broken midi out (help)

kneipp123 · 06-28-2019, 11:24 AM

Hi there. I dropped my Roland spd 6 (old device) on the floor, and it no longer transmits midi. Seems completely dead. its a drum pad i used it to trigger drums in reasamplomatic and was having fun until now. (internal sounds are bad)

anyone have an idea if its possible to save it? (open it up and lok inside or something? or do i have to buy another drum pad? anyone had similar experiences and managed to repair it?

nait · 06-28-2019, 12:18 PM

Not familiar with this specific device, but I have done some electronics repairs...

I Googled and I see there are outputs for headphones on there. I would try those first and see if they work. If they do, you might be in luck (and in this case it's likely just the MIDI out that is broken in some way) and maybe can open it up and just replace/fix the midi output connection.

Try the headphone jack first, if that doesn't work either, I'm guessing your repair, if possible, will be a bit more complicated. If that works, then if you're comfortable, open up the SPD6 and take a look inside around the MIDI port. No idea what they look like on the inside, but perhaps you can see a loose connection or a broken circuit or something of that nature that would be easier to fix.

kneipp123 · 06-28-2019, 12:35 PM

ok, thanks. the audio outs does work. i guess i will try to open it up and see if there is something loose thats possible to reconnect.

nait · 06-28-2019, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kneipp123

ok, thanks. the audio outs does work. i guess i will try to open it up and see if there is something loose thats possible to reconnect.

If you don't see anything obvious by eye, and you've got a multi-meter, you might be able to check for continuity to figure out if a circuit is broken. Start simple though (eyeball/inspect for damage, for example).

I'm not sure how comfy you are around electronics. Goes without saying, but be careful in there

ivansc · 07-04-2019, 03:03 AM

FWIW assuming it is using the usual piezo elements to sense your hits, ID you are getting audion as you hit it in the headphones, that side of it is also OK, so you are left with the actual engine department, which will probably not be too easy to repair. Over the years I have built a bunch of transducers that use the piezo elements but always bought someone else`s bash-to-MIDI data board(s) ready built.

Karbo might have some thoughts on this but step 1 would be to ask rolqnd for a schematic and if possible a layout. Even with GPS, road maps are still handy.
Good luck!