roygBiv

sorry for the long delay, been hectic at work - thank you for the detailed suggestions Jose, I will look for the rotten egg smell (or smell for the rotten egg smell). roy

Hi Guys Thought I would give this a shot here. I have an old Alesis Nanosynth I've had for ~ 20 years. Stopped using it ~ 10 years ago, if I recall because there was no sound output. Dug it out today, powered it up, and only output now is a loud buzzing sound. Possibly I have the wrong power supply (don't have the original, but did use a 9V AC 1000mA unit), but I don't think that is it. The buzzing sound makes me suspect possibly bad capacitors. So, I opened it up - it is remarkably streamlined for something made in 1997! Few serviceable components, lots of large integrated chips! Anyway, the only potentially "obvious" capacitors to change that I could find are: 1 Scatronice 2200 uF, 16V (big, black) 1 Scatronice 1000 uF, 16V (slightly less big, sky blue) 5 Scatronice 35v10uF (small, sky blue) Most of components are pretty packed in there, and look surface-mounted (some right next to chips). Thus, my meager soldering skills will be challenged if I try to swap out these capacitors. My question: anyone have experience working on Alesis Nanosynths, and is this worth trying to fix? Thanks, Dave PS - there is also a flat battery in there, which I assume has probably died by now. So I would probably need to replace that, but I'm not sure how that could cause a loud buzzing on the output.

First of all, my condolences for all of you that have suffered from some serious thefts, that truly sucks. The only music stuff stolen from me (so far) was ~ 30 years ago, when I was living in Cambridge, MA. Returned home from a gig, parked my old Ford Fiesta in the parking lot behind my apartment complex. Left the giant, heavy, cheap, fuzzy-carpet covered monitor speakers in the back seat. Next day, wandered out back, and one of the Apartment managers, a guy named "Pez", said in his click-and-clack voice "hey, looks like somebody broke into your cah" I looked at my car, the back seat door was still open. About 5 feet away was one of the monitors. Looked around some more, and another 15 feet away was the 2nd one. Guess the thieves were smarter than me, and realized those POS monitors were not worth lugging around. Pez got a kick out of the whole thing. I think I left them on the curb when I later moved. So that doesn't really count as being stolen.

Great to know - thanks! I agree, the Deco sounds pretty good and "natural" up to a point, but it gets a bit mushy if you fully crank it up. I may have to look into getting a Wurly Grinder....

Quick question - how does the distortion/dirt from the Wurly Grinder compare with the Strymon Deco? I've been using the Deco in stereo to "warm up" my anemic Wurly sounds from my Roland RD64. It has been the least annoying/most natural sounding "warm up" device of all the various pedals I've tried (especially through a full-range speaker, something a lot of pedals fail at). However, I have never tried the Wurly Grinder, hence my questions. Thanks!

Happy to see the VR09 love is still strong - been very happy with mine - not perfect, but so much bang in a small package. One of the best band-for-the buck instrument purchases I've made, at least for gigging live. Mostly using it for organ sounds (Hammond and the built-in Combo organ) and an RD64 for piano/electric piano. Band is bluesy-early sixties stuff, lot of more obscure cool "B sides" (99 lbs/Ann Peebles; Just a Down Home Girl/Alvin Robinson, Soncis tunes, etc). Also have a sax and trombone player, which adds to the fun. Anyway, I spent a lot of time comparing and tweaking the VR09 vs. my other organ units: a Ventilator (1st gen), a Mojo Desktop, a Yamaha YC reface. Basically (IMHO) the VR09 probably has the "best" overall characteristics for gigging, given its small size and ease-of-use (and bulletproof nature, as Brennan pointed out above). Obviously, the Mojo sounds the best, except for its fast Leslie setting. The Ventilator helps the fast Leslie, but frankly I like the slow Leslie on the Mojo better than the Vent. Yamaha YC reface is cool, but the fast leslie is really bad on that. After tweaking the VR09 and comparing to the above, I've stopped bringing the Ventilator to gigs, not worth the extra hassle (although the Fast Leslie on the Ventilator still rules all). I think the key to getting the VR09 Organ to sound more authentic is to turn the Organ volume slide bar no higher than ~ 4, that way you can dial in some distortion. And use the newer "Type 3" Leslie. Here are some settings that are pretty usable for an "authentic" old poorly-maintained Hammond sound (at least to my ears). Rock Organ/4 lowest sliders out. Organ mast volume = 4. Organ Setting: leakage level = 14 On click level = 17 Off click level=10 Low Gain = -10 High Gain = -8 Leslie Settings: Rotary: Type = 3 Wf Rise Time = 55 Tw Rise time = 79 Wf fall time = 55 Tw fall time = 79 Wf slow speed = 9 Tw slow speed = 6 Wf fast speed = 61 Tw fast speed = 76 Knobs: Overdrive ~ 1 oclock Tone ~ 3 oclock Compressor ~ 2 oclock Reverb: Plate Wall Type: Drapery

All I know is the Morris Day song "The Bird" would probably end up more like the Chicken Song, like this:

While in Grad school, I played guitar in several local bands, only some of which were popular. One time, some friends (actual musicians) scored a huge frat party gig out at Lake Mcconaughy, in Western Nebraska. They didn't actually have a band. But, being the very talented musicians they were (drummer and bass player), they assumed they could easily find an equally good guitar player to learn some tunes and pull off this well paying, very large gig. Turns out they were wrong. So they had to ultimately turn to me. We practiced a couple of times and quickly learned about 2+ hours of material that one would learn in a hurry to pull off a well paying, very large frat party in the 80's. Day of the gig, we do the 4 hour drive to get there. Party is on the beach, with all power being provided by generators. We set up about 10 feet from the lake shore. 1st set goes great - we rocked it! Break time - party on! 2nd set - goes great too! Break time 2 - party on some more! But now it is late at night, and the rowdy fratizens want a 3rd set. As we the "band' had been partying like its 1999, we said "sure!" (we were gonna sleep in a tent later, so who cares). Problem 1: we are out of materiel. Solution 1: we decided to do extended fusion jazz jams (remember, this is before Spinal Tap, and the bass player and drummer were very very good rock and jazz musicians, so nothing fazed them). Problem 2: I'm the Pentatonic Rock Guy they scrounged up at the last minute to make this gig happen. Solution 2: After realizing my guitar histrionics were only buying me about 2 min per 15 min Phish-jam, an idea floats into my fogged mind - I'll play a solo in the lake! That will show those bastards ! (I used to spend a lot of times in blues bars, and the long-cable solo walk always seemed to work for Albert Collins). Anyway, I was no Albert, but I had a long cable, so I started the trip down to the lake. Luckily, literally a foot away from the water, my inner guardian angel voice said ("dude, why are you going to step into that lake whilst plugged into a generator? I recommend against this course of action. Strongly. Lest you be in for quite a shock!) So, realizing the wisdom of my inner-guardian angel who apparently talks like a medieval hippy, I sheepishly retreated back, and continued with my lame wankery on the shore, fooling no one. In conclusion, I guess you could say this was both the dumbest thing I almost did at a gig, and also the smartest thing I didn't. The End.

Hi Guys I've been seriously contemplating buying a CK61, and have followed this thread with interest (thanks!) But, I have been wondering if the Ck61 has a simple way to "tap tempo", especially for delays. Sounds like a simple request, but surprisingly, some synths do not have that ability (my Roland VR09 does, and it is great for setting tap-tempo delays on the fly for dub style effects, etc.). Anyway, was intrigued to find (somewhat obscured in the manual on page 17) the Yamaha CK61 can do tempo delay. HOWEVER, it is not clear from the wording they use if you can actually "tap" the tempo, or you just "tap" the [ENTER] button to gain access to change the tempo using a knob (which would be kinda lame). Anybody know? here's a link to the manual: https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/2/1547682/ck88_en_om_b0.pdf -------[From the manual, page 17]-------------------- Tempo Delay A special delay that syncs to the tempo of the song. The delay is applied by specifying the Tempo (Tempo Delay Time) and the note length. The initial value is 1/4 (quarter note). Use the [DEPTH] knob to change the delay depth and feedback level, and the [TIME] knob to adjust the delay tempo. Another intuitive way of setting the tempo is to tap the [ENTER] button at least three times. Tempo Delay Time can be set by using the [TIME] knob while holding down the [ENTER] button (page 42), or from the [SETTINGS] button  Sound  Common  Tempo Delay Time.

Werd. Same story for mine over the past 8 or 9 years - only durability gripe I can say is the little slider knobs have come off a couple of times. One other comment - I too have pondered replacing my VR09, mainly because of the keyboard feel. Haven't been able to, as it does just about everything I want, in a very inexpensive, lightweight package (~ 14 lbs). Side note - I recently went to see our sax-player's funk/jazz band - thought their keyboard player sounded great. I was shocked to discover he was playing a VR09 - really sounded good through the house PA. Talked to him afterwards, and he said it was workign out better for him than his Nord. Maybe Roland optimizes their boards to also sound great in a live context, who knows.

Man, that link sent me on a rabbit hole of some of these guy's other stuff - watching them do this improv gave me keyboard shrinkage!

Crikey! That is pretty phenomenal! Great groove- that dude's left-hand bass was amazing, and the rest of it even more so! Thanks for posting that.

Love these mods! I did a variation on matestubs design, very simple and lets you essentially stack your two keys on top of each other. Quick question: has anyone found a good carrying bag that the K&M 18880 will fit into? Due to its "square" size, the only thing I can think of would be maybe an artist portfolio, but would love to know if there is anything.

Hey Doug Not affiliated with this seller, but whilst perusing the Portland Area Craigslist I noticed there is a King Korg in Seattle for a pretty decent price: https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/msg/d/seattle-korg-modeling-synthesizer/7504638505.html No idea if the seller would ship to Mexico though. Cheers, Roy

New Tip for better organ distortion with Roland VR-09! (maybe old news for some of you). Many of you know you can almost use the useless distortion if you turn down the main gain (purple slider) to 4 or 5. Basically, gain staging to avoid horrible digital distortion. Well, just thought to push that idea futher, and turned down the Organ High Gain and Low Gain (under the Menu ->Organ option) to like -5 or -6 for both, along with the main gain. Doing so lets you turn the distortion knob up past noon, and results in a much more useful/natural sounding distortion. not perfect by any means, but WAY better than before. Tried it with both a "rock organ" and "transistor" setting. In both cases, you can actually use the distortion now on the VR-09!! Just thought I would share....