Korg Wavestation WS1

[MudusaYuk]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice. I know almost nothing about synths so bear that in mind if/when I say something dumb.

I'm looking at selling a Korg Wavestation that I've had since the early 90s. I used it a lot back then but haven't touched it for over 20 years, so it required a bit of testing to see if it still works okay. Last time I used it, I remember a 'low battery alert' stopped me from saving any edited patches, and that's obviously still the case. I also discovered that a key is now sticking, and that, while the display itself is fine, the blue screen light is not working. I understand that all these problems can potentially be fixed by someone who enjoys mucking about with old synths and unscrewing back panels from things (I'm not into either).

My question is regarding the 5 Korg memory cards I have, which I wanted to sell separately. 4 are for the prog slot and 1 for the PCM slot. They all worked fine last time I used them, but now, I get an error message for all five cards as soon as I switch the unit on with card inserted - 'the card is not formatted'. Seems highly unlikely that all 5 cards stopped working, and as I was using them fine when I was getting the low battery alert 20 years ago, it doesn't seem as though that would be the problem either. Is the card issue likely to be a result of another problem not listed above or....what?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

[madtheory]

I'd recommend not powering up the synth again until it has been properly tested by a technician.

It's likely dust dirt and/ or corrosion in the card socket. As you say, it's unlikely all 5 cards have died.
On the face of it, it seems like a simple repair job:
new backlight: Is there a high pitched whine? Two options: a DC-DC inverter and phone backlight in place of the EL foil, or an OLED display. Putting in an OLED display is a bit of a challenge in these synths. Synthetic Dreamscapes and Hideaway studios have both done them in the WS if anyone wants to get the pinouts and resistor values.
Battery replacement: remove old battery holder and replace with clip in battery holder for new battery.
Cards: clean and test socket.

But as it's been off for 20 years, the main PSU caps are almost guaranteed to be dried out. This is why you should not power it up. Wonky power can break other parts of the synth. The PSU is easy to fix. The other parts not so much! Very likely to be other dried out caps too. This can cause the kind of damage that is expensive to repair. Simply replacing the caps may not be enough. Especially if you keep powering it up.

Check ebay and reverb for used prices to see if it's worth your while forking out for repair.

[MudusaYuk]

Thanks, that is extremely helpful. Nothing on Reverb at the moment, but looking at how much Wavestations have NOT been going for on ebay recently, I suspect I'll end up listing it with confirmed issues and see how my luck is. But I'll certainly check out cost of addressing issues first.

That'll teach me to leave an old synth cold and lonely for 20 years.

[desmond]

I turned my OG WS on last week... I knew the backlit was on the way out, but it gave about 15 minutes of very weak light before fading almost completely to dark. It's too much effort to replace the backlight (or requires more skill than I have) so I'm happy to use the plugin the majority of the time anyway.

It is a useful master keyboard though, albeit the keys are quite clunky (I miss the DX7II keyed - it's supposed to be the same as the WS one, but my old DX7S felt *way* better than the Wavestation to play...)

[madtheory]

Ya interesting about the keybed. I think some manufacturers will use a different lubricant, or might even quality grade and make adjustments to a supplied keybed. I don't know who made the DX/ WS keybed... assuming it was Yamaha themselves? Since the two companies have very close connections over the years.

[iphoenix]

My (original) Wavestation has a really nice keyboard, its very similar to my D50 in feel & action. Might be the same in both as the DX7 mk2 keyboard, I seem to recall someone saying that.

I put a nice Oled screen in mine a few years ago & it makes it feel like a different instrument, much more playable. It was the inverter whine that bothered me, was great to cut that out , otherwise the screen was fine, but I like my new White on Blue oled.

Yes it was a mighty hassle to do, the whole synth needed dismantling. I think it took me about 10 hours, over 2 days & was stressful. Its all about being well prepared ,labeling & having lots of boxes (labelled)for the huge amount of screws & bolts etc. Annoyingly, I had to dismantle it a fair bit again after putting it together, because I discovered something ( a screw) was loose & rattling around inside. Frustrating to say the least, also I had to adjust/ set the display contrast ratio, but after all that it felt great to work on & play after many years of loud distracting inverter whine.

I bought the software WS & the later one (for 'random mode') , but I prefer the sound of the hardware. Most people seem to prefer the slightly cleaner software or even say they cant tell the difference, but there is a difference in mine anyway & to me. The software v however is very convenient & great in itself, Im just glad I still have the original. My power supply caps looked a bit rough though, swollen etc, so I must get that looked at soon. This is not my area of expertise, though I wish I had done some electronics tech training.

[desmond]

Ya interesting about the keybed. I think some manufacturers will use a different lubricant, or might even quality grade and make adjustments to a supplied keybed.

I think when we've discussed this in the past, we were thinking one of the key differences in this case is how the keyed is mounted into the chassis, and the damping for the keys, which all goes into the feel and the physical noise performance differences, even though the actual keyed unit is (supposedly) the same.

I don't know who made the DX/ WS keybed... assuming it was Yamaha themselves? Since the two companies have very close connections over the years.

It's a Fatar unit, but I forget which one offhand. You can google it for the model, but it was used in the DX7S/II, the Wavestation, and other keyboards of that class around that time...

[desmond]

Might be the same in both as the DX7 mk2 keyboard, I seem to recall someone saying that.

Was it me, literally two posts up..?

Yes it was a mighty hassle to do, the whole synth needed dismantling. I think it took me about 10 hours, over 2 days & was stressful. Its all about being well prepared ,labeling & having lots of boxes (labelled)for the huge amount of screws & bolts etc. Annoyingly, I had to dismantle it a fair bit again after putting it together, because I discovered something ( a screw) was loose & rattling around inside. Frustrating to say the least, also I had to adjust/ set the display contrast ratio, but after all that it felt great to work on & play after many years of loud distracting inverter whine.

For me, it's the cutting bits off, desoldering, carefully sliding in bits, re-soldering and so on that worries me. The dissassembly process, or even the time involved don't bother me so much...

I bought the software WS & the later one (for 'random mode') , but I prefer the sound of the hardware. Most people seem to prefer the slightly cleaner software or even say they cant tell the difference, but there is a difference in mine anyway & to me.

Oh yes, there is a difference between them for sure. The hardware sounds *worse*, but in a nice way - it's softer, chunkier, crunchier, kind of "de-focused", easy to fit in a mix and I'm *very* familiar with that sound.

The plugin is more hi-fi, crisper, clearer and like a veil is lifted, so technically sounds "better" (objectively) but maybe less *preferable* (subjectively), depending on whether you see the hi-fi quality as a good thing or not. I like both, but if I could have only one, I'd go for the plugin, because you can always rough it up, but you can't make the hardware cleaner... ...plus the extended polyphony goes a long way.

[madtheory]

I think when we've discussed this in the past, we were thinking one of the key differences in this case is how the keyed is mounted into the chassis, and the damping for the keys, which all goes into the feel and the physical noise performance differences, even though the actual keyed unit is (supposedly) the same.
odel, but it was used in the DX7S/II, the Wavestation, and other keyboards of that class around that time...

You're right we did. I'd forgotten those factors. Thanks for the reminder!

[ItsMeOnly]

It's a Fatar unit, but I forget which one offhand. You can google it for the model, but it was used in the DX7S/II, the Wavestation, and other keyboards of that class around that time...

Are you sure? These keybeds are marked as Yamaha FS-61 and, according to my information, were done by Yamaha in-house. Korg later switched to Fatar TP keybeds, but not before Trinity and the first Oasys prototype.

[desmond]

Are you sure? These keybeds are marked as Yamaha FS-61 and, according to my information, were done by Yamaha in-house. Korg later switched to Fatar TP keybeds, but not before Trinity and the first Oasys prototype.

FS-61 sounds about right - honestly, these discussions were years ago and I've forgotten the exact details. My memory tells me that those units were Fatar components when we researched this before, but I could be remembering that wrong.

This page here shows that that keyed was indeed used in the DX7/II and Wavestation etc.
http://www.bustedgear.com/repair_Yamaha ... board.html

Anyway - great keyed, but as I said, the one in my Wavestation feels very different (quite lumpy and chunky, even from day 1) to the one in the DX7II (which was my favourite synth action keyed I've ever used.)

[ItsMeOnly]

Anyway - great keyed, but as I said, the one in my Wavestation feels very different (quite lumpy and chunky, even from day 1)

I believe that's because of different weights and thus more rigid "springboards" for the keys. My WS was pretty banged-up when I got it second hand, so I literally cleaned, lubricated and reseated every key and stripe underneath, which in itself is a challenging task (took me nearly two hours). You can slightly bend and move the stripes up and down for rigidness of the keys. Mine now feels a lot more like KX-88, spare for a bit of clunk during key release.

Man, it's been 25 years...

[celebutante]

I got my first WS brand new when I could BARELY afford it - I think it was around $1700, which may as well have been a million dollars; it was my first serious big poly synth. I sold it a few years later, and a couple of years ago, I found one in almost mint condition in a pawn shop here in Vegas for $200 so I couldn't pass it up (the irony being that now I can afford the original price). It has the usual dim display, so one of these days I'll upgrade it. I'm still pretty quick at programming it (along with K2000)... I guess you get that way when you're young and have no other gear, and it stays with you. These days, I can barely operate my phone!

[madtheory]

I guess you get that way when you're young and have no other gear, and it stays with you. These days, I can barely operate my phone!

LOL true!

[desmond]

Ironically, the phone these days has the power of, what... 1000 Wavestations..? *10,000* Wavestations..?

Tell that to my early 90s self and I wouldn't have believed you..!