I've been busy lately....

[jh]

Hi Gene,

glad to hear from you after such a long time !

>1. I took out the cheapo Panasonic rubber-contact keyboard and put in a nice
>shiny Pratt & Read keyboard (the kind with the metal key rails and J-wire
>contacts). I like the style of these old keybards, with their heavier
>action. The new keyboard had a diode matrix already, so the existing 16-pin
>ribbon cable plugged right into it (yay!). I had to drill a couple of holes
>to fit it in. Now the key contact problem has completely disappeared, and
>the keyboard has a much firmer and more substantial feel to it.

I envy you for that ! Wanted to do this myself, but didn't find a P&R keyboard
that was good enough. (But I have to say that while I don't like the "rubbery"
feeling of the Panasonic keyboard, it's still in perfect condition, so I don't need
to replace it that badly.)
May I ask what kind of P&R keyboard you used? From an OB-Xa ?
>From some other synth ? Found a new one ?

>3. I added a noise level pot on the back (the noise level in the OB-8 is
>either ON full blast or totally OFF). Now I can adjust the level when noise
>is enabled.

Good idea ! Now that you have a pot, why not disable the switch at all.
You can use it for other functions. You know what I have in mind ! (;->)

>4. I added a 2-foot long ribbon controller just above the keyboard, with a
>range of about +/- 5 octaves. I used black rubberized anti-static bag
>material for the resistive element, and a steel band about 1/4" wide for the
>ribbon. I mounted a separate linear power supply inside the case so as not
>to disturb the existing circuitry. The ribbon is buffered by a TL-082 which
>simply goes straight to all 16 VCO's via a 100K 1% resistor added to each
>VCO's summing node. There is no memory S/H cap, so the pitch is only
>affected when you press on the ribbon. Autotune still works, as long as you
>leave the ribbon alone during the tuning process. Now I can do CS-80 bends
>and get the VCO's down to a couple of hertz. Cool. Killer OB-8 from hell.

Great !
For even closer CS-80 feeling, you might even connect it to the 3340's linear inputs !

JH.