Juno 106 crackly chorus

[elsquirrel]

Just got a juno 106 and everything works fine except for when using chorus (I or II) there's an intermittent crackling sound. It seems to happen more if playing chords or low notes. I'll have to keep testing but it doesn't seem to happen when the chorus is off.

Any suggestions or ideas appreciated.

[Synthead]

If your sound is very full and you have the VCA up, the chorus has a tendency to distort. If it's really nasty, you can tune it according to the service manual, but it requires a tone generator and an oscilloscope to do it right. The procedure is on page 12 on this service manual (but visible as page 19): http://www.hinzen.de/midi/juno-106/manual/juno-serv.pdf

[elsquirrel]

I couldn't reproduce the crackling today, even with the vca up envelopes open and on the H setting. So not sure about that. Thanks for the info synthhead, it could well have been what you were saying.

Some unrelated questions: I thought the pitch bender was just loose but on closer inspection it turns out it has snapped away from both the black plate it is attach to and the whole gray panel as well. If anyone has either of these parts to sell, particularly the square black piece that looks like a space invader let me know.

Also a couple of the faders are a little bent, and the rest could use some cleaning. Not sure if I'll actually be able to bend them back, but I can't even get the plastic caps off. Any technique to getting them off? Feels like I'm very close to breaking something if I pull any harder.

[ApolloBoy]

Just yank the caps off, they won't break as long as you pull them out straight and not at an angle. If the sliders themselves are bent, you could try carefully bending them back with some pliers.