In this video, Ranz Adamson (ranzee av) voids his warranty and takes a look inside the Roland Boutique SE-02 analog synthesizer.
The video covers close-up footage of the circuit board and SMT components, including identifying chips/ICs. The Boutique SE-02 was designed in collaboration with Studio Electronics, creators of the revered MidiMini, SE-1, ATC-1, Omega 8, Boomstar, and Tonestar synthesizers. It takes inspiration from the classic Minimoog design, but uses modern production techniques.
For a point of comparison, here’s a look inside the Minimoog Model D, with Moog expert Nick Montoya:
There should be an SE-02 XL version.
This synth is just too small.
Wow. It’s hard to tell from the quality of the video, but it looks full of dry joints. That’s amazing considering what this sells for.
Yep I agree – a lot of that soldering looks quite rubbish.
Look at it, this will be impossble for your tech to fix in the future due to All the DSP stuff, when components starts to fail.
Very interesting! I always enjoy the teardown videos. Just got my SE-02, and can’t believe how great it sounds. A very well planned instrument.
I wouldn’t worry about that – the joints will fail way before any of the components 🙂
If the owners of these new Roland toys knew better, then they would never buy em, due to that they will not be able to replace the components in the future, as you can with older gear.
Said in other words: It is a time-ticking bomb, not made to last.
The Boutiques use modern production techniques, modern parts and are made in huge quantities.
So, if you ever have a problem, the instruments will be easy and cheap to replace, and easy to repair for experienced technicians.
It’s unlikely it will make economic sense to repair Boutiques down the road, though, because it will probably be cheaper to just by another one used.
Incorrect, this is part of what we call the “Buy and throw away ” culture.
Agree. Wonder what kind of “DIY” SMT solder paste and re-flow line that board came out from. Rubbish solder quality almost worse than hand-soldering. Wonder if the whole Boutique and Roland line of products suffer the same faith. if yes, then indeed, Roland stuff now are disposables. BTW that little black board to board connector will fail some point in time if you cycle it too much. This all does not look quality.