Wavestation Diagnostics Routines?

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meener777
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Wavestation Diagnostics Routines?

Post by meener777 » Fri Oct 13, 2023 3:21 am

The Korg Wavestation service manual makes some very confusing reference to a diagnostics test. So far I have not been able to decipher this language to figure out how to start the test. Specifically it seems to reference "this test card" but only once. It doesnt mention any key commands to start the test suite, which makes me think there may be a physical card required that has the diagnostics on it. Does anyone happen to know anything about these diagnostics and how I might run them?

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Last edited by meener777 on Wed Oct 25, 2023 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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desmond
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Re: Wavestation Diagnostics Routines?

Post by desmond » Tue Oct 17, 2023 11:59 pm

Yes, you needed a special test card. Don't attempt to run these tests without one.

Whatever you do, *don't* do what I did, and on the first day of bringing my Wavestation home from central London, enter test mode and explore what was there, and think "I wonder what the D-IN button does?", because if you do, you'll brick your WS...

(I had to order a new WS OS chip from Korg UK, which was good anyway as it upgraded me from 2.xx to 3.19, which fixes a lot of bugs.)

To get into test mode, there is a power up key sequence, from memory you held the down cursor and the "4" key while powering on, but it's been decades since I did that so my memory might be incorrect. An internet search will probably reveal the key combo if that doesn't work.

But again, be aware that you can legit brick the synth by playing with test mode without knowing what you're doing - and replacement OS ROMS probably aren't that easy to get hold of now.

meener777
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Re: Wavestation Diagnostics Routines?

Post by meener777 » Wed Oct 18, 2023 1:20 pm

desmond wrote: ↑
Tue Oct 17, 2023 11:59 pm
Yes, you needed a special test card. Don't attempt to run these tests without one.
Wow... fixing synths I find it interesting to see what kinds of mistakes a designer can make. Power supplies that have a cap that fails in very bad ways, red glue, and this - making your diagnostics a separate piece of hardware no-one will have in the future.

Manual testing it is. :)


Thanks for the reply!

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