Yahoo Groups archive

Vintage Synth Repair

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 23:41 UTC

Message

Beat up Korg 770 diy pimp-up project - need advice!

2007-07-06 by lostinpurdy

Hello, everyone! What can I say? I got this beat up korg 770 which
technically works (surprisingly) despite it's bad shape, by that I
mean that the side panels and the face of the control panel is missing
but the pots, switches, etc are still there. Now first off - where can
I get something like schematics for the korg 770? Now here's a list
what I'd like to do but dunno whether to keep the guts in the box or
take it all out and put in a tiny suitcase a la EMS synthi. Anyways..

1. I'd like to make a new panel with add-ons (mods) - anyone got
experience with that?

2. I'd like to replace the Q and Resonance trimmers with dial pots so
I can control these from the panel (for LPF + HPF seperately) - what
are the balance pots good for? Settings for the filter switches?

3. I want to add a 3-way switch to select which filter filters what
and  for seperate filtering, so that the LPF and HPF filters don't
keep eliminating each other when moving the travellers to the opposite
ends. So where do I make the cut on the Filter board?

4. I want to make it safer as in modifying the power supply so that
the ground goes through the outlet, using a 3-prong cable. 

5. Can I just take out the power supply and put it into another case
of a different material (wood, plastic, fiberglass)? I'm opting to
take out the power supply entirely and put it in a seperate box and
add a plug to connect it to the rest of the synth. 

6. Is it at all possible to make it battery operable? I know of some
DIY modulars and minisynths that run on a bunch of 9V batteries and
would like to do the same thing to my korg. 

7. Last but not least - MIDI!! I nead a affordable midi solution, just
good enough to make it play from a computer or sequencer. Even better
- 3 midi ins - one for play and one for each of the filters! 

I know these are a lot of like-to's and wannahave's and honestly doupt
that I can ever realize them all together but if it's at all possible
that would be the bomb! 

Any advice highly welcomed! 

Wouldn't it be cool if there was a show like "Pimp My Synth"? :P:)

Attachments

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.