I looked around and there are various mods (like the inverted LCD above) but nobody shares their information (or they had it done). Mine still has some life in it so I want to give it a better life 
More today hopefully. I should at least be able to try and turn on the OLED. Just have to finish the other side of the cable and solder on some headers.
I appreciate you sharing your hardware hacking efforts with us. Mad respect.
Iād wish you luck but it looks like you got this. 
Okay so here is the basic pin conversion from comparing datasheets.
The last 2 pins on the OLED are MPU Interface Pin Selections and it should be 6800 parallel 8-bit interface which shows BS1 and BS0 as ā1ā or logic level high aka 3.3V in this case. I think they should just be able to be tied high but Iāll let people know for sure when I figure it out for sure.
Pin 16 on the OLED goes to pin 17 (Reset) on the Octatrack.
Pin 17 on the OLED goes to pin 15 (CS1) on the Octatrack.
Pin 3 doesnāt matter as itās a contrast control which is N.C. or not connected on the OLED
The last 3 pins on the original LCD are VEE negative output (pin 17) and backlight power supply +/- on pins 19 and 20 respectively.
I didnāt measure those so Iām going to leave them disconnected for now.
The connections in the diagram are āsafeā, Iāll figure out the MPU select thing as I start to put it together.
Sketch for the 3D printed mounting plate.
A temporary solution but this will help me determine what the PCB should be like if I go that route.
Hereās the actual model for 3D printing.
The PCB would use standoffs instead of the mounting bosses built into the 3D model.
And now for a render that makes it look way cooler than it actually isā¦
Iāll attach the .stl (once itās finalized) if anybody wants to 3D print this.
Though I might wait if I were you to see how well the alignment goes for me.
This is designed to sit on top of the little white plastic standoffs that are already on the Octatrack. The bosses bring the new OLED up to the level of the much thicker original LCD.
It sits well in the slot but the alignment in the window needs some small adjustments.
It has to be exact since it barely fills the window.
Iām enjoying this. More please!
The next part is going to be a while and could make or break the project (using this OLED anyway)ā¦ software conversionā¦ gulpā¦
Holy cow! @Airyck McGyver I presume? 
FWIW if this does not work out what about converting one of the 5v screens using one of these tiny logic shifter boards? https://www.adafruit.com/product/1875
Watching this with great interest!
What requires software conversion?
8bit parallel commands from one controller type to another type.
The voltage conversion isnāt as much the issue as the driver for the controller. The LCD uses KS0108 equivalent while most all OLED use SSD1305 (or similar). These have different bits high or low on the 8 parallel lines to specific to the driver to tell it to drive certain LEDās or rows/columns in the display (in the most basic sense of what itās doing).
This will require a micro controller on the adapter board to intercept the messages and then convert them to something the OLED understands. Depending on how much has to be converted and if there are no clocking issues then it might be possible.
Iām all for giving it at a go. If I can get part of it working then I can probably get all of it working. This is no small task though so like I said aboveā¦ it might be a while. I donāt see anybody else doing this either so itās probably way to much work for the result. Ultimately if I pulled it off youād be able to use it to convert any LCD to an OLED as long as they had the same drivers lol. Iām probably diving into something I shouldnāt but I at least want to see if I can get up high and see the end of the road waaaay over there to decide if I want to go all the way or not.
Iāve been called that before 
This is basically the approach that was taken for the Mutable Instruments Braids -> ĀµBraids conversion, so youāre not in uncharted waters
Thanks for that! I could use some other examples to give me ideas! I always jump into things I have very little understanding of and come out the other side with all kinds of ways to solve problems (fail or succeed, it doesnāt matter).
P.S. I love Mutable Instruments, the people, the thingsā¦
Is it just a matter of flipping certain bits, or will you be reading the full byte and converting it to a completely new byte?
Great you are sharing your explorations, fascinating stuff.
ā¦holy fuckā¦the mk1 with THAT display is a beautyā¦!!!
now i want that tooā¦damned.
is it better to read now?
because on stage with no glasses i really better know blind what iām doing there these daysā¦
which is, of course, not always possibleā¦even if itās the same routines night by night, i slide off more and more often and then have to lean over pretty close to get a final glance for realā¦
so that display could be a true game changer in the endā¦
would love to stick with mk1ās for stage abuse onlyā¦
ā¦but wait a secondā¦if that kind of display is in reality a bit darker in background and has a slight purple tendencie in pixelcolour, than itās the same display tech i already had once changed in an all black mpc 1000ā¦and that piece lasted only a year before it went blind and off foreverā¦so i got the standard green one back sinceā¦
hope urs will do betterā¦and was worth all ur effortā¦
anyone tried already to turn a mk2 into black?..like the grey finish big time, but on stage iād really prefer black beautiesā¦
goshā¦luxury problemsā¦i knowā¦
