The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

So, further to my posting a while back about my AN1x rebooting
continually, I think I may have kinda found the problem.

After opening up the AN1x and having a look inside, I was going to give
up and just accept that it is dead.  I'd removed the tiny circuit board
that is attached by clips to the main board, just to see what was under
there.

My housemate suggested switching the synth on without that board
attached, just to see what happened.  Well, the synth has now been
running the "Alan" sequence for about an hour or so without crashing at
all.  I'm starting to hallucinate from the sound, but it's still running
and it hasn't crashed yet.

This is a wild guess, but the AN1x seems to work pretty well when that
little board isn't attached.  When I re-attach it, I'm back to having a
broken AN1x.

Closer inspection appears to reveal that the large square DSP chip on
that little board has some kind of discolouration and a circular marking
around the middle of the chip, as if it has melted inside.  So, I think
my problem is that that chip has blown.

Anyway, for now, I have an AN1x with 5-note polyphony (also, it's note
scheduling only plays the first five in a 10 note sequence, or sometimes
every second note, depending on the program) but it seems to be half
working, which I can live with I guess.

As I mostly use the AN1x as my master keyboard to control everything
else, it's good that it's not crashing all the time now (so I can do
that again).

Still, I love the sounds of my AN1x and will (half) miss them, but
thankfully I nearly always sample it rather than use it straight into a
tune, so I can probably cope with this.  I'm quite sad at the semi-death
of my favourite synth, but there may be hope for me yet!

Does anyone know if it would be possible to get a replacement
mini-circuit board thing?  The numbers on it are "DMS XS316" and "YAMAHA
#A0282".  I think I would be willing to pay for one - not sure how much,
probably \ufffd50 or so.

I guess if someone else has a buggered AN1x lying around, I might be
able to buy theirs for spares, but at the moment I don't have much money
to spare.

Anyway, I'm not holding my breath since Yamaha customer service isn't
exactly outstanding.  I'll email them, but to be honest I would be
surprised if I even got a reply.

So, I have the worlds only 5-note polyphonic AN1x, which will have to do
for now! :(

And yes, I do feel a bit like crying.  :'-(

~Dave

-- 

Dave Silvester
Music Technology Junkie
Web: http://www.mu-sly.co.uk/
Email: sly at mu hyphen sly dot co dot uk
ICQ: 165159988