Tag Archives: Music

This Isn’t Even My Final Form!!

Posted by anachostic on February 14, 2026 No comments

Picture a Saiyan warrior, standing alone, screaming his head off, trying to raise himself to the next level of power. Such is my experience with my home studio. It’s been about 3 years now since I first began acquiring gear, initially to remaster some old tracks, then to create new tracks in a more traditional, non-in-the-box fashion. And there seems to be no limit to the amount of gear that is available due to aging, the abundance of new gear, and more people’s choice to go in-the-box for music creation. So, my choices have been plentiful and I’ve taken advantage of that.

It’s a little reminiscent of when I started collecting CD players from thrift shops. It was something I never could have entertained in the past, having the ability to experience different players and notice their sonic differences – something reserved for audio reviewers and people with tons of cash. But now, I can experience all these different synths that I never would have been able to before. So it’s a golden era for experimentation.

But growth comes with challenges as I’m sure any Saiyan warrior would know. Like where do you put all this muscle? I am literally out of room in my bedroom studio. I just completed assembling my third rack unit and I don’t have anywhere to put it. It’s just kind of in the middle of the room. But it’s on wheels, so it can go wherever. And this brings me to the next evolution in the studio.

Discovering patchbays and their functionality was a total gamechanger for me. Once you come to terms with the cost and quantity of cabling you need to purchase up front, everything becomes easier from then on out. My current bottleneck is that I have a rack that is physically tied to my mixer and my keyboard stands via MIDI and audio connections. The goal is to make racks "Red" and "Deep Wood" uncoupled from everything. Rack "Grey" (formerly "Blue"), which contains effects and guitar processors, has always been uncoupled and it’s been an excellent model for where I want to go. So how to accomplish this? More patchbays!! And another "rack".

The end goal is to tether the keyboard stands to a new patchbay located at the main mixer. Each set of stands will have their own MIDI interfaces, coincidentally the same make and model – 2x Edirol UM-3x units giving 6 ports to each stand. Then the rack at the mixer will contain that patchbay and the audio interface. I also plan to relocate the recording PC onto a shelf in the rack. So that’s one "unit": the mixer, the patchbay connected to the keyboard stands, and the audio interface connected to the PC and the mixer. In a world with no racks, that would a complete setup.

Racks Red and Deep Wood will be identical in design. Each will have a patchbay, an 8 channel mixer, and a MIDI interface. The audio from the devices in the rack go to the patchbay, which map, normalized, to the 8 channel mixer. Devices in excess of the 8 channel capacity can be patched into any channel as needed, which is how a patchbay is to be used. The output of the mixer goes to the local patchbay, which then routes to the patchbay at the main mixer. The MIDI interface in the rack connects to the PC. This setup means I can easily play up to 8 devices from each rack at a time, and that’s not a hard limit. I can patch more devices from any rack over to the main patchbay as long as I’m willing to handle cables being strewn about. I can patch Rack Grey in anywhere, even directly to the main mixer. Complete flexibility.

But I did say "uncoupled", didn’t I? Having a USB cable and a TRS cable tying each rack to the main patchbay is hardly uncoupled, right? And that’s where the most clever part comes in. Each rack will have jacks mounted at the back to quickly connect or disconnect them so they can be rolled in or out or where they may need to be placed. This is done with these pieces:

I mount the TRS and USB Neutrik jacks into the brackets and mount the brackets on the side of the rack. The jacks connect to the internal patchbay and MIDI interface. Then I have quick-disconnect jacks. Elegant. This little detail excites me the most about the new setup.

The parts are slowly coming in. The last bits that I’ll need to do is fabricate the new rack to sit underneath my mixer that will hold the audio interface, patchbay, and shelf for the PC. The 8ch mixer for Rack Deep Wood is on backorder, which is probably just as well, since I’ve been spending money like an American. As far as the latest rack goes, I have about 7U of space left in it. God forbid I fill that up and have to bring Rack Blue out of retirement.

I Finally Figured This Out

Posted by anachostic on February 8, 2026 No comments

So the failed purchase of the synths in GA kind of got me thinking. After breaking my heart telling me all his synths were sold just the other day, the guy said, in consolation, it shouldn’t be hard to find a K2000 or a Quasar. And you know what, he’s right. And he’s smart, too. For many, many of my purchases, I’m spending so much more to buy the devices because of my time, my gas, wear on the car, in extreme cases, lodging costs. Like driving 8 hrs one way and $200 on a hotel room to spend $500 on a keyboard? It’s now an $800 dollar keyboard and you can get them for cheaper than that shipped to your house! And I’ve been thinking about that and I have my answer. Why do I do this?

The reason is because buying a new device online is too easy. Seriously, it’s the easiest thing you can do – spend money and wait. And when it arrives, it’s like, eh, it’s here, what else can I buy now? My in-person purchases are limited availability items, in both time and distance (granted my distance threshold is much higher than normal people’s). But, the REAL reason is that it takes effort to make these purchases. I am committing to driving 18 hours for 3 devices. Just today, I drove 6 hours for a $450 device. Tomorrow I’m driving 4 hours for a $75 device. It sounds insane, doesn’t it?

But when you expend the effort, you have equity in the device. You have a stronger connection to it and it means more to you because of it. That sounds dumb – why would you ever want to "care" about a product? It’s just a product, you can get it anywhere. And that’s the trap in which modern convenience and consumerism has gotten people. They aren’t attached to their purchases, they don’t mean anything, so there’s no desire to keep them, cherish them, maintain them, or even use them with purpose. It’s just stuff – entirely disposable stuff.

You know, it wasn’t always like that and I’m refusing to let it be like that for me, at least when it comes to my collectable items.

Just as a side story on the effort that went into today’s purchase, this device was the same as one that I missed out on in GA, and it was $50 cheaper to boot. It was listed on a weekend and damn it if I didn’t see the listing under Monday. I messaged the guy and said I would like to buy this, but I wouldn’t be able to come up until the next weekend. He said he wouldn’t hold it for me and I agreed he shouldn’t. But he did say he would be coming by my area over the next weekend which would work out awesome in that he could practically deliver it to me (if it didn’t sell by then). I anxiously waited and the device hadn’t sold by Thursday. I messaged the seller and said I was still interested. No response. I messaged twice on Friday. No response. Oh well. That sucked.

Today I wake up and see the seller replied at 10:30 the previous night. He had a buyer who no-showed, but he was also not coming to my area now. I immediately replied and said I’d come get it. No response. GAHHH! I start doing other work in the house and he finally responds at like 1:30pm saying, sure, I can come up. Man, I did not want to deal with afternoon/evening traffic. I wanted to get started first thing in the morning, but fine. As I’m travelling, I’m giving him updates and I swear he didn’t believe I was coming. He would take so long to reply. Luckily I had 3 hours to get his actual home address.

Once there, the deal was completed and he was a cool guy, but the drive home was a lot more stressful than it should have been. At least I got a good dinner in Orlando out of it. And luckily, my house didn’t flood in my 7 hour absence (that’s a story for another blog).

Studio Purchases Log And Future Plans

Posted by anachostic on January 22, 2026 No comments

Ok, let’s just be direct about the post title. I need to log all the shit I’m purchasing and how much i got it for so I know how much money I’m losing when I sell it or destroy it.

The last real log was at the beginning of December when I bought a drum machine and a couple boards. Since then, I mentioned that I found two Roland D-5’s for $100 that needed work. They’re all fixed up now and I had to buy new power supplies, some capacitors, some tactile switches, and a new key. Roundabout total cost for those two: $60, so they cost about $80 each. They aren’t selling for $150 on Craigslist, so it’ll be good to know how low I can go.

Then later, I bought another Kawai K3m for… shit. I’ve forgotten already. But it looks like I withdrew $650 from the bank for both the k3m and the k5m, so maybe $250 for the k3m and $450 for the k5m. Another Kawai I bought was a K1 IIr, which needed some repair. That was from eBay for $80, plus shipping.

And now, to log in advance, I’m heading to ATL this weekend to get three more rackmount units. A Kurzweil k2000r, a Quasimidi Quasar, and I’m pretty sure I’ll get a Korg 03R/W because it’s so cheap. That should be $500+$400+$100. Maybe he’ll cut me a break, but I’ll never assume that. I’m not a haggler. I’ll post the trip details separately.

Just as a note, my racks are literally full, so that means I need to build another rack, which means more shit has to be purchased. The known list:

Rack rails
Two sheets of wood
Wood stain. This time I think I’m going classy dark wood grain and it shall be named Deep Wood
Wheels

Then in order to make the rack serviceable, I’ll need:

Power strip
Audio patch bay
MIDI interface
Midi thru box (maybe, let’s assume not)

The primary rack (Red) has the audio interface for the computer as well as a midi interface, line mixer and a patch bay. I’m not going to duplicate the audio portion in the new rack and will just connect the two patch bays for whatever audio I need to record or playback. I decided some time ago that every rack I build will be as independent as possible. The effects rack (Blue) I can roll anywhere I want after unplugging the power cord. I want that kind of flexibility throughout my studio. If I wanted to roll Deep Wood around, I’d have two cables to disconnect: power and USB midi interface, but it’s not as bad as a snake of 24 audio cables going to it like Red does. Obviously, Red has a lot more dependency because it’s tied to the mixer and has the computer audio interface and has MIDI and audio ties to both keyboard stands, but at some point that may change. Maybe I’ll make a fourth rack and extract a lot of rackmount synths and design it like Deep Wood. I don’t have the room for a fourth rack, though…

Anyway, back to money. Hardware for the rack will be about $40+$30+$10+$15 = $95. Electronics for the rack will be: $50+$80+$100=$230. So a little over $300 to start filling up with more devices. Oh boy. And lets see. By next week I will have 11U of synths sitting around and 3U of rack "infrastructure" to purchase. Red is 22U and Blue is 12U, so I’m already at 60% capacity if Deep Wood is built to Red’s specs.

And here’s something pretty hilarious. I have SO much electronic stuff in that room, I can only power on a TINY fraction of it at one time otherwise it will trip the breaker. I only have 10 amps at my disposal for all outlets.

Postscript: The trip to ATL got cancelled at the last minute as I was messaging the seller to ask about payment methods. He had sold everything the previous day. That was pretty uncool. So anyway, I got a day and a half off work and I soothed my depression by buying some other devices I didn’t need or want. I got an Emu Classic Keys for $100, a Kurzweil Micro Ensemble for $70, and a non-working Emu Proteus for $50. Proteus needed a new battery and factory reset, but it’s not really that great. I can replace my Proteus 1 with it, since it has all the sounds from Proteus 1 & 2 in it and maybe I can sell the Proteus 1. There’s a million of them out there for sale, though. I haven’t been charged for the hotel stay yet and hopefully I won’t, so maybe it will be kind of a wash.

Kawai Me? Kawai Now?

Posted by anachostic on January 10, 2026 No comments

Something I did not expect in my acquisition of keyboards is the prevalence of the Kawai brand in what comes in the door. And of those, I am surprised at how many are not working.

A quick rundown of what I have right now at this moment. A Kawai K3 was the first purchase and it was in ok shape, if poorly neglected, with a mouse nest inside it. I followed that up with a K1 desktop module and wasn’t thrilled with it, so it went to the closet. A later attempt to reconnect with it made me decide the sound wasn’t all that bad and if I could get the rackmount version, I would. I did – the K1R. That one was purchased as not working, but it only needed a new fuse. Then I bought a K3M, the rackmount version of the one I first purchased, sold as probably working, does not. Then I bought a K5M, which seems to have trouble with sysex – hoping a firmware upgrade resolves it. And I bought another K3M so I can troubleshoot the broken one against the working one. And I bought another K1R, which was sold as broken with supposedly an easy fix, which it was until it wasn’t. And that’s where this story starts.

The latest K1R was sold as broken and would not power on. The seller assumed it was the power jack broken off because it pushed in when he plugged in the power cord. He was correct. It was a simple soldering fix. However, when I had opened the case up, I found the device was not in good shape. The top cover had rust on the inside, the rack ears had rust as well. So I figured I’d try to fix those problems and clean everything up while it was all disassembled anyway. My mistake. For some reason the front panel wouldn’t come off. When I did get it off, this is what I was faced with.

The buttons were taped to the switches with some really super-sticky tape, which was also stuck to the front panel. Ok, no big deal, I can take the tape off. Wait, no I can’t. Why not? WTF, the switches are glued to the tape with rubber cement. I carefully worked each button off until, just like my last repair, the last thing I touch breaks. I broke the switch off trying to free it from the button. Ok, so we’re going to do a full switch replacement. No big deal, I just did it twice on the D5’s.

After buying the wrong size switches (of course), then finally getting the new switches soldered in, the buttons are all floppy, some just sinking into the frame when pushed. Jesus. Is this what the previous person was trying to fix with the cement and tape? Why did it happen in the first place?

Some of the buttons are completely mangled inside, they seem like they were burnt and melted with a soldering iron. So after scraping off any remnants of rubber cement I could find, I’m at the point of using superglue to raise the contact surface of some of the buttons so they have less gap with the switch. Some buttons are ok, some are not. It’s entirely baffling why it’s so inconsistent.

Fortunately, I haven’t broken anything further yet in this process. You can see if you look closely that the panel board is corroded badly at the top from whatever caused the rust on the top case. The ribbon cable is on its last legs and I’m trying to bend it as little as possible because it’s not going to hold out much longer. (Also, look very closely and see if you see the mistake the previous "tech" made. Answer at the end.)

Hopefully I can wrap this up tomorrow and move on to troubleshooting the K3M. Then hopefully the K5M firmware chip will come in and I can get some sounds loaded on it. Then what? Time to purge. I have an M-Audio Oxygen 25, two Roland D5’s and three Kawais: a K3M, a K1M and a K1R to part with. Answer: Look at the "No" button.

Roland D5 Repair Log

Posted by anachostic on December 25, 2025 No comments

Last weekend, I found on FB Marketplace a pair of Roland D5 keyboards that were being sold as needs repair. Price was right, only $100 for both, so I picked them up. Surprisingly they both have the same problem, and less surprisingly, it’s a problem experienced and recorded many times online. The problem is the patches sound like the modulation wheel is perma-cranked. Online, they are described as "warbly".

Before I had done my research, the first thing I did was disconnect the pitch/mod wheel assembly and clearly, it didn’t fix it. I looked around the board and it didn’t look bad, but it seemed to have what I would call "suspiciously oily dust" on the circuit board. You know, it’s not dry dust. Although it didn’t look like the capacitors were leaking, they just seemed like they were carrying a little extra dust on their legs, which doesn’t happen with dry circuitry.

So I made the decision to recap the whole board and I made a parts list for anyone else looking to do it. While I waited for the parts, I did more research and found that yes, the warble is caused by one capacitor in particular – C49 – so I expect my complete replacement should solve that problem. Additionally, it’s a very common problem that the tactile buttons are worn out and should all be replaced. I ordered those parts as well. The volume slider is in pretty good shape so I won’t be replacing that.

Anyway, on to the parts list!

Tactile buttons:
38 of 6mm x 6mm x 5mm, 2 pin

Capacitors:
11 of 16v, 10u (C7, 8, 12, 15, 19, 24, 25, 28, 31, 35, 49)
5 of 25v 10uf Bipolar (C53, 69, 70, 76, 80)
4 of 16v 1000v (C2, 3, 4, 68)
2 of 50v 1uf (C45, 66)
2 of 25v 47uf Bipolar (C54, 60)
1 of 16v 100uf (C33)
1 of 35v 47uf (C78)
1 of 50v 4.7uf (C1)

Return To MEL

Posted by anachostic on July 26, 2025 No comments

While I was rebuilding my blog post-by-post, I ran through some trip log posts I had made for drives to nearby areas looking for CDs. I thought I should revisit that idea. Last weekend, I woke up too late to get a good early start, so I planned for this week and this morning, off I went. This time I had less of a plan compared to my previous runs. My initial plan was to go to the flea market and some music stores. You know, just kind of ease back into it and see how I feel about making trips again.

The driving wasn’t bad. Took the beater car so it was loud and rough, but familiar and still comfortable. Traffic wasn’t really bad at all. Got to the flea market maybe 30 mins after opening time and the market parking lot was a little eerily empty. Overall, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. I hadn’t been to Melbourne for 3 years. But I have been to flea markets in Daytona and one up north of me and it’s the same in all of them. Hold on, let’s have this discussion at the end.

I walked all the rows and there were some CD sellers there, but one was not open, and I remember they weren’t open the last time I was there years ago. So weird. And of all the others I looked at, I didn’t buy anything new, just some dupes that I plan on comparing on relative waves (something else I want to get back to). So overall, not really productive. And it was hot. It’s been really really hot this year. I don’t want to really go outside anymore it’s so bad.

So after that flea market, I did a search for music stores and found one not far away. When I got there I recalled being there years ago. Good for them that they’re still around. I ended up buying 4/$10 of new stuff. Nothing valuable, mostly just collection filler. So that wasn’t unpleasant (except for the running and screaming kids who would be scolded half-heartedly by their dad, who just wanted to buy some records – priorities!). And with that done, I located my standard roadtrip lunch – Carrabbas. And with that done, I was just ready to get back home.

And on the drive back, I had a lot of time to reflect on the flea market situation. It feels like, for about 10 years now, going to a flea market is just… offensive. I’m talking specifically about Trump merch dominating the entire place. Now don’t get me wrong, I know flea markets have always been a little offensive. It was like a Super Spencers. You could get bongs and bowls, switchblade knives, and signs that say, "Don’t like it? Suck my dick." and "All white is all right" But even with all that nonsense, there was a sense that people would buy that stuff, and maybe they really were the lowlifes that actually liked and thought that way. But you also felt assured that they would do their bad stuff with their bad friends in their bad backyards and they would still be upstanding, presentable people in public areas. But since that taboo has been shattered and that mask has come off, it seems being a racist or an asshole is just an American trait now. There’s no shame in holding those values. In fact, judging by the merchandising, it’s celebrated. And that is just so saddening.

And I have a less obvious observation on this as well. Flea markets used to be sort of a commoner’s market. People might sell their old belongings, flip or resell stuff, offer services or even do some retail sales. But there’s something different about the Trump merchers. I mean, that’s all they do. That’s a really specific thing to be selling and the customer base is pretty well set in stone. On the way to Carrabbas, I saw a dedicated trailer set up in a parking lot selling merch. What’s the lifespan for that business?

While it would be easy to poke fun or simply call these merchants stupid, are they stupid? I don’t think so. I think they’re predatory. They’re opportunists and they know who they’re taking money from. In a way, they are like drug dealers. And they’re feeding an addiction of hatred. They moved into the flea market like pawn shops and vape store move into distressed communities. And they’ve taken over.

And it’s been the same at all the flea markets I’ve been to (except for the Hispanic flea markets – go figure).

Growing Up With Less To Say

Posted by anachostic on July 26, 2025 No comments

Although it would seem to be a reflection on my posting frequency on my blogs, it’s actually sort of a metaphor for something I noticed in a band I recently found. A few months ago I picked up an album by a group called Happy The Man, and I thought it was music by a different artist who also had an album released under the name Happy The Man. As it turned out, it was nothing of the same music. The music I was looking for was soft of synth-y new age. Ironically, what I purchased was a kind of music I did like immensely – progressive rock.

The 70’s group Happy The Man only had a couple albums on a major label. I had purchased the second. And it was not long ago that I found the first album and quickly bought it as well. It was, as most debut albums are, a little more raw and disjointed, but still something I enjoyed a lot.

As is typical of my musical habits, I had to know everything I could about this new band I found. The part that interested me, and the point of this post, is that the consensus was the second album was not as good as the first. Now me, hearing the second album first, held a slightly different opinion. Now having listened to both albums to excess, I can see how the critics came to their decision. And here’s where I want to reflect on it.

If you know prog music, you know it’s some really busy shit. A lot of people can’t handle it because it’s sometimes really difficult to follow. in fact, there’s some prog groups I can’t get into because they make stuff that’s just beyond what I can follow. Happy The Man isn’t like other prog bands that play out a song for 12-15 minutes, though. Their stuff is pretty compact and easily digestible. But in that short amount of time, on their first album, they go all over the place, with sections that jump back and forth. That’s part of the excitement of prog is that the players can turn on a dime, keep the beat, switch tempos and time signatures and typically play very quickly.

But on the second album, there’s still the shorter songs, but less frequent twists and turns. And those that wanted more of the first album were disappointed. But here’s the key: the band grew up. They got more mature. And when that happens you worry less about how much you say and care more about how well you say something.

And I get that. My earlier compositions were very similar. I had many different sections all put together in a stream of madness. I had a lot of things I wanted to say and I needed to get them all out in one song. For a different example, see Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Tarkus. The number of things said just in the first movement (Eruption) with changes every 1 or 2 bars, is mind-blowing – if you’re into that stuff.

But when you’ve done all that, you find you want to begin making a big picture that’s cohesive. You take one theme and build it, embellish it, do variations on it, all in the same song. Looking at a melody from many different angles. That’s what a lot of classical composers did and it lets the listener relax and move with the changes instead of getting shocked by change after disjointed change. And that’s how Happy The Man’s second album is. They wanted to say one thing very well. And on top of that, they avoided making it tedious by keeping the songs a manageable length.

And when you take this "saying one thing" metaphor to another level, you can apply it to more modern trace and groove music. In these instances, they are saying one thing over and over with small colorations here and there. The intent and result is like repeating a mantra, as one would do during meditation. At least that’s my interpretation, because I can’t tolerate much of that music because I need active listening music.

So when you listen to music, especially when you listen to an entire album of an artist, consider what they are trying to say and how they are saying through the length of the songs and the number of sections within the songs. Especially the closer. Does it repeat and fade out over a long time, trying to lull you into a trance or does it end with a bang, trying to be the grand finale of a fireworks show?

Rack Redux

Posted by anachostic on April 27, 2024 No comments

Last year at this time, I was building my studio and acquiring gear at a pretty good clip. Some of the new synthesizers I was buying were rackmountable. and I was a little turned off at the cost of buying a prebuilt rack to house them in. After consideration, I thought maybe I could build one of my own. It shouldn’t be hard. It’s a freaking box. It’s got four sides. You have a saw and screwdriver, you should be able to do this.

I do have all the tools you would need to accomplish this, and I had a few minor woodworking projects under my belt already. I had built a shitty platform for my washer and dryer. I had built a couple of sunglasses racks as well. I think I was ready to try this. Spoiler alert, it’s not exactly cheaper to do it yourself, but the satisfaction sort of makes up for it (that’s always what they say, isn’t it?)

And so I built my first rack. It was 12U rack with an extra shelf.

Oddly, the stain I chose was supposed to be a light grey (kind of like the floor) and was actually blue. Whatever, it’s fine. It’s not like once I started applying the stain I could just undo it.

And this rack served me pretty well for that year. I outgrew it quickly, though, and I wanted more space. I needed more space because I was starting to gather up rackmount effect units. So I began making mental plans to build a second rack. This old rack would then be dedicated to effects and the new larger rack would be all synthesizers.

The old rack had a capacity of 12U. I decided to go big this time and bought 22U rails. Another thing I didn’t like from v1 is that the floor and shelf of the rack are from some extra scrap wood I had around and this time I wanted the whole thing to have the same wood finish, so I bought extra panels to cut up. I ended up using 3 of the 4 sheets, so my wood cost went up by only 50%.

I got by by using my 20v tools the first time, but the circular saw was pretty underpowered for the job. More than once it stalled out cutting through the wood and it never seemed to keep a straight cut. So this time I bought a high-power corded saw, which is an additional up-front cost, but will be used much more in the future, I’m sure. I also have a corded drill and when I need that level of power, it’s very nice to have that option. And the saw did a tremendous job. i was able to cut the slant on both sides sheets at once, so they are perfectly matched.

I have wheels from a previous project that I can use, and I’m going to use pocket screws again because they seem really strong, and also because I have a lot of them on hand. I’m going to double the number of screws I use for extra strength this time. I’m not going to forgo the wood glue this time. It makes a world of difference. I have poly sealant from last time, but I didn’t think I had enough blue stain to cover the new larger size (48" high instead of 38"), so I bought some new stain. This time, red. Not red like cherry wood, I mean cherry RED.

Taking some cues from Nord Keyboards, for sure.

Once this is done, as is tradition, it’s only the start of the purchases. All the equipment from the old rack will be moved to the new one, and that will work as-is. but when I add more devices, I’ll need to add a second rack mixer. There’s going to be more devices to power, but I already purchased a larger power strip for install from Woot, who listed one recently, conveniently enough.

Then, looking at the population of the old rack with the effect units that are piling up in my closet, I need to buy a new patchbay to route them. I have a power switch that I had purchased a while ago from the same place I bought the Roland U-110 and my 32 channel mixer. And additional power will be available from the power strip already installed in it. Other than that? Cables. Bunches more cables. Cables to connect the effect units to the patchbay, and maybe some mid-length cables to route between the synth patchbay and the effect patchbay.

And here’s the new rack:

With all the gear swapped out and organized

Of course, like every picture, it’s always out of date. The FX rack now has a patchbay to route to the synth rack and an improved power switch. The synth rack now has a new entry as well. So now it’s time to update the 2024 studio purchase log.

The Kurzweil Money Pit

Posted by anachostic on April 26, 2024 Comments Off

A little over a year ago, my purchasing of keyboards for the studio was peaking, and I was grabbing whatever struck my fancy. One of the things that came along at that time was a Kurzweil PC3. It "had problems". Professional diagnosis said that the main board was bad and would need swapped out. So I left the device in my rack and waited for another PC3 to come along that needed repair so I could merge the two into one working device.

And it took over a year for something to appear. This one was the PC3x, which is the 88 key version of the model I had – the 76-key version. The description, along with demo video, said and showed that the display did not work. And that was ok with me, because I had a display that did work. The asking price was $450, which is a little more than the $300 I paid for the first one, but if these things only appear once a year, I guess I have to get it and go.

I arranged to pick up the device the next day and explained I didn’t care about the screen, but I wanted to know if it had sound. Time moved slowly and eventually, the seller said they couldn’t confirm if it had sound or not because the display problem prevented any testing. Well, ok. I’ll still take it.

And I really overpaid. I didn’t get what they were saying if I wanted it, just come and get it. And when I tried to pay them the $450, they were like, no, no, we don’t know if it works or not. They wanted to give it to me for free. I drove a hard bargain and gave them $300 instead. Hindsight is painful, but I’m still ok.

First thing this morning, I started it up. Initial diagnosis, the screen works. There’s no backlight. However, the device is stuck in a rebooting loop. That’s the repetitive clicking the seller was hearing. Later in the morning, I have it all disassembled and am running the built-in diagnostics. The device spontaneously reboots when testing the RAM, but all other tests pass. Audio can’t be tested because it relies on the RAM, so it reboots on that test as well.

Ok, so let’s get device #1 and see what we can transplant. I disassemble the 76-key version and take out the screen. I figure it will be at least easier if I can see what I’m looking at while testing. The backlight for the screen is hard-soldered to the main board. Ugh. I desolder both, then solder the working screen into the new 88-key. I go to plug the display board to the main board and… fuck. The ribbon cable is too short. Because, duh, a 76-key board is not near as long as an 88-key.

Ok. Plan B. Let’s replace the backlight. I disassemble the display and am very nervous because there’s like no wires to the screen. It’s some kind of conductive rubber sheet that connects the circuit board to the glass screen. Then I find out that there’s no EL sheet there – it’s just a big white box with two wires going into it. I don’t know what that is or how it’s getting lit. So I go drastic and cut the leads to the existing light and solder them up to an EL sheet I have. I have to make significant modifications to the metal frame to accommodate the placement of the wires. Lots of dremel work and hot metal. This is spiraling out of control. I get it all put back together, enough to fire it up and… no light. That was a damn waste.

Let’s step back a little bit and do some isolated testing. I take the 76-key display and wire up the power with some extension wires. I power up the board and the backlight comes on for a brief moment, then goes out. Hmmm. Maybe my old display is flaky too? Or is it possibly a problem with power delivery?

I go back online and do more searches for replacement displays. Like everything else PC3, there are NO replacement parts available anywhere. But I found a post of someone who had fixed their backlight and actually provided pictures. And the replies had even more good info. Using this info, I bravely cracked open the box on the display board to find the light inside. It’s not LED, it’s actually fluorescent (cold cathode fluorescent). Weird, but you know, a lot of computer monitors used CCFL for backlight before LED became cheap enough.

I had cut the leads completely off, so I resoldered the leads back, then soldered that disassembled display to the 88-key board. When I turned it on, I could immediately see that the bulb was only about a third lit and what was lit was extremely dim. And like their full-size counterparts, this bulb had the telltale signs of age with the darkened ends. This is replaceable. And if I hadn’t found that post and the replies, I would have been simply stuck again.

A site called CFL Warehouse, stocks these bulbs, and they’re not expensive, like $11 each. And shipping is obscenely cheap, like $2. So I bought two. Maybe I’ll fuck one up, and if I don’t, I can replace the bulb in the other display too. And when parting out the remnants, that should be a decent selling point.

So for now, I’m waiting on parts, like I’m waiting on parts for two other devices sitting around. And once that’s done, will I be able to go to the next step of swapping components or will both devices have different failures on the same board, making it all pointless? That remains to be seen.

Studio Buying Spree Continues

Posted by anachostic on March 21, 2024 Comments Off

It’s a new year and Brainfield studios shows little sign of letting off the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I filled up my rack and had 1U of space left and figured I’d add an effect unit, because why not? And then, why stop at one?

I’d been mulling it around and never really saw anything that caught my eye until one day in mid-February at a pawn shop, I saw a Lexicon Alex for some ridiculously low price like $30. So I snapped it up and my journey began. No surprise, the pots were absolute garbage, blasting noise on the slightest adjustments, but a soaking of Deoxit D5 cleaned them all up. I’m willing to bet 80% of people don’t even know about this cleaner and think when the pots get scratchy, they just have to pitch the thing. God knows, I was that ignorant not so long ago.

Unit 1 acquired. But that fills up my rack, so now what? Well, as a future post will explain, you build a second rack. But for now, it’s time to build up the inventory for this new rack. Checking the usual places of Ebay, Craigslist, and FB Marketplace, I landed a couple of buys from FB marketplace in March. One was a beat up, rusted guitar effect unit, the Rockton Chameleon, and the other seller had a Digitech DSP 128+ and Alesis Microverb.

The Chameleon, like the others, needed the pots cleaned, and for this device, I did a refinish of the case, which turned out quite well. Otherwise the unit is great and sounds awesome. The other two devices from the other seller, well… The Digitech doesn’t work. It has no wet signal, only dry. I’ve submitted that to my usual repair shop for repair, because I can’t bear to take a loss on it. I’d rather pay more for a working unit. The Microverb works fine, but one of the buttons was superglued back into place and when I pushed it for the first time it just snapped off. Quite annoying, but it doesn’t affect the usability of the device – just looks crappy. So one fair seller and one less fair. It left a sour taste in my mouth about buying for a little while.

But hope springs eternal. Today, still in March, I went to purchase a Lexicon unit and walked away with a jackpot. So this guy works at a thrift shop and the staff there don’t know anything about electronics and don’t really want to deal with them, so they just… give everything to him. And recently, someone came by and donated two shopping carts full of studio gear. He took it all and now he’s refurbing it and selling it. So, it’s a situation that kind of really pisses me off, but here I am anyway and can I get something out of it. Well, the Lexicon is great, but in this pile of other gear, I see another Alesis unit and a rack shelf with another unit and a Rockman Distortion Generator mounted in it. OMG.

I try to stay cool about it and casually say I’d be interested in these other devices if you want to bundle them. He asks how much they would be and I calmly say, "oh, $80-$100 each, probably". He says he hasn’t tested them yet, so maybe $60 each? Absolutely. I came ready to buy one unit for $80 and I’m leaving with 4 units for $200? And ok, that Rockman is selling online for $500 right now. Not that I’m a flipper, but I really enjoy getting a good deal.

They’ve all been tested out and all work. All will need major cleaning and liberal applications of Deoxit, like every other device I’ve ever purchased, but this is a great jumpstart to my upcoming effects rack. In fact, when you add in the power strip and the patchbay, there’s only 3U left available. That went fast.

To summarize the devices and their values so far:

Lexicon Alex ($100)
Lexicon LXP-15 ($300)
Lexicon LXP-1 ($200)
Rocktron Chameleon ($150)
SRD Rockman Distortion Generator ($500)
Alesis Microverb 4 ($150)
Alesis Quadraverb 2 ($250)
Digitech DSP 128+ (pro repair unrealistic. Waiting on parts for self-repair attempt) ($100)

In March, 2024, I found a listing on EBay for a Korg Poly 800 II. The listing said some keys didn’t work. That sounded like something I could repair so I made the purchase. It had no problems and only needed a new battery. *shrug*

In April, I had been trying out the Kawai K1m that I had and was surprised that it sounded better than I first thought. I had the idea that I could buy a K1r (the rackmount version) and sell the K1m (the tabletop version) to recoup that purchase and I could save space, too. I made an offer on an as-is listing that said three times, "will not power on". Got it and the listing was accurate. It just needed a new fuse. *shrug*

Shortly after that a listing for an Alesis Nanosynth came up. Once again, has problems. The seller was only asking $75 for it, so I put it in my favorites. He sent an offer for $60, which I accepted. IDK if I can fix this one, so it may not end up in the final list. And finally, I got a second Kurweil PC3 and I’m attempting to merge the two broken devices into one working device. It’s a journey.

Anachostic