Sometimes you order something from E-bay and when it arrives and you open the box full of enthusiasm you get pretty dissapointed by what you see. I had that feeling when I received this Roland SH-09 analog synthesizer. It looked like it really took a serious hit. Like it fell down flat on its top. The pitch bender was broken, most knobs were missing, not original or as bend as could be. And two of the keys of the keyboard had cracks in it. In the add the last thing was stated but it was much worse than I expected. I decided that no way it was going to be in my collection in this state. Not every synthesizer I have is in mint condition, but I haven't got anything looking as bad as this.
So I started looking on E-bay for some spare parts to fix it a bit. I found a pitch bender and a set of new knobs for it. So tonight I started opening up the synth and try to replace the pitch bender. Opening it up is not very hard. You can take of the top by just removing a few screws. The pitchbend is in a seperate panel that can be removed after that with just 4 screws. Replacing the pitchbend was quite easy. It is just a piece of plastic that works like a knob on a potmeter. On each side is a spring to get it back in its normalized position. But just push it in between and you are done. So if you ever break a pitch bender on a SH-09 don't throw it away for that.
After that I removed a lot of dust from the inside and put the new knobs on. After that I tested the synthesizer and it looks like it works fine. A few of the potmeters crackle a bit, but besides that it's fine. Here is a pictures of it after I was done. You can still see the cracks in the keyboard and you can see it is old, but I think it is in a reasonable enough state now. I'm going to sell it and find a new one for myself. I want a nicer one for my collection, but for someone that is interested in the sound it is great and I'll sell it for a lower price than usual. I will record some sound effects on it before I sell it. It has a nice self resonating filter and some nice modulation functions.
Sometimes you order something from E-bay and when it arrives and you open the box full of enthusiasm you get pretty dissapointed by what you see. I had that feeling when I received this Roland SH-09 analog synthesizer. It looked like it really took a serious hit. Like it fell down flat on its top. The pitch bender was broken, most knobs were missing, not original or as bend as could be. And two of the keys of the keyboard had cracks in it. In the add the last thing was stated but it was much worse than I expected. I decided that no way it was going to be in my collection in this state. Not every synthesizer I have is in mint condition, but I haven't got anything looking as bad as this.
So I started looking on E-bay for some spare parts to fix it a bit. I found a pitch bender and a set of new knobs for it. So tonight I started opening up the synth and try to replace the pitch bender. Opening it up is not very hard. You can take of the top by just removing a few screws. The pitchbend is in a seperate panel that can be removed after that with just 4 screws. Replacing the pitchbend was quite easy. It is just a piece of plastic that works like a knob on a potmeter. On each side is a spring to get it back in its normalized position. But just push it in between and you are done. So if you ever break a pitch bender on a SH-09 don't throw it away for that.
After that I removed a lot of dust from the inside and put the new knobs on. After that I tested the synthesizer and it looks like it works fine. A few of the potmeters crackle a bit, but besides that it's fine. Here is a pictures of it after I was done. You can still see the cracks in the keyboard and you can see it is old, but I think it is in a reasonable enough state now. I'm going to sell it and find a new one for myself. I want a nicer one for my collection, but for someone that is interested in the sound it is great and I'll sell it for a lower price than usual. I will record some sound effects on it before I sell it. It has a nice self resonating filter and some nice modulation functions.
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4 comments:
Hi. Nice work! Would you happen to have 3 extra slider knobs left over from the project. I am need of only 3. Can't afford to buy an entire set at the moment. Just thought I would ask. All the best....
Thanks, but I'm sorry to say that I have none left.
Good work! I don't suppose you happen to know the value of Q26 in the ADSR? I need to replace it in my SH09 but it's snapped off and the schematic is illegible!
Send me an E-mail. I have the service manual as PDF. I'll mail it back to you.
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