Korg DSS-1 // buttons not working

[Soul_Processor]

Hello,

I recently purchased a Korg DSS-1 for what I thought was an incredible price.. yesterday I finally got the chance to plug it in to try it out, but came to the realization that 4 of the numerical buttons don't work at all (namely 4,6,2,3) which basically makes it impossible to program it. :/

I already talked to the seller (he's an acquaintance of mine), and he said, when he used it the last time, it was working as always. He hadn't used it for months before I bought it, and when I transported it with the car, nothing happened which might eplain this...

Any ideas how to fix this? Another aquaintance of mine is kind of a genius with electronics, so I thought he could have a look at it. Otherwise, if it's completely broken, I'd rather have my 60 euros back...

[rhino]

Welcome to the board!

Let me get out the service book and see, but right off - I'd say the offending buttons have just gotten a bit of dust in them. The tiny switches underneath the plastic buttons do wear out, and do get clogged. Moving/shipping can dislodge c**p and cause the button to intermittant, or dead.

This giant beast is kind of a pain to work on, but the switch buttons are stock items and are cheap. You need skill in soldering - they are quite small.

I'll check the schematic to see if anything else (loose wire, bad connector, etc.) could affect those buttons.

IMHO, get it repaired: It's a great synth. If you keep it, you may want to look into Tom Virostecks upgrade:

www.straylightengineering.com/

[Soul_Processor]

Hey thanks for the quick reply!

Well I really want to keep it, because I was at least able to load some programs from the floppy disks and the sound is very nice indeed. Where exactly would I find the required replacement items?

It's just a pain in the a*s, because I was really looking forward to get to know the device and what it is good for, and now this...

well it was cheap, so I'm willing to invest couple more euros to get it to work.

[Soul_Processor]

Any more advice? I'm gonna have some time to jam away during July, so I want the DSS-1 to work by then.

[linzo]

The problem with non-working buttons is common; sooner or later they fail and require replacement. This happened to me when cleaning the insides by the vacuum cleaner. The main problem is either the physical wear and tear of the buttons on the board - the problem usually starts with the most used buttons ENTER, DATA increase and System - they wear out, lose elasticity, or oxide appears on the contact surfaces - “nothing lasts forever!”
be patient and re-solder everything so that the synthesizer doesn’t force you to open it for every minor reason with a new dead button!