Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Hello again all...

Finally got a SSM2056 chip for my P6 which fixed the annoying 6th
note enigma I was having, it's good to hear all notes play normally
now.
That said, once I got going, I noticed that little response was had,
from altering most of the knobs (the VCO section, is the only thing
that made any difference). Playing about through all the patches, I
got very little change (hardly any) when altering the FILTER, EG or
MG sections.
Wondering what had changed, I put the faulty SSM2056 back in, but
the same thing happened.New chip back in........

I then wthought, did it need warming up? so I left it fo 20 mins,
but no change, however, this morning, I went out, and switched it
on, come back 5 hours later, and it's warmed up, the cutoff knob
works well enough, the resonance does work (but I don't think
fully), most other knobs work (though some don't seem to do
anything, some of the time - I think maybe the way a current patch
is setup, that particular knob changes don't make any difference)..

Two thoughts, how long should it take to warm up, how long does
yours take.....? Does this need a service, can it be "calibrated"
so that it works much better, or should I expect this from now on.
(I've tried pulling all the IC's that I can, and re-seating them)

Last thing, any recommendations for a UK service/repair man. Tony
Allgood has said he's too busy at the moment, I looked at music
control website, which diverted me to cimplesolutions, who told me
they don't repair classics like the P6, the only other one I thought
of was synth-restore, but I emailed them 3 weeks ago, and didn't get
a reply. I have seen old crows web site, with a guide on how to do
the job, but I don't own an oscilloscope, and I don't want to make
it any worse, so would prefer putting it in the hands of someone who
knows what theyre doing.

Thanks for your previous help..
cross modulated Rob

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 15:16:04 -0000, dotwav wrote

> Two thoughts, how long should it take to warm up, how long does
> yours take.....?  

15 seconds. Filters and envelopes work immediately. The oscillators take 15 seconds to adjust.

>Does this need a service, can it be "calibrated"
> so that it works much better, or should I expect this from now on.
> (I've tried pulling all the IC's that I can, and re-seating them)

It sounds like something is still wrong, but I have no clue what is wrong.

Cheers

Frank Carvalho




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

Mine takes 10 seconds to warm up, get in tune and start functioning !

--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "dotwav" <rob19@e...> wrote:
> Hello again all...
>
> Finally got a SSM2056 chip for my P6 which fixed the annoying 6th
> note enigma I was having, it's good to hear all notes play normally
> now.
> That said, once I got going, I noticed that little response was
had,
> from altering most of the knobs (the VCO section, is the only thing
> that made any difference). Playing about through all the patches, I
> got very little change (hardly any) when altering the FILTER, EG or
> MG sections.
> Wondering what had changed, I put the faulty SSM2056 back in, but
> the same thing happened.New chip back in........
>
> I then wthought, did it need warming up? so I left it fo 20 mins,
> but no change, however, this morning, I went out, and switched it
> on, come back 5 hours later, and it's warmed up, the cutoff knob
> works well enough, the resonance does work (but I don't think
> fully), most other knobs work (though some don't seem to do
> anything, some of the time - I think maybe the way a current patch
> is setup, that particular knob changes don't make any difference)..
>
> Two thoughts, how long should it take to warm up, how long does
> yours take.....? Does this need a service, can it be "calibrated"
> so that it works much better, or should I expect this from now on.
> (I've tried pulling all the IC's that I can, and re-seating them)
>
> Last thing, any recommendations for a UK service/repair man. Tony
> Allgood has said he's too busy at the moment, I looked at music
> control website, which diverted me to cimplesolutions, who told me
> they don't repair classics like the P6, the only other one I
thought
> of was synth-restore, but I emailed them 3 weeks ago, and didn't
get
> a reply. I have seen old crows web site, with a guide on how to do
> the job, but I don't own an oscilloscope, and I don't want to make
> it any worse, so would prefer putting it in the hands of someone
who
> knows what theyre doing.
>
> Thanks for your previous help..
> cross modulated Rob

Did you check all of the connectors? Was your CPU board a victim of
the battery leak and was it repaired well? Are you saying the magic
words?

My PolySix seems like it's ready immediately once I turn it on. Of
course, it take about 10 or 15 seconds to power on everything else,
so, perhaps mine takes the 10-15 seconds the others have mentioned.

Good luck!

Further to my recent question about warming up time. Anyone know
what is the chip that is affected by the warming up, (or does this
depend on what problem someone might be having).
My P6 takes a good few hours (at least 2) to warm up. I get sound
out of it straight away, but I can't get any editing done. In the
first couple of hours, the VCF and EG sections do nothing. They do
respond once it's warmed up, but can't do anything until then. (when
I say they respond, the cutoff and res make a different tonal
change, but I wouldn't say they were working to their full ranges.)
So, I'm thinking, is there any chip (or chips) I can replace to help
remedy this.
I had to change a SSM2056 recently, I'm wondering should I have
changed all 6 at the same time. (The 6 that were in it, all had a
number on (other than the 2056), that were the same, now 5 are the
same and one is different (obviously the replaced chip), does this
make much difference.

Finally, I have to ask again, coz I didn't get much response last
time, is there anyway this can be calibrated or re-initialized if
serviced.

Thanks if anyone can help.... Rob

Old Crow has a lot of information on his site regarding the P6
servicing including the service manual, which includes all
initializing/clibrating procedure. It also has a nice article of
which chip commonly get defected on vintage synth and such.

You can check volatges to see if anything is wrong, as a start.

--- In PolySix@yahoogroups.com, "dotwav" <rob19@e...> wrote:
> Further to my recent question about warming up time. Anyone know
> what is the chip that is affected by the warming up, (or does this
> depend on what problem someone might be having).
> My P6 takes a good few hours (at least 2) to warm up. I get sound
> out of it straight away, but I can't get any editing done. In the
> first couple of hours, the VCF and EG sections do nothing. They do
> respond once it's warmed up, but can't do anything until then.
(when
> I say they respond, the cutoff and res make a different tonal
> change, but I wouldn't say they were working to their full ranges.)
> So, I'm thinking, is there any chip (or chips) I can replace to
help
> remedy this.
> I had to change a SSM2056 recently, I'm wondering should I have
> changed all 6 at the same time. (The 6 that were in it, all had a
> number on (other than the 2056), that were the same, now 5 are the
> same and one is different (obviously the replaced chip), does this
> make much difference.
>
> Finally, I have to ask again, coz I didn't get much response last
> time, is there anyway this can be calibrated or re-initialized if
> serviced.
>
> Thanks if anyone can help.... Rob