Xpantastic!

It looks like I won t need to do an A/B comparison with Jeremy s wave file, I can easily hear now that my Xpander is not working well. Prior to this and the

Have you tried the DAC Mono test in the service Page ?. If you get a 
bleep , can you count period between the bleeps . Do you get no 
bleeps or an almost constant tone ?. If you get no bleeps , it may be 
the PSU , new caps , diodes etc. Fingers crossed it's not the DAC!

Phil. 




--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Cappellini" <cappy2112@...> 
wrote:
>
> It looks like I won't need to do an A/B comparison with Jeremy's 
wave file,
> I can easily hear now that my Xpander is not working well.
> 
> Prior to this and the reason I had posted a message looking for 
someone
> local to the SF Bay Area was that only on 1 patch did my Xpander 
sound very
> bad.
> 
> I had found one voice which was flaky, so I turned it off.
> 
> Recently, I happen to hit several keys at once and could hear the 
vcos being
> grossly out of tune.
> 
> After trying to tune everything, I get FAIL across the board.
> 
> In the past, when I would see FAIL after running autotune, I would 
wait 30
> min, run it again and all tests would pass. This is not the case 
now.
> 
> 
> Fortunately, I've got a few spare CEMs which I hope are all 
working, that I
> can use to troubleshoot with.
> 
> I haven't looked at the service manual in years- I hope there are 
some
> measurements I can make with a voltmeter to give me some ideas.
> 
> I can probably borrow a scope to check for ripple on the output of 
the PS
> but don't really know how much ripple would be excessive for the XP 
PS.
> 
> All other front panel functions & midi appear to be working 
normally, so
> it's probably not likely to be a PS issue.
>

I don t think so. If this isn t on the autotune page, then I didnt do it.

Tony Cappellini wrote:
> I don''t think so.
> If this isn't on the autotune page, then I didnt do it.
When I first got my Xpander, it wouldn't tune.

In my country (England) the mains voltage is 240v. My Xpander was set to 
110v so I bought an adapter, not knowing the Xpander has a 110/240v switch.

On the American voltage, it tuned perfectly, and since then it's been 
pretty much silent running.

I'm not sure if it'd work by going from 110v to 240v, but it shows how 
temperamental the Xpander is.

I hope you find the problem!

Jeremy

Hi Tony,

Don't Fret, we will try to get him happy again. I have been helping 
Phillip (member) off post with almost the same problems. If you  
want to keep these long threads off the group feel free to send 
direct emails. 

OK, First off, the power supply has several outputs: A set for the 
digital and display. And a analog set. So in theory the PS could be 
causing the problems. You can check these with a voltmeter easy 
enough. But a scope would be needeed to check ripple. BTW if you do
not have a 60 Hz-buzz on the audio output then the power supply is 
probobly not the issue.

Out of tune Points to the DAC, pray it's is not failed because it's 
even harder to find than the CEMs. 
Can you tell if the filter still sweeps well? Or - Turn off the VCO 
waves and turn the resonace all the way up,and the cutoff all the way 
down, Mod by keyboard to see if you can play the filter like a voice. 
Once we know if it's the DAC or 
not we can go from there.

Note: These guys are getting 20+ years old, this points to Bad Caps 
and old bad solder joints. It can probobly be fixed with more love 
than 
money.

Keep Me Posted

Karl  


 
--- In xpantastic@yahoogroups.com, "Tony Cappellini" <cappy2112@...> 
wrote:
>
> It looks like I won't need to do an A/B comparison with Jeremy's 
wave file,
> I can easily hear now that my Xpander is not working well.
> 
> Prior to this and the reason I had posted a message looking for 
someone
> local to the SF Bay Area was that only on 1 patch did my Xpander 
sound very
> bad.
> 
> I had found one voice which was flaky, so I turned it off.
> 
> Recently, I happen to hit several keys at once and could hear the 
vcos being
> grossly out of tune.
> 
> After trying to tune everything, I get FAIL across the board.
> 
> In the past, when I would see FAIL after running autotune, I would 
wait 30
> min, run it again and all tests would pass. This is not the case 
now.
> 
> 
> Fortunately, I've got a few spare CEMs which I hope are all 
working, that I
> can use to troubleshoot with.
> 
> I haven't looked at the service manual in years- I hope there are 
some
> measurements I can make with a voltmeter to give me some ideas.
> 
> I can probably borrow a scope to check for ripple on the output of 
the PS
> but don't really know how much ripple would be excessive for the XP 
PS.
> 
> All other front panel functions & midi appear to be working 
normally, so
> it's probably not likely to be a PS issue.
>

I ve had my Xpander since 1998, this is the first time I ve had a serious problem with it. It has not been used in concerts, since I m not a musician. I took

I'm trying to find a CEM 3374.  Please email me at minime123 AT onebox DOT com (and not this hotmail account) if you've got one for sale.  
We've also got original used Oberheim Xpander encoders we'd consider trading (for a cem3374 ONLY).  
Thanks.
Mini

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
VINTAGE SYNTH DEALER
-We Buy, Sell & Trade Analog Synths
-Huge Selection, Years of Experience, Reliable Service
-Visit us at http://www.123synthland.com (redirects)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -





________________________________

To: xpantastic@yahoogroups.com

From: plus_321@...
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2008 12:05:45 -0700
Subject: Re: [xpantastic] It's official- my Xpander is sick







What about the DAC Mono test (pass or fail)?  I will guess that you can probably fix this by recapping the power supply board.  When I got my Xpander I had issues with the tuning tests and it being terribly out of tune and a recap fixed it.

Chase

Tony Cappellini  wrote:



It looks like I won't need to do an A/B comparison with Jeremy's wave file, I can easily hear now that my Xpander is not working well.

Prior to this and the reason I had posted a message looking for someone local to the SF Bay Area was that only on 1 patch did my Xpander sound very bad.

I had found one voice which was flaky, so I turned it off.

Recently, I happen to hit several keys at once and could hear the vcos being grossly out of tune.

After trying to tune everything, I get FAIL across the board.

In the past, when I would see FAIL after running autotune, I would wait 30 min, run it again and all tests would pass. This is not the case now.


Fortunately, I've got a few spare CEMs which I hope are all working, that I can use to troubleshoot with.

I haven't looked at the service manual in years- I hope there are some measurements I can make with a voltmeter to give me some ideas.

I can probably borrow a scope to check for ripple on the output of the PS but don't really know how much ripple would be excessive for the XP PS.

All other front panel functions & midi appear to be working normally, so it's probably not likely to be a PS issue.











_________________________________________________________________
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mm123 ah wrote:
> I'm trying to find a CEM 3374.  Please email me at minime123 AT onebox DOT com (and not this hotmail account) if you've got one for sale.  
> We've also got original used Oberheim Xpander encoders we'd consider trading (for a cem3374 ONLY).  
> Thanks.
> Mini
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> VINTAGE SYNTH DEALER
> -We Buy, Sell & Trade Analog Synths
> -Huge Selection, Years of Experience, Reliable Service
> -Visit us at http://www.123synthland.com (redirects)
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>   
I saw some of these (CEM3374) on sale on EBay last month. I bid 71 
pounds but the total was 73.

That shows what the going price is - I think.

Cheers,

Jeremy