Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

> Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there
> has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual.
>
> My SDS 7 Saga :
> About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a
> shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly
> with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the
> studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery
> for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium
> memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This
> arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that
> battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy
> both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad).
>
> In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense
> of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual
> voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the
> analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed
> by the "hybrid" module on each voice card.
>
> Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect
> the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with
> midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main
> roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the
> Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan
> which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/
> Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important
> details in the schematic sections are totally obscured.
>
> If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That
> would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of
> these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults.
>
> thanks,
> Brian

> Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there 
> has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual. 
> 
> My SDS 7 Saga : 
> About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a 
> shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly 
> with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the 
> studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery 
> for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium 
> memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This 
> arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that 
> battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy 
> both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad). 
> 
> In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense 
> of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual 
> voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the 
> analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed 
> by the "hybrid" module on each voice card. 
> 
> Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect 
> the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with 
> midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main 
> roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the 
> Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan 
> which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/ 
> Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important 
> details in the schematic sections are totally obscured. 
> 
> If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That 
> would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of 
> these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults. 
> 
> thanks, 
> Brian

From: "jesper" <jesper@...>
To: <Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Simmons Drums] SDS 7 Voice Card Reverse Engineering Project


>I know WT used to have one or more SDS-7 carcasses with the digital bits 
> intact (as I recall it). Anything left there? If so, it might be a 
> better way to solve the problem.
> 
> -- 
> electronically yours, jesper
> 
> - -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- -
> www.electronic-obsession.se
> 
> 
> brianwright23@... skrev 2010-12-07 07:42:
>> Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there
>> has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual.
>>
>> My SDS 7 Saga :
>> About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a
>> shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly
>> with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the
>> studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery
>> for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium
>> memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This
>> arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that
>> battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy
>> both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad).
>>
>> In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense
>> of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual
>> voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the
>> analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed
>> by the "hybrid" module on each voice card.
>>
>> Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect
>> the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with
>> midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main
>> roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the
>> Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan
>> which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/
>> Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important
>> details in the schematic sections are totally obscured.
>>
>> If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That
>> would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of
>> these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults.
>>
>> thanks,
>> Brian
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
>

>
> by the way, I have a few carcasses in UK to check out ... 
> but I'm not able to test anything.
> 
> 
> ----- Mail Original -----
> De: "jesper" <jesper@...>
> À: "Simmons Drums" <Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com>
> Envoyé: Mardi 7 Décembre 2010 15h25:15 GMT +01:00 Amsterdam / Berlin / Berne / Rome / Stockholm / Vienne
> Objet: Re: [Simmons Drums] SDS 7 Voice Card Reverse Engineering Project
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I know WT used to have one or more SDS-7 carcasses with the digital bits 
> intact (as I recall it). Anything left there? If so, it might be a 
> better way to solve the problem. 
> 
> -- 
> electronically yours, jesper 
> 
> - -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- - 
> www.electronic-obsession.se 
> 
> brianwright23@... skrev 2010-12-07 07:42: 
> > Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there 
> > has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual. 
> > 
> > My SDS 7 Saga : 
> > About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a 
> > shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly 
> > with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the 
> > studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery 
> > for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium 
> > memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This 
> > arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that 
> > battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy 
> > both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad). 
> > 
> > In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense 
> > of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual 
> > voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the 
> > analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed 
> > by the "hybrid" module on each voice card. 
> > 
> > Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect 
> > the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with 
> > midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main 
> > roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the 
> > Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan 
> > which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/ 
> > Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important 
> > details in the schematic sections are totally obscured. 
> > 
> > If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That 
> > would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of 
> > these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults. 
> > 
> > thanks, 
> > Brian
>

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: brianwright23@... 
  To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 7:42 AM
  Subject: [Simmons Drums] SDS 7 Voice Card Reverse Engineering Project


    
  Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual.

  My SDS 7 Saga :
  About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad).

  In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed by the "hybrid" module on each voice card.

  Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/
  Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important details in the schematic sections are totally obscured.

  If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults.

  thanks,
  Brian



  

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>
> Hello,
> Like said Patrice Jacquot,Simmons schematics are inreadable......or when they are,there are errors........
> I have redraw some Simmons schematics from my own Simmons Brain I had some years ago from Ebay.
> I have redrawn in particular SDS5,SDS8,SDS7 (voicing card only..) and SDS9...... I should be crasy because it is a very very big work and for something like SDS7 or SDS9 I spend some months with paper,pencil,multimeter to check routing,datasheet.....
> I have made the same with other drum brains like TAMA,PEARL,DYNACORD,DDRUM.....I am now working with the Dynacord P20.....
> If you want I can send you my SDS7 drawing with the schematic of a test board (with layout) to test SDS7 modules without the computer section.
> See you soon
>        Thierry EPPHERRE from FRANCE
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: brianwright23@... 
>   To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 7:42 AM
>   Subject: [Simmons Drums] SDS 7 Voice Card Reverse Engineering Project
> 
> 
>     
>   Hi, I'd like to introduce myself to the list and see if anyone out there has access to a usable SDS 7 Service manual.
> 
>   My SDS 7 Saga :
>   About six months ago I restored an SDS7 which had been sitting on a shelf with a burnt out power supply for many years. It worked flawlessly with five voice cards for a few months when one day I came into the studio and found it had lost it's memory. Turned out that the battery for the digital memory had burst. I replaced it with a standard lithium memory backup battery of the same voltage from Radio Shack. This arrangement worked quite well for several more months, until that battery also burst, this time with enough force to effectively destroy both of the digital boards, (the ones located behind the keypad).
> 
>   In the course of rebuilding it the first time I got a pretty good sense of the method whereby the parameters are transmitted to the individual voices. There is a complex staircase-like waveform that has all the analog voltage levels strung together, presumably to be de-multiplexed by the "hybrid" module on each voice card.
> 
>   Now I'm entertaining the notion of embarking upon an effort to resurrect the voices using a more modern digital control section, potentially with midi control and pots or encoders, per parameter (15 of them). The main roadblock at the moment is that I don't have a legible copy of the Service Manual which had the circuit topologies. I do have the pdf scan which is available at http://www.simmons.synth.net/sds7/
>   Unfortunately that scan is of low enough resolution that the important details in the schematic sections are totally obscured.
> 
>   If anyone has, and would be willing to share, this information. That would be wonderful. I would of course, in kind, return the fruit of these efforts to the list, should those actually bear any usable reults.
> 
>   thanks,
>   Brian
> 
> 
> 
>   
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>