Significance of the M markings on 90s Roland music boards? \ VOGONS

Significance of the M markings on 90s Roland music boards?

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First post, by demonized999

Posted on 2024-01-10, 12:45

demonized999 Offline

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Hello All!
I have been thinking since some time of the significance of the "Mx" markings on the Roland boards - SCB-7, SCB-55, SCC-1 come to mind.
Anyone knows if this is some kind of hardware revision? Any advantages on having a board with higher number like M7 or M8 in comparison to M1 or M3 ?
Also - the dot matrix near the M designation?! It seems it is some pattern with varying number of dots inside that doesn't seem to (at least on first sight) to conform to the M marking number...

Thanks for all the info!

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Reply 1 of 4, by TheMobRules

Posted on 2024-01-10, 20:51

TheMobRules Offline

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Not sure what they mean, but on the first picture the large M is actually the Matsushita (Panasonic) logo, so maybe it's something related to that? Maybe they made the PCBs and use that code as kind of a revision number as you suggest...

Reply 2 of 4, by beeper6581

Posted on 2024-01-10, 21:02

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I'd guess it's a way of tracking lot number for PCB manufacturing. The FCC ID is the same, once something is FCC certified you're not really meant to change PCB layouts and stuff or anything that could impact EMC.

Reply 3 of 4, by demonized999

Posted on 2024-01-11, 06:55

demonized999 Offline

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TheMobRules wrote on 2024-01-10, 20:51:

Not sure what they mean, but on the first picture the large M is actually the Matsushita (Panasonic) logo, so maybe it's something related to that? Maybe they made the PCBs and use that code as kind of a revision number as you suggest...

Thanks! Not sure how Matsushita can be related to the SCB-55 manufacture - maybe some of the ICs that are marked Roland are in fact OEMed by Matsushita?

beeper6581 wrote on 2024-01-10, 21:02:

I'd guess it's a way of tracking lot number for PCB manufacturing. The FCC ID is the same, once something is FCC certified you're not really meant to change PCB layouts and stuff or anything that could impact EMC.

Interesting idea. Yes - all of the boards have the same FCC IDs and ASSY numbers (While SCC-1 and SCC-1A ASSY numbers are different, their FCC IDs are the same though)
So in theory it still can be related to when in the products life this particular board was released (with having M number as high as possible) but not really differentiating different hardware/ICs being used..

Thank you!

Reply 4 of 4, by darry

Posted on 2024-01-11, 07:05

darry Offline

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demonized999 wrote on 2024-01-11, 06:55:
Thanks! Not sure how Matsushita can be related to the SCB-55 manufacture - maybe some of the ICs that are marked Roland are in f […]
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TheMobRules wrote on 2024-01-10, 20:51:

Not sure what they mean, but on the first picture the large M is actually the Matsushita (Panasonic) logo, so maybe it's something related to that? Maybe they made the PCBs and use that code as kind of a revision number as you suggest...

Thanks! Not sure how Matsushita can be related to the SCB-55 manufacture - maybe some of the ICs that are marked Roland are in fact OEMed by Matsushita?

beeper6581 wrote on 2024-01-10, 21:02:

I'd guess it's a way of tracking lot number for PCB manufacturing. The FCC ID is the same, once something is FCC certified you're not really meant to change PCB layouts and stuff or anything that could impact EMC.

Interesting idea. Yes - all of the boards have the same FCC IDs and ASSY numbers (While SCC-1 and SCC-1A ASSY numbers are different, their FCC IDs are the same though)
So in theory it still can be related to when in the products life this particular board was released (with having M number as high as possible) but not really differentiating different hardware/ICs being used..

Thank you!