Roland R-8 - Accessing the drum machine - Restoration Part 2

Several YouTubers have in the past asked how to strip down the Roland R-8. Well as part of this project here is the video that shows you how to access the internals of the Roland R-8 down to the screen and strike pads. Background The Roland R-8 was acquired as a job lot with another instrument. I am a sucker for a drum machine, so the acquisition of this Roland R-8 was a bonus. The second bonus was that when I opened the box containing the Roland R-8 I also found a Roland R-5. But the R-5 will be the subject of another video series. On acquisition I noticed that the screen on the R-8 was not displaying the characters correctly. After a bit of Googling and reviewing a number of the forums it appeared that R-8's having defective screens was a known issue and would require the screen to be replaced to fix the problem. This created a problem in itself. Most instruments of this era were supplied with an LCD screen and back light combination. And there are after market screens based on OLED technology that, with a few changes, can be fitted to the instrument. This is not the case for the Roland R-8. This LCD screen made by Samsung has a custom display and is no longer manufactured. There is no OLED equivalent that replicates this custom display. Once I started to strip the drum machine down I found that there was additional work required to bring this instrument back into use within my studio. The equipment mentioned above (if you can still buy it!): Roland R-8 (Used): https://themusictechguyuk.me/3ewF3ZE Tools and spares used to make this video: Stanley Ratchet Screwdriver : https://themusictechguyuk.me/3m4eMFQ Bosch Screw Driver Bits: https://themusictechguyuk.me/2WcZR3l 📖Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:13 Initial access to the Roland R-8 from underneath 01:02 Science behind the 'bits' box 01:31 Removing rear screws 01:57 Channel promotion 02:20 Removing the rear plate 04:09 Removing the main R-8 logic board 08:13 Main logic board recap 09:12 Disconnecting the ribbon connectors 11:19 Main board removed 11:28 Removal of the foil shield #rolandr8 #RolandR8DrumMachine #r8 #Roland #drummachine Videos in this series: Part 1:    • Roland R-8 - Assessment of the project - R...   Part 2:    • Roland R-8 - Accessing the drum machine - ...   Part 3:    • Roland R-8 - Removing the display from the...   Part 4:    • Roland R-8 - Installing the display to the...   Part 5:    • Roland R-8 - Removing the rear plate for r...   Part 6:    • Roland R-8 - Repainting the Backplate - Re...   Part 7:    • Roland R-8 - Reassembling the circuits to ...   Part 8:    • Roland R-8 - Cleaning the top for assembly...   Part 9:    • Roland R-8 - At last the final assembly - ...   Part 10:    • Roland R 8 - Clips from the cutting room f...   For less than the price of a cup of coffee, support The Music Tech Guy UK channel, join the TMTG community: http://themusictechguyuk.me/Community 🎼The Music Tech Guy UK can be found in the following places: Youtube:    / @themusictechguyuk   Website: https://www.themusictechguyuk.com Patreon: http://themusictechguyuk.me/Community Facebook:   / themusictechguyuk   Instagram:   / themusictechguyuk   X:   / musictechguyuk   Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog... Don't confuse the The Music Tech Guy UK or Music Tech Guy UK with copycat channels. There is only one me! Roland R-8 - Accessing the drum machine - Restoration Part 2 - 2025-05-31