The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Tonight I performed a minor surgical procedure on my AN1x :)

For a long time, knob #4 has been loose, to the point where I had to stuff 
paper bit into the knob just so it can depress. It got so bad that even the 
slightest vibration made the value go schizo from 0 to 127...not good. 
Also, in an unrelated malady, the ribbon controller had a tendency to be 
hyper-sensitive.

So I flipped it upside-down, got out the powerscrew (which I highly 
recommend unless you want carpal tunnel syndrome REAL badly), unscrewed the 
whopping 33 screws on the underside, and popped the bottom metal lif off -

Yamaha did a very good job in making this as non user-serviceable as 
possible :)
If you have any broken keys, be prepared to dismantle everything to replace 
them. Actually I've seen worse (Ensoniq ASR-10, for one). To Yamaha's 
defense, the thing had zero dust or dirt inside after 2 1/2 years of service.

Man, I wish I had a digital camera so I can show you folks...there's lots 
of wire spaghetti, there's even these bendable rubber-insulated wires whose 
sole purpose is to clamp down bunches of wires.

The mainboard (with the battery) is clearly seen towards the right. There's 
two screws by the side where they fasten into the keyboard assembly. The 
mainboard section lifts off, but there's lots and lots of wires that limit 
its movement. I had to unfasten the aftertouch "AFT" cable and unscrew the 
mini-board where the keyboard wires attach to (4 screws).

Now I can get at the knob assembly. There's two "card strips" (like small 
versions of PCI cards in your computer of which 4 knob pots are attached to 
per card. One was tight, the other loose. I was contemplating gluing one 
down when I decided to go further and unscrew the metal plate that's below 
the knob pots.

I was able to free the knob section, and - hello, what's this? A small hex 
nut has come loose below the knob 4 pot! So I screwed it on back tightly, 
as well as the other 7. That's what's been plaguing me all these years!

As for the ribbon controller, the ribbon *cable* connector seemed to be 
loose, so I pushed it down.

Then I put all the wires and screws back where they belong, and I had a 
good-as-new synth...


- 30 -
: . elson trinidad, los angeles, california, usa
: . elson@...  :  www.westworld.com/~elson
: . groove to the futurethnic beats of e:trinity at www.e-trinity.org and 
www.mp3.com.etrinity

Interesting reading material, Elson. It reminds me when I opened my 
EX5r (when I still had it instead of the EX5S), and was slightly 
disappointed to find out that there was a whole mess of wires and 
band cables (often with sections where the individual cables were 
loosened, to provide easier bending).

Also quite amazing was that this box was so big (18"x17"x5.25"), 
largely empty, but yet didn't have any room for an internal hard 
disk. You'd have to screw it to the (quite thin) top/side metal cover.

But in general, I'm quite happy with the construction quality of my 
Yamaha's. I can't wait for them to arrive. (I recently emigrated from 
the Netherlands, to 2000 kn south, and now I'm living on a sunny 
Mediterannean island. Tomorrow it'll be 20 degrees C.)

Thanks for sharing this with the community!

- Peter