Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

(Ooops. I had posted this in "General", before I saw the "Help" category. Pls remove from "General".)

Hi folks.
I have a couple of keys on my Micron that need to be pressed more firmly at the bottom of
their throw to play a note, and I'm guessing that cleaning the contacts would solve that.

Is the procedure for cleaning key contacts the same from synth to synth or is there a particular way to do this on a Micron?

Do you use compressed air? I think I read somewhere about lubricating them, too? Is
that right?

BTW, I've posted to the Ion/Micron board, but no one (or no one who's answering anyway!) seems to know.

Any experience with key contact cleaning, or pointers to where this info exists on the 'net would be much apprecited.

Thanks, Alex

I don't want to hijack this thread as I think the two problems are different, but can anyone give a little advice on cleaning key vintage contacts please? I have two Prodigies, one of which has three double triggering keys i.e. the note plays reliably when the key is pressed but triggers again when the key is released.

Each key on the Prodigy has two copper leaf type strips, one above the other. I’m assuming one does the voltage (pitch), the other does the envelope. Is this correct?
When the key is pressed the top leaf makes contact first, followed by the lower leaf. When released, the lower one breaks contact first, followed by the upper one. I've watched the operation of the contacts when the keys are pressed and they seem to behave in exactly the same way as the other 'normal' keys.

I’ve tried cleaning the bus rails and copper strips gently with cotton buds and Isopropyl alcohol. Did I do the wrong thing? I seem to be able to get the three keys in question working correctly for a very short period (10mins) then the fault/double triggering re-appears.

Do I need to source new contacts for these keys?

Cheers in advance for any help offered.