The TRON JD-Xi...
So I felt like I wanted a vocoder again, and after all the ones I've used and didn't feel like revisiting, I thought I'd like to try something new, so I ended up with the JD=Xi. I found a limited edition white model at Implant4, and bought it. Right from the start, I was put off by the red LEDs. What the hell was Roland thinking? Totally ugly. Ewww. Fuck. So I opened it up and of course the majority are surface mount LEDs, but the ones around the knobs were through-hole LEDs. OK. I Replaced the analog synth section LEDs with blue, as it matches the test color on the panel, and all else with white because, well, the fucker is white innit? SMD LEDs. Fuck. I did NOT wanna deal with these with a normal soldering iron and desoldering braid etc etc, so I looked around and found that someone devised these things called hot tweezers, which are basically two soldering iron arms that curve together in a squeezable grip, with a variable temperature control, so you can grab an SMD component and easily pull it off within a second or two. The only problem was the reputable Japanese manufacturers MSRP of hot tweezers run about $400. I saw an el-cheapo version on AliExpress for about $50, and thought well, made in chinkland but what the hell. I generally dislike stuff made in "the mainland" as they call it here. Slave labor with near zero work ethic, well, it just isn't a good combo for reliable products. Behringer I'm looking at you here, when is my Pro-1 gonna blow up? Anyway... The things were sketchy, didn't meet at the tip when squeezed, parts came loose in the box, having fallen out of the wee ziplock baggie they were supposed to be in... not a good first impression but the thing worked for what I needed it for, so I'm cool with it. Saved SO much time. I also took a different approach to soldering the fucking microscopic SMD LEDs. I bought soldering paste that comes in a hypodermic needle looking thing. A wee shot of solder paste on the solder pads, slap the LED down and the paste works like glue to hold the part down, then hit the left and right sides with a normal fine-tipped soldering iron. Bam! Worked like a charm and took hardly any time at all. Thing looks straight outta Tron now. Very cool. Now it's time to fool around programming vocoder patches.
Um, a word about the JD-Xi... It's like a groovebox with keys. Two digital synths in the JD DNA line, plus a gimmicky analog synth part and a drum part. Pretty fun. Weird. Roland engineers musta been drunk/high when they came up with this thing. I'm having fun with it. Weirdo synth though, that's for sure.
Hope you guys are doing well. I caught Omicron on Xmas day. Jeeeeeeez-o-wiz. Fucked me up real good. I'm only now fully back to normal. Not fun. See ya next time.
