KORG Volca unboxing and test

Published on Mar 20, 2014 MiK-Music·57 videos

"I initially ordered those Volcas in December, but that store in UK deleted it silently for some totally stupid reasons. Okay, they ruined my xmas and lost me as a customer.

Some days ago, i found the set of all 3 for a nice price at a store in Germany and couldn't resist to finally get them.

Great toys, lots of fun, great sound (but a bit noisy). I wanted to overdub the audio track but i had several problems with the HD recorder, 3 takes went wrong due to some problems with it, 4th take stopped due to empty camcorder battery, in this 5th take i forgot to arm the channels for recording. Wasn't my day. But i will definitely not repeat this again, so it goes out with the sound as recorded from the camcorder. Sorry for this, i hope you like it anyway."

Volcas on eBay

Ensoniq VFX repair session

Published on Dec 1, 2013 MiK-Music·56 videos

Haven't seen a MiK-Music repair video in some time.  It's great to see one again.

"Due to the nice positive feedback on the Poly 61 repair session video [posted here], i decided to try something new. Pulled this Ensoniq VFX from the bay and decided i will just let the camera run and comment what i'm doing. Nothing was prepared, no educational intention behind it, i just let you look over my shoulder when i fix a synth i don't know.

I never touched a VFX before, i have an EPS and just wanted another inductive poly pressure keyboard, so i bought this thing without even knowing how it sounds. The more important reason for the purchase was "something to repair", i was in the mood for it :) But i like the final result, this thing sounds really nice.

I thought this video might get more interesting as we're talking about debugging and fixing a machine without having any schematics at all, there simply are no usable documents for the 68000 based Ensoniq machines. But at the end, the defect was quite small - in fact i don't really know what the problem was. But maybe you can get some inspiration anyway.

If you like it, i might do it this way more often, more interesting things might happen in other repair sessions and i didn't spent too much in making the video pretty, so not that much additional effort."

Korg Poly-61 Repair Broken Synthesizer Fix - Master Clock Plays Sound Without Pressing a Key

Published on Nov 28, 2013 DJ EDDIE FM·8 videos

"This video demonstrates some problems with the Korg Poly61 and the repair process. This video is intended as a follow up to Mik Music's video http://youtu.be/RbuBV5MQMTc where he diagnoses the Korg Poly-61 at length. Check out Mik's video first if you are trying to repair yours. I also found some useful tips on his google + page at https://plus.google.com/1072314112099...
This video details the issues I am having and documents the repair process.

My Poly 61 was having an issue where the Frequency LED on the top panel would not illuminate. When I typed "22" on the panel, a constant sound would automatically start playing and sustain. If I pressed the keys, that would modify the sound.

As a result, I followed Mik's suggestion to repair cable 27 that connects the master clock board to the CPU board. I purchased Molex WMLX-106 KK Mini Crimp Terminals for .100 Center Housings (2.54mm) from Fry's Electronics in Burbank, California for $3.00. I stripped the wires and crimped the terminals onto cable 27's wire harness attached to the CPU board. Once I performed that repair, the Frequency LED illuminated and the master clock function was restored (including the joystick). However, I am still having a couple of issues. I need to fix the "Parameter" button because it does not work no matter how hard I press it. Also, it appears that there is no functionality on the voice board. The LEDs on each voice do not light up. I am going to test it today to see if it is the connectors from the CPU Board to the Voice Board or some other issue. Thank you Mik for your advice and suggestions.

In a nutshell, even after the master clock fix that I performed, I am still having the same issue. Luckily the master clock works now.

This video shows the replacement rechargeable battery on the board."

Korg Poly-61 repair session

Published on Dec 9, 2012 by MusicMiK - now MiK-Music

"Getting lots of questions about repairing the Korg Poly-61, most of them related to the digital clock/synchronization of the DCOs, i decided to create a video about this.

It's not only Poly-61 specific, i also tell you something about equipment you should have, some simple safety measures and an introduction into general debugging techniques before it comes to the Poly-61 specific stuff.

Originally i thought this wouldn't be very spectacular as the Poly-61 worked last time i used it, but i was surprised to find a real defect during creating this video :)

Sorry for the focus problems and some other minor glitches, this was a very spontaneous idea and due to the usual lack of time, i didn't have an eye on perfection here. It took lots of hours to create this - making it better would eat up several weekends i think. I hope you understand that i prefer to do lots of other, more important stuff.

And after some very bad experience here at YouTube, i want to add this disclaimer - not meant for the ones who give positive feedback and thus keep those videos online, but meant for those with a destructive nature only being able to criticize the work of others:
The meanings and processes i show and describe here are my personal meanings and ways i work. If you have different meanings and processes, i will not try to convince you of my way to do stuff and expect you to also tolerate my ideas - so i will simply delete insulting comments.
If you think, i'm doing it wrong, simply make it better. I just try to help."

MIDItriggs final test

YouTube via MusicMiK
"The final tests before releasing MIDItriggs version 1.0, especially testing the write switch emulation and the new program change feature which works in conjunction with the RAM upgrade/replacement board for the CR-78.

Get the final version at http://www.mik-music.org/MIDItriggs

Sources, schematics, board layout and (yet not complete) documentation included."

MIDI retrofit for CR-78 Part 6

YouTube via MusicMiK. follow-up to this post.
"This part shows the tight timing i built into the MIDItriggs for the CR-78, while this machine is not the easiest to handle for perfect MIDI sync. There still is one clock offset when recording the internal sequencer data of the CR-78 via MIDI, but this feature might not so interesting anyway.

The write switch is also shown in this video, which has a perfect timing, as long as you don't start in measure 1 of your MIDI sequencer software, this makes trouble due to the startup time of the CR-78. The patterns are 2 measures long, so just use 2 empty measures, then the notes for the write switch.

I found the problem of the strange doubling sound - it was due to "any note" triggering the write switch, so the selected instrument got triggered twice. This is fixed now, it now uses "any unassigned note" for the write switch. This simplifies recording:

BD in measure 3-5, HH in measure 7-9, SD in measure 11-13, Accent in measure 15-17, all as recorded, transposed 12 semitones down (to hit unassigned notes), record off (to not send back triggers received from the CR-78), start, instrument selector to BD, wait until measure 6, instrument selector to HH, wait until 10, select SD, wait until 14, select Accent, wait until 18, stop, done, whole rhythm in the programmable area.
Maybe i create another video about this.

All features seem to work fine now, i will now update the documentation and publish MIDItriggs version 1.0 on http://www.mik-music.org/MIDItriggs today or tomorrow. Ready-to-go for your CR-78 :)

Please keep in mind that i don't have the time to build kits for you or implement more features you might like to see. This project is open source, so you can fit it to your needs on your own. I likely ignore questions about it that are answered in the documentation or source code."

BeatBoxBattle CR-78 versus RM1x

"During the final testing of the MIDItriggs retrofit for the CR-78, i played around with sync in both directions and thought, it is funny enough to create a video. I hope, you like it.

Make your own MIDItriggs for the CR-78 with this: http://www.mik-music.org/MIDItriggs"

MIDI retrofit for CR-78 Part 5

YouTube via MusicMiK. follow-up to this post

"A bit tired on the first day of 2010, but enough to do some cleanup in the source tree and implement basic CR-78 hardware interfacing.

The hardware works as desired, the rest of this is just tricky firmware to have all the desired features enabled. Sync/Start/Stop still needs a bit improvement, but the way the machine works in detail is now analyzed and can be handled.

Currently implemented:

MIDI sync in and out
Triggers to/from MIDI, currently with not special handling for the Accent-trigger, which will be mapped to velocity later.

Still some things to change in the main logic to compensate some hardware strangeness of the CR-78 like the VCAs being shut down when the unit is stopped, so it always needs to run to get the triggers from MIDI routed to the hardware.
The handling of the switch between internal and MIDI control can also be improved using the start/stop button to switch off pure MIDI control and return to native machine clock.

Usual disclaimer: I will not build and sell kits and i will not implement your firmware wishes. This is your job, when the finished version of schematics/source go to http://www.mik-music.org/MIDItriggs"

MIDI retrofit for CR-78 Part 1

YouTube via MusicMiK

"This is the documentation of retrofitting MIDI into a Roland CR-78 using my MIDItriggs project. The first 4 parts include the mechanical work, modifications to the CR-78 and installation of the board in a good detail level.

Next year (read as tomorrow or so :), i will add the hardware driver for the planned CR-78 features to the firmware and create a last video showing the features of this retrofit. With the last video, the project will be available again on my website, being completely open source, including schematics, documentation and board layout, so you can make your own kit.

One more thing to say - i had some bad experience because there are people in the world interpreting „open source as „he does your custom development for free. This is not the case. I dont sell kits, i dont adapt MIDItriggs for your beatbox and in general i stopped answering questions about all my DIY stuff, as this eats up so much time that i no longer have time for the DIY hobby.

So if you contact me, dont be angry if you dont get any response. I just dont have the time and motivation to work for others, i want to make my own DIY ideas come true, not yours.

If i get another beatbox (i dont have a CR-78, its from a friend, i just have the Hohner Automatic Rhythm Player, which was the start of the MIDItriggs project), i will add it to MIDItriggs. But i still will not make and sell kits. This is your job - using the material you soon can find on my website again.

I wish you all a good start into 2010, happy new year!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

MIDItriggs clock out demonstration

YouTube via MusicMiK
"This is the demonstration of my current small project called MIDItriggs, an universal, open-source MIDI to/from trigger interface for old analog beatboxes and drum machines.

This video demonstrates the clock output feature, which is just added "because we can" :)

You can synchronize and control MIDI sequencers using the built-in sequencer of your beatbox, in the case of the Hohner Automatic Rhythm Player, this is some TTL logic with a diode matrix.

Of course, you can also send the machine trigger signals as MIDI notes, but in this video, they are filtered, just the start/stop/clock messages are sent to the RM1x.

The project will be published with source code, schematics and documentation this weekend.

The firmware is smaller than 4 kilobytes and uses less than 512 bytes of RAM, so it can be used on an ATmega48, while using an ATmega88 or larger can even give you boot loader capabilities to update the firmware over MIDI. The MIDIboot boot loader for this is already published."

Update:

MIDItriggs configuration demonstration

"Here, i show you how to update the MIDItriggs firmware if you use the MIDIboot loader in your MCU, which is an ATmega88 in my unit.

Besides this, i show you how the configuration of MIDItriggs works with just one button for the input (and MIDI events to set MIDI channel and the mappings of instruments), while for the feedback, the sound generators in the beatbox are used to give simple patterns telling you the current state of the configuration items.

The source code, schematics and documentation are public now, you can find everything about the project here: http://www.mik-music.org/MIDItriggs

Soon, a new version with completed documentation and PCB layout will follow, the project will grow as i find other units i can attach this nice toy to. The hardware might need changes for some other units, like the Roland CR-78, which also would be an interesting candidate for this, i just don't have one currently, so this has to wait a bit."

ARP 2600 restoration completed

YouTube via MusicMiK. follow-up to this post
"The last part of the ARP 2600 restoration video series.

Fixing the keyboard was the harder part of this restoration, i completely took it apart, cleaned everything, removed some rust, replaced the bushings and adjusted everything. Works quite fine now.

What you don't see in the video - i added a small circuit as a CV/Gate interface, which emulates the keyboard, so you can still use the portamento on your CV input and the trigger behaviour is exactly the same as with the original keyboard. This interface accepts TTL gate signals, so no problem with the 15V, you usually need on the ARP 2600. Schematics and layout will be published on mik-music.org after some minor corrections.

The whole restoration took about 50 hours of work and i really wouldn't do it again - except on my own 2600, if i ever get one :) Sure, it could have been done faster, but the motivation for this was curiosity and the challenge to get this done as good as possible :)"

Summer Evening

YouTube via MusicMiK
"After my studio collected dust for the last months, i took the opportunity during the 2nd Annual International Day of the Synthesizer Freak event on Facebook to fire it up and play around a bit with the machines.

In fact, not much synthesizer fiddling happened, but i created a little track, and as i used my first DIY synth for the brass lead, i made this video showing all the photos taken during development of this synth.

It's a nice slideshow where you can see the changes in the development equipment and the studio during the development and build of the MiK-one. And i hope you like the music also a bit :)

The nature sounds (thunder, rain, crickets) were sampled with the voice recorder of the iPhone with the built-in microphone. Those samples don't have any EQing or so, so you hear the original sound quality of this device. Quite okay for a mobile phone."

ARP 2600 restoration

YouTube via MusicMiK
"Another small video series. This is the first part of my efforts to restore an ARP 2600 for a friend. It shows the unit immediately after the friend dropped it at my place, showing all the problems it has.

This video handles repair of the electronics, especially my way to fix faders and potentiometers with isopropanol and vaseline, which was quite successful up to now and much less aggressive than the classic contact sprays, which tend to just give a short-time effect.

2 more videos will follow showing the results of those efforts."

ARP 2600 first tests

"The second part of the ARP 2600 restoration video series.

This video shows the result of the fader cleaning. Besides this, i replaced all the tantalum capacitors, also washed the jacks with the isopropanol spray, while one jack even needed disassembly to clean the contact spring, as the switch function didn't work reliably.

I also cleaned the enclosure and the knobs.

See the repair photos here:

http://www.mik-music.org/gallery3

(The last page holds some photos of a mod i did a while ago and doesn't belong to this restoration)"

Tiracon 6V sound demo

YouTube via MusicMiK. follow-up to this post.
"Those following me on twitter (SynthMiK) might have seen that i got a nearly complete Tiracon 6V to give the boards i recently showed an enclosure and make it a complete synth again.

In fact, i now have a completely working spare board set, because i was able to repair the ones that came with the synth also.

The restoration of this synth can be followed as a raw photo collection here: http://www.mik-music.org/gallery66
The power supply and the wooden side panels still need work, but this will take place in the near future.

I cut out my usual babble from the video to use the whole 10 minutes for the sound demo, the text has gone here this time.

I hope you have some fun :)"

Small Stone phaser clone test

YouTube via MusicMiK
"A friend told me he needs a Small Stone phaser after once again hearing it in Jarre's Oxygene album. And i found the schematics of the old 1975 version in the web. So i tried it on the breadboard and liked it. Besides this, i was looking for some simple circuit to practice making PCBs, and i even had a lot of those hard to get CA3094s around. So i decided to use this as a first test project to practice the whole procedure of the CAE steps, PCB exposure/etching, drilling the holes, assembling it with SMD resistors. And it worked like a charm. All in all i made 2 of those phaser boards in about 12 hours.

More on this will go here: http://www.mik-music.org/Small+Stone+..."

Note the Sequential Circuits Multi-Trak and KORG Poly-61.

Technics SX-K700 on MiK-Music

You'll find details and more shots of the inside on MiK-Music.

via MiK in the comments of this post.

CLICK FOR MORE »

MusicMiK Site Updates

You might remember MonoMiK from these posts. MiK wrote in to let me know he has found a new host and made updates to his site which will include info on the MonoMiK as well as his other projects. You might also remember him from this how to repair a KORG Poly-61 post.

"after taking down my website a while ago, i found a new hoster this year and took the opportunity to give the site a whole face-lift. During this, i also rewrote the articles about the Poly-61 repair. I sent you the link to the old pages a year ago:

http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-to-repair-poly-61.html

I fixed the bad structure of the old document and added some minor information about the inner workings of the Poly-61, besides this, more repair stories will appear as time allows. All the other things can also be found there, like more information about the MonoMiK including the blog about the development: http://www.mik-music.org/MonoMiK"

DIY UV lamp for PCB exposure

YouTube via MusicMiK. Posting this one for the DIY aspect of it all. You might remember MusicMiK form these videos.
"No directly synthesizer related stuff today, as i'm currently building a new tool - an ultraviolet lamp for creating PCBs by exposing the photosensitive coating to this UV light later.

See more about the construction here:

http://www.mik-music.org/tiki/gallery53

This unit is not yet completed, i need to build a powerful Step-Up converter for about 80V and 0.6A to feed the LEDs, which are chained in 30 chains of 22 LEDs each. Besides this, some more mechanical work is needed and a timer will also be built in. And of course - safety. You don't want to look into a 40 watts 400nm UV light source accidentally :)"

CR-78 Restoration

YouTube via MusicMiK.
"Okay, no new synthesizer modules, as i'm on holiday and just was at home today with a new toy - a CR-78 from a friend which needed a repair/restoration.
Just a short test video here, the full restoration story follows soon, for now, there is just a bunch of photos created during the day:
http://www.mik-music.org/tiki/tiki-br..."

MonoMiK ADSR demonstration

YouTube via MusicMiK. You can see the previous videos by MusicMiK posted here.
"It took quite a while due to vacation and some stress the last weeks, but finally, i soldered this module together. This was sort of much more difficult due to the very compact layout i needed so save some space in the overall construction behind those modules.

As usual, you can find more information about the project and the schematics for the modules via the blog: http://www.mik-music.org/tiki/blog1"

MonoMiK ladder VCF module test

YouTube via MusicMiK. You can find prior videos here.
"After you have seen the breadboarding videos of the two ladder filters, you can now see the final test of the assembled filter module with both filters in direct comparison.

Higher quality audio track and more about this here:
http://www.mik-music.org/tiki/tiki-vi..."