OLED/VFD/LCD Display Replacement for Vintage Synth and Rack gear
Ideally, we’d put an OLED into everything, as they consume little power, and are generally smaller than an LCD display, with extremely high contrast. There’s a few minor concerns, like perhaps interference, though i’ve yet to seriously experience this, the by-far greatest concern is simply finding the right one.
OLED’s are primarily manufacturered by a few companies, the main one we see is Vishay/winstar/raystar, which is the “OLED by many names” and are generally all the same exact thing. EA, NewHaven, and Sunlike, also make OLED displays, although the latter seems somewhat difficult to come by, and many are 3v TTL logic, as opposed to the 5v used in most of our vintage gear. Likewise, things like parallel vs serial should be paid attention to, as most vintage gear used the 8-bit parallel hd44780 interface, not Serial/SPI.
Ideally, we’d put an OLED into everything, as they consume little power, and are generally smaller than an LCD display, with extremely high contrast. There’s a few minor concerns, like perhaps interference, though i’ve yet to seriously experience this, the by-far greatest concern is simply finding the right one.
OLED’s are primarily manufacturered by a few companies, the main one we see is Vishay/winstar/raystar, which is the “OLED by many names” and are generally all the same exact thing. EA, NewHaven, and Sunlike, also make OLED displays, although the latter seems somewhat difficult to come by, and many are 3v TTL logic, as opposed to the 5v used in most of our vintage gear. Likewise, things like parallel vs serial should be paid attention to, as most vintage gear used the 8-bit parallel hd44780 interface, not Serial/SPI.
However, saying it’s compatible with “HD44780” doesn’t really mean it’s truly compatible, and various timing, programming, and other issues reign supreme with this endeavour. That said, I went about this the hard way, through trial and error, and am hoping I can help others save some time/money when attempting the same for themselves.
Generally speaking, we’ll usually look for the winstar/raystar/vishay OLEDs first, as they are cheapest and usually most available. These are differentiated a few different ways, but the most important but non-obvious difference comes with the letter following the serial numbers. So, to get a basic idea of how to read those numbers….
“16n002a” is a 16×2 and “40n002a” is a 40×2.
The next important factor is the letter, immediately following the number of rows. in this case “16n002a” is the standard sized 16×2 module, with 14/16 pin holes across the top. Where-as, the “16n002c” and “16n002d” have 2×7 row pin holes, across the side, the difference between “C” and “D” being simply size, with “D” being extremely low profile. Lastly, there’s the “E” models like 16n002e, these have the 14/16 pin holes, across the bottom, and are a taller sized board than the “A” model, which has the connector on top. Generally, all of these models are exactly the same, except for the size of the board, so if you can confirm that ANY of these work, it’s really just a matter of getting the right size to fit your unit.
Regardless of fitment, it’s often required to modify the mounting in order to bring the display closer to the front of the case. This is typically required if you’re replacing an LCD with an LED Backlight with an OLED, as they will be thicker than the replacement OLED. An LCD with an EL backlight and an OLED should typically be about the same depth, however, so in these cases, the fit might be drop-in, except for things like the vishay 40×2, which has a taller-than-usual circuit board. Likewise, most VFD’s will be thicker, typically the same thickness as an LED backlit LCD, but much thicker than an EL backlit LCD. That means a VFD is a drop-in for something like a Korg M1R (LED backlight), but requires extensive modifications to fit into something like the Roland D-550 (EL Backlight). For all intents and purposes, this can just be a matter of putting a few washers under the screws, or replacing the standoffs with shorter or longer ones. In some instruments, like the yamaha’s the bottom of the display is held in with two notches, and the top is screws. You can cut two new notches on the bottom, and add washers on the top in this case. Likewise in the case of the xv-88, you must cut new holes in the bracket as well as the OLED itself, but, with a little patience, it’s do-able.
| Akai S900/S950 | Vishay 040N002A has been used, but there are known issues where the bottom row will become corrupted/shifted to the left. A VFD might be a better alternative, but this needs confirmation |
| Alesis Quadraverb | 016N002D The red model looks more orange in person and is a good color match for the original |
| Casio RZ-1 | 016N001A requires custom firmware http://zine.r-massive.com/casio-rz-1-custom-firmware/ |
| E-mu ESI-32, 2000, 4000 | 020N004A |
| E-mu Emax I / II | 016N002C or EA W162-X9LG (yellow only) |
| E-mu Proteus 1, 2, 3, Procussion | 016N002C, custom bracket available https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2815199?fbclid=IwAR1LG-TD65rZJ2cSTuhBTbiIIuhJKIlsAn09iTDIRH0O9nAHBcV56rOg270 |
| E-mu Proteus 1000 & 2000, Audity 2000, Command Stations | 24×2 LCD. No OLED available yet. |
| E-mu SP-12 or SP-1200 | Noritake CU16025‐UW2J display but will require mounting modifications. Winstar/vishay does not work! Maybe worth trying EA or NewHaven???? |
| E-mu Vintage Keys, Planet Phatt, Carnaval, etc | 016N002C, custom bracket available: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2409650?fbclid=IwAR1cMmPRtO1VyKr_je0IOs_rzNFN98Qi7I0WJbe9AP14iu2R1teO38eyQTg |
| Ensoniq DP Pro | 24×2 LCD. No OLED available yet. |
| Ensoniq SQ1r | 016N002D |
| Kawai K4 | VATN LCD works: RC1602B-LLG-JWVE. OLED did not work. |
| Kawai R50 | 016N001A (now obsolete!? May need new options). Requires custom firmware http://zine.r-massive.com/kawai-r50-custom-firmware/ |
| Korg DS-8 | Futaba 40×2 M402SD10FJ (would like to confirm this) |
| Korg M1R (EX) | Futaba 40×2 M402SD10FJ |
| Korg TR-Rack | Need to confirm, but it is believed to take the larger “B” model 20×2: 020N002B |
| Kurzweil K1000 | 016N002D. Supposedly someone tried using A and cutting some holes, but from reports it looks like D should fit with little effort. |
| Kurzweil K2000/K2500/K2600 | Supposedly takes a 240×64 graphics display, such as the ones from EastRising, but may require mounting modifications https://www.buydisplay.com/default/graphic-display/240×64-dots |
| Lexicon MPX1 | Noritake Itron CU16025-UW6J |
| Quasimidi Technox | 016N002D |
| Roland Alpha Juno 1 | 016N001A (now obsolete!? May need new options). Requires custom firmware http://zine.r-massive.com/roland-alpha-juno-1-ju-1-custom-firmware/ |
| Roland Alpha Juno 2 | 016N001A (now obsolete!? May need new options). Requires custom firmware http://wp.visuanetics.nl/oled-display-for-alpha-juno-2/ |
| Roland D-110 | 016N002D works, but Ground/VCC pins may be reversed. Custom mounting bracket available: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3351814?fbclid=IwAR2-GWY4_1e0-A8i8sBtiPssX_qB0M2k8i0O26iPfCJXUy0mp6uaW60m1T0 |
| Roland D-550 | Noritake 40×2 or Generic 40×2 LCD. Trying to use an OLED results in timing issue and text corruption. |
| Roland JP-8000 / JP-8080 | 016N002….A? not sure which model yet. |
| Roland JV-880 | 24×2 LCD. No OLED available yet. |
| Roland JV-1080 / XP-30 / XP-50 | It appears as if Vishay 040N002A would work, and there are photos of these units with what looks to be an OLED display installed. I expect this works. |
| Roland JV-3080 / XV-88 | Vishay 040N002A worked in XV-88 with modifications to the bracket and screen for mounting. JV-3080 expected to work, but not confirmed. |
| Roland MKS-20 | NewHaven NHD-0220DZW-AB5 20×2. The Vishay 020N002A might also work but was not tried. |
| Roland MKS-30 | Kiwi-30 upgrade LCD, attempted replacement with 016N002D, resulted in only one line of text displayed, failed! I will follow up with Murray at a later time. |
| Roland MKS-50 | 016N001A fits with heavy modification, you will need to take 2-3mm off the top/bottom with a sander. Custom firmware is also required: http://zine.r-massive.com/roland-mks-50-custom-firmware/ |
| Roland MKS-70 | https://supersynthprojects.com/super-jx-display-replacement/ |
| Roland MKS-80 | 016N001A (now obsolete!? May need new options) |
| Roland PG-1000 | 016N002E or EA W162-XLG (yellow only) |
| Roland SE-50 MK1 | 016N002D |
| Roland SE-70 | 016N002D |
| Roland TD-7 | ERM1602DNS-2.1 LCD display white on black. OLED does not work! |
| Roland U-220 | 24×2 LCD. No OLED available yet. |
| Sequential Circuits Prophet VS | 016N002E or EA W162-XLG (need confirmation, but a photo I found of the original looks as if there’s a 14/16 pin connector along the bottom, in which case, “E” vishay or the EA) |
| Yamaha DX7 | 016N002A |
| Yamaha DX21 | 016N002E or EA W162-XLG (yellow only) |
| Yamaha RM1X | Topway LM24064BFW (now obsolete?! May need new options) |
| Yamaha SPX-90 | 016N002A |
| Yamaha TG-77 | It takes a 240×64 graphics display, such as the ones from EastRising https://www.buydisplay.com/default/graphic-display/240×64-dots http://glitchscience.com/guides/TG77/glitchscience_TG77_LCD_Install_Guide.pdf |
| Yamaha TX802 | Vishay 040N002A works, but requires you to sand the top of the PCB down. |
| Yamaha TX81Z | 016N002C or EA W162-X9LG (yellow only) |