Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 20:17:39 GMT From: IOTech To: analogue@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: Elka Synthex Archive Search >My question remains about repairs, and if it's worth it. I know it's >hard to tell without knowing exactly what's wrong, but I wonder if >anyone would know if parts are available even, and who might have >experience fixing such things in the US? This, I didn't see in the >archives. Parts is not a big problem if you are thinking of custom IC's. Only the CEM3320 filter chip is special, but that's still available. Keys, knobs and joystick is another matter... The Synthex is also one of the very few synths which doesn't have PCB mounted pots. (A la MiniMoog) Which is good, but it must have been very expensive to do all that hand wiring to them. In my experience the Synthex is not of the most reliable synths around. It seems to have been bad quality control of the production. I have seen a Synthex where one of the VCA envelopes was faulty thanks to a wrong value resistor mounted at the factory! (Anyone who have similar experience with other synths??) Common problems are faulty voiceboards. Listen to all voices and check that they sound the same on different patches. The problem you describe with non working pots should be fairly easy to repair. The Synthex has a very special and unique design and can be quite tricky and time consuming to work on. Guess there is a reason that the seller doesn't fix it before selling... Given this I would say 1650 is rather on the high side. It doesn't help much that documentations is poor. To my knowledge only schematics are available, no test procedure, circuit description or calibration descriptions. But working, it's a remarkable instrument! _____________________________________________________ Ingar, Norway.