Digital Control Bus

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Digital Control Bus or DCB was a proprietary data interchange interface by Roland Corporation, introduced in the Roland Juno-60 and Roland Jupiter-8 in 1982. DCB functions were basically the same as MIDI, but unlike MIDI, which is capable of transmitting a wide array of information to and from a particular instrument, DCB could provide note on/off and program change only. Data was relayed using a thick cable that connected to a port vaguely resembling a parallel port on a computer. DCB to MIDI adaptors exist for a number of early Roland products. The DCB interface was made in 2 variants, using 15-pin and 20-pin sockets and cables.

[edit] Supporting equipment

DCB did not exist for long and was replaced by MIDI in the early 1980s. Roland produced the Jupiter-8 and Juno-60 with the interface. Roland produced at least two DCB sequencers, the JSQ-60 and the MSQ-700.

The latter was capable of saving eight sequences or a total of 3000 notes and was also capable of transmitting and receiving data via MIDI. However, this did not constitute a direct bridge between DCB and MIDI. Roland later released the MD-8, a rather large black box capable of converting MIDI signals to DCB and vice versa. While this allows note on/off to be sent to a Juno-60 by MIDI, the fix pales in comparison to the full MIDI implementation on the Juno-60's successor, the Roland Juno-106.

Nowadays, few companies offer similar conversion boxes to attach DCB to regular MIDI buses to support these vintage synths in modern sound production environments.