pretty much blank; I tried it again a copule weeks later and it was fine, so it seems it might be an intermittent issue for now (though I suspect its LCD will probably fully fail at some point).

I've contacted a couple of repair shops, including an authorized Roland repair shop in my area, who have said replacements are hard to come by (as it's an old synthesizer now), and it seems there may be little chance of being able to get it repaired.

The LCD is an important component on this synthesizer, since it provides information on what sound you're playing, what mode you're in, etc.. It seems my best option might be to buy a new synthesizer. :/ I also have one of Roland's SRX-07 sound expansion boards in it, so I'd hope to find something with a similar sound set and capabilities.

I'm curious if anyone has experience with Roland synths? I've heard the Roland Juno DS has similar sounds, and Roland now offers SRX sound downloads from their web site. Also it looks like the Juno DS is at about the same price point as the Juno-G was, so perhaps it's aimed at the same target market.

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to All on Mon May 09 2022 10:51 am

> I have a Roland Juno-G synthesizer, which I've had for a number of yaers now
> with this model synthesizer. I turned on my Juno-G a few months ago and th
> fully fail at some point).
>
> I've contacted a couple of repair shops, including an authorized Roland repa
>
> The LCD is an important component on this synthesizer, since it provides inf
> ion boards in it, so I'd hope to find something with a similar sound set and
>
> I'm curious if anyone has experience with Roland synths? I've heard the Rol
> so perhaps it's aimed at the same target market.
>
> Nightfox
>

There's probably several thousand of those LCD panels sitting new in box
stuffed in the back of some warehouse in Taiwan or Japan. The other day I
spoke with someone who bought surplus items, and found a warehouse full of
IBM parts from the 1990's.

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Moondog to Nightfox on Tue May 10 2022 12:21 am

>> I have a Roland Juno-G synthesizer, which I've had for a number of

Mo> There's probably several thousand of those LCD panels sitting new in box
Mo> stuffed in the back of some warehouse in Taiwan or Japan. The other day I
Mo> spoke with someone who bought surplus items, and found a warehouse full of
Mo> IBM parts from the 1990's.

I'm not sure if it's the LCD itself or something else that's failing. I had turned my synthesizer on once and the LCD wasn't showing anything, but a couple weeks later I turned it on and the LCD was working fine. That made me wonder if there may be an intermittent connection failure or something, rather than the LCD itself failing. But then, I suppose the connection failure could be in the LCD and replacing the LCD could fix it.

Even if there are a bunch of those LCDs stored in a warehouse somewhere, they seem hard to find online to buy..

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Moondog on Tue May 10 2022 08:56 am

> Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> By: Moondog to Nightfox on Tue May 10 2022 12:21 am
>
> >> I have a Roland Juno-G synthesizer, which I've had for a number of
>
> Mo> There's probably several thousand of those LCD panels sitting new in bo
> Mo> stuffed in the back of some warehouse in Taiwan or Japan. The other day
> Mo> spoke with someone who bought surplus items, and found a warehouse full
> Mo> IBM parts from the 1990's.
>
> I'm not sure if it's the LCD itself or something else that's failing. I had
> intermittent connection failure or something, rather than the LCD itself fai
>
> Even if there are a bunch of those LCDs stored in a warehouse somewhere, the
>
> Nightfox
>
Sounds like bad or leaky capacitors. When the caps on the power board on my
42" tv failed, the TV would take time to power up, and the colder it was, the
longer it took. I had a large Zenith console TV doing the same thing.

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Moondog to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 01:05 am

Mo> Sounds like bad or leaky capacitors. When the caps on the power board on
Mo> my 42" tv failed, the TV would take time to power up, and the colder it
Mo> was, the longer it took. I had a large Zenith console TV doing the same
Mo> thing.

Interesting.. Maybe I'll open it up and look for any capacitors that look bad. I bought mine used in 2011, but I think they started making this model around 2006-2008. I seem to remember hearing stories of particularly bad capacitors around that time.

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Moondog to Nightfox on Tue May 10 2022 12:21 am

> There's probably several thousand of those LCD panels sitting new in box
> stuffed in the back of some warehouse in Taiwan or Japan. The other day I

My brother and I are both synthheads. I don't have a Juno-G, but he does, and I
asked him last night about his. Apparently the LCD issues with those units stem
from a factory defect with the original LCDs used, which was addressed by
Roland later by offering free repairs. The updated LCDs were available for a
while, but stocks have long been depleted. He told me that his was still
original, and he managed to make the LCD work "well enough" to be usable, but I
don't know the details.

o
(O)
BeLLy

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Belly to Moondog on Tue May 10 2022 09:44 am

Be> My brother and I are both synthheads. I don't have a Juno-G, but he does,
Be> and I asked him last night about his. Apparently the LCD issues with those
Be> units stem from a factory defect with the original LCDs used, which was
Be> addressed by Roland later by offering free repairs. The updated LCDs were
Be> available for a while, but stocks have long been depleted. He told me that
Be> his was still original, and he managed to make the LCD work "well enough"
Be> to be usable, but I don't know the details.

It's unfortunate, because other than the LCD in mine, mine still seems to be working okay otherwise. If it really is pretty much impossible to fix, I've considered buying a newer Roland, perhaps a Juno DS. Maybe I can find a deal on a used one.

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Moondog on Wed May 11 2022 09:16 am

> Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> By: Moondog to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 01:05 am
>
> Mo> Sounds like bad or leaky capacitors. When the caps on the power board o
> Mo> my 42" tv failed, the TV would take time to power up, and the colder it
> Mo> was, the longer it took. I had a large Zenith console TV doing the same
> Mo> thing.
>
> Interesting.. Maybe I'll open it up and look for any capacitors that look b
>
>
> Nightfox
>

If you see any bulged or leaking, replace it's brothers and sisters of the
same type. The little smt cans with not bulge, but they will leak a fidhy
smelling compund which would eat away at traces and pins. Use a little
vinegar to neutralize it ebfore re-soldering the cans.

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Belly on Wed May 11 2022 06:47 pm

> It's unfortunate, because other than the LCD in mine, mine still seems to be

I don't have any experience with newer Roland synths, except for my JD-Xi
(which is a tiny powerhouse!). I do have an old Alpha Juno 1, though. Clunky
interface, but nice sounds. A few years ago, I started looking at the
Behringer DeepMind 12 as a way to get vintage Juno 60 sounds without the hassle
(and expense!) of an aging 80s synth, but even though it begin as a Juno 60
clone, during the design process it evolved into so much more. I had one in my
studio within a month. I'm a fan.

Have ye any other synths? I'd like to hear about others' collections!

o
(O)
BeLLy

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Belly to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 09:55 pm

Be> Have ye any other synths? I'd like to hear about others' collections!

The only other is a Zynthian (open-source kit-based synthesizer that runs on a Raspberry Pi) that I just recently got (the Zynthian kit just arrived this past Monday):
https://www.zynthian.org

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Belly on Thu May 12 2022 08:21 am

Be>> Have ye any other synths? I'd like to hear about others'
Be>> collections!

Ni> The only other is a Zynthian (open-source kit-based synthesizer that runs
Ni> on a Raspberry Pi) that I just recently got (the Zynthian kit just arrived
Ni> this past Monday): https://www.zynthian.org

Oh, and I also bought a used Roland MT-32 (version 2) from eBay a couple years ago.

Nightfox

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Belly to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 09:55 pm

> Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> By: Nightfox to Belly on Wed May 11 2022 06:47 pm
>
> > It's unfortunate, because other than the LCD in mine, mine still seems to
>
> I don't have any experience with newer Roland synths, except for my JD-Xi
> (which is a tiny powerhouse!). I do have an old Alpha Juno 1, though. Clunky
> interface, but nice sounds. A few years ago, I started looking at the
> Behringer DeepMind 12 as a way to get vintage Juno 60 sounds without the has
> (and expense!) of an aging 80s synth, but even though it begin as a Juno 60
> clone, during the design process it evolved into so much more. I had one in
> studio within a month. I'm a fan.
>
> Have ye any other synths? I'd like to hear about others' collections!
>
> o
> (O)
> BeLLy
>

Whenever I think of old synths, I don't think of DX7's or Rolands. I thnk of
those cheesy little Casio portables. Here's an example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM-v3cvX8M4

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Belly on Thu May 12 2022 08:21 am

> The only other is a Zynthian (open-source kit-based synthesizer that runs on
> https://www.zynthian.org

I looked that up, and it looks pretty neat. I might have to scavenge one of my
Pis from its current home and try it out. The Oberheim OB-X emulation sounds
quite enticing.

o
(O)
BeLLy

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Moondog to Belly on Thu May 12 2022 02:36 pm

> Whenever I think of old synths, I don't think of DX7's or Rolands. I thnk o
> those cheesy little Casio portables. Here's an example

I used to have something similar when I was a kid. It might have even been a
Casio :)

o
(O)
BeLLy

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Nightfox to Moondog on Wed May 11 2022 09:16 am

> Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> By: Moondog to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 01:05 am
>
> Mo> Sounds like bad or leaky capacitors. When the caps on the power board
> Mo> on my 42" tv failed, the TV would take time to power up, and the colder
> Mo> it was, the longer it took. I had a large Zenith console TV doing the
> Mo> same thing.
>
> Interesting.. Maybe I'll open it up and look for any capacitors that look
> bad. I bought mine used in 2011, but I think they started making this model
> around 2006-2008. I seem to remember hearing stories of particularly bad
> capacitors around that time.
>
> Nightfox

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: MRO to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 12:29 pm

> Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> By: Nightfox to Moondog on Wed May 11 2022 09:16 am
>
> > Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
> > By: Moondog to Nightfox on Wed May 11 2022 01:05 am
> >
> > Mo> Sounds like bad or leaky capacitors. When the caps on the power boar
> > Mo> on my 42" tv failed, the TV would take time to power up, and the col
> > Mo> it was, the longer it took. I had a large Zenith console TV doing th
> > Mo> same thing.
> >
> > Interesting.. Maybe I'll open it up and look for any capacitors that loo
> > bad. I bought mine used in 2011, but I think they started making this mod
> > around 2006-2008. I seem to remember hearing stories of particularly bad
> > capacitors around that time.
> >
> > Nightfox
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

2002-2003 was the prime plague years, but some companies kept using whatever
stock they had left for the next 3 or 4 years.

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Re: Roland Juno-G LCD failure
By: Moondog to MRO on Wed May 18 2022 10:44 pm

> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
>
> 2002-2003 was the prime plague years, but some companies kept using whatever
> stock they had left for the next 3 or 4 years.

yeah that's money. they wont dump their stock and rebuy anything unless they absolutely have to. and at my old employer the workers were real shady. when making repairs they would scavenge in the recycling area instead of pulling new parts.
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