Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

In a message dated Wed, 2 Oct 2002 10:29:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, suzanne@... writes:

> 
> 
> 
> 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.
> 
> 
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That's a mouth full! Well I have had at least 30 VFX family synths come in the shop here, all were complaints that the display was shot and in every case we found it to be the diodes on the transformer board. Yours is the first VFX family synth I have came accrossed with missing segements, we have ASR10 samplers all the time. I will check into a spare for you.
Richard