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Roland W-30 Information

This is my little trove of technical information on the Roland W-30 Music Workstation.

Contents


Hacker Mode


There lies within the W-30 OS a secret "Hacker" mode. There doesn't seem to be too much information about this mode on the net, other than what I've gleaned below. Hopefully, given time, I'll be expanding this section with some more information.

ENTERING HACKER MODE

To enter Hacker mode press USER twice to enter the "user setting mode". Then, while keeping TEMPO pressed, press F1 twice.

After that, the sequencer menu will contain one more option named "Hacking tools". When executed, it will load hacker commands from the system disk.

The Hacker mode is on now. To quit Hacker mode, do the above procedures again.

In the "Sequencer menu" window now appears two more choices:

        7. Block Hacker
        8. Hacking tools

In the "Jump to screen" window now appears four new choices:

        63. Block using
        64. Block tracer
        65. Block show
        66. Hacking tools

In the "FD Format" window now appears three new choices:

        3. Hack system
        4. Hack save util
        5. Hack save sys

In the "micro edit" window new information window appears on top.


Boot ROM


To see the ROM version, hold down TEMPO and F1 and turn on the W-30, and it will appear on the screen.

The in-built test mode is entered by holding down F1 and F2 then turning on the W-30. No disk is needed, and you can test the memory, front panel buttons and controllers. There is also an option to reboot the W-30.

As a service to other W-30 owners, I present here my own Boot ROM images, version 1.03. There are two files, one for the EVEN ROM and one for the ODD ROM. Both files are downloadable as a single archive in the following formats:

Please note: These files are copyright Roland Corp and should only be used by those who already own a Roland W-30. They are provided solely as-is, without any warranty or guarantee that they are correct. They are provided to help support this synth in the future, given that the machine is now about 12 years old, and EPROMs generally last around 15 years or so :-)


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