ROLAND TD-17 Breakout Box

I was looking for a breakout box and noticed that they are very occasionally available and cost a fair bit of money. I then looked at Roland compatible splitters and they were also quite expensive but appeared super easy to build. I made drum splitters with resistors first to test and they worked flawlessly on my TD-17, so I decided a full breakout box was warranted. Besides splitting the toms & aux inputs I also wanted to move the module over to the hi-hat stand, which would have required extending my wiring harness anyway. So why not jump down the rabbit hole and build one?

I designed the box in Tinkercad & printed it on my Super Racer - very easy print with no supports, I had it slow down once it got to the text layers for better detail but I am happy with the results.

With this box I only need to run a M-F DB25 cable, and C2 & Aux cables from the module to the breakout. When my 3m black cables arrive I will make a neat little loom for the module-breakout connection.

The switching jacks are wired to auto switch if an input is detected on the rim inputs on the breakout. So if you plug a dual zone pad into Tom1(TIP) it will still work as a dual zone, but if you want to split the input you simply plug in another pad to the Tom1(RIM) and it will split automatically. Was a bit fiddly figuring out the wiring but it worked out in the end. I am new to DPDT jack switching but once the concept clicked it was more a matter of taking my time and triple checking every solder, heat shrink and pathing as I went.

I wired this with white tip, red ring, black sleeve. Followed the attached pinout guide I found online. Went overboard with the heat shrink & cable lengths to ensure reliability.

I BELIEVE this is compatible with any module that uses the standard DB25 cable, but I don't have the equipment to test it out.

https://www.drum-tec.com/roland-multicore-cable-for-td-07-9-11-15-17-25

PARTS USED:

12x TRS jacks
https://www.altronics.com.au/p/p0068-6.35mm-unswitched-non-insulated-stereo-jack-socket/

4x TRS switched jacks
https://www.altronics.com.au/p/p0072-6.35mm-dpdt-non-insulated-stereo-jack-socket/

DB25 Breakout Board
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32803735054.html

Fair bit of 13x0.12mm Wire

4x 100kΩ resistors for the splits

M3 bolts for mounting the DB25 board & final assembly. Waiting on button head screws to arrive to finalize what you see in the photos.

M4 bolts to hold on the lego hands for mounting to the frame.