Xpantastic!

Hi,

I'm new here, so perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Steve 
Lenham and I run a small design consultancy in south-eastern England, 
an increasing part of which involves working on classic synths and 
related equipment.

I recently restored an Xpander and, amongst other things, its owner 
asked me if anything could be done about the failing vacuum-
fluorescent displays. As a result, I designed and produced a 
replacement display board fitted with three Itron DN4015 displays and 
wonder whether it might be of interest to others here.

Full details can be found on my website:

www.bendentech.co.uk/sound/obvfd.html 

Unfortunately it would appear that Japanese-made synths use a single-
piece display/panel PCB, so aren't compatible with this upgrade. Can 
anyone tell me what proportion of units were made in Japan?

Initially I am looking for a small number of technically-competent 
beta testers for the upgrade to confirm its reliability. They will 
get a nice discount in return for their feedback. UK-based testers 
would be preferred for logistical reasons, and I would particularly 
welcome Matrix-12 owners since I would like to establish any relevant 
differences.

However, do please also let me know if you would be interested in a 
production board - I'd like to know whether this is worth pursuing!

Best regards,

Steve Lenham
Benden Sound Technology
bst@...

Hi Steve, you can count me in as wanting a production board!


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Hi Steve,

That's fantastic!

stevelenham wrote:
> Unfortunately it would appear that Japanese-made synths use a single-
> piece display/panel PCB, so aren't compatible with this upgrade. Can
> anyone tell me what proportion of units were made in Japan?

You're right, my (Japanese) Xpander has a "pot board" with the
display, the rear panel sockets and the front panel controls. (I've
added a photo to the "Photos" section of the group.) So instead of
an entire replacement board, one would need to desolder the old
displays and mount the new displays with cables back to your master
board, with the signals from the CPU broken out of the ribbon cable
to the pot board... Or design a replacement for the entire board.
Not very nice, either way.

I don't know if there's even enough clearance on the PCB around the
old VFDs to squeeze the new displays in there...

Oh well, touch wood my displays will last for a wee while yet. Then
I can start to worry.

Cheers, and I hope the production run goes ahead and that it is a
success for you.

I haven't been able to find out how many Xpanders were produced in
the US and Japan, but I'd be interested to know myself.

Cheers,

John :^P
-- 
John Pallister
john@...

This is absolutely great, Steve!!!

Please, check the following poll:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/xpantastic/message/326

Best regards,
Tiitu.

Hi Steve,
 
That's wonderful, congratulations!  I was considering doing the same thing with those very same dot matrix displays, using an FPGA to decode the row/col's and create the serial stream.
 
I'm an EE with microcontroller/FPGA experience and I have a matrix 12 .  I'd be very happy to help you beta test your hardware and assist in any measurements/troubleshooting if needed.  My display board looks just like the one in the pictures on your website.
 
Randall
 
 


--- On Thu, 11/13/08, stevelenham <yahoo@...> wrote:

From: stevelenham <yahoo@....co.uk>
Subject: [xpantastic] Replacement display board - request for beta-testers
To: xpantastic@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, November 13, 2008, 5:28 AM






Hi,

I'm new here, so perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Steve 
Lenham and I run a small design consultancy in south-eastern England, 
an increasing part of which involves working on classic synths and 
related equipment.

I recently restored an Xpander and, amongst other things, its owner 
asked me if anything could be done about the failing vacuum-
fluorescent displays. As a result, I designed and produced a 
replacement display board fitted with three Itron DN4015 displays and 
wonder whether it might be of interest to others here.

Full details can be found on my website:

www.bendentech. co.uk/sound/ obvfd.html 

Unfortunately it would appear that Japanese-made synths use a single-
piece display/panel PCB, so aren't compatible with this upgrade. Can 
anyone tell me what proportion of units were made in Japan?

Initially I am looking for a small number of technically- competent 
beta testers for the upgrade to confirm its reliability. They will 
get a nice discount in return for their feedback. UK-based testers 
would be preferred for logistical reasons, and I would particularly 
welcome Matrix-12 owners since I would like to establish any relevant 
differences.

However, do please also let me know if you would be interested in a 
production board - I'd like to know whether this is worth pursuing!

Best regards,

Steve Lenham
Benden Sound Technology
bst@bendentech. co.uk