[sdiy] Repairability of modern analog synths

[Brian Willoughby]

Even something like the Korg Poly-61 from 1982 has a microcontroller with firmware programmed into it. I think they were masked ROM chips, but variations on the chips were available with some flavor of PROM inside. I use the Poly-61 as an example because I opened one up some time after 1984 and was stopped from progress by lack of a programmer.

As fro modern microcontrollers, a small fraction boot from external memory, so they're not as much of a challenge. Admittedly, the vast majority have onboard Flash that contains the firmware. However, almost all have some sort of JTAG interface that can be used to read and write the firmware. A few have protections to prevent reading the firmware, but those typically allow the firmware to be erased and written with totally new firmware.

The crucial aspect is that nobody wants to design a new product with decades-old technology. We don't have the time or energy to waste. Thus, no matter what you do, the most interesting parts will not last forever.

Brian


On Oct 19, 2020, at 3:42 PM, David G Dixon <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> wrote:
> It would seem to me that one big problem with "modern" synths is replacing
> programmed chips.  I can't speak for other people, but when I open up a
> broken synth and see microcontrollers, I close it back up and leave it where
> I found it.