Rhodes Chroma Polaris

Much appreciated! i found that the first channel is in fact out, so know im going to try to whittle it down to see if i can pinpoint which oscillator it is.  Thank You, Paul!

--- On Mon, 6/17/13, Paul D. DeRocco  wrote:

>; From: Paul D. DeRocco 
> Subject: RE: [chromapolaris] losing my voice..
> To: chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Monday, June 17, 2013, 2:48 PM
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
>     
>       
>       
>       > From: Harvey Peekar
> 
> > 
> 
> > in the past few months i've been noticing that my
> chroma 
> 
> > wont sound as many keys as it used too.  Im pretty sure
> that 
> 
> > some of the voices are out, but im at a loss as to how
> i can 
> 
> > find out which ones.  when i use the tune all function,
> the 
> 
> > light only blinks four times, and im under the
> impression 
> 
> > that it should blink once for each voice which is 6. 
> that 
> 
> > being said, i dont know how to find out which voices
> are 
> 
> > broken, or what im even supposed to look for.  i have
> basic 
> 
> > knowledge when it comes to synth repair, and im hoping
> that 
> 
> > this is something i can diagnose myself unless i need
> special 
> 
> > tools.  any help from this group would be greatly
> appreciated!
> 
> 
> 
> This function is covered in the Polaris Owner's Manual,
> but you have to read
> 
> through the list of switch functions in the back in order to
> find it, since
> 
> it's not an everyday sort of function. On page 119, it
> mentions LOWER
> 
> FUNCTION, CHANNEL CK, which shows which channels are
> functioning by lighting
> 
> up LEDs 1-6. You will undoubtedly see a couple that are
> missing. Step one in
> 
> diagnosing the problem is to press the switches for the
> channels that are
> 
> enabled to disable them, and press one of the switches for
> the
> 
> malfunctioning channels to enable it. Then, you can play on
> that channel to
> 
> see if its sound gives you a clue as to what's wrong.
> And then you can
> 
> disable that channel and enable the other bad channel to
> figure that one
> 
> out.
> 
> 
> 
> If both oscillators in a channel are out of tune, or you
> can't get the A
> 
> oscillator to sound at all, then you have a failure in the A
> oscillator
> 
> circuit. If the A oscillator sounds in tune but B is out of
> tune or not
> 
> making any sound, then B is failing. If both oscillators
> sound right, then
> 
> there's a problem in the filter.
> 
> 
> 
> But those are just clues, and not always correct. If both
> oscillators are
> 
> out of tune, it could also be something downstream
> preventing the sound from
> 
> going into the auto-tune input. There's no magic way to
> get the hardware to
> 
> tell you exactly what's wrong with itself, but sometimes
> you can figure
> 
> something out which steers you to the right general area.
> But then you have
> 
> to go into the circuitry and narrow it down, which may not
> be possible
> 
> without a scope. But one good thing about the Polaris is
> that most of them
> 
> have socketed ICs. This means that you can at least try
> swapping certain ICs
> 
> with the ones in working channels to see if that changes
> anything. (Do the
> 
> swapping with the power off.) You might get lucky that way.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
> 
> Paul                mailto:pderocco@...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>     
>      
> 
>     
>     
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>