Synthesizer

[BearBoy]

Wow, you wouldn't think that thing was well over 40 years old to look at it. It looks immaculate. Good luck getting it fixed up, Pepe.

What do you do with all these Synths? Have you a large collection or do you tend to sell them on when you've got them working again?

[Pepe]

In this case I'm sure that I will sell it on. It is way too limited for my taste, but let's see how I'll think about it when it is fixed.

My synthesizer collection is indeed pretty large now, but I only keep those instruments that I really like. Most of them have sounds that the others cannot create.

[BearBoy]

Would be interested in seeing some pictures of your collection if you get a chance to take some, Pepe

Just flicking back through this thread, it looks like you have (had?):

Korg Poly-800
Korg Z1
Korg X-911
Korg MS-20 Mini
Korg MS-20
Korg MS-50
Korg DW-8000
Korg DS-8
Roland Alpha Juno 2
Roland SH-2000
Kawai K4

You're clearly a Korg fan

[Pepe]

Well, the full list right now is this one:

Kawai K4
KORG 800DV
KORG DS-8
KORG DW-8000
KORG M1 EX
KORG Mono/Poly
KORG monotron
KORG monotron Delay
KORG monotron Duo
KORG MS-20
KORG MS-50
KORG Nu:Tekt NTS-1
KORG Poly-61
KORG Poly-800 (inverted keys)
KORG Trident
KORG X-911
KORG Z1
Roland Alpha Juno-2
Roland SH-2000

Not included are the following effects pedals:

BOSS SYB-3 (x2)
BOSS SYB-5
KORG ToneWorks G5 Bass Synthesizer

The KORG monotrons and the NTS-1 are rather funny toys for me.

[BearBoy]

Wow. That's a pretty amazing collection, Pepe

Would be great to see some pictures some time if you get a chance to take some.

[Pepe]

You can see some of my instruments if you visit my Instagram account.

[snufkin]

Another one. This might be the most boring* synthesizer out of the Roland SH series, but it is mine!

My brother picked it up for me. It was declared as defective, but overall the insturment works great. It is completely out of tune, the faders and keys have contact issues, but all of that will be fixed in the next weeks. The optical condition is superb, almost like new.



*it's a preset synthesizer with very limited sound tweaking functions

actually a great mono IMO very usable sounds

[Pepe]

A few days ago a good friend gave me his Roland JX-3P for inspection/repair, as well as his KORG Poly-800 with inverted keyboard. He said that he bought it years ago, but it never worked. I said it will work once it's been under my hands.

And just as I suspected, the synth is fully intact. Most of the units don't have an internal battery for the memory, so factory wise you have to put six Baby Cell C batteries inside if you want your sounds to stay saved. A Poly-800 without power supply and with batteries removed will suffer from a complete memory loss after five minutes. If you power it in this state, all the parameter values are absolutely random and only very rarely one of the 64 patches produces a useable sound then.

So I tested all the parameters and everything is working fine. But the instrument is absolutely dirty, especially inside. I have to clean it properly thorughout the next days, plus I will install a 3V lithium battery to make the instrument independent from the six big batteries (I only need to solder in a battery socket and to remove a diode and a resistor). I will also do this battery modification on the other two units that I currently own.

Now I have three Poly-800 units at home, all of them with inverted keyboards. You don't see something like that too often, these days! The one in the back is the unit of my friend, the one in front is mine (keeper!), the one in the middle is for sale.

[laurie]

Nice. Funky looking instruments.