[sdiy] Modding the MKS-30 - Looking for suggestions

[dj hohum]

On 6/25/07, Bob Weigel <sounddoctorin at imt.net> wrote:
>
> That's not quite true actually. Polysix uses those chips but the poly61
> has 13600 based filters.  It does have the EG's though.
>
> Your best bets are probably CEM3328's scrapped from a bad Ensoniq
> Mirage, or bad ESQ1 or ssm2044's from a bad Siel Expander or DK600 if
> you are too far away not to have me fix it :-) . (so many nightmare
> repairs on those)

Yes, the mirage has 3328s but, again, I was under the impression that
the ESQ-1 had 3379s which include the VCA on chip. The 3328 does not.
The 2044 is also an ok, if not a bit inflexible, choice as they are
available at a reasonable price.

> The filters in the stock MKS30 are same as the
> juno106 of course and they are usually OK.  It's usually the vca that
> fails from what I've seen.  If you clip the last 3 pins as I
> recall...and build another vca.  So don't throw away those bad chips! -

Yes, I think it was only the VCA that had gone bad in one voice. So I
have five chips that are most likely all good, that is, I'm assuming
that they survived the de-soldering process, and one chip with a bad
VCA.

To be clear, the roland filters sound fine. I'm just not interested
enough in the standard roland sound to fix the MKS-30. I don't want an
MKS-30, I have multiple junos and I don't need another variant of the
same thing. I want to experiment with what might make for an
interesting DCO polysynth using the MKS as a platform.

For example, I wonder if six of ken stones bi-n-tic might be
interesting. There's plenty of room in the MKS-30 for adding a second
board above the original so I don't see any reason to limit myself to
something compact like a VCF/VCA chip.


> -Bob
>
> Florian Anwander wrote:
>
> > Hi dj
> >
> >> While I really like the CEM3372, they are expensive and this is an
> >> experiment. I'm all ears if anyone knows where I can buy 3372s for a
> >> reasonable price.
> >
> > Check ebay for a used ESQ1 should go for around $100-$130 (at least
> > here in germany). There in are 8 of them.
> > Lately I missed a Korg Poly61: 6 SSM 2044 and 6 SSM 2256  for 40 Euros
> > (I simply talked too long on the phone with a friend and forgot to hit
> > the "validate the offer"...)
> >
> >
> >> Those are good ideas. What do you think might be the most interesting
> >> configuration?
> >
> > I am not sure about what you can miss and what not. I prefer the
> > VCF-FM over all.
> > Another idea for CEM3372 is the Oberheim inspired multitype filter, as
> > Doepfer made it with the A107 Morphing filter and will do with the
> > forthcoming A135-2 series (remember the discussion about the Elka
> > Synthex pads, which are band pass based).
> >
> > At the moment I am planning an extension for my MonoPoly. I will feed
> > the four voices (CV, Gate and VCO out) to a breakout box. After this
> > breakoutbox I will put some kind of semi modular four voice VCF, VCA,
> > Panner; maybe also I will add a second VCO per voice. It will
> > definitely contain a lot  of controllable crossmodulation (LFOs,
> > Wheels, joysticks...).
> >
> >
> > Aah, btw: If you want to experiment, what combi of functions and
> > modulating interactions is good or not, then try a nord modular - its
> > perfect for planning sound architectur, especially when you decide to
> > use only a few basic modules.
> >
> > Florian
> >
> > Florian
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> >
> >
>