also not a SC55 but I guess this is still the best thread for it... I pulled this off a 486 board today
so yeah CR2032 lithium cells can definitely leak it's not just the SC55 ^^ this one was from toshiba.

Ok guys, I'm going to open my SC55 as soon as I'm home.

2 questions:

1. Wouldn't the SC55 give a warning when the battery is low or gone? Thought I read something like that.
2. Will the SC55 operate fine without a battery? If so, I will leave it out altogether.

Thanks!

Erwin_Br wrote on 2021-05-16, 15:11:

Ok guys, I'm going to open my SC55 as soon as I'm home. […]
Show full quote

Ok guys, I'm going to open my SC55 as soon as I'm home.

2 questions:

1. Wouldn't the SC55 give a warning when the battery is low or gone? Thought I read something like that.
2. Will the SC55 operate fine without a battery? If so, I will leave it out altogether.

Thanks!

- if you remove the battery you get a 1-sec message each boot that the battery is low
- it will work just fine for gaming reasons , I also did not put a battery back. but if you want it to hold some special setup/options for your studio to work with then obviously it will lose such settings. in a typical gaming system all that is irrelevant and the battery can be out with no issues

The Korg X5DR also has a soldered lithium CR2032 in it.

After a couple of years of knowing this thread existed, I finally got into mine to check. Thankfully no issues, but battery removed anyway so I never have to worry. Appreciate the heads up.

I was lucky enough to get an SC-55 MkII for a reasonable price (under 110€ including shipping), and thanks to this thread, I opened it up and checked the battery - and sure enough, the battery was leaky. That was a quick fix.

However, I noticed that one of the larger capacitors leaks as well, the one close to the heat sink near the back. I'm certainly no hardware electronics repair person, but I probably have to find someone to get that replaced before it kills the device. 😒

EDIT: After reading through the whole thread, it turns out that the brown stuff is most likely glue, e.g. here: Re: Have you opened your SC-55 to check the battery inside?
However, the residue at the top of the capacitor still looks a little suspicious, plus it looks like it's slightly bulged. I'll at least know to keep an eye on it.

Regarding leaving the battery out entirely, I've noticed the following: After I had it open and replaced the battery, it stayed completely silent. Demo songs still worked, but no MIDI signals arrived anymore. I then tried the secondary input (front MIDI connector) and that worked fine. I found Real sound canvas 55 MK2 midi in problem on Vogons, but it wasn't a connection problem. After fiddling with it a bit, I noticed that I had to swap MIDI-1 and MIDI-2 in the menu, and for that setting to be sticky, i.e. for MIDI-IN1 on the back to keep working, I need the battery. It's quite surprising behavior, but that's how my unit operates.

Yea that capacitor is definitely leaking at the top.
I would have it changed ASAP because it could be leaking at the bottom too and electrolyte is quite corrosive!

One more things to look out for: my "new" SC-55 sometimes rebooted for no apparent reason, and it once it did, it did so frequently.
I checked the power supply I got with the unit, and noticed that it was from a different brand (Technics) - and was only rated for 9V 300mA. The SC-55 MkII needs 600mA though.
So yeah - that's a bad idea.

Lesson learned: when you get a unit somewhere, make sure the power supply actually matches!

Had that happen with my Genesis 1 High-Definition console with a cheap 200mA power brick. Sonic the Hedgehog sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks. Got a 6V-12V 2.5A switching power brick, set it to 12VDC, and it runs well.

Snagged an M-GS64 for cheap on ebay as a 'parts' unit the seller didn't know how to check. Other than looking a bit beaten up, it works fine and the battery is even socketed, inside is clean as a whistle. It's the full-sized rackmount version of the SC-88. The battery is located on the underside of what appears to be the primary CPU board, for reference, but the top of the rack is a single flat panel that can be easily removed and the board is on risers at the four corners.

Axatax wrote on 2021-03-11, 16:10:

Is the DS-330 like an SC-55 in a different package?

Very late seeing this.

The DS-330 is most similar to the Roland SC-33. Same case and all. However, the SC-33 has a number of extra sounds that the DS330 doesn't (226 instruments vs 156 for the DS330). I've never done a side-by-side comparison so I have no idea what's missing.

The Hammond GM-1000 and Roland D110 also use standard CR2032 coin cell batteries.

I did open up my Roland RA-50 arranger (arranger with MT-32 synth) -> it definitely needed it's battery changing. Was just starting to leak!

misterjones wrote on 2021-09-27, 19:08:

Axatax wrote on 2021-03-11, 16:10:

Is the DS-330 like an SC-55 in a different package?

Very late seeing this.

The DS-330 is most similar to the Roland SC-33. Same case and all. However, the SC-33 has a number of extra sounds that the DS330 doesn't (226 instruments vs 156 for the DS330). I've never done a side-by-side comparison so I have no idea what's missing.

I have seen Boss DS-330's with just the GM logo as wel as with both GM/GS logo's on the front. The SC-33 only exists with both the GM/GS logo as far as I know.
Would this mean that the DS-330 actually exists in the form of a true SC-33 ?

Salient wrote on 2021-09-30, 18:24:

misterjones wrote on 2021-09-27, 19:08:

Axatax wrote on 2021-03-11, 16:10:

Is the DS-330 like an SC-55 in a different package?

Very late seeing this.

The DS-330 is most similar to the Roland SC-33. Same case and all. However, the SC-33 has a number of extra sounds that the DS330 doesn't (226 instruments vs 156 for the DS330). I've never done a side-by-side comparison so I have no idea what's missing.

I have seen Boss DS-330's with just the GM logo as wel as with both GM/GS logo's on the front. The SC-33 only exists with both the GM/GS logo as far as I know.
Would this mean that the DS-330 actually exists in the form of a true SC-33 ?

The way I remember it, there's two versions of the DS330: The initial version that only supported GM and a second revision that supported both GM and GS. Both of mine had the GM/GS logo's on the front however I've seen it with just the GM logo on it. Mine being the later revision, it's still short 70 instrument sounds, so it's not a true SC33. I do kinda want an SC33 though, just to see what those extra sounds are.

I used my first one for both making music and as a replacement for my Yamaha MU5 for GM games.

I purchased a SC-88VL and a SC-55MKII and changed the CR2032 battery on both. It turns out not only the original batteries were in perfect state, but they still had juice after all these years.

Old Thrashbarg wrote on 2013-08-02, 21:50:

glue eating traces? never seen that... maybe the cap leaked and caused this...

No, there is indeed a glue that'll turn corrosive. I'm not sure exactly what sort of substance it is, but I've seen it a couple times myself in some '80s stereo equipment. And I know it wasn't a leaky cap, because it happened in some places that weren't near a cap.

There's also sort of glue that eventually carbonizes and goes conductive after prolonged exposure to heat. I've seen a fair number of PC PSUs that have failed because of that... and I imagine it made for quite a light show in cases where it shorted stuff on the primary side.

I would have to look for it, but Dave Jones did a video maybe a 2 years ago now? In that video he goes over some decent high end studio monitor speakers and one of them doesn't work right. In the end he finds out that the glue that was used inside to hold down the caps and some wiring was actually conductive?! I don't recall if he removed the glue or even bothered to fix the speaker. But I do remember his shock an awe at them using something like this.

My battery had 13 printed on it which is strange cause I'm sure Roland would have stopped making them by them but the battery also had the same permanent marker on it like the caps which makes it look like the og battery. It was still working tho cause I moved to a p3 motherboard just fine. (lol)

I don't get the error msg on start up about no battery installed on my sc55. When is it supposed to show up?

I just purchased my first SC 55/first midi device. The seller said it might need a new battery. When I opened the case there was no battery. Easy fix and now I have a fresh coin battery in my SC 55. Still no midi sound yet except for the demo ROM songs. Not sure what is causing that.

jbeougher7924 wrote on 2022-01-22, 14:35:

I just purchased my first SC 55/first midi device. The seller said it might need a new battery. When I opened the case there was no battery. Easy fix and now I have a fresh coin battery in my SC 55. Still no midi sound yet except for the demo ROM songs. Not sure what is causing that.

check for cracked solder joints on the midi connectors, most likely that is the cause