Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

Hey, Dave -

Q: In which part of the case did you see the spark?  Near where the 
power cord enters the rear of the keyboard?  The relatively small 
circuit board in that area is the power supply - fuses, heatsinks, 
etc...

I know of at least two possible solutions for you... 

a) TheSoniq could repair it...He's the guy who bought the Ensoniq 
parts stock when they ceased to function as a standalone entity.  
Does repairs, provides parts, nice guy.  www.thesoniq.com

b) I do synth repair - in particular, if it's the power supply (most 
likely from what you've already described) the VFX/SD/SQ power 
supplies aren't the most complex.  I once had to rebuild a Prophet 
10 power supply when the seller shipped me the keyboard with lots of 
parts missing that he "forgot" to mention before the sale...  
Anyway, that Prophet turned out really nice and went to a guy in GA -
 uses it alongside his LAMM - lucky guy!  In any case, I'm in OH and 
could possibly look at the power supply if you're into pulling it 
and shipping it out, or even the whole board - shouldn't be that 
expensive by UPS Ground.  Just lemme know.
 

 --- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, Dave Fowler <vidmic@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>    
>   I joined this group a while back and have been enjoying the 
posts.  But alas, this is all just fond memory for me.  My SD1 32 
voice died. Actually I sort of killed it by accident.  OK I killed 
it, but it was an accident, brought about by poverty and desperation.
>    
>   It was fully functional and all (the SD1) ...but the display 
screen was intermittant.  Meaning when I needed to know something it 
faded out and stared blankly at me, challenging me to know my way 
through the menu's by rote.  
>    
>   Sometimes on, sometimes off.  I found through the frustration of 
trials, that if I leaned on the case around the screen it would come 
on...allowing me to work through the screens...leaning and pushing 
buttons, and leaning and you get the picture.
>    
>   I figured.  "bad solder or some goofy connection or something."  
I opened the case, fiddled around, touched a few solders and hadn't 
changed anything.  I turned it on and it was still the same.  Then I 
re-opened the case and there was a spark, a sort of sick feeling in 
my stomache, and now it appears to be truly dead.
>    
>   I took it to a dealer in St. Louis, (past dealer that is) and he 
said a prayer over it and took some of my money to say, "She's not 
only merely dead, she's realy most sincerely dead."  
>    
>   Anyway, I joined for a couple of reasons. (OK as I numbered them 
it turned out to be 4 reasons) 
>   1. If some one was moving on from a functoinal SD1 to something 
else and wanted to sell theirs, I would be interested.
>    
>   2. if someone lives in MO and or Northern AK and would consider 
renting me an SD1,32 voice for a few weeks, I'd recover all my work 
and give it and the cash back to them.  I'm still kicking myself 
over the SD1-32 that went on ebay last year for $350..
>    
>   3. if someone needs parts, I don't think I ruined everything.  
Should have a good disk drive, I do have an aftermarket TC1 tempo 
controller installed, it should be ok.  I would have keys and 
buttons all in pretty pristene shape.  I also have a couple sound 
libraries..would have to look, I've moved since then.  I also have 
the manuals and foot switch. I have everything but function 
basically.
>    
>   4 .if someone thinks there is a person in the world who can fix 
it, I'd be interested in knowing who they are as well.
>    
>   I was a home user..not a gigger...non smoker....and a very sad 
repairman.
>    
>   I've purchased a new keyboard, but I sure miss the SD1's 
sequencer.
>    
>   Help me, save me, whatever. :-)
>    
>   David Fowler
>   Birch Tree, MO
>    
>    
> 
> 			
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