Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

On Wednesday, October 2, 2002, at 05:11 AM, mzape wrote:

> richard,
> i'm losing segments [like the number "9" looks like a reversed
> question mark, "8" looks like a "6", etc.] the display is still
> brite, but the segments are going. right now, it's just a
> couple.....that's why i threw out the question about replacing the
> LED, hoping that some brave soul may have attempted or successfully
> replaced the LED with a non-standard [backlit] LCD.  i imagine that
> it could be done, since both displays use similar voltages. i believe
>

Except it perhaps can't. The VFX/SD displays aren't LEDs, they're VFD 
(Vacuum Fluorescent Display) and typically work on much higher 
voltages/currents than LEDs)

Even if you choose to replace the VFD with a new VFD, you have major 
problems - VFDs fell out of fashion around the late 80s/early 90s, and 
there are barely any manufacturers left, the chances there is a drop-in 
*new* replacement are slim. Of course, Richard probably has some spares.

All that said, you MAY be lucky.. when LCDs started to become popular, 
the last few VFD manufacturers started to (and still do) use the common 
14pin LCD interface instead of custom interfaces, if the VFD Ensoniq 
chose fell into this category, you *might* be able to use standard 
14-pin LCD as a drop in by replacing the VFD section of the 
display/soft-button module. (if it is a common 14-pin interface, you 
could also use one of the new VFD modules - but be aware, the few VFDs 
on the market are extremely expensive, even more than LCDs)

Btw, VFDs are generally much easier to see in a dark environment than a 
LCD (or even LED), even backlit, since the contrast on a LCD is 
reversed to what the human eye wants to see (dark object on a bright 
background) and the backlighting is rarely very bright.