Rhodes Chroma Polaris

hello everyone,
I'm sorry to bother you but I have a question for you about an apparently nonworking polaris in absolutely phenomenal physical condition. it was working prior to being mailed to me and now it doesn't produce any sound but it lights up and all membrane switches respond normally.
I have tried all the various hidden functions. tried slaving it to an SY77 and to a drum machine and to a Prophet 600. nothing doing.
but the metronome sounds. and when I hit the keys, they make a muted kick sound, and it's obvious that they're transmitting. the ADSR affects the volume of the sound. it doesn't get any higher or lower. and that's the only sound I'm getting out of the polaris!
I'm currently trying to get ahold of a power drill so I can get at the insides... have a bunch of stripped screws so I can't simply unscrew it.
if you have any ideas as to what the problem might be, I would appreciate your input.
thanks very much!
zach phillips, brattleboro VT
zphillips@...

Try the autotune procedure (you will have to refer to the manual since I'm not near my polaris)

> From: zach phillips
>
> I'm sorry to bother you but I have a question for you about
> an apparently nonworking polaris in absolutely phenomenal
> physical condition. it was working prior to being mailed to
> me and now it doesn't produce any sound but it lights up and
> all membrane switches respond normally.

Do all the factory calibrations listed in chapter 6 of the service manual.
This will erase your memory, so if you've got anything in there that you
care about, save it first via cassette or MIDI.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. I will be trying various things tonight. I already went through the giant list of secret functions (lower function + D for diagnostics, etc) and turned all the voices off and back on, etc... didn't find the master tune reset so I will look around for that.

but I have one question:
if I do the factory calibrations that erase the memory (if memory serves, the command for this is lower function > D > 12 > STOP) will I lose the presets or will the voices be RESTORED to factory presets? I don't know how to back up memory to cassette... have a Prophet 600 too that uses a similar system but I've never used it so I wouldn't want to backtrack...

> From: zach phillips
>
> thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. I will be trying
> various things tonight. I already went through the giant list
> of secret functions (lower function + D for diagnostics, etc)
> and turned all the voices off and back on, etc... didn't find
> the master tune reset so I will look around for that.
>
> but I have one question:
> if I do the factory calibrations that erase the memory (if
> memory serves, the command for this is lower function > D >
> 12 > STOP) will I lose the presets or will the voices be
> RESTORED to factory presets? I don't know how to back up
> memory to cassette... have a Prophet 600 too that uses a
> similar system but I've never used it so I wouldn't want to
> backtrack...

No, you'll have nothing in your memory. But your description of the behavior
of the instrument makes me wonder if you even have anything in the memory.
When you press a letter, do the number switches light up, or are they dark?
If they've all gone dark, then something caused you to lose your memory,
including calibrations.

If you still have programs in there, but just can't be heard, the might try
doing the calibrations without erasing the memory. But you'll have to do
them all, and check every single setting in the instrument. Erasing the
memory is simplest, because you only have to do some of the calibrations
(i.e., not the individual key sensitivities), and you only have to change
those settings that are supposed to be on instead of off.

If all you want is factory presets, then you can download them from here:

http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarispatches

and get them into the Polaris in various ways. I used the .syx files, and
played them through a USB to MIDI converter using MIDI-OX for Windows.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

Zach,

I am the person who did the repair work on that Polaris 5 years ago. And recommended that you join this group through the seller.

The solution is to acquire the Membrane Panel that has been remade. Ask Paul here is his site: http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarismembranepanelreplacement

Back when I did the repair there was no replacement part. The original membrane is there with a small jump board and replacement wiring carefully soldered to what was left of the vinyl leads. These original membranes became very brittle over the years and it is my guess that during shipment it has either cracked further or a solder point on the vinyl came undone.

- Daniel

--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, zach phillips <zphillips@...> wrote:
>
> hello everyone,
> I'm sorry to bother you but I have a question for you about an apparently
> nonworking polaris in absolutely phenomenal physical condition. it was
> working prior to being mailed to me and now it doesn't produce any sound
> but it lights up and all membrane switches respond normally.
> I have tried all the various hidden functions. tried slaving it to an SY77
> and to a drum machine and to a Prophet 600. nothing doing.
> but the metronome sounds. and when I hit the keys, they make a muted kick
> sound, and it's obvious that they're transmitting. the ADSR affects the
> volume of the sound. it doesn't get any higher or lower. and that's the
> only sound I'm getting out of the polaris!
> I'm currently trying to get ahold of a power drill so I can get at the
> insides... have a bunch of stripped screws so I can't simply unscrew it.
> if you have any ideas as to what the problem might be, I would appreciate
> your input.
> thanks very much!
> zach phillips, brattleboro VT
> zphillips@...
>

> From: Daniel A
>
> Zach,
>
> I am the person who did the repair work on that Polaris 5
> years ago. And recommended that you join this group through
> the seller.
>
> The solution is to acquire the Membrane Panel that has been
> remade. Ask Paul here is his site:
> http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarismembranepanelreplacement
>
> Back when I did the repair there was no replacement part. The
> original membrane is there with a small jump board and
> replacement wiring carefully soldered to what was left of the
> vinyl leads. These original membranes became very brittle
> over the years and it is my guess that during shipment it has
> either cracked further or a solder point on the vinyl came undone.

As much as I appreciate the referral, he said that all his switches are
working. His problem lies elsewhere.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

I should have read closer, I was going off what was said over the phone. That being said I would still do the upgrade, it would insure no future issues as I recall with that Polaris the leads were quite short. I would personally only use it as a studio synth (no gigs) unless the upgrade was made, the original vinyl is very brittle.

I have not seen the synth in a while as mentioned so I am not sure about current state. If I had the money I would have bought it myself, nice condition all things considered. Plus I did not know it was up far sale until the previous owner told me he sold it...

- Daniel

--- In chromapolaris@yahoogroups.com, "Paul D. DeRocco" <pderocco@...> wrote:
>
> > From: Daniel A
> >
> > Zach,
> >
> > I am the person who did the repair work on that Polaris 5
> > years ago. And recommended that you join this group through
> > the seller.
> >
> > The solution is to acquire the Membrane Panel that has been
> > remade. Ask Paul here is his site:
> > http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarismembranepanelreplacement
> >
> > Back when I did the repair there was no replacement part. The
> > original membrane is there with a small jump board and
> > replacement wiring carefully soldered to what was left of the
> > vinyl leads. These original membranes became very brittle
> > over the years and it is my guess that during shipment it has
> > either cracked further or a solder point on the vinyl came undone.
>
> As much as I appreciate the referral, he said that all his switches are
> working. His problem lies elsewhere.
>
> --
>
> Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul mailto:pderocco@...
>

Did all the diagnostics & calibrations listed on this page: http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarisserviceadjustmentscheckout

Voila, I have sound! And it looks like all six voices are working!

I have no patches, they're all the same sound, but that's OK. I don't have a USB-to-midi device so I may be looking into that when I have a bit more money. Since I'm already asking a million questions, I might as well ask...:

does a Behringer BCR2000 work with a Polaris via the "learn" function on the BCR2000 or is there going to be a more complex sysex dump involved?

can I use a BCR2000 as a USB-to-midi device so I can play the factory patches into the polaris via the cassette in?

thank you!

> From: zach phillips
>
> Did all the diagnostics & calibrations listed on this page:
> http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarisserviceadjustmentscheckout
>
> Voila, I have sound! And it looks like all six voices are working!
>
> I have no patches, they're all the same sound, but that's OK.
> I don't have a USB-to-midi device so I may be looking into
> that when I have a bit more money.

A USB/MIDI converter costs about as much as a McD burger. I've got a couple
of these from Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/8vt57rq

and they work fine in Windows and Linux (don't have a Mac), using the
built-in drivers.

It sounded to me like you had lost the memory contents. Have you changed, or
at least checked, the batteries? If not, I'd go in and change them--with the
power on, so that you don't lose all those calibrations yet again.

--

Ciao, Paul D. DeRocco
Paul mailto:pderocco@...

> ... I have no patches, they're all the same
> sound, but that's OK. I don't have a USB-to-midi device...

The other approach (without using MIDI) is to use the .wav versions of
the patches from the site
(http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polarispatches).

You can then feed the audio-out from your computer into the Polaris, and
then generally follow the 'loading from cassette' instructions for the
Polaris.

(Note - if you don't have the DIN connector cassette cable, you can
instead use the SYNC IN 1/4" jack input on the Polaris, as it also
connects to the cassette data in).

thanks everyone for your help. I managed to load patches into the Polaris and am amazed by this beautiful synthesizer. I really appreciate it!
best
zach