GDS PSU Finally Recapped... Now armed with a costly set of replacement reservoir caps for the rather scary 35 year old originals in the large linear PSU in the IMS8000 computer I set about removing the PSU chassis and removing the old ones. These capacitors are not exactly dainty - they bolt to the ...

I have -FINALLY- tracked down the root cause of the pesky stuck bit that was causing hieroglyphic patterns all over the front panel LEDs of the GDS Keyboard Console!... The replacement 8T97 bus transceivers turned up today and I carefully removed what I thought was the rogue IC and fitted a new one ...

What a fantastic thread. I first got a Synergy 25 years ago and then found a II+. Still have the II+ but it is being, hopefully, repaired. They sound fantastic to my ears, and a GDSA would be one of my dreams, but I doubt it will ever happen. In any case, fantastic to see that you are renovating yo...

How can Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F go unmentioned - awesome bass line! I believe both artists and their producers layered Minimoog with DX7 for earth shaking bass. The Axel F bassline is a stack of Moog 15 + Oberheim OB-8. The Moog 15 iwas (still is) Faltermeyer's favorite synth. I stand corrected...

I just look at the photo of the GDS oscillator board that you posted and it seems that this is the same as in the Synergy II :ugeek: Yes already made this clear.. they are identical - almost - the digital OSC board in the GDS is branded Crumar on the silkscreen and the Synergy Digital Keyboards. In...

This is great news, two Crumar GDS found and in restoration ! Good work Dan ! I'm really jealous :thumbleft: Technically it is very interesting for DKI Synergy ! For the historical level and also technically. It can help us be finally completed the development of a user interface to change the para...

Madonna's Into the Groove - Got to be one of the punchiest 80's pop tracks of all time - an amazing production.

How can Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F go unmentioned - awesome bass line!

I believe both artists and their producers layered Minimoog with DX7 for earth shaking bass.

Well to all those who might have thought I got lucky... hmmm... I decided to post my experiences as this is actually quite a typical insight into the life of a vintage synth engineer... The last two days have been somewhat of a challenge to say the least. The very same anomaly has happened to me now...

Fantastic. Great to see this info. Some great diagrams in there, made with a typewriter/ ASCII terminal! On the topic of ASCII, I noticed your screen grabs were from source. How do you grab the monitor output? Some kind of standard interface? D'oh!... You got me.. I was coming round to this one... ...

Last night I scanned a rarely seen guide detailing the GDS keyboard console controls. For those who'd like a more detailed look at the GDS I have posted both the original user manual in full and the guide here - download link via WeTransfer: http://we.tl/BvfwjMDpwn Get them while you can, they are b...

A very nice man at a local metalwork fabricator has produced a quote to make a duplicate of the missing front trim plate on the keyboard console which is badly letting down its general appearance. This will definitely be going ahead. Speaking of the keyboard console - I had some fun last night tryin...

Wow is the Chroma better than a CS80 or a KX88? Or a Peavey DPM C8? I've only personally played the KX88, but am reliably told the CS80 is lovely and the Peavey is worth more than they sell for. Have an Akai MX1000 myself, it's fine. In terms of key action? I recently restored a Chroma and fell in ...

Is it a weighted keyboard like the Synergy? The key mechanisms are almost identical to the Synergy but the complete keybed is has one less octave (which is curious being the more expensive of the two models) - it's actually quite a nice quality action that somewhat reminds me of that on the Chroma ...

I spent this morning releasing my latest and not totally unrelated new sample library (DK Synergy) and after the usual frenzy I turned my attention back to the GDS this afternoon.. http://i59.tinypic.com/sy06ed.jpg One of the things that was initially preventing the beast boot up was that it turned ...

I have a GDS in good condition with many disks. Also have access to another with as many discs, many dozen. Plus documentation. I suggest buying any VT100-standard terminal off eBay... Not expensive and designed to work with the system. The cryoflux system is what I will be using to archive these d...