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

[Bob Weigel]

Righto, 3379's in the ESQ1 and sq80.  Sorry for confusion.  I like 
ssm2044's quite a lot.  Mono/poly and polysix use it as well as DK600 
siel/expander and Kawai K3, and SX210/240 and oh what else..probably 
something else less known..can't think right now.  SSM2045 in other 
siel's DK80 and DK70 but only 2 and 1 of them respectfully but they 
sound great too. -Bob

dj hohum wrote:

> 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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>> >
>> >
>>
>
>