Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch memory problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't know if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the specific issue:

When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be illuminated when you turned it on.

When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and "4" always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean, check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445

Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you press it.

The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you can edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.

Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found" patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.

I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's a few pics:
http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453

I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't experienced with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that the battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I don't see any corrosion from leakage.

Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate any help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this thing and would hate to see it go.

From your symptoms I would guess that the fault lies in the KLM-367 CPU
board. It is the only place where memory problems & front panels LEDs
are both controlled. If the problems started after it was bumped it
could be a connector issue or you could try taking the cpu out of the
socket and replacing it again in case it has a bad connection. It would
be a rare P6 if it doesn't have some sort of corrosion problem on the
CPU board and your jolt might have worsened an existing track problem.
The most common parts to fail first are the data buffers (IC30&31) and
the memory chip (IC32) as these are both closest to the battery. Your
LED and memory problems could both be caused by this. DB3 being stuck
high would cause the led problem for example.

MH

On 1/02/2013 9:39 p.m., ammerman.sean wrote:
>
> Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch memory
> problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't know
> if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the
> specific issue:
>
> When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are
> automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be
> illuminated when you turned it on.
>
> When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and "4"
> always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be
> illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another
> program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean,
> check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445
>
> Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you
> press it.
>
> The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved
> patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but
> they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you
> can edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the
> effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.
>
> Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found"
> patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this
> does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay
> selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.
>
> I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's a
> few pics:
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453
>
> I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't experienced
> with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that the
> battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I don't
> see any corrosion from leakage.
>
> Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate any
> help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this
> thing and would hate to see it go.
>
>

--
Kind Regards<br>
Murray<br>
murray@paintingwithsound.co.nz<br>
www.paintingwithsound.co.nz<br>



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

--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "ammerman.sean" wrote:

>
> Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch memory problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't know if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the specific issue:
>
> When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be illuminated when you turned it on.
>
> When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and "4" always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean, check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445
>
> Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you press it.
>
> The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you can edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.
>
> Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found" patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.
>
> I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's a few pics:
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453
>
> I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't experienced with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that the battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I don't see any corrosion from leakage.
>
> Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate any help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this thing and would hate to see it go.
>

Hi...

Does the Poly exhibit the same problems with the circuit board OUT of the panel>?...If not , it could be an alignment/button issue. If it's still weird then you'll have to consider having the pc boards looked at on the TRACE or circuit side. One broken copper etch could screw things up.Have someone "techie" look for hairline cracks in the circuit traces.
Also, one by one, pull all of the multipin connectors and re-seat them
See if that helps or not. These units DO have some years behind them and oxide get into the weirdest places.

I just finished going "through" an ARP AXXE, a Juno 60 and a TR-808.

They're all fine now and going home tomorrow

Thanks for your help guys. I'm going to look into some of those possibilities and get back to you all.

--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "Scott" wrote:
>
>
>
> --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "ammerman.sean" wrote:
> >
> > Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch memory problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't know if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the specific issue:
> >
> > When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be illuminated when you turned it on.
> >
> > When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and "4" always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean, check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445
> >
> > Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you press it.
> >
> > The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you can edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.
> >
> > Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found" patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.
> >
> > I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's a few pics:
> > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
> > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
> > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453
> >
> > I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't experienced with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that the battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I don't see any corrosion from leakage.
> >
> > Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate any help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this thing and would hate to see it go.
> >
> Hi...
>
> Does the Poly exhibit the same problems with the circuit board OUT of the panel>?...If not , it could be an alignment/button issue. If it's still weird then you'll have to consider having the pc boards looked at on the TRACE or circuit side. One broken copper etch could screw things up.Have someone "techie" look for hairline cracks in the circuit traces.
> Also, one by one, pull all of the multipin connectors and re-seat them
> See if that helps or not. These units DO have some years behind them and oxide get into the weirdest places.
>
> I just finished going "through" an ARP AXXE, a Juno 60 and a TR-808.
>
> They're all fine now and going home tomorrow
>

So after doing a little more investigating, I think there's more
corrosion on the KLM-367 board than I originally thought. While the top
doesn't look so bad, the bottom looks corroded around the IC30 and IC31
chips. There also seems to be some corrosion under the IC19 and IC23
chips. Here are some pics:
Close up underneath IC30 and
IC31http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=458
<http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=458>
Underneath entire
KLM-367http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=457
<http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=457>
Top of KLM-367 with replacement
battery:http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=459
<http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=459>
Does this look serious enough to cause my patch/memory problems? Based
on previous comments, it seems that the IC30 and IC31 might control the
memory. Is this a situation where the traces need to be scraped away and
repaired?



--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "ammerman.sean" <sean.ammerman@...>
wrote:

>
> Thanks for your help guys. I'm going to look into some of those

possibilities and get back to you all.

>
> --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "Scott" wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "ammerman.sean" wrote:
> > >
> > > Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch

memory problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't
know if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the
specific issue:

> > >
> > > When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are

automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be
illuminated when you turned it on.

> > >
> > > When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and

"4" always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be
illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another
program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean,
check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445

> > >
> > > Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you

press it.

> > >
> > > The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved

patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but
they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you can
edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the
effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.

> > >
> > > Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found"

patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this
does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay
selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.

> > >
> > > I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's

a few pics:

> > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
> > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
> > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453
> > >
> > > I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't

experienced with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that
the battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I
don't see any corrosion from leakage.

> > >
> > > Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate

any help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this
thing and would hate to see it go.

> > >
> > Hi...
> >
> > Does the Poly exhibit the same problems with the circuit board OUT

of the panel>?...If not , it could be an alignment/button issue. If it's
still weird then you'll have to consider having the pc boards looked at
on the TRACE or circuit side. One broken copper etch could screw things
up.Have someone "techie" look for hairline cracks in the circuit traces.

> > Also, one by one, pull all of the multipin connectors and re-seat

them

> > See if that helps or not. These units DO have some years behind them

and oxide get into the weirdest places.

> >
> > I just finished going "through" an ARP AXXE, a Juno 60 and a TR-808.
> >
> > They're all fine now and going home tomorrow
> >
>

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

that's not corrosion, that is flux from messy soldering. It can be
cleaned off by cleaning with IsoPropyl Alcohol.

MH

On 24/02/2013 8:39 a.m., ammerman.sean wrote:
>
> So after doing a little more investigating, I think there's more
> corrosion on the KLM-367 board than I originally thought. While the top
> doesn't look so bad, the bottom looks corroded around the IC30 and IC31
> chips. There also seems to be some corrosion under the IC19 and IC23
> chips. Here are some pics:
> Close up underneath IC30 and
> IC31http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=458
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=458>
> Underneath entire
> KLM-367http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=457
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=457>
> Top of KLM-367 with replacement
> battery:http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=459
> http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=459>
> Does this look serious enough to cause my patch/memory problems? Based
> on previous comments, it seems that the IC30 and IC31 might control the
> memory. Is this a situation where the traces need to be scraped away and
> repaired?
>
> --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com <mailto:PolySix%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "ammerman.sean"
> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks for your help guys. I'm going to look into some of those
> possibilities and get back to you all.
> >
> > --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com <mailto:PolySix%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "Scott" wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com <mailto:PolySix%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "ammerman.sean" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hey everyone, I have a Polysix that that is experiencing patch
> memory problems. It was bumped a little too hard during a gig. I don't
> know if this is what caused the malfunction or not. Anyway, here's the
> specific issue:
> > > >
> > > > When you turn the keyboard on, bank "D" and program "4" are
> automatically selected. Originally, bank "A" and program "1" would be
> illuminated when you turned it on.
> > > >
> > > > When you select other banks and programs, the buttons for "D" and
> "4" always stay illuminated. So if you choose another bank, it will be
> illuminated along with "D." The same goes for when you choose another
> program -- "4" always stays lit. To get a better idea of what I mean,
> check out a pic: http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=445
> > > >
> > > > Program button "8" does not work and will not illuminate when you
> press it.
> > > >
> > > > The keyboard powers up and produces sound; however, all my saved
> patches are gone. The current sounds are a bit harsh and generic, but
> they are somewhat "musical." After selecting the "manual" patch, you can
> edit and create new sounds like usual. It seems that all the
> effects/MG/VCO etc. are working fine.
> > > >
> > > > Unfortunately, the keyboard will no longer save any of my "found"
> patches. I tried to load patches that I saved to a cassette, but this
> does not work either. Remember, bank "D" and program "4" always stay
> selected. "D" is also the error/cancel indicator for the tape enable.
> > > >
> > > > I disconnected the The KLM-371 board and it looks OK to me. Here's
> a few pics:
> > > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=451
> > > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=452
> > > > http://seanammerman.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=453
> > > >
> > > > I took it to a local keyboard repair tech, but he wasn't
> experienced with analog/vintage synths. He was able to determine that
> the battery(which has been replaced) was working fine. To my eyes, I
> don't see any corrosion from leakage.
> > > >
> > > > Does anyone have any idea what's causing the issue? I appreciate
> any help, advice or thoughts. I am a bit of an amateur, but I love this
> thing and would hate to see it go.
> > > >
> > > Hi...
> > >
> > > Does the Poly exhibit the same problems with the circuit board OUT
> of the panel>?...If not , it could be an alignment/button issue. If it's
> still weird then you'll have to consider having the pc boards looked at
> on the TRACE or circuit side. One broken copper etch could screw things
> up.Have someone "techie" look for hairline cracks in the circuit traces.
> > > Also, one by one, pull all of the multipin connectors and re-seat
> them
> > > See if that helps or not. These units DO have some years behind them
> and oxide get into the weirdest places.
> > >
> > > I just finished going "through" an ARP AXXE, a Juno 60 and a TR-808.
> > >
> > > They're all fine now and going home tomorrow
> > >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

--
Kind Regards<br>
Murray<br>
murray@paintingwithsound.co.nz<br>
www.paintingwithsound.co.nz<br>



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