OT: Turning a synthesizer on after 30+ years.

[aron]

Title says it all, if you had to turn on a synthesizer on after 30 years, what's the best way to prevent anything "bad" from happening. I know for tube amps, you can use a current limiter, but for something like a Prophet 5 or Emulator II, what would you do???

Thanks.

Aron

[MartyMart]

Hey Aron ... long time no speak !!

I would first do an eyeball of the power supply, just look for any puffy caps/ rust / burnt out traces /bad connections etc

If that all looks OK then turn on / stand back and look out for ( or sniff for ) "smoke" so you can turn it off quick !!

MM.

[aron]

Hahahaha yeah. I am not going to do it. My friend is..... Now that I think about it, no way is he going to turn it on himself.
I think it might be better if he just sold it on ebay as "never turned on in 30 years"! as the description.

These keyboards were in cases - maybe they will turn on. Hard to tell.

[cloudscapes]

battery leaks

[Mark Hammer]

Well, a decent vacuuming first might help.

What sorts of memory storage is onboard?  Is there any sort of standard procedure for resetting the memory with presets, or something like that?

Certainly the advice to check the battery is appropriate.  If the battery is shot, it may be possible to simply get a fresh one.  Looking through the tech manual ( http://www.hylander.com/moogschematics.html ), it seems that there is no provision or need for resetting the non-volatile RAM if power has not been applied for a long time.

[Cliff Schecht]

Most name-brand vintage synths were actually built pretty ruggedly. I think you are worrying over nothing. Check the electrolytics for signs of wear (the big input filters are probably bad or close to it) and maybe take some voltage readings if you feel it's necessary. You could maybe figure out a way to remove a power jumper to take the IC's out of the circuit while you reform the capacitors but this seems pretty unnecessary for well built SS gear. Sequential Circuits made quality products, but don't expect super accurate tuning or low noise operation. That's half the charm of a vintage synth! I buy a lot of ancient gear from Goodwill and garage sells and such and unless there are tubes in there, I usually don't fear turning it on right away. One of my main stereo's is a Pioneer FM receiver/PA from the mid 70's that I haven't even opened up and cleaned ever. It's been on almost daily for years and still runs like a hoss.

[Gurner]

In this instance, I would almost certainly get my wife/kids to do the powering up while I cower in the corner with my fingers in my ears.

[StephenGiles]

I use a 1970s Sansui T60 FM tuner almost daily for recording radio programmes, no problems at all. I even dropped it a few weeks ago whilst carrying it to the hiss free reception corner upstairs in our house!

[deadastronaut]

funny yesterday i dug out my old ensoniq sq1-plus...i hadnt used it for about 12years...(built in 1991)

was in storage at my mums house...

it fired up ok...just had to put a new cmos battery in for the memory...sorted.

i got too used to just using midi controllers, but now its brought new life into my music again..lovely ...yay!

[Strategy]

After years of being given "broken" "unused" and "ground-scored" synthesizers the biggest issue typically is that you can no longer 'save' your sounds due to memory battery being dead of natural causes. Not typically leakage just after about 20 yrs they no longer hold the juice.

Oscillator stability can deteriorate gradually over time too so on many monosynths for example a re-cap can be good as a 'tune up' if you can afford it and don't want to botherwith lots of drift. This varies and an old Moog Prodigy I had was the absolute worst for drifting. You may not see cap leakage or evidence of explosion but they could show signs of more gradual wear & tear

Bad keyboards are a terrible problem though but that's more typical of keyboards that were played heavily rather than those kept in storage like aron's friend's.

- Strategy

funny yesterday i dug out my old ensoniq sq1-plus...i hadnt used it for about 12years...(built in 1991)

was in storage at my mums house...

it fired up ok...just had to put a new cmos battery in for the memory...sorted.

i got too used to just using midi controllers, but now its brought new life into my music again..lovely ...yay!

[Mark Hammer]

After years of being given "broken" "unused" and "ground-scored" synthesizers the biggest issue typically is that you can no longer 'save' your sounds due to memory battery being dead of natural causes. Not typically leakage just after about 20 yrs they no longer hold the juice.

I purchased former (now deceased) forum member Peter Snow's SCI Pro-One earlier this year.  It too had been sitting idle in his basement for some time.  Although the keyboard was shot (he apparently had accidentally dropped something heavy on it and trashed what seems like an octave and a half's worth of keys), I powered it up successfully and processed my guitar through the external input.  The quality of the PSU, however, left a little to be desired.  Conceivably, the PSU needs a recap, given that it is some 26+ years old.

[StephenGiles]

I found at last my old veroboard build of the EH Microsynth last Sunday - 5 minutes before being dragged out by my dear wife!! Dare I fire that up I wonder??? I think it was about 1988 that I built it, and a very confident me soldered CA3094 chips direct

Perhaps I'll try with 2 x PP3 batteries!!

[aron]

Thanks guys. Every single one of my analog synthesizers except my 2 Pro Ones died from non-use. I have found the Pro One to be one of the best analog synthesizers in terms of stability. It's not the best sounding, but it certainly works fine after all these years.

[MoltenVoltage]

If you live near the ocean, that salty air can really cause problems after a number of years.

[DougH]

You are suffering from FOTIO syndrome- Fear Of Turning It On...  

[aron]

It's not my keyboards, my friend is calling and asking me. He had them stored in cases for all those years. I would bet they might turn on, but he intends to sell them. He said the foam in the cases are pretty much destroyed from just lying around all those years.