Wavestation SR hardware problem

[piper]

I know this is a long shot, but has anyone here had any dealings with Wavestation hardware problems? I bought two SRs a few days ago off ebay and one played about 20% of the 500 patches 10 semitones out of tune for about 30 minutes. All transpose and pitch parameters were identical so I decided to press the four buttons that reinitialize the SR. Reinitialization never completed and now it won't even bring up the OS when powered on - the LCD (16 char X 2 lines) lights up, but there is only black grid boxes on the top line.

 

I called Korg US tech support and a fairly knowledgable tech said both the pitch and boot failure certainly points to a hardware problem. Said it sounded either like a tone chip or power supply problem.

 

The tech at the Korg authorized repair shop is on vacationnow (of course ).

 

Anyone dealt with this kind of problem?

 

(BTW - I replaced the lithium batteries on both units because the LCD said new batteries were needed when they booted. The bad unit played out-of-tune for about 30 minutes before the fatal reinitialization.)

[Markyboard]

Since you said long shot I'll share a similar experience. I bought an FS1R off Ebay about a year ago. I was trying to down load soundiver patches into it when it would occassionally lock up and I'd have to power off and on to clear the problem. It eventually locked up completely. I called tech support at Yamaha and they had me try the soft reset which had no effect. He then had me remove the battery and reinsert it. Still no good. At this point he wanted me to send it in. After I got off the phone with him I was screwing around and removed the battery again AND the AC cord, this time leaving it out for a couple of minutes letting the thing fully discharge and trying again. This time it powered up fine. I eventually locked it up again as well as my other FS1R and discovered the MIDI interface(MTP-AV) was some how corrupting my Sounddiver data and causing the problem. Replaced both MTP-AVs with Unitor/AMT and never had the problem again.

 

So - try removing the battery and the AC cord so no sneak paths can charge up any circuits. Leave it like this for a couple of minutes and replace the battery and power it back up. Keep your fingers crossed. Good luck.

[piper]

Thanks - I'll try that tonight.

[marino]

Both my Wavestations (an A/D and an SR) have the bad habit to go crazy when their internal batteries are near the end of their lifespan. Some times they just start behaving erratically, some other times they just die and reset all the Performances to a default one. In every case, the cure has always been to replace the battery.

Your case could very well be different, but I would try this route before sending the instrument to a service center.

 

A side note: Both my Wavestations do qualify for the shorter battery lifespan I've ever seen. Once, the battery in the SR lasted just an year. The A/D averages 4/5 years.

 

Carlo

[jimmymio]

That's funny, I've had an SR for 10 years and have never changed the battery. Probably because I haven't been using it much. Anyone want to buy it? JP

[Roger Hooper]

Piper, I would recommend calling Kelvin Russell at Russell Labs; 410-515-6777. He is an absolutely brilliant synth tech and it would be well worth the shipping charges to send your piece to him. He has been repairing synths since the 70's, and has even built modular units of his own design. Kelvin services several of our area GC stores, and has customers from all over the country; he has a great rep for great service.

[piper]

I appreciate all your replies and comments.

 

THE GOOD NEWS

Last night I removed the battery, left it out for several minutes and then reinserted it. First power on the familiar black boxes returned to the first LCD line. However, upon a second power cycle it came back to life and presented a DIAG INIT WAVE message. When I pressed the bank button it showed the normal bank voices.

 

THE BAD NEWS

The same voices that were out of tune before are still out of tune. After I confirmed that, I tried another reinitialization and it returned to the perpetual black grids on line 1 of the display - no matter how many times I power cycled it. Opening the case and taking out the battery for a few minutes and replacing it will consistently bring it back to its out-of-tune operational state.

 

Looks like its off to a technician

 

Thanks for the tips.

[RABid]

This is what worries me about ebay. I have heard too many people say "My XXXX is giving me problems so I am going to put it on ebay." I have been a few times but have never won a piece of music gear. I prefer to know who I am buying from. The Wavestation SR is one thing I have been watching for.

 

Robert

[piper]

Rabid, I know what you mean. I bought my EX5 off ebay a couple of years ago and I love it, but it did arrive with both plastic end caps broken. I got $250 from UPS to fix it, but that was before they really tightened down on the claims process.

 

We have also bought and sold about 6 items over the last couple of months without any problems until now.

 

I was afraid the SR was going to turn into an ebay horror story, but it turns out the seller is really a decent person and is willing to pay for repairs if the cost is reasonable or take it back and refund my money if repair is simply not cost effective.

 

Of course it's not over yet, but I still feel good about the SR deal - even with these interim hassles.

 

Overall I think ebay is a fairly safe place for used synth buying and selling. Ideally, regardless of which side of the deal you're on the other party will have enough ebay transactions to have a few feedback comments that can provide addidional confidence. Some sellers say they won't accept bids from people that have no feedback.