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Re: WTT: Roland 100m full D-system for your Serge (not valid)

2011-06-16 by Bakis Sirros

hi Fellow sergers,

please ignore, i'll keep the system-100m.

after all, you all like your serge so much, that you would not trade it, i know for sure...

best regards, :-)
Bakis.

Bakis Sirros - Parallel Worlds / Interconnected / Memory Geist
[Doepfer_a100] group owner
www. parallel - worlds - music. com
www. facebook. com/ pages/Parallel-Worlds/192093934136476
www. myspace. com/ parallelworldsmusic
www. myspace. com/ interconnectedmusic
www. myspace. com/ memorygeist
www. DiN. org. uk
www. musicamaximamagnetica. com
www. vu-us. com

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--- On Thu, 6/16/11, Bakis Sirros <synth_freak_2000@...> wrote:

From: Bakis Sirros <synth_freak_2000@...>
Subject: WTT: Roland 100m full D-system for your Serge mboat with 2 m-odules.
To: "Serge Modular Users Group" <sergemodular@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thursday, June 16, 2011, 3:54 PM

hi list,

interested in a direct trade: my Roland System-100m 191j cabinet with full 5 modules (112 dual vco, 121 dual vcf, 130 dual vca, 140 dual env/lfo, 150 noise/ringmod/S+H) for a Serge m-boat with two m-odules in it.

(the system-100m is in fine working and cosmetic condition, only one very minor fault, the S/H section LED does not work. Only the LED does not work, but the S/H section and the whole 150 module works fine! so, all functions work fine in all modules!!)

their value now is about the same, so it would be a direct trade, each of us paying shipping for his own item...

interested to trade only inside EU.

i am only interested to trade the full 100m cabinet for a Serge mboat, not to sell any item!

please contact me off-list.

thanks,

Bakis.

Bakis Sirros - Parallel Worlds / Interconnected / Memory Geist
[Doepfer_a100] group owner
www. parallel - worlds - music. com
www. facebook. com/ pages/Parallel-Worlds/192093934136476
www. myspace. com/ parallelworldsmusic
www. myspace. com/ interconnectedmusic
www. myspace. com/ memorygeist
www. DiN. org. uk
www. musicamaximamagnetica. com
www. vu-us. com

Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-22 by Kelly Snook

Hi guys,

I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.

Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Warmest,
Kelly

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-22 by Bill Yerazunis

Hmmm.... personal experience with this says it's usually not the 60-->50 Hz with
older equipment but rather that old equipment has old electrolytic capacitors that have
lost capacitance (often a LOT of capacitance).

Those paper electrolytics are now over 30 years old. You might want to try replacing
them with modern electrolytics and seeing if that's the problem.

Or - just get a new power supply and keep the old one as a memento.

- Bill (project MOARNOBZ moves forward... slowly, but moves forward).

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--- On Wed, 6/22/11, Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...> wrote:

From: Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...>
Subject: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 3:07 PM

Hi guys,

I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.

Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Warmest,
Kelly

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-22 by Kelly Snook

hi bill, thanks for responding! that's great advice, but they were doing just fine (no humming) in the US just before moving here to the UK earlier this year. that suggests that it's something to do with the power here, but perhaps it's a coincidence...?

k

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From: Bill Yerazunis <yerazunis@...>
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, June 22, 2011 8:18:53 PM
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK

--- On Wed, 6/22/11, Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...> wrote:

From: Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...>
Subject: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 3:07 PM

Hi guys,

I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.

Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Warmest,
Kelly

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-22 by Bill Yerazunis

Oh well... additional data says "maybe it's not the capacitors then."

Sorry, can't help ya. :-(

- Bill

--- On Wed, 6/22/11, Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...> wrote:

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From: Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...>
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 3:33 PM

hi bill, thanks for responding! that's great advice, but they were doing just fine (no humming) in the US just before moving here to the UK earlier this year. that suggests that it's something to do with the power here, but perhaps it's a coincidence...?

k

From: Bill Yerazunis <yerazunis@...>
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, June 22, 2011 8:18:53 PM
Subject: Re: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK

Hmmm.... personal experience with this says it's usually not the 60-->50 Hz with
older equipment but rather that old equipment has old electrolytic capacitors that have
lost capacitance (often a LOT of capacitance).

Those paper electrolytics are now over 30 years old. You might want to try replacing
them with modern electrolytics and seeing if that's the problem.

Or - just get a new power supply and keep the old one as a memento.

- Bill (project MOARNOBZ moves forward... slowly, but moves forward).

--- On Wed, 6/22/11, Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...> wrote:

From: Kelly Snook <kellysnook@...>
Subject: [SergeModular] Power conversion in the UK
To: SergeModular@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 3:07 PM

Hi guys,

I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.

Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Warmest,
Kelly

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-22 by sprgroups@o2.co.uk

> Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power
> transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power,

A transformer will convert a voltage, but not a frequency.
Frequency converters are available, but generally expensive
industrial devices.

> or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power
> modules to better handle 50Hz power?

50Hz vs 60Hz is not usually a big problem, although 60Hz
mains transformers work less efficiently at 50Hz. Before
you conclude it's a frequency problem, check that your
step down transformer is big enough and is supplying
approximately 120v, not being loaded down - which
would lead to hum.

Steve

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-23 by Bill Sequeira

Hi Kelly,

It may be a problem with your grounding. There are a few variables at play and breaking them down will help you find the reason behind your hum.

1. Home circuits -- older building/home in the UK may not be correctly grounded - worth checking. Have you tried powering your modular somewhere else? Same result?

2. Power supplies -- are you running a single power supply for the TKB/Aries or separate supplies? If the latter make sure the Serge TKB is grounded to the Aries supply. Can you ground the power supply elsewhere? Most Serge supplies allow for grounding to a screw in the power plate to ground it.

3. If the power supply was working ok (from your prior post) then take a look at your step up transformer.

a. Make sure it can provide ample power for what you need. Underpowered transformers do not behave well when asked to do more than they nominally do.

b. Quality/age -- could it be defective?

Hope the above moves you forward to isolating the culprit.

Cheers -- Bill

--------------------------

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within." -- Will Durant

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On Jun 22, 2011, at 12:07 PM, Kelly Snook wrote:

Hi guys,

I hope this question isn't outside the scope of this mailing list, but I thought some of you might have experience to help me. I've got a beautiful old Aries modular synth that my dad (Carl Fravel of Gentle Electric) built in the 70s with a Serge touchpad sequencer that my dad traded him for a CV keyboard. Unfortunately, all the circuits in this old synth are American, and they really don't like my step-down-transformed power. Both racks hum terribly and i think they really want the 60Hz AC they were built for.

Does anyone know of a nice US -> UK (or european) power transformer that also outputs reliable 60Hz power, or do you think i'm going to have to modify my dad's power modules to better handle 50Hz power?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Warmest,
Kelly

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-24 by nicholas_kent

What I've heard is that the 50/60hz issue mostly manifests itself in simply inaccurate or different timing since lots of older gear used the cycles for timing and AC motor speeds. Doesn't come to bear in your case, but certainly Japanese synths will never run into an issue since half of Japan uses 50 and the other half 60.

One thought occurs that maybe your present converter does not deliver enough amperage. Though I have heard of "travel" converters that really put out bad power in terms of specs.

I guess rather than the 50/60 issue that might turn out to be a red herring, maybe you can test some other converters by borrowing or perhaps finding one with a favorable return policy.

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-24 by John P

I second the notion that grounding gremlins may be the problem.

I wonder, though... are there UPS's with switchable output frequency? Maybe that might help...

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On 6/23/2011 9:28 PM, nicholas_kent wrote:

What I've heard is that the 50/60hz issue mostly manifests itself in simply inaccurate or different timing since lots of older gear used the cycles for timing and AC motor speeds. Doesn't come to bear in your case, but certainly Japanese synths will never run into an issue since half of Japan uses 50 and the other half 60.

One thought occurs that maybe your present converter does not deliver enough amperage. Though I have heard of "travel" converters that really put out bad power in terms of specs.

I guess rather than the 50/60 issue that might turn out to be a red herring, maybe you can test some other converters by borrowing or perhaps finding one with a favorable return policy.

Re: Power conversion in the UK

2011-06-24 by Gchang

I would have to agree with those who voice a concern regarding the amperage rating of the converter you are using; when using a converter for my Waldorf Wave, I noticed that the properly spec's converter weighed at least 5 pounds - and cost a few hundred dollars - not your typical Off the Rack variety....

Gary

On Jun 23, 2011, at 7:28 PM, "nicholas_kent" <zaum@...> wrote:

What I've heard is that the 50/60hz issue mostly manifests itself in simply inaccurate or different timing since lots of older gear used the cycles for timing and AC motor speeds. Doesn't come to bear in your case, but certainly Japanese synths will never run into an issue since half of Japan uses 50 and the other half 60.

One thought occurs that maybe your present converter does not deliver enough amperage. Though I have heard of "travel" converters that really put out bad power in terms of specs.

I guess rather than the 50/60 issue that might turn out to be a red herring, maybe you can test some other converters by borrowing or perhaps finding one with a favorable return policy.