Alesis Quadrasynth display...

[Markyboard]

Hey Justin. Yeah, this is perplexing and I'm sure frustrating to say the least. Where did the replacement/spare display come from when you bought it 2 years ago? The reason I ask is I see Syntaur sells used displays which would make me somewhat suspicious. Is it possible that this display is also bad? It could just be bad luck but that's where I would focus my effort.

[Justin Havu]

I sold the first QS I had two years ago. Never tried to fix it as I wasn't sure what I was doing then. I bought the replacement display from Syntaur a month ago. I just can't afford to shell out any more money for another display, or even a replacement Quadrasynth for that matter.

[Markyboard]

Probably obvious but I would try to get Syntaur to send you a replacement display. Was the one you bought NOS? Even if it is it could still be bad.

[Justin Havu]

It was a used display. Even then, if they were going to charge $70 for it, you'd think they'd tested it out. I sent them a complaint on FB, hopefully they get back to me.

[Justin Havu]

Here's what this one's doing...

 

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/justinhavu/12718385_10209001012808784_2748983915735306577_n.jpg

[Justin Havu]

Oh, yeah, and the main board isn't the right one--it's for a QS-Plus. Not only that, it's non functioning as well. As soon as I can get this resolved, that'll be the last time I ever order from Syntaur.

[Markyboard]

Another thing you might pursue (although a long shot) is finding someone with the same board (working) and willing to pop your display in their unit. My money's on this being a bad display.

 

 

Also, could it be a compatibility issue with the display you bought from Syntaur. There appears to be more than 1 revision.

 

Something I found on line - may or may not pertain to your situation:

 

I have an old Alesis Quadrasynth Plus Piano keyboard that I primarily use as a controller for soft synths. It works fine, except the LCD has been dead for several years. So, I finally decided to order a replacement LCD for it (via eBay), and after pulling things apart it looks like I've got a different rev of the LCD driver board. The replacement one has a 16-pin connector, but my original board and ribbon cable only uses 14 of the 16 pins, but also has 2 extra wires connected for the backlight. I'm guessing those extra pins on the new LCD are probably for the backlight. I'm pretty convinced that I can get it connected correctly if I had some documentation or schematics, as it's very similar and is the same part number. Anyway, I plan to contact Alesis first thing next week, but have little hope they'll be of any help. (When I originally asked about getting the part, they had no information and just said they don't stock it or have anything in their systems about this model....it's about 15 years old)

 

So, my question.....does anyone here have a line on someone who could get me a copy of the old repair manual and/or schematics? I imagine some synth techs must have this documentation (assuming it ever existed), but I cannot locate anything after plenty of google searches. The only technical stuff out there seems to be for the later model Alesis synths.

 

I realize it's a long shot, but if anyone has any leads, I'd really appreciate it. Feel free to PM me, if you'd rather not post contact info in the forum.

 

Thanks,

Mitch

 

Finally, this is out of the QS Service Manual. Not sure if it applies to the Quadrasynth or not but wouldn't hurt to try. BTW I can't find a service manual specifically for the Quadrasynth on line.

 

Alesis QS Series Keyboards Service Manual V1.00

20

11/19/06

3.00 Test Procedures

If at all possible, user memory should always be s

aved (PCMCIA Card or MIDI SYS-EX)

prior to service. Its also important to remember t

hat user data itself may be corrupted for a

variety of reasons. So if for some reason a unit co

ntinues to crash when reloaded, its not

unreasonable to expect bad data to be the cause.

3.10 Self Tests

The QS Series Software is specifically designed to

assist in troubleshooting hardware

problems. This assistance comes in the form of a se

ries of self test routines that check various

aspects of the hardware. There are two different me

thods of accessing these routines. One is

an automated run through all tests, while the other

allows the choice of which individual tests

are run. Note that due to the extreme difference in

the QSRs front panel, the self tests

themselves and the method they are accessed are als

o different. See Section 3.13 for a

thorough discussion of the QSR Self Tests.

4

Pressing 0 and 03 during Power up reinitializes

all software values to their ROM presets.

4

Pressing 0 and 10 during power up initiates the

Automated Self Test Mode.

4

Pressing 0 and 00 during power up establishes I

ndividual Test Mode.

[Markyboard]

Oh, yeah, and the main board isn't the right one--it's for a QS-Plus. Not only that, it's non functioning as well. As soon as I can get this resolved, that'll be the last time I ever order from Syntaur.

 

Ah...just seeing this now. I guess it could still be the original main board at fault then. But I'm still thinking the display itself.

[Losendoskeys]

Not much left in the box!

It could be a PSU or earthing problem - do you have a meter to check the PSU?

[Synthaholic]

You are looking for a display for the original Quadrasynth, not the Plus Piano model, correct?

[Justin Havu]

I'm looking for a main board, actually. Also, may be looking for a transformer board as well. I have a main board and display from a QS Plus Piano (the stuff I got from Syntaur) already. I asked one of the guys who was involved with the QS (Taiho Yamada) and he was saying that they had a customer with an M-Audio product that was doing the same thing, and they wound up tracing it back to bad power, so I'm thinking now it might just be a transformer issue. Sadly, I don't have a meter to test it.

[Losendoskeys]

I'm looking for a main board, actually. Also, may be looking for a transformer board as well. I have a main board and display from a QS Plus Piano (the stuff I got from Syntaur) already. I asked one of the guys who was involved with the QS (Taiho Yamada) and he was saying that they had a customer with an M-Audio product that was doing the same thing, and they wound up tracing it back to bad power, so I'm thinking now it might just be a transformer issue. Sadly, I don't have a meter to test it.

I'm sure you can pickup up a cheap multimeter for peanuts at Walmart or somewhere? We use Maplin in the UK and £10 gets a meter

[Markyboard]

I guess it could still be...

 

Hey Justin-criticizing myself as much as anyone here but we're trying to troubleshoot based strictly on guess work and conjecture. That's not a good way to go about this imo and as you can see it can end up being costly or at least more expensive than it should be. Nothing wrong with swapping parts when you don't have the tools, documents, skill etc to diagnose the electronics. I'm sure it's obvious to you now but when you do swap parts you need to make sure you have the right parts and a high degree of confidence that those parts work. Otherwise it's impossible to draw logical conclusions in your troubleshooting. Personally I would not trust used parts for this purpose.

 

At this point I have no idea what's going on and apologize if I led you astray. Schematics for your model/rev would be very useful.

[Justin Havu]

It's all good. I appreciate the help. At least if something really does go wrong with either the display or main board, there's a spare! I do know that up until a month and a half ago, the Quadra was working flawlessly.

 

Not sure what the revisions are for the replacement parts as they're currently installed in the Quadra, but I do know the revs for the original parts. I tried Svengling a service manual but nothing's coming up. Only one that comes up is for the later QS series.

 

Display is Rev. xC

 

Main board is a Rev. B

[Losendoskeys]

As an electronics engineer (sorry - late to the party) you should always start with the power supply..........