Vintage Synth Repair

Hi, there! 

I have a Korg Wavestation, the first model. The display is not 
lighting, and there is a high humming sound (from the power supply 
area, I think). 

What could be the problem with this? 

The LCD display itself is working, but no light.
Everything else is working fine.

Is this a problem with the power supply or with the display?

Best regards,

Ambrosia

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "ambrosia800"
<s_carter@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, there! 
> 
> I have a Korg Wavestation, the first model. The display is not 
> lighting, and there is a high humming sound (from the power supply 
> area, I think). 
> 
> What could be the problem with this? 
> 
> The LCD display itself is working, but no light.
> Everything else is working fine.
> 
> Is this a problem with the power supply or with the display?
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Ambrosia
>
Can you find any part numbers on the display assembly?
Let me know  cause I may know where to get a replacement.

Scott

Hi, Scott! 

I opened the Wavestation. Surprise... the high humming noise is 
coming from the Power supply. Thats for sure.

At 5 or 6 components of the PSU there is a brown stuff, hardened, 
between the components.

Most of all between L1 - L4. Looks like some sort of hardened brown 
chewing gum filling the gaps between some of the components.

Everything except for the display backlight is working fine.

So, what to do now? 

Change the Power supply? How can I find out, if the display is 
working, but the Power supply has a problem? Anybody got a spare PSU?

Really sad, because the Wavestation is in mint condition from the 
outside, even the keys are OK so far.
I am living in Germany.

Best regards,

Ambrosia

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "ambrosia800" <s_carter@...> 
wrote:
> So, what to do now? 

I'm pretty sure that it's just your backlight that is dead -luckily you 
can replace it.
Eg. look here: http://synthbacklights.com/

Also you can find replacement backlights on ebay.de (as far as I 
remember) :-)

Good luck with your WS -it's a GREAT synth :-)

/Hjulskov

Hi Ambrosia !

To find out if the PSU is working and if you\ufffdre a tech, you have to do 
measurements by usage of the service manual only. If you\ufffde not a tech and 
have no service manual, any tech can do this for cheap.
If the PSU is o.k., I\ufffdd would invest in a cheap display foil from 
"midi-rakete" 1st ...
http://www.midi-rakete.de/ger/preise.htm

If there isn\ufffdt a Wavestation specified, don\ufffdt mind. See : "Folie nach Ma\ufffd" 
and ask for the price.
I have good experience w/ midi-rakete and in any cases of not working 
displays, it was the foil.
Sometimes it\ufffds the inverter too or only.

Most common fault of PSU is the electrolyt capacitors which isn\ufffdt a mess at 
all, -. but I don\ufffdt know exactly what kind of PSU is in the Wavestation 
\ufffdcause mine never failed up today.

PeWe

P.S.: I\ufffdm living in germany too.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: ambrosia800
To: vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:11 PM
Subject: [vintagesynthrepair] Re: Korg Wavestation Display


Hi, Scott!

So, what to do now?

Change the Power supply? How can I find out, if the display is
working, but the Power supply has a problem? Anybody got a spare PSU?

Really sad, because the Wavestation is in mint condition from the
outside, even the keys are OK so far.
I am living in Germany.

Best regards,

Ambrosia

Hello Ambrosia,

I`m also from germany, and I think, like PeWe, that you just have to 
change the el-foil from the display. I don`t think, that the PSU has 
any problems, because you have writen, that your synth works 
perfectly. The hardened brown stuff, that you have described could 
be some kind of glue, which fixes some components on the PCB. 

I would think, that somewhere near the foil sits a little cube, 
which should be the inverter, which powers the e-foil. That could 
also be the problem, why your display is dark. But in most cases it 
is the el-foil. Like PeWe I also have made good experience with 
www.midirakete.de. Two years ago I have bought a new foil for my 
Emulator II. And it looks and works pretty nice since the day I have 
build it in. Because it is the cheapest thing you could do, I would 
first change the foil.

Best regards and good luck.  :-)
Heiko




 --- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "ambrosia800" 
<s_carter@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, Scott! 
> 
> I opened the Wavestation. Surprise... the high humming noise is 
> coming from the Power supply. Thats for sure.
> 
> At 5 or 6 components of the PSU there is a brown stuff, hardened, 
> between the components.
> 
> Most of all between L1 - L4. Looks like some sort of hardened 
brown 
> chewing gum filling the gaps between some of the components.
> 
> Everything except for the display backlight is working fine.
> 
> So, what to do now? 
> 
> Change the Power supply? How can I find out, if the display is 
> working, but the Power supply has a problem? Anybody got a spare 
PSU?

> 
> Really sad, because the Wavestation is in mint condition from the 
> outside, even the keys are OK so far.
> I am living in Germany.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Ambrosia
>

Hello Ambrosia,

I have added a folder in the photos-section called "E-mu Emulator II 
el-foil replacement" where you can see some pictures of my EII+ 
display-el-foil repair.

Regards
Heiko

My Wavestation has made a loud high whinning sound since the day I bought 
it new from a music store.  Maybe it's not really broken?  (or maybe my 
keyboard is broken too?) 
- Greg


--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "ambrosia800" <s_carter@...> 
wrote:

>
> Hi, Scott! 
> 
> I opened the Wavestation. Surprise... the high humming noise is 
> coming from the Power supply. Thats for sure.
>

Thanks, Heiko! 

I just tried a few things. Result:

I disconnected the plug on the PSU board that is leading towards the 
backlight. -> No Noise anymore! I never heart such a silenced 
Wavestation.... ;-)
Also no light... of course... 

So, it seems to be the EL-foil or the inverter. 
I think I have to get some EL-Foil and give it a try.

On Tuesday 31 July 2007 16:11, ambrosia800 wrote:
> Hi, Scott!
>
> I opened the Wavestation. Surprise... the high humming noise is
> coming from the Power supply. Thats for sure.
>
> At 5 or 6 components of the PSU there is a brown stuff, hardened,
> between the components.
>
> Most of all between L1 - L4. Looks like some sort of hardened brown
> chewing gum filling the gaps between some of the components.
>
> Everything except for the display backlight is working fine.
>
> So, what to do now?

Clean that brown stuff out!  :-)

I saw this mentioned in,  I think,  Sam Goldwasser's pages.  Those asian mfrs 
use that goop to hold parts in place prior to soldering,  particularly things 
like large electrolytic capacitors.  Over time,  it gets darker and darker 
brown,  and _it gets conductive_...!   This would account for at least some 
equipment failures,  I'd say.

-- 
Member of the toughest, meanest, deadliest, most unrelenting -- and
ablest -- form of life in this section of space,  a critter that can
be killed but can't be tamed.  --Robert A. Heinlein, "The Puppet Masters"
-
Information is more dangerous than cannon to a society ruled by lies. --James 
M Dakin

It's the EL-foil. My Casio FZ-1 sampler display did the same thing, 
that high pitched squeal, and it would totally lock up my keyboard. I 
disconnected the backlight, and no more problems. Got a new one, ran 
fine, the inverter worked fine. 

I've been meaning to work on making a LED backlight when I get time, to 
save this hassle, as the FZ-1 is notorious for dying backlights.

Cheers, Graham

--- In vintagesynthrepair@yahoogroups.com, "ambrosia800" <s_carter@...> 
wrote:

>
> Thanks, Heiko! 
> 
> I just tried a few things. Result:
> 
> I disconnected the plug on the PSU board that is leading towards the 
> backlight. -> No Noise anymore! I never heart such a silenced 
> Wavestation.... ;-)
> Also no light... of course... 
> 
> So, it seems to be the EL-foil or the inverter. 
> I think I have to get some EL-Foil and give it a try.
>