Roland guitar synth cable pinouts

Last modified: 11 Oct 2011 by John Pallister

1. Introduction
2. Roland 13-pin socket & cable
3. Roland 24-pin socket & cable
4. 24-wire cable to DB25 connector
5. Roland RRC cable
6. Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Having bought both a GK-2a hex pickup and a GM-70 guitar-to-MIDI unit, I now need to build an interface between the 13-pin GK-2a and the 24-pin GM-70 (which was designed to talk to the original GK-1 pickup). Mark Smart to the rescue!

For future reference, I'm listing here all the pinout & cable information I've found elsewhere on the Web:

• Mark Smart's cable cut page
• Wayne Joness's 24-pin connector/GR-300/GR-700/GM-70/GK-1/Z3 table
• C24-D version 2 colour codes (this being the cable I have, apparently)
• FC-100 RRC pinout (via this forum post)
• Roland service manuals, via Mark Glinsky and Mr. Joness

It should go without saying, but I make no claims about the accuracy of this information. Don't assume I've checked everything thoroughly, or indeed at all. Use at your own risk etc.

Update 3 Jul 10: "Steve" emailed me to say:

Pin 9 is not unused when used with the Roland GR-20. It is used for the 3-position Guitar/Mix/GK selector switch. In the Guitar position, it has 0.5 VDC on it. In the Mix position, it has 1.0 VDC. In the GK position, it has 1.5VDC on it. ... I had wanted to use pin 9, but found that it was connected internally in the GR-20. Checking the voltage on it resulted in the above values. ... If the cable is disconnected from the GR-20, the voltage on pin 9 internally drops to 0V, so the voltage is being derived from the +7VDC in the GK-3 pickup & sent back to the GR-20 on pin 9.

Thanks, Steve!

2. Roland 13-pin socket & cable

The GK-2a uses a 13-pin DIN socket (Digi-Key part no. CP-2313-ND, in-line plug part no. CP-1013-ND):

 

Here's the pinout:

Note to self: my 13-core cable has a black/stripe wire instead of a light blue wire.

3. Roland 24-pin socket & cable

The original Roland guitar synths used an extremely proprietary connector for the cable.

 

And here's the pinout and colour codes for the C24-D cable:

4. 24-wire cable to DB25 connector

For my interface, I need a DB25 connector on my C24-D cable. I'm using Mark Smart's DB25 pinout, with the surplus wires connected so that the two halves can be connected to form a functioning C24-D cable.

5. Roland RRC cable

I found an FC-100 foot controller to go with the GM-70. But it came without the RRC cable to connect the two units. Google didn't cough up a lot of information about the pinouts, but at least the connector is a bog-standard 6-pin DIN thing.

The only information I could find was via the Music Electronics Forum post I mentioned above. But apparently the source was another Kiwi, so I'm sure it's utterly reliable. (And it has been tested by other forum members.)

Here's the pinout (see the forum post for information about converting the RRC connector into a MIDI port):

6. Acknowledgements

Big thanks to Wayne Joness and Mark Smart, without whom all this old Roland guitar synth stuff would be far, far less appealing.