Boss DR-550

[Genjutsushi]

Hi!

Im new to bending, and am about to follow some of the advice on here and on the 2600 website about bending an old 505 that i picked up for £1 (!), but i was wondering if anyone has bent a Boss DR550? Ive had mine for years and all the sounds are pretty naff. If anyone has any advice about where to start i'd be really grateful.
Greg

[sn7ke]

For only one pound!!! OMg, where did you get it. lol
Im still looking for a verrry cheap drumcomputer

[rizla]

I've just got given one of these things myself. Just some advice from an ameteur -

Be careful when you dismantle your boss dr-550, after unscrewing it, there is a small plastic latch located below the lcd on the left of the unit which needs to be un-clipped. You can't see it easily because the unit is sourounded in a copper/plastic sheet. If you try and force it then you'll pull one of the capacitors off the board (mine was broken when I got it, because the previous owner hadn't been careful when dismantling).

Also, the LCD is very fragile. It isn't actually connected to the board, the case causes it to 'rest' in place above the contacts. Quite strange I thought, that only rubber metalic pads connects the LCD to the machine, but there you go. so be careful not to drop it, as it will just fall out of the case if you let it.

Good luck, and keep me informed if you manage to bend the unit.

[lazydog]

he he he. just picked up a dr550 at a car boot sale (after thinking 'i'll never
find anything audio here'...) for!!!! 10eu-ro!!!!!
mint, boxed, with psu, manuals, and even original roland batteries...

only downer is, it doesn't send out MIDI. it only weighs a few grams, runs
off batteries, is tiny, and i quite fancied it for triggering samples...
in fact, me, i really like the sounds on it: real oldskool acid house era bash-y
drums, the way psychic tv etc did it.

question: do you think it can be fitted with a MIDI out? i got as far as the
copper sheer, and thought woah...

would also like to have some control over drum pitch with analog controls,
and maybe decay time...otherwise, i love this thing..

edit:dumps it's patterns after power off, so internal battery must be dead.
on reflection, best mod for this thing would be direct access to levels, tuning,
and some indiv outs, and maybe some way to shift off midi clock.plus midi out.

re-edit: dr550 relies on batteries to hold all memory. not immediately obvious,
and quite weird. so you have to keep batteries in it, even if you power it from
a psu while using it. not yet tried fitting the 3v internal battery mod described
elsewhere here, but if i did, i think i'd also add a switch somewhere to disconnect
it and allow memory to clear when needed, since no 'clear all' function either.