NoiseWiki

Blows my mind this thread has not been made. Would not surprise me if I'm just dense as fuck and overlooked it. Anyway, without further ado:

Broken Korg DW-8000 and broken Ensoniq ESQ-1.
I contacted the seller because of the Korg, having not yet shaken the seller's remorse from the one I sold in 1997-8. It was listed as having a bad transistor in the PSU and a cracked PCB with broken traces on the voice board.

Turns out, the seller was an old friend, so I went home with them both. The ESQ-1 has some dodgy logic fucking things up.

These will wind up in the what's on your bench thread, i am sure.

I had an ESQ1 for a bit in the early 90's unfortunately it got fried during an electrical storm when I was living in this really shitty formerly condemned house in Chicago. I took it to a repair shop and couldn't afford the repair so I just abandoned it. I recently cruised ebay for one recently and the prices were a bit much. I recall it being a total nightmare to program but it had some good stock sounds and a decent sequencer for the time.

The Ensoniq is on the bench now that I'm in a holding pattern on the Korg until I have a backup battery installed.

I'm discovering proper service data for the ESQ-1 is scarce. Their official service manual essentially amounts to a flow chart to determine which board needs replacing.

I had a VFX for a while, never fell in love with it. I read that the ESQ-1 has more grit and character, so maybe it will pull its weight (which is substantial).

I currently only own one full size keyboard which is an EMU Emax II sampler. It was a pretty sweet sampler back in the day. As a keyboard is not bad.. although doesn't have aftertouch nor weighted keys not like I really have any use for those things but I keep telling myself if I get all this shit set back up I'm going to do some midi crsp with all the rack sound modules and other rack samplers I have.

I've made alot of room and still have space in my new storage unit so I can figure out the layout with all this other crap in the way.

Unfortunately I had planned to get a table from ikea and they are put of everything I could use. So guess I'm gonna have to DIY that. I just need a table top really.. will probably just put it on top of some rolling 19 metal racks.

NoiseWiki wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:41 pmI just need a table top really.. will probably just put it on top of some rolling 19 metal racks.

Sounds like a job for an old door, the handle hole even makes for passable wire management.

I got the ESQ-1 working. I'm going to bide my time and make sure it stays working before I spend too much time building patches, but so far I do like it more than my memory of the VFX.

Good luck on your space!

crochambeau wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 10:13 pm
Sounds like a job for an old door, the handle hole even makes for passable wire management.

Heh.. well it needs to be pretty deep, deeper than the typical door is wide and I don't have any old doors. I have a desk that I may take off the original legs.

My other idea was to build a giant drawer to mount under said table for the sampler

Both the ESQ-1 & DW-8000 are more or less operational at this point. The DW-8000 needs an overhaul on the keyboard in a bad way, but the synth engine is back at it and a delight to behold. The ESQ-1 it seems is fully operational, but I'm going to recap the PSU before I deliver it back to its rightful owner.

I really should dig into the Six Trak that inspired the thread of like name on Maniacs, now that I've got some wind in my sails.

Wound up getting a Portastudio 424 for free this week. The play and record heads don't engage. Taking it to a shop in Chinatown this week to hopefully get it fixed and then it's time for a tape loop side project. Has anyone experienced and successfully serviced something like this before? The capstans spin so I can't imagine its a motor malfunction.

Joystick switcher by Gen Thalz.

How does the switcher work? I gather that therexe2x80x99s probably four inputs and four outputs but the joystick in combination with the buttons confuses me.

FAP wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:37 pm How does the switcher work? I gather that therexe2x80x99s probably four inputs and four outputs but the joystick in combination with the buttons confuses me.

joystick is an 8-directional switcher. the top buttons are on/off switches for each channel and the bottom buttons are momentary switches.