With first-hand I meant Ive bought the synth from the first owner, I even got the purchase receipt from 1984 ;)
Your guess regarding the battery cannot be true, because I bought the synth nearly 2 years ago and the first 1 1/2 years it worked very well...
I'm now waiting for the guy to send it back, but when I have it I will try the thing with the arpeggio.
I've installed the CHD midi retrofit.
Cheers