Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

Not sure if the battery is the problem, but if you've never changed 
it, it would be the first thing I would try.  Replacing the battery 
is pretty easy.  I havn't changed on in a VFX-SD, but I have changed 
them in 2 VFXs' and a TS10 they all had the same battery and battery 
clip.  So, I assuming yours will be the same as the VFX.  The battery 
was a 3V Lithium CR2032.  I bought mine at the local Kroger store for 
$1.79 ea.  If you remove the 4 top screws on your VFX and open it, 
you should be able to see the battery.  To change it "right", you 
need to remove the board that it's clipped to, de-soder the battery 
clip, (from the back side) change the battery, re-soder the clip and 
reinstall the board. (It's not that bad)... I cheated, I took wire 
cutters, and clipped the battery clip out, leaving a little tab on 
each side.  Then I sodered a small wire to each tab, and sodered the 
wires directly to the battery.  In either case, make sure when you re-
soder that you get the polarity right. (+ to +, and - to -)and if you 
decide to soder directly to the battery, make sure you have some flux 
or else you'll have a heck of a time getting the soder to stick.
Hope this helps,
Jeff O.     

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@y..., frederic@h... wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> Since a few weeks my VFX-SD had strange problems: when holding down 
a 
> sound the pitch was varying randomly between around 1/2 and -1/2 
tone.
> The cause couldn't be some variations in electricity (I have a 
multi-
> plug that is voltage tolerant). My first guess: let the machine 
heat-
> up and that'll fix it !!
> But then I got a message that looked like: low battery, replace and 
> hit continue... Funny because in the startup tests, the voltage was 
> quite high...
> 
> Anyway, I have few questions :
> * Any similar experience ?
> * Battery replacement issue: battery type ? special procedures (for 
> soldering for i.e.) ?
> 
> Thanks for any infos,
> 
> Fred