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"This is the Kawai SX-240, an 8-voice, 2DCO hybrid analog synthesizer from the early-mid-1980's. The layout and color scheme are very attractive, but the sound is even better. The only limitations I can see for this synth are: 1. DCO2 is square wave only; 2. there is only an alpha dial for altering sounds (not so bad); 3. the MIDI spec is very limited.
Because they are rare and there are no pics of the internals on Flickr, I wanted to photographically document it. I wish I had a better camera, though!
I got this off ebay for relatively cheap. Was stuck on one sound, had a tweaked bender, and missing the large rotary knob. It was pretty dirty when it arrived, so I cleaned it up. The electrical problem was due to two open traces on the digital board from slight battery corrosion. I removed the old NiCd battery, thoroughly cleaned off the PCB, and jumpered the open traces. I replaced the battery with an Li-ion CR2032 (first installing a diode to disallow charging when plugged in). I then restored the presets and voila - back to life!
Other mods I made were to replace the dedicated power cord with a 3-prong IEC socket. I also used a very nice big aluminum rotary knob to replace the missing plastic alpha-type knob.Update: I recently made some changes to the SX-240. First, those wood end cheeks are really lame: plastic laminated particle board - horrible for such a great sounding synth, so I bought some nice walnut and had them cut to fit. Second, the SX-240 can have a keyboard split at a fixed point on the keys, and since the split marking is a bit subtle (for me anyhow), I decided to make the lower 2 octaves reverse keys. Finally, a lot of the panel tact switches were dodgy, so I went in and replaced them all. I think it looks nicer and certainly more unique!"
