Xpantastic!

Hey there,
There must be really good quality sockets in these Oberheims. It's 
the only electronic thing I have ever seen with a socket for every 
chip!! I have found chips just rattling around in other gizmos but 
never in my OB. I have an anvil case for mine and I have had problems 
were the keydeck moves a bit if it is stored on it's side during 
transport. I have a MATRIX 1000 that has just been through hell.
Except for a scratchy pot its works fine.

I agree the modern stuff seems very flimsy and buggy anymore. My emu 
XL7 has all kinds of soft bugs that will never be fixed by the 
manufacturer. I notice the european stuff (Nord or Virus) is very 
tough. A few weeks ago a friend sent me a MATRIX6 rack that he 
thought was fried. I opened it up and the ribbon cable had just 
fallen out. Yea
 

--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, PeWe <ha-pewe@...> wrote:
>
> 
> Hi !
> 
> I think that´s all theory.
> If I remember right, I got my Xpander new in 1988 or 89 and most of 
the 
> year, all my gear was switched on for approx . 10 hrs a day in my 
> studio. I toured 1 or 2 times a year for approx. 2 1/2 month (one 
> tournament) a year, so sometimes 4-5 month in a year. During this 
time, 
> the gear was in the hand of my techs and in the hands of the daily 
> changing stage hand crews. The gear went in and out of trucks and 
in and 
> out of the cases, from the cold to the heat and vice versa,- and 
the 
> backline was switched to on 1 hr before soundcheck started and 
switched 
> off immmideatedly after show.
> Until now, I never had a blown PSU or failing Xpander exept one CEM 
> 3372. These chips seem to be the ones which go 1st.
> 
> But I had bad experiences w/ my Sequential Prophet V rev. 3.3 and 
the 
> Oberheim OB-8,- the power regulators blew several times caused by 
spikes 
> and/or brownouts resulting in a ~ 100Hz modulation of the audio 
signal 
> during shows which destroyed the sound of all the patches in 
memory. The 
> OB-8 got additional probs regarding system infos written in RAM,- 
the 
> spikes shot the RAM too.
> There were/are other machines being more sensitive to power spikes 
and 
> brownouts as well as power condition/stability,- the PPG 2.3 p.ex.
> So, the rule is: Use power conditioners and independent power 
> lines/circuits w/ quality grounding in your rooms.
> 
> Actually these days and w/ the use of virtual gear in addition ( I 
use a 
> OPX-Pro too...), I switch the old gear on if I use it and let it 
run 
> this day then before I switch it off, that seems to be the best 
here, 
> keeps the batterys alive, reloads the accus of my Sycologics and 
> prevents batterys from leakage.
> 
> I also have a CEM chip version of a MKS80, MKS70, DPX-1 (x2), 
DX7mkIIFD, 
> TX816, TGs, Akai Samplers, EMU stuff, D550, M1Rex, Wavestation, SG 
Rack, 
> Matrix 1000, drummachines and outboard,- all is working since 
decades 
> and I rarely have service situations.
> 
> It´s a good idea to keep all this alive IMO,- the computer related 
stuff 
> isn´t nearly as reliable compared to the old hardware.
> In deed, I sometimes look for more actual hardware instruments to 
> replace the old ones because of the interest to get a smaller rig.
> What I find in the shops is gear w/ buggy operating systems all 
over, 
> non functional concepts, all promises and you wait years for the 
fixes. 
> Plastic cases and wimpy connectors in addition and cheap knobs, 
wheels, 
> sliders and keyboards as well.
> Hi prices and a duration/reliability of 3-5 years not to mention 
what 
> you´ll get if you try to get rid of it.
> 
> 
> 
> envia94 schrieb:
> >
> > Hmm? Turning Xpander/M12 on and off several times daily in order 
to 
> > save the life-time
> > of the VFD displays may not be a good idea. By the way, how long 
is 
> > the envisaged life-
> > time of these displays?
> >
> > I'm considering this because I know that electronics may be kept 
> > turned constanly ON in
> > many professional studios, because it is a fact that chips and 
other 
> > components most
> > often fail when being switched on or off. I don't recommend, but 
you 
> > can prove this by
> > switching your gear on and of repeatedly very many times, heh, 
heh.
> >
> >
>