Saving Alpha Juno

A short video detailing the repair of an Alpha Juno 2 synthesizer. One of the classic Roland synths from the 80s.
0:00 Intro
1:32 Marking dead keys
2:06 Disassembly
2:53 A look inside
3:56 Power supply and main board removal
5:28 Battery replacement
6:10 Recapping power supply
6:54 Keyboard repair
9:54 Replace power connector
10:35 Installing new OLED display
11:52 Replacing ROM
13:57 Final test

[@EdgetoneStudios]

Love seeing classic gear restored. Thanks for sharing.

[@NelsonClick]

It's amazing. I'll be 60 this year and since I was 18 I've been into synths. My whole recreational hobby life aspect has centered around synthesizers. The Roland Alpha Juno 2 - I clearly remember the day it was released new and went on sale at the music store. I plunked on it all I could. It amazes me that in the end they are an assemblage of circuit boards, wires, soldering and everything else and you know what? I know absolutely nothing about synths. I watch you disassembling it and think "that's what I've been spending my passion on all these years?" I wouldn't even know where to begin doing what you do with synthesizers.

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

I was 16 when the Alpha Juno came out - I remember playing it in the music store as well and saving money for it, but eventually bought a D-50 a few years later. I actually built a fake Alpha Juno out of cardboard for and airband contest in Grade 10. good fun!

[@Bendy2K]

Labour of love, this. Respect!

[@bitley]

Cool to meet a fellow synth nerd with awesome videos! :-) I just got a J2 again.

[@cygnus_XI]

Man this would have been a godsend when I had to open up my Alpha Juno 2. Luckily for me, the key contacts on mine were just dirty and needed some cleaning. :)

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

That's best possible case for sure! I've seen bad traces on D-50's and JX's before as well - sometimes hard to see visibly, but easy to ring out. Often I think it's sweat or beer or something that over time just corrodes the traces.

[@W6EL]

Upgraded with class! Nice work.

[@digitized_music]

Thank you for bringing this legend back to life. Great job!

[@mattevans7884]

Just bought an AJ1. Needs a good clean, an EL backlight replacement, the ROM upgrade and a new battery...otherwise it's in excellent condition. Sympathetic restores on these machines are the way to go....

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

For sure - lots of great deals out there if you can do a few small repairs.

[@SpikesStudio3]

Just love watching synth repairs. Its like a nerds version of "E.R." I'D like to see your collection Johnny. Would you do that please? Good to see you bro. 👍

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Hey Michael - Here's a Studio Tour video taken a few months ago - kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYq5ZniuZd5_oqs

[@D.J-JAW-LOCK]

I also brought an alpha juno 2 to life!!! with 9 dead keys and an empty battery and rotten capacitors on the power board that need to be replaced. I have also adjusted the entire inside to make the illumination such that it now also has a rare alpha dail backlight, how nice is it that you can now see everything clearly on this Roland ;-) there is also a new backlight behind the display I then completely custom painted the Roland with custom aluminum buttons and name plates and with modified larger white texts on the Roland front and back. The lighting created inside the Roland is completely interference-free. Unfortunately, this JU-2.1 is not for sale because it is a demo model and only one was made and no other colored Juno 2 synths exist to this day and certainly not in this version, of course, completely illuminated. This is the work of an enthusiast who has gone a bit too far in paying attention to this Roland Alpha Juno 2 synth and wanted to give it a new, fresh look that now also fits in with the times. Here you can see what I did with this Roland Alpha Juno 2 and what it looks like now kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKukioyKppyda6s

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Very cool Alpha Juno - beautiful mods you made to it!

[@D.J-JAW-LOCK]

thanks @@johnnymorgansynthdreams

[@D.J-JAW-LOCK]

A lot of thought went into making it this way, but it's worth it because the original one started to bore me after years and other modern equipment like spaceships, I wanted to completely restore it and make it look modern. but also clearer texts that you can read clearly while you are working on it. I wanted to highlight the alpha dial as an eye catcher and its function with light all the way around the alpha dial. Everything inside the Roland has also been adjusted. Like the complete touch-sensitive strip, the felt on it has been replaced by a firmer felt layer that now covers all keys with the same touch. and therefore no more keys that sound louder with the same pressure on the keys compared to the others. The electrolytic capacitors have also been replaced by heavier ones with the same value but which can handle a higher temperature, so they cannot reach 85 degrees but 105 degrees. The lighting inside is designed in such a way that it does not cause any interference between the Roland and the sound and lighting inside. This Roland is very quiet when it is on and even if you put your ear to the Juno you don't hear anything at all. no buzzing sound or humming sound from your Roland power board or display!!! There is only 1 of these Rolands in the world that has this. I have been looking everywhere for something like this...but it doesn't exist, so I decided to make it myself!!!

[@PeterMilanovski]

Great to see a beautiful machine restored to at least working condition.... In saying that! You missed the most important part! You replaced the larger capacitors on what looks like the high voltage side of the power supply, the high voltage capacitors rarely go bad in any smps.... It's those little capacitors that Roland chose to put at the output of the power supply are the ones that get hammered! And seeing how small they were, they should have been the first to get replaced! I wouldn't be surprised if the capacitors that you replaced still measure good for esr, voltage losses and capacity! If you haven't already got one, get your hands on one of those Chinese component testers from eBay or Ali Express, make sure that you see pictures showing a capacitor being tested so you can see on the screen showing V Loss .... It's more important than ESR.... And also a handy tip regarding the replacement of capacitors, if the equipment is important and needs to last a long time, all replacement capacitors should be upgraded to a higher voltage rating, keep the value the same but always go up in voltage rating, this way, the larger size can deal better with temperature and has a larger surface area of its two plates and will last much longer than the originals.... Obviously if space permits! Otherwise, great job 👍.

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Thanks for the comments Peter - I'm definitely going to go back in and change those smaller caps now - Much appreciated!

[@SlaserX]

I love these videos, I didn't know you were an EE. I love seeing engineers making music

[@klinkske]

I did the eprom and the oled. Did a firmware reset. Have half screen unless i push write. Then i get the last half that never goes away if inpush another button and still only left half is informative. Faulty eprom? It is 2.5 U

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Hey there - I had the same issue - not all 2.5U are the same. You will need to order the 2.5U which is modified for OLED by the guy Funkdewbie on Reverb. Make sure you tell him it's for the OLED version. To swap ROMs you may also need to desolder your current ROM chip and add in a socket as I did in my video. Not the simplest of operations, but doable if you have a good desoldering tool.

[@mske903]

i regret that i sold my AJ1 with a self built programmer for some eurorack modular stuff a couple of years ago

[@electrowayne2918]

Can I send mine to you for restoration. I pay well. needs battery replacement, new screen , dead keys.

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Hey Wayne - contact me via my email which is located in the about info page

[@RyanGilmore0]

hey, it's electro wayne! big fan of your tunes, glad to own some of the PPU releases!

[@johnnymorgansynthdreams]

Hey Electro Wayne - that's awesome you have some - on vinyl? Thanks for finding me on KZbin!@@RyanGilmore0

[@electrowayne2918]

@@johnnymorgansynthdreams Thanks for the response! I'll shoot you an email now!

[@electrowayne2918]

@@RyanGilmore0 Lol!! wow! That's awesome. Thank you so much for the support! Gonna have to send you both some free copies next release. We are going through old tapes now.

[@snoolee7950]

the background music is super distracting and makes it difficult to obtain the technical information. at least reduce the volume of the music by 1/2. the self produced DIY era is such a pain in the azz