Roland refuses to acknowledge it's design flaw - JDXI synthesizer - tempo knob

[tangman]

my stagename is TangMan, my band is Rockit Writer.
i use the Roland JDXI to sequence live onstage in accompaniment with singer and guitar
i have had problems with the knobs on the JDXI, and had it serviced this past year to replace the volume knob

and i'm still having a problem with the TEMPO knob's aberrant behavior of changing tempo. the only logical explanation i can determine is that its sensitivity reacts to any slight brushing of the knob when i press nearby buttons or knobs, or when physical vibration is too great from other sound devices, or possibly the electronic pulses generated from its instrument voices.

i've complained to Roland that this is not only a problem, but a design flaw, that the knob should be able to turn off the tempo adjustment completely, so that i can only set the tempo thru the menu settings. after all, why would i change the tempo on the fly when the song is written to a certain tempo?

but Roland support refuses to acknowledge this, and claims their tests show my unit just needs a repair job which i must pay for myself thru a lot of driving and effort. fyi they have also stated there is no ability in the software to calibrate the sensitivity of the tempo knob or turn it off.

i think anyone with the same experience on this device should contact Roland and complain, until they are willing to fix this DESIGN FLAW

 

[happyrat1]

First of all if your unit is out of warranty then it's no wonder Roland says you have to eat the repair costs.

Secondly I owned a JD-Xi up until last month when I traded it in on a Novation Ultranova.

However I had a different problem with mine which was the inability to select a MIDI channel for a particular voice and the inability to save a single tone without saving an entire performance.

I honestly don't know what to tell you except sell it off as a unit in need of repair if you don't want to eat the repair costs and then buy something else.

Gary

 

[tangman]

First of all if your unit is out of warranty then it's no wonder Roland says you have to eat the repair costs.

Secondly I owned a JD-Xi up until last month when I traded it in on a Novation Ultranova.

However I had a different problem with mine which was the inability to select a MIDI channel for a particular voice and the inability to save a single tone without saving an entire performance.

I honestly don't know what to tell you except sell it off as a unit in need of repair if you don't want to eat the repair costs and then buy something else.

Gary

hi Gary, i would agree with you, except that i brought this in for repair (at my cost) earlier this year with the aberrant tempo change complaint. the tech insisted the knobs and software were working perfectly. so i'm not about to spend 2 hours driving each way, give them another 100 for them to tell me the same thing again. this is a design flaw, not a repair issue, and i think Roland should acknowledge it.

 

[happyrat1]

I'd suggest asking over at the Roland Clan Forums if this really is a recurring issue with the JD-Xi or not.

http://forums.rolandclan.com/

Like I said, it never came up with mine and manufacturers typically guarantee against defects for a year, no more, no less, and they expect you to pay for shipping out of your own pocket regardless.

Starting a one man hate campaign against Roland won't accomplish anything except to get you banned from relevant forums.

Nobody's going to support your campaign if it's not an issue with their units as well.

Gary

 

[Ted Nicoson]

Already did that, Gary - several hours ago, but lost my satellite internet connection before I could respond here. Had to wait for it to come back up. Did Google and Bing generic searches for JDXi problems; Google and Bing searches for user reviews, and specific search on Roland Clan Forum. Saw quite a few problems, but only tempo related problem on Roland Clan was LFO would sync to tempo OK, but not to first beat of bar. So, based on what I have seen so far, I would say that Roland had more of an overall quality control problem with the JDXi, rather than a "design" problem that affected any specific component. The most common complaint I saw was about the frailty of the keys. They are easily broken, even in normal use.

 

[happyrat1]

If you're crying about poor build quality in general then you're preaching to the choir Ted. Roland's not about to recall thousands of instruments for overall poor workmanship unless there's a pinpoint issue that everyone can agree on.

Otherwise when life hands you a lemon you gotta make lemonade.

I'd say put it up on craigslist outlining the issue and move on to something else.

Beating your head against the wall doesn't do anyone any good unless you're in a punk band

Gary

 

[Ted Nicoson]

I'm not crying about about a damned thing. Gary. I never owned this piece of junk. I was just trying to help you make the point to the original poster, that his problem was probably not a wide spread "design" problem.

 

[happyrat1]

Sorry Ted. My bad. The way you phrased your response I'd assumed that you were posting under two different accounts. The satellite comment threw me.

Gary

 

[Ted Nicoson]

No problem, Gary. I should have explained where I was coming from on this, but like you, losing my satellite connection and having to edit and retype everything to bring it up to date with your post threw me off. So, we end up stumbling over each other. Sorry 'bout that.

Aside from that, you and tangman, and anyone else who bought a JDXi, have my sympathies. That looks like it should have been a really neat investment.

Ted

 

[Rayblewit]

If I may chip in . .
Just wanted to say that aside from discussing specific issues with a brand or the particular models fault and/or what to do about it; the other aspect of this post is "awareness"
This is the place whereby we get advice and suggestions and learn from people's experiences.
Tangman has actually alerted us that the Roland jdxi has a flaw and this frustrates him. Gary follows up telling us about his problem too. This makes me aware and if I was in the market to buy one then makes me think twice.
If it wasn't for this forum we would never know.
Ray.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

I agree, Ray, but at the same time, we have the responsibility to be accurate in our descriptions, and not defame a product or manufacturer (and secondarily, this forum) by writing off a simple, singular defect, as an across the board design defect that the manufacturer does not care to correct. I belong to two other music device forums where, suddenly, everything is a firmware bug. A guy goes out and knowingly buys a work station with only 512 Mb of sampling memory, and when that is not enough, he goes on to a forum with the complaint that his workstation has a firmware bug of insufficient sampling memory, and believe it or not, insists the manufacturer issue a firmware upgrade for more sample memory - as though software can create hardware. Before you know it, there are 6 or 8 more with the same complaint - all feeding off of one another's ignorance. The staff and experienced membership at one of those forums is going at a dead run to teach/convince their inexperienced membership the difference between normal limitations and "bugs", and the proper way of dealing with each. For them not to do that is poor information handling, at best, and total irresponsibility, at worse. Just my 10 cents worth.

Ted