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...  

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Roland R-8 - Accessing the drum machine - Restoration Part 2 - 2025-05-31