AX-80 O.S. hacking co-op?

pouncey · Post by **pouncey** » Wed Nov 02, 2016 4:14 pm

This is amazing

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Thu Nov 03, 2016 12:00 am

madtheory wrote:A W E S O M E

now I want to own an AX-80 even more

Better get one quick before desirability and prices shoot up. It's such an easy update that there isn't really any reason not to do it--a few screws and a chip pull and you've got a nicely modernized analog with aesthetics that kill.

pouncey · Post by **pouncey** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 2:30 am

Sysex info and a patch dump have been provided to Michael Lambie at Midiquest and I believe we will have an editor librarian profile for the updated AX80 soon. I already have Midiquest and am looking forward to having an editor librarian.

tim_m · Post by **tim_m** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 5:05 am

This is fantastic news! I'll head over to TaunTek in a moment. I'm happy to beta test. While I don't have a lot of time, I am technical and methodical, so I'll keep an eye open for any potential bugs.

Thanks Bob and Rasputin!

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Mon Nov 21, 2016 3:39 pm

It would be appreciated if anyone wants to share their custom patch SysEx here and/or forward it to Bob @ TaunTek so we can build up a patch library.

Old tape dumps are welcome to, as I am willing to convert those over to SysEx.

Also, if anyone has developed any templates / control panels / editors, etc. then please also share those. Considering the effort and knowledge that went into developing the firmware upgrade and the fact that it's free, it's not much to ask.

tim_m · Post by **tim_m** » Mon Nov 21, 2016 4:01 pm

Hi Rasputin. I'm collecting a few custom patches of mine for just that purpose. I'm hoping to get that together in the upcoming weekend.

On a related thread, I've been testing the new firmware, and it's really fantastic!

pouncey · Post by **pouncey** » Tue Nov 22, 2016 3:38 am

Firmware is working great for me so far. No bugs to report.

Midiquest will have an editor for the AX80, that's been sorted out and should be available to Midiquest owners in the next update.

If I create any interesting patches I'm happy to pass them along for a patch library.

Endeavour94 · Post by **Endeavour94** » Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:46 pm

This is all awesome! I recently acquired an AX80 for super cheap, but obviously it's got a couple issues with it. Do any of y'all have an idea of what to diagnose/replace regarding the voice chips? I *think* one is dead, and possibly the tuning is off on one. Shoot me a DM/reply, thanks!

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Sat Nov 26, 2016 11:49 pm

People have already mentioned some strategies for faulty voice chips earlier in this thread, but if you have more specifics on the symptoms then please elaborate.

And congrats on the score. I feel so bad for the suckers that have recently let these things go for like $250. It's got to hurt not knowing what the AX80 can do, especially now. But hey, their loss, your gain.

Endeavour94 · Post by **Endeavour94** » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:46 pm

Thanks Rasputin. Yeah, $100 ain't bad even with some issues

. At first I thought my problem was a voice was out of tune or something, but I think the LFO might be affecting 1 of the voices more than the others. What exactly happens is that over only 1 octave of the keyboard (switches depending on frequency of oscillators) there is a heavy modulation, which I learned can be affected by messing with LFO 1; however it does not solve the issue. Even with the LFO depth at 0 it still has artifacts and effects that note range.

I'm guessing I should wait until I have this issue fixed before I upgrade the EPROM? I'm on the verge of just replacing all the 4000 series ICs (because it's cheap and http://www.oldcrows.net/~oldcrow/synth/tips.txt told me too) and maybe some caps, but there is so many I'm not sure where to start! Thoughts?

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:59 pm

Endeavour94 wrote:I'm guessing I should wait until I have this issue fixed before I upgrade the EPROM? I'm on the verge of just replacing all the 4000 series ICs (because it's cheap and http://www.oldcrows.net/~oldcrow/synth/tips.txt told me too) and maybe some caps, but there is so many I'm not sure where to start! Thoughts?

Do you know how to measure power supply ripple? I would check all your voltages and any DC lines for ripple before doing anything else.

Endeavour94 · Post by **Endeavour94** » Sun Nov 27, 2016 8:13 pm

Not without an oscilloscope, which I don't have access to. I guess I can always check the individual capacitance of them, and replace if necessary. I checked the voltages of the pins (P1-5, & the ICs) in the power supply and a few of them were off by 1-3V (with no load).

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:34 pm

This should really be a different thread as it has nothing to do with CFW, but:

Set your meter to measure AC voltage (yes, AC). Now test the DC voltages, especially anything for the analog components. The +5V digital rail is probably good enough since it's booting and not crashing, etc. but any ripple on the analog rails is going to cause jumping values in stuff like the mod wheel, LFO, etc.

Ideally, when you measure the voltages this way, the meter will read 0.0 but if it about 0.5 or under then it's probably good enough. If it is 0.6+ then there's likely an issue somewhere. Test both ripple and DC voltage with it under load, as well. It's absolutely possible for things to measure normal when nothing is loading the PSU.

If any of the voltages are showing ripple then it could definitely be the PSU filtering cap(s) for that rail. For what it's worth, I've never had to replace any caps or ICs in my AX80 (all still straight from 1985), so I wouldn't just assume parts are going to be bad due to the vintage and then start shotgunning stuff. Take measurements first.

Also, is there any noise on the outputs (hiss, buzz, crackling or other distortions)? Because the AX80 is very, very quiet. If you're noticing noise on the outs then I'd definitely suspect ripple, interference, or a bad ground is your issue.

havok1919 · Post by **havok1919** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:33 am

Stumbled across this by accident today-- I'd actually started a similar project a few years back (gah-- end of 2013! curse my short attention span!) with a slightly different implementation, but if you're still in need if 'i' ROMs (I have 'i' and 'i2' which are apparently identical) or the internal 7811 ROM code, let me know! I also had professional large-format scans done of the service manual if you don't already have those.

-Clay

Rasputin · Post by **Rasputin** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:36 am

havok1919 wrote:Stumbled across this by accident today-- I'd actually started a similar project a few years back (gah-- end of 2013! curse my short attention span!) with a slightly different implementation, but if you're still in need if 'i' ROMs (I have 'i' and 'i2' which are apparently identical) or the internal 7811 ROM code, let me know! I also had professional large-format scans done of the service manual if you don't already have those.

-Clay

Thank you for the offer, but this project was successfully completed last year.

Now it's on to the AX60, AX73, and VX90. Unfortunately, I don't own those three machines and they're currently too expensive to buy on a whim, so I probably won't be seeing those all the way though, but I do have source code for the Akai AX60 and a bit of specialized knowledge to help anyone that truly wants to tackle it.

AX-80 O.S. hacking co-op?

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