Rhodes Chroma Polaris

> From: eric@... 
> 
> I've owned my Polaris forever but it's spent almost all of 
> the last decade in storage.  I recently pulled it out with 
> the intent of selling it, but it's developed some issues I'm 
> hoping you folks might have some thoughts on.
> 
> The first is the ultra-common one: bad membrane switches.  I 
> tried to fix them myself but have only succeeded in making 
> the situation worse.  Are new ones available?  Google yielded 
> some references to someone selling them several years ago but 
> I didn't see anything recent.

Contact me off-list. I've got them.

> The other problem it's having is really weird.  As soon as 
> you connect the MIDI output to something, there's a click in 
> the audio output every time you hit or release a key or move 
> a slider.  I think basically it's making a click every time 
> data is sent out the MIDI port.  Has anyone else seen this 
> problem?  I'm thinking it could be a decoupling cap issue but 
> I have no idea where to look.  It's not a ground loop because 
> it does it when connected to a laptop computer that's not 
> connected to anything else.

It could be a grounding problem somewhere. I recommend disconnecting and reconnecting everything with a connector inside, since contacts can get dirty with age. It could also be a power supply problem, but I'd think you'd hear lots of hum on the output if that were the case.

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Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...om.com