Super JX

Ten years ago, I decided to upgrade my JX10, the idea being to add PWM. This turned into a considerable hobby project... the sound board code had to be modified, as well as the assigner code. While the former is pretty well written, the assigner code on the JX10 and the MKS70 is not particularly pretty. It is actually impossible to upgrade, so I started to rewrite it from scratch. Today, I am proud to announce the availability of this rewritten firmware, which should give a entire new experience and life to our loved JX synthesizers.





The project continues with the PWM hardware mods. But unlike the assigner rewrite, adding PWM requires surgery to the sound boards, while the assigner rewrite is simply an eprom change.



A 16-banks M-1024C cartridge has been developed too, and is available (in limited quantity). See this page. Since cartridges are expensive and hard to find, I designed a new module which replaces the assigner eprom with a flash chip, providing 16 or 32 banks of patches/tones and midi firmware upgrade. See this page for more info.











For PWM, see PWM kit pictures gallery, kit install manual download section and PWM tone parameters description. Excellent install guide by Guy available here!



A display replacement is now available, using a Noritake GU280x16 display. Website and youtube video here.



New features

each parameter is now OFF/RECV/SEND/ON, allowing fine control of what gets sent and what is filtered.

sysex support : allow edition of patch, tone A and tone B individually. (No need for M64 cartridge)

midi cc support : allow edition of all tone parameters (each tone separately or both tones) with midi cc.

fast bulk dump/load : 4-5 seconds to dump everything. Can dump to/from cartridge and internal memory.

edition of parameters (patch and tones) sends sysex, so all editions can be sequenced. PG800 is also supported here, so editions made from the PG800 can also be sequenced.

copy from/to cartridge to create a full backup of the internal memory (all settings are now copied to the cartridge or restored from it)

any tone parameter (from tone-A, tone-B or both at the same time) can be assigned to C1 or C2

any arpeggiator parameter can be assigned to C1 or C2

C1 and C2 can be used, in tone edit mode, to modify upper/lower tone parameter. This allows quick editing of tones for those who don’t have a PG800.

8 arpeggiators “patches”

internal or external synchronization

supports up, down up/down, played and random notes ordering

various arpeggio types

velocity setting (fixed or played)

note duration (1-15 or legato)

use lower split point to control which notes are arpeggiated

Demo on youtube (beta version)

control whether updates from sysex, pg800 or controllers are displayed temporarily on-screen

allows to disable new features for full compatibility with old software (for example, sysex changes made to tone A can be redirected to the currently selected tone, etc...)

test hardware controllers (voices, A/D controllers (aftertouch, bender, C1/C2), keyboard)

test memory chips

Availability

The new firmware 3.0x is available!

jx_sales@vecoven.com.

Manuals and Demos

Release notes

PWM kit!

100EUR

Disclaimer

Users undertaking this DIY project need to have experience in electronics, mains appliance wiring and testing. No liability can be undertaken by the author for the design, installation or damage to the instrument.

History of the project

In a nutshell, the rewrite provides :For MKS70 owners, please note that the MONO mode (one voice per midi channel) is NOT SUPPORTED in this release.It is delivered as a new eprom (replacement for Roland “ROM A”) or as a flash module. (For JX10 owners, check your sound board roms. If they are older than 2.0, they won’t support 12 semi-tones for the bender. For MKS70, the very old 1.03 is buggy too)Please send your request toThe eprom replacement guide (for JX10 and MKS70) and an updated manual (updated Nov 2016) are available in the download section The next step involves replacing the 8031 CPU of the sound boards, with a new firmware (“ROM B” and “ROM C”). This provides new envelopes, new LFO, and several other new parameters to control the tones. PWM requires a daughter board (per sound board). The PWM kit contains everything to do the update : 3 new ROMs, 2 80C320 CPUs, 2 PCB and all the components. The daughter boards can be shipped with the components soldered. Remember that you will need to desolder 2 40-pins chips, and add 36 wires to each sound board! You can also upgrade the CPU of the sound boards without installing the daughter boards : in that case, you won’t get analog pwm but everything else (new envelopes, LFO, etc...). The kit comes complete with everything needed (PCBs, all components, 80C320 CPUs, the 3 eproms with 4.x firmware) and is price. You can of course replace replace rom A with a flash module (discounted if bought with the kit).Can be found here . Lots of discussions regarding the new firmware on this forum thread . Demo on youtube