What to do with half-dead synths?

opg

The third floor of our house has gotten way out of control. I'm not looking forward to spring cleaning, but it's unavoidable this time.

1) Casio CZ-1000: it's in great shape, and I am planning on selling it via Craigslist (not much of an auction item). I bought it for $150. How much should I ask for it?

2) Roland JX-3P: I haven't had any luck at all with repairing this synth. It powers up, but all you can hear is the Chorus swishing. The LFO appears to be working, but other than that, it's dead. I've also come to realize through listening to various sound samples of the synth and my inability to afford the PG-300 programmer that I probably wouldn't keep it even if it was working. It was worth a shot to have gotten it for $50.

3) Korg Poly-61: I got this for $50. It works great except for three octaves of keys. I need three rubber contact strips (the repair paint won't work because the rubber is too weak, not the conductivity of the contacts themselves). I bought this synth because it was the cheapest one I could find at the time that had an arpeggiator.

The kicker with this one is I am 60% sure that the Roland JX-3P uses the same contact strips. Awesome. Maybe. Do I want to gut the JX-3P? Is there anything else that could be of value in it?

4) A MPC Electronics DSM-2 drum synth module: This apparently requires a master unit to power it, and it does so by using a 5-pin DIN connection. I've actually tried to power it using another synth's expression pedal DIN connection. It only "half-powered up," and produced no sound. That is to say, it has a weird power supply polarity indicator on the unit - a Positive LED and a Negative LED - and only one was lit up. So, it means that it can work, but I need to figure out how to replace its DIN power jack with something else. If all else fails, it has a bunch of LM13700N ICs!

5) Yamaha PSS-470: This fun little toy crapped out on me several months ago. Only the output jacks and speakers seem affected. I could easily replace those, but if I'm going to take it apart anyway, why not have some fun with it? Any ideas or mod schematics? My only other thought was to keep just the case and the keyboard for a Soundlab Minisynth Smile

Sorry for the manifesto - I haven't been here in a long time.

GaryRea · Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:43 pm Post subject:

How about using them as MIDI controllers? That's what I'm doing with my old Ensoniq ASR-10, since there isn't any way to get anything it sequences onto my computer (tried the Geibler software for this, but it doesn't work). So, these days, it's just a controller for VSTi's and I use Acoustica Mixcraft as my sequencer.

Gary

Rykhaard · Joined: Sep 02, 2007 Posts: 1290 Location: Canada

Ahhhhh. Old gear memories! Smile

I only briefly played an Ensoniq ASR-10 in the later 90's. I was impressed by that sampler, but couldn't afford.
I had also serviced 2 Ensoniq EPSes back in those days, bringing them back to normal functioning. (Badly dirty keys on both.)

I don't know what the CZ-1000 is worth, but I loved my CZ-101 way back when. Wonderful synthesis style from that machine. I even wrote 1 tune that used the CZ-101 for ALL of it's drum sounds as well as bassline, at the same time. Smile

The MPC - it sounds like it could possibly be just a simple problem with it's power supply connector, or, power supply. That could be an easy fix.

The Korg Poly 61! (Shiver) I couldn't stand that thing, having owned a Polysix before it. (I still have a dead one, in Winnipeg, Manitoba - way too far away for shipping costs.)

The ASR-10 though .....I'm curious as to why you're not able to save sequences from it into your computer. ??? Isn't it outputting any MIDI data??
Back in the day, my EPS's sequencer was my main improvisational composer tool. Would love to have an ASR-10, if I could find one locally.

GaryRea · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 9:46 am Post subject:

jksuperstar · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:13 am Post subject:

Anyone have a good source for the repair paint used on the typical silicon conductive contacts? I've got some old electribe's that cleaning wasn't enough.

Sounds like a good thing to add to the Link's area as well.

EdisonRex · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 10:23 am Post subject:

GaryRea · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:16 am Post subject:

Oh, well. It's a moot point now that I've already got my music where I want it. I used to subscribe to Garth's newsletter, back in the nineties. Bought a few disks from him, too. I really liked the Chicken Sampler.

Gary

opg · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:04 pm Post subject:

jksuperstar · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:30 am Post subject:

Bingo! Thanks for the off topic post & reply Wink

TheMilford · Joined: Jan 09, 2010 Posts: 6 Location: TheMilford

Do you wanna sell any of them?

opg · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:30 pm Post subject:

Sorry - I've already moved to Tucson. I have an old Alesis MMT-8 that needs its keypads cleaned (see, already collecting again in a whole new state!).