Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

Hi I've got a VFX SD and all the keys have suddenly stopped working. 
The sequencer still loads and plays but I'm unable to play anything 
live or write now on the keyboard. I was getting some some initialising 
faults. Any ideas?

Cheers

Paul

On Sat, 2009-01-17 at 04:15 +0000, Paul Sparkes wrote:
> Hi I've got a VFX SD and all the keys have suddenly stopped working. 
> The sequencer still loads and plays but I'm unable to play anything 
> live or write now on the keyboard. I was getting some some initialising 
> faults. Any ideas?

That stupid wee connector between the two PCB halves.  It's a ten minute
job that will last a lifetime.

Basically you just open the bonnet, remove the key bed, flip it over and
there you will see two long thin PCBs joined in the middle by a
multi-pin connector.  Over time the connectors become tarnished and it
stops working.  All you do is solder wires between the two boards
joining each pair of pins, and it will work.  Yes, they should have done
that at the factory.

If you're unsure about what to do, find a friendly neighbourhood
electronics geek to help you.  Anyone in or near NW Scotland is welcome
to bring theirs over to mine.  You may be too far for that to be
convenient.

Gordon

Thanks for that. I'll talk nicely to the tech here at work and see if he can do it for me as his soldering is way better than my attempts :-) I'm in New Zealand so Scotland may be a little far to go.

--- On Sun, 18/1/09, Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ <gordon@...> wrote:

From: Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ <gordon@...>
Subject: Re: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] VFX sd No Keys Working
To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Received: Sunday, 18 January, 2009, 12:50 AM






On Sat, 2009-01-17 at 04:15 +0000, Paul Sparkes wrote:
> Hi I've got a VFX SD and all the keys have suddenly stopped working. 
> The sequencer still loads and plays but I'm unable to play anything 
> live or write now on the keyboard. I was getting some some initialising 
> faults. Any ideas?

That stupid wee connector between the two PCB halves. It's a ten minute
job that will last a lifetime.

Basically you just open the bonnet, remove the key bed, flip it over and
there you will see two long thin PCBs joined in the middle by a
multi-pin connector. Over time the connectors become tarnished and it
stops working. All you do is solder wires between the two boards
joining each pair of pins, and it will work. Yes, they should have done
that at the factory.

If you're unsure about what to do, find a friendly neighbourhood
electronics geek to help you. Anyone in or near NW Scotland is welcome
to bring theirs over to mine. You may be too far for that to be
convenient.

Gordon

 














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