MF#29 Roland AIRA system 1 Teardown & a look inside

You are one of the first people to get their hands on one of these. Love the fact you tear it down, thanks!

Question about grounding.  Shouldn't you be grounded to the device, since the device itself isn't grounded? I have one of those wrist grounding things, now I am confused on how I should be using it.  I assumed you grounded yourself to the device.

Voided warranty. :)

Ok message understood. by the way those FPGA's are way more than processors running code, you can actually implement the hardware you're copying in the FPGA. 

Actually, the programmable arpeggiator on the SH-101 is called the sequencer. I´m excited to hear how close it matches the SH-101..

ewww plastic dsp crap.

I was expecting valves also.

Thanks for another great video Markus! Looks like another really well put together bit of gear but (your gonna get sick of me making this comment) Im not a KB player. I like to  make noises and twist knobs, If I have to, I'll use my MPK mini - please Roland can we have a desktop version?

Thanx for this little look inside, Markus....As expected not much in it....No need to unsolder this copper shield, as it contains just some usual multipin dark black whatever. May it´s an FPGA or a roland made custom chipset.
So no need to peek. I think, as this unit is slighly more powerful than the previous roland devices which you already opened, the chips need some more cooling so they done a little copper heatsink....

Great Videos on all the AIRA range Markus, man after my own heart :-) i too dismantled everything i had since a kid, curiosity is a wonderful learning tool, educational and worth the effort for its rewards... im now 50 and a technician for a specialist global leading cctv company and still find this stuff satisfyingly good! :-) Subscribed!! well done my friend, and your attitude is 1st class towards hosting & presenting these videos. Brilliant!

Did Roland completely forgot about tuning in the AIRA series? I really don't understand this...... I want to tune the instrument itself and not using micro tuner 2.0 an doing pitch bend..... this is really sad.... I told the guys in Japan already..... lets see...

How come i can only see this video in 240p ?

Wow, look what he took out of the box! A bunch of pixels! Or should i say he took some pixels out of a few other pixels?

Very poor quality video, but i would like to have an Aira though!

Hi Mark, very entertaining as always. Keep up the good work.
Regards Nigel& Liz

theres no record sequence in the sh101 plug out

Hi I just got mine and I wanted to ask if it comes with the USB cable for the computer, because mi didn´t have it... thanks 

Anyway, even if you had taken off the copper cover, there is most probably an FPGA and a proprietary Roland DSP under there with numbers that don't tell you anything unless you're a Roland engineer.
Synth technology hasn't evolved much since the year 2000 at Roland. This looks very much like the insides of their JP8000 VA synth from that era, granted with a much more compact PCB with less chips, but the technology is the same old virtual analog crap.

I know this is an old video, but I thought I'd ask here anyway. I've seen a lot of mention (including here) that Roland's ACB is done using FPGA chips. Is there a source that verifies that fact somewhere? How do you know they are FPGAs and not more standard DSPs? I've searched the web but I can't find any specific mention of what kind of processing technology is used other than some people repeating that's in a FPGA....

I think an Alesis Andromeda A6 is built familiar to this Roland

Love the videos Markus. What intrigues me is the fact that the key bed shows two switches indicating velocity sensitivity yet the synthesizer does not respond to velocity from the built in keyboard. Is this a feature that may appear in a future update?

Crap keys, DEALBREAKER!

Try and see if GAK would lend you a Roland GAIA SH-01 ^_^ Would be real cool to see a teardown!

Have you done a tear down of the yamaha rm1x ?

Hi markus. ok. I have to replace some of the play buttons on mine and was just wondering if it's an easy job. I'm handy with a soldering iron.

am I able to just plug the Roland AIRA system 1 into an amplifier without having to plug it into a computer? could I just take it out the box when it arrives and plug it straight into an amplifier and would it work?

5.5 lbs is quite a lot. I have a very hard time to drop 5.5 lbs.

Thank you for the video, I do however have a question. I purchased this synth used and one of the black keys is sticking. I went to take it apart and I thought it was worth mentioning for anyone else who may have any future problems with the keybed that it seems you will need to remove all of the screws from the back side in order to disassemble the keybed as I can't seem to pull the keys up from the board after removing the screws on top of the keys inside. It seems to be interlocking with the underlying circuit board.

Well I couldn't delete my original comment, but for anyone needing to disassemble the keybed the keys slide out once the screws on top of them are removed from a set of rubber covered prongs that the keys slide over when going into the keybed, you don't need to remove the 8 screws directly under the keybed to do this as I stated in my previous comment, to remove the panel just remove the 5 screws at the top lip, the 3 recessed screws after that, and the 10 screws at the bottom of the rear panel closest to you and the top panel will come up. It seems the key was sticking b/c there is a white grease on the rubber that is on the prongs that the keys slide over and I guess there was just a bit to much on the black key that it was causing it to stick. Other than that minor hiccup I love this synth and think it was a perfect swap from my Microkorg although it doesn't have some of the features that the MK has I like the way this sounds much better and I love having all of the controls at my command!

The lack of a proper pitch wheel or joystick was a deal breaker for me. And 4 notes??

is there any way to replace the LEDs?

How did you remove knobs from rotary pots and faders? All you had to do was pull them off? How to do it safely?

If only system 1 had a sequencer.

Funny how it seems like the keys could do velocity but they can't. Than again is the distance the keys can travel too short anyways. So tempted to replace the leds of mine with blue and purple onces but that is probably a load of work =/

seeing how the black keys and white keys fit together would be nice.

Thanks for sharing a "tear down" of the Roland System 1. I am looking forward to getting mine soon. While I prefer pure analog synths, I like their analog emulation. What it means for me is that I get polyphony at a much lower cost (at the cost of a very good monophonic pure analog synth). I like the idea of looking under the hood to see how good something is. It takes a discerning eye to know what to look for inside.

Hi Mark, I have a Roland system 1, I need to change a LPF cutoff potentiometer cause it is broken, can you tell me the model of this potentiometer I should buy? Thanks in advance

now i know where to shove some felt so the damn keys don't clunk like a horse walking on concrete

hahahaha I can't stop laughing

One of my keys failed :( It engages when I press really hard; and sometimes will start working after a bit of repeatedly press the key. I'm going to try to clean it with the help of this video.

Hoi markusfuller

Thanks for this video And the video How to repair dead keys. with that video,s I manege to repair my system 1 key

Great job and big Thanks

Greets John

Roland system 1
biggest scam ... after leaving it unused for a while now part of the keyboard does not work... the potentiometers are going crazy... and the repair is over 300€ by Roland... a damn scam

Great video had to fix a couple of non triggering keys on my system 1 very helpful, this is possibly Roland’s worst keyboard bed!

Hello, i bought a second, second hand, System-1 but a key plays with a little delay.
You think I can open it and just clean the black sensor ?
Is it easy to change the sensor if he is out of order ?

thank you for the info..my mc 707 faders have failed i'm having to send it back to roland i wonder if other pleople have had so trouble wither aira gear faders at all it would be good to know..

I cant for the life of mee, open mine, i unscrew everything but it still wont opme up!

Hi , I bought a System 1 off ebay yesterday and waiting for delivery...after watching this video you mentioned a slot that has the copper foil , is this for an SRX type slot for the SH101, I bought this primarily for the SH2 plug out.. I don't understand this copper shielded vacant slot inside.
Thanks in advance.

anyone needing to repar the carbon pads of the key contacts , if worn out you can purchase a carbon glue type pen and "touch up" the problematic pads.. for more info on this you will have to peeps the comments in BMR STUDIOS "Roland MC909 Teardown"
peaceFromOZ

Hey.. can u Tell me what Poti i need to replace the Volume Poti?

My System 1 just lost power whilst I was playing. It completely fails to power up and is just dead. Have tried a reset - didn't work. Any thoughts appreciated