Saturday 17 June 2017

Roland 100m - first pics

Finally .... a Roland 100m.
I loved the Eurorack 521 filter so much I decided to seek out the source.
 
Many thanks to Mark G.

This is a standard setup ...what Roland refer to as a D-set.
Consists of:

112 Dual VCO, with 3 CV ins, 2 outs, and weak/strong sync
121 Dual VCF, with low-pass and high-pass filters with 24 dB/oct slope
130 Dual VCA with a linear/exponential switch
140 Dual ENV + LFO, (ADSR, invertable, and manual gate button) and LFO (5 waveforms with switchable range: x1, x1/10)
150 Ring Mod, Noise (pink and white), S&H (with lag), and LFO (5 waveforms with switchable range: x1, x1/10)

The 121 VCF is a dual 24 dB Lowpass OTA filter that has Roland's warm, bubbley filter characteristics.


The System 100m offers over 20 modular components to pick and choose to design a custom modular set-up.
There were originally just six modules in the series (released in 1979).
These were the 110, 112, 121, 130, 140, 150.
The 110 was a "voice module" combining a VCO,VCF & VCA in one package.

A further four were released over the next five years (starting in 1980).
These were the
131 (four channel output mixer)  4 X 2 X 1, with panning and a tuning oscillator (220/440/880Hz)
132 Dual CV/audio mixer/ voltage processor.
172 Phaser/gate/delay
182 sequencer

I've read that Roland had plans for a further nine modules but cancelled most of these.
After 1983 they did produce:
160 - Computer interface. (No idea what it does. I saw one for sale in 0ct 2011 so it does exist)

165 - Double Portamento Controller, with CV in
173 - Quadruple Signal Gate and six 4-way Multiples
174 - Parametric Equalizer, four-band, with 20Hz to 20kHz center frequencies.

These appeared just before the company deleted the range.
The cancelled modules were :
111 - VCO/VCF
120 - VCF/VCA
141 - dual envelope, gate delay & inverter/adder
170 - Pitch/Voltage Converter, Envelope Follower, and Audio Amplifer

The System 100m has 3 rack sizes, the M-190 holds 3 modules, the M-191 and M-191J hold 5 modules. Each rack provides the necessary 8-pin DIN power connectors and internal CV/gate connections between the modules
System 100M 8 pin DIN plug connections are as follows:
Pin 1 negative 15 volts....blue
Pin 2 positive 15 volts.....red
Pin 3 LED +22 ???....orange
Pin 4 Gate (NC)
Pin 5 trigger (NC)
Pin 6 LED gnd (NC).....green
Pin 7 PSU/ground.....black
Pin 8 CV ....yellow
This might come in handy if you need to build your own rack

The Roland 181m keyboard also needs to be powered from the case.
Its a similar DIN connector.
Six pins, not eight.


My 184m keyboard has it's own wall plug and internal PS.

This is a 191J  five-module rack with multiple connectors on its base.

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