Roland TR-8S - (New TR-8 with user samples and individual outs)

Very excited to try out a new Roland TR8S I just purchased from Reverb.com. However, there was some adhesive left over from some stickers the previous owner states he peeled off before selling. Any idea the best approach to remove? I’ll try soap and warm water first, but It seems like a thicker glue. Thanks!

Tricky. And annoying.
I’d probably seperate the case completely. Then try soap and water.
If that doesn’t work, maybe some isopropyl or other chemical thing.

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Thanks for the advice! I just worry a bit after slightly effing up my old Roland R8, thought the material on that is very different. I will try this. Seller said it was “mint” hahaha

It depends on whether or not it’s just residual sticker adhesive or actually glue…

If it’s just leftover sticker goo, then you can try dabbing a tiny amount of olive oil on a cloth, and wiping it down with that. While that may sound counter-intuitive, it does work. The olive oil will penetrate the adhesive, effectively neutralizing it, making it easier to wipe off.

Glue, on the other hand, is another story altogether…
I hesitate to recommend anything on that front.

Cheers!

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Furniture polish on a cloth will get it off

GooGone usually does the job for sticker residue, but try a small amount on the bottom of your 8s to ensure it doesn’t melt the plastic.

Another option is to run some baking soda into the goo and then rub the resulting white mass with your fingers until it comes off.

Single edged razor blades work well on metal but can be dangerous on plastic & GRP. You can also get plastic “razor blades” at hardware stores (Ace Hardware, if you are in the US, usually carries them), which is how I removed ancient nasty silicone from my GRP (“fiberglass”) sailboat during its restoration, with the assistance of large helpings of GooGone and heavier duty goo removal solvents.

IDK what the 8s is made from, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is something like the vinylester resin that higher end boats are made from. Kind of feels similar. :man_shrugging:

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I think alcohol is the best bet. If that doesn’t take it off, then you might need something stronger which could harm the plastic, and would be grounds for a refund.

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Whatever you use, test on a small spot first. I have heard horror stories about the finish on some gear being damaged by the cleaning fluid.

Another option would be to sprinkle glitter on the sticky parts…

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Please use baking soda first before trying glitter.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks! I’m wondering, Olive Oil won’t leave any residue afterwards? I’ve never thought of this for cleaning purposes. Interesting. I normally would use Isopropyl Alcohol for cleaning but I used it on the velvety exterior of a Roland R8 to remove pen mark and it was no good.

I may just sticker bomb the front if it gives me major issues, hahahah

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Stickers is the best solution! Personalize the beast.

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Removed a part of whatever the gunk was with a bit of Goo Gone and it left an indentation as if I was perhaps removing melted plastic from previous heat damage. Or maybe it was some corrosive material that slowly ate into the plastic over time. I’ve tested the machine and it seems to be solid from a functional stand point (and btw, it sounds effin awesome!) I’m most likely going to keep it and cover the shit show up front with some stickers. … Still can’t get over the fact that this was listed as “Mint”

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Make a point of letting the seller know haha!
Leave thumbs down or sad face or however the hell reverb works.

And yes, it does sound awesome! Welcome to the greatest drum machine ever made.
Personall top tip- default TR kits have kit level set to -4db. Which means they wont hit the soft clipper. Add up to +10db to get a nice soft clip saturation :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the tip! I have to give it some time to figure it out. I may perform a factory reset on it after I check the firmware. I’ll have to learn the kit structure, menus, etc… Also wondering if I should run it through my Strymon Deco for that nice Tape Saturation. I’ll test it out soon.

I let the seller know when I first inspected the unit, that he shouldn’t mark something as mint with difficult to remove adhesive, which in reality seems more like melted plastic. He responded stating there were stickers on there that he removed before he shipped it. Perhaps I’m upset because the last piece of gear I received from Reverb was a TX81Z with a fully bent backwards rack ear that didn’t power on. This was more UPS fault, but now I follow up with this. Maybe I need to lower my expectations a bit.

I’ll make some bangers with it and it won’t even be a thought on my mind here soon. :sunglasses:

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I ordered a MoogerFooger Phaser pedal in mint condition and it’s beautiful.

I think it really depends on the seller, so don’t write off everything.

In terms of saturation, check the new firmware notes, because there maybe an effect like vinyl sim or even one of the choruses that you can dial to zero and add some delay to get some similar and also quite beautiful effects.

I got the 404 and the mc101, and everything got updated remarkably in the last 3-4 months to make them all have similar feature sets.

But also run it through pedals. Just play, there are absolutely no rules.

Definitely factory reset though. Get it in an initialized state after getting it the updated firmware if it isn’t.

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@Cepheid if you haven’t been following this thread, correct pattern change sync with elektron gear requires TR8-S firmware V2.

Happy beats

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Appreciate the heads up. I don’t send pattern changes from other gear so I should be fine. (Though I may reconsider since Digitone has song mode now) Currently I’ll be manually switching patterns on the TR8S while tempo synced to the M8 Tracker or Digitone. Also be putting together some nice 4 bar patterns that I will sample into the M8 Tracker for some nice break choppage, Lfo timestretch, and retrig action. I’m gonna make this Roland IDM.

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Alcohol often just dries out the adhesive, making it even more stubborn. Depending on the kind of adhesive, alcohol can also sometimes reactivate it.

Whatever residue the olive oil might leave behind (and I am talking about a tiny amount of olive oil, not a bath), it can be easily cleaned off afterwards with any mild, nonabrasive cleaner (i.e. a tiny amount of dish soap on a damp cloth will do). Step one, however, is to neutralize that adhesive, else you’ll be scrubbing at it until you take the finish off with it.

Again though, if it’s an industrial glue of some kind, you’ll have to try some of the more abrasive products mentioned above (at your own risk of course).

Cheers!

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A couple of years ago, in a process of restoring an old Polaroid SX-70, I’ve used a small amount of organic tea tree oil to help remove the huge amount of strong adhesive from the SX-70 skin residues. It worked far beyond I could imagine. If anyone knows the SX-70 re-skin process knows how hard is to remove the adhesive. Probably works for you.

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Could anyone help me with a question?

Is there a way to have the TR8S master to an SP404 mk2?

I wanted the TR8S run/stop a pattern on the 404.