My next fixer-upper - JX-8P

[Synthaholic]

UPS dropped this off yesterday:



Functionally it's great, it just needs some keybed work, slider caps, and a good cleaning. 2 keys are broken. The piece of tape is holding the broken black key up so it doesn't cause a stuck note.

Here it is with my other fixer-upper, still hunting down voice chips for the Juno:



BTW, if anyone has any extra slider caps for the JX-8P, or a PG-800 they're willing to part with, let me know...

[Box]

Good luck on that. JX-8P is a great synth. I had opened mine up and cleaned it awhile back. 20 years of dust, hair, and the occasional cat claw. I managed to regain some of the after-touch, just need to do a serious cleaning on it; then again I never use after-touch. But the sounds you get are mind blowing. I find myself using it more than the Ion now even though the Ion far surpasses in capabilities. I've always wanted a Juno but the dead voice has always scared me, so guess 60 would be the way to go. So how are you enjoying them now, disregarding the faults?

Btw, you really don't need the PG-800, everything is easily edited via the single slider. Something about paying more for the programmer than what I did on the synth seems a little crazy.

[Yoozer]

In the trio of the Juno-60, JX3P and JX8P the 8P is rather modest and melancholic. The others are richer and brighter; the 8P excels at the moody pad sounds and occasional surprises (bass sounds that go whomp).

[crystalmsc]

hope that the DCO beast get well soon, is worthy.

[Synthaholic]

hope that the DCO beast get well soon, is worthy.

Which one? They're both DCO beasts... Or did you mean "hope that the DCO beasts get well soon..."

[crystalmsc]

Which one? They're both DCO beasts... Or did you mean "hope that the DCO beasts get well soon..."

it's for the JX to me a monster beast for the JX10/MKS-70 and a sweetheart for the Juno both are a nice pair.

[Synthaholic]

I had the JX apart the other day, giving it a "bath".

So far, I cleaned the entire inside and outside of the case (lots of dust bunnies and a dead fly or two inside), cleaned all the key contacts (all the keys respond great now), and temporarily replaced the broken black key with an extra Juno-106 key (same construction but no weight inside) so no more note getting stuck on when the key "falls down". The broken white key still works fine, so I'll wait until the real deal replacement arrives.









I'm still looking for 2 more slider caps, if anyone has spares. I also need to do the aftertouch fix, but I'll wait until the replacement keys arrive and do everything at once.

Other than the broken keys, the synth is functionally perfect. One of these days I'll try programming a few sounds to see what it's capable of. I try not to get too attached to my fixer-uppers though, since my wife doesn't want me keeping them. My rig does need a real analog though.

[Mr. Black]

Nice work !! I had to clean a couple of D50 key's to fix the velocity and sell it,I hate opening and taking things apart,not my thing, i don't even like looking at the gut's of classic synth's strange how it does not appeal to me,I accually had my girlfriend help me so i could remember what i was doing,she thinks I'm crazy!!.

[crystalmsc]

I had the JX apart the other day, giving it a "bath".

looking good so far man, salute to all synths manintenance around the globe those babies deserved that. I remember opening the U-220 and Wavestation to clean it up inside out, the result was very satisfying. One lit'l trick to share is the Cajuput oil is mostly effective in cleaning the body of the synth or the ex-sticker dirt.

Other than the broken keys, the synth is functionally perfect.

that sounds great, hope all fully working soon.

One of these days I'll try programming a few sounds to see what it's capable of.

try to make some pad, it's hard to make it sounds bad..you'll love it.

My rig does need a real analog though.

you bet..or to me, my rig always need a JX

I accually had my girlfriend help me so i could remember what i was doing

oh, she is nice

[Synthaholic]

I was playing with the JX last night. I downloaded a free PC editor so I could play around with the programming. I still would want a PG-800, using a mouse to grab "sliders" just isn't the same. Or I need a laptop with a touch screen.

While playing with it, I discovered the mod lever on the pitch bender isn't working. It was working before, so something must have happened when I was doing my cleaning. Oh well, something else to figure out next time I open 'er up. Maybe a connector is loose or something.

EDIT: Figured out the mod lever problem last night. Turns out the editor I'm using is setting the mod depth parameter to zero. What's funny is the editor (which mimics a PG-800) doesn't even have this parameter available to edit, I have to edit it on the synth itself. So I wasn't even aware that parameter exists, but now I know how to fix it.

I cleaned the LFO mod button anyway.

Why oh why doesn't the JX have PWM??

[MarkShovel]

Please elaborate on you comments about the key contact cleaning. What problems were you having and how did you fix them?

I've got two JX-8Ps and a JX-10.

Mark

[Synthaholic]

Some keys weren't responding consistently when played, until I cleaned the contacts.

Erratic velocity sensing (keys responding at max velocity even when pressed slowly, or one key being more velocity responsive than another) can also be caused by dirty contacts.

Aftertouch is another issue entirely. This weekend I hope to remove all the keys and clean the aftertouch strip so it works better.

[MarkShovel]

Thanks,

So how did you clean the contacts? Air to blow out the dust? Isopropal alcohol?

Mark

[Synthaholic]

Thanks,

So how did you clean the contacts? Air to blow out the dust? Isopropal alcohol?

Mark

Nothing so high-tech. Actually I took a q-tip, cut it in half, and taped a piece of copper desoldering braid onto the q-tip stem I cut. I then gently rubbed each contact with the braid. I figured that this would be abrasive enough to remove dirt but not enough to damage the contact points. Worked great. Alcohol would work but then I'd be concerned about residue, and by not using the cotton swab end of the q-tip, I wouldn't end up with cotton bits in the contacts.

If there's a lot of dust some air is good to blow it out. There wasn't a lot of dust in mine so I just used lung power. I removed the remaining dust with the q-tip and braid jig.

[Synthaholic]

Some more pics of the fixer-upper being fixered-uppered:

Removing the keybed


In case you ever wondered what a JX-8P main board looks like:


Smokey inspecting my work


I washed all the keys. Here's the white keys sorted and ready to be reinstalled.


Reinstalling the keys. I put the blacks in first and am installing the whites in this pic.


All keys reinstalled!


And the synth is reassembled!


Now if I could just find some slider caps.