OT: Korg SQ-10 Troubles

[tripledot]

I know this is OT but I know many of you guys are good with sequencers, so...

In the process of moving house, my studio has been dismantled and shipped away for storage, so in the meantime my gear lust has increased tenfold. Had to buy some new toys to substitute. So I just got an SQ-10 to go with my MS-10. It definitely needs a tune-up.

Strangely, the first pot for tuning in each row seems to set an offset voltage which subsequently transposes all other steps in the row. Plus there is some interplay between the different rows (i.e. adjusting the first pot in row 2 throws all voltages in row 1, etc.)

Great for weirdness, terrible for trying to set up a musical sequence. In fact, damn near impossible to get close to the notes I want. It's doing my nut.

So other than going through and trimming the PSU rails (quick DMM check says OK!) and replacing the digital ICs, any suggestions?



PS. My devilfish style project has been put on hold while I move, but I still promise to share more when I get the chance!

Cheers,
td.

[zipzap]

Not very likely, but i remember having similar problems once. It was a broken wire forming a short to another pot. Could check for stuff like that. Sorry, no better suggestions, but also with logic something like that could lead to really strange behavior.
You could try to disconnect the pots makeing trouble and see what happens.

[piedwagtail]

[tripledot]

hmm.

i have heard that the sq-10's pots are over-sensitive to say the least, but the tuning drift is really very negligible in my unit - if it's possible to set it up, then it performs very stably.

the sequencer wasn't packed particularly well, so its possible that one or two of the pots aren't connecting properly. to be honest this sounds more plausible than anything else i've thought of - i didn't check thoroughly but didn't see any obvious broken wires or anything, so next job is check for dry joints. i know that nothing is ever as simple as a dry joint in the real world, but i can only live in hope.

piedwagtail: sacrilege!

i love the fact that vintage gear has its quirks, the rewards you get from battling with unstable gear outweigh the extra time one has to invest. IMHO.

thanks for the speedy replies though guys! more later!

[deknow]

i also have an sq10 (although it's not setup at the moment).

i would take it apart, and it's probably due to have all it's electrolytic caps replaced, especially in the powersupply. i haven't done this on my unit, but probably will soon.

deknow

[elektro80]

The SQ-10 definitively had quircks way back when it was new too. The pots always were a bit touchy and nervous. In mint condition it was always reasonably useful. The caps will indeed die though.
Is the SQ-10 really great? Hard to say, it was an affordable option at the time and matched the low end MS range. It was THE thing to own of you had any of these.

[deknow]

i think because it is a 12 step sequencer one doesn't want to only use some of the steps (by using 8 steps), and can't do 16 steps (well, you can, but again, you won't be using the whole sequencer), it encourages using patterns of differant lenghts.

deknow

[tripledot]

where it really shines is in the ability to use both the individual trigger outs - to augment a mono line with drum modules and one-shot modulation - in conjunction with the polyrhythmic madness that ensues when you patch things into the clock multipliers... ohhhh gosh

so maybe i'll recap soon, but i must first fill my hard disk with its random misbehavings for a while.

no shorts or bad joints anywhere. start by recapping and replacing cmos chips methinks..

any other thoughts? i stand by my word, i think it is an excellent sequencer. plus you still have 'c' channel for filtering while a 16-step pattern plays between 'a' and 'b'. give it time