[RonL]

well my pc2x started acting up today.

once you put the mater volume slider up over half way the pitch of the notes jumps up an octave. It happens on all programs.

The front panel leds look dimmer than usual and moving the slider changes their brightness.

I have tried plugging the power supply into different outlets to no avail.

Please help

[saul2600]

Well, that is a wierd one... i'm hoping that the ac adapter is at fault. a low voltage output might just cause those symptoms... anyway, even if an instrument came into my shop with this symptom, that's what i'd try first.

[RonL]

that is kind of what I thought - how can I get a new ac and can I return it if it is not that.

[saul2600]

Well, where did you buy it? if it was a store local to you, you might just call the keyboard people, and ask to drop by with your board and try thier adapter. even if you didn't buy it there, if you have some kind of history with any salesman in particular, they'll probably help you out... if they know how to serve the customer base properly.

or, if it was a catalog, some offer you the ability to return items within a certain period, no questions asked... there may be a restocking fee, or you'll have to pay shipping both ways... if it was used... well, try the local store/catalog return option anyway.

on the other hand, being stuck with an extra adaptor isn't the worst situation i can think of; it could come in quite handy. also, it's cheaper than most bench fees at a repair shop, so you could think of it as a $X.00 gamble.

[InsaneDuane]

That is a new one. Try giving it a hard reset. It sounds like a scanner issue but a new/ back-up adapter wont hurt.

PC2: TURN THE UNIT ON. PRESS THE “GLOBAL” BUTTON. PRESS AND HOLD THE RIGHT ARROW BUTTON UNTIL THE SCREEN STOPS SCROLLING. PRESS THE LEFT ARROW BUTTON TWICE. PRESS THE “ENTER” BUTTON TWICE. YOUR UNIT IS NOW RESET.
IF THAT DIDN’T HELP, TURN THE UNIT OFF. TURN UNIT ON. WHEN DISPLAY READS “PLEASE WAIT” PRESS AND RELEASE THE “PANIC” BUTTON. PRESS LEFT OR RIGHT ARROWS UNDER DISPLAY TO CYCLE THROUGH THE OPTIONS. PRESS THE “ENTER” BUTTON TO SELECT THE OPTION.
** NOTE ** MOST UNITS WITH THE ORCHESTRAL ROM WILL HAVE THE GENER MIDI LOADED INTO RAM. THIS WILL BE ERASED. TO RELOAD IT, RUN THE GM FILE THAT CAME ON THE PC2 CD WHILE THE UNIT IS ON.

[RonL]

Thanks for the tip but having been down this road with kurzweils before the first thing I tried was a hard reset.

I ordered the power supply from sweetwater - should be here in a few days. I dread bringing this in to my repair guy - I am always bringing in a kurweil - even he's scratching his head wondering why I have so many problems with them.

[RonL]

well it wasn't the power supply. unless anyone else has any other ideas I will have to take it in to the shop.

And just a quick minute of venting:

I have owned a lot of keyboards over the last thirty years and none have been as breakdown prone as Kurzweils. Everyone of them has had problems. Shame they are the best sounding things on the market. I know a lot of you use K's on the road - I seldom take mine out - the 2600's never - the PC2x for jazz gigs - but every couple of months I am bringing in one of these things to get fixed. Even the repair store owner keeps asking me why I keep using Kurzweils.


Sorry had to get that off my chest.

[RonL]

well I heard from the repair store today.

They recieved a letter from Kurzweil on May 16th that said that all parts in the USA will be unavailable until the legal matters with Samick are settled - which they think will take two or three months.

If you need parts from Korea add another two to three months to that.

The end of the letter was almost comical: "If you can think of any way of speeding up this process please let us know."

so in the meantime I am screwed. we all are.

[saul2600]

What *were* the parts they needed? i hope they didn't just give up and order a circuit board, because of course that's going to take a while. i wonder which components are the problem... most of the parts used in a Kurzweil, like any other digital synth, are commonly available; only the manufacturer specific parts need cause delay in a repair.

[RonL]

I have no idea what the parts that the repair shop needs - I could find out if you think you could get them - they are still diagnosising the problem - it may be with the digital power supply - but I am not sure.

If you know where we could get parts please let me know.

As for using non Kurzweil parts in the unit - I didn't even think that that was possible - I mean isn't all of the guts of the unit kurzweil parts - speaking of the digital stuff not the keybed and sliders.

[InsaneDuane]

I have no idea what the parts that the repair shop needs -  I could find out if you think you could get them - they are still diagnosising the problem - it may be with the digital power supply - but I am not sure.

If you know where we could get parts please let me know.

As for using non Kurzweil parts in the unit - I didn't even think that that was possible - I mean isn't all of the guts of the unit kurzweil parts - speaking of the digital stuff not the keybed and sliders.

Some parts are "Kurzweil specific", most are not. I have some parts so if they can not fix it you can send it to me as I can usually fix things most service centers can't. I also have a small cache' of parts that I use to repair customer units.

[saul2600]

"As for using non Kurzweil parts in the unit - I didn't even think that that was possible - I mean isn't all of the guts of the unit kurzweil parts - speaking of the digital stuff not the keybed and sliders."

Duane and i are suggesting more or less the same thing... that most of the parts are commonly available.

Kurzweil (or any other manufacturer) cannot possibly afford (nor would they want to) to design each and every transistor, resistor, etc... the only Kurzweil specific parts that are in there are devices with memory, where specific information is stored, or the DSP-like chips where most of the magic takes place... but these rarely go bad... considerring the thousands upon thousands of other parts, it's unlikely that these are the problem.

If you can get them to list which parts are bad, they almost certainly can be found. what i was worried about is that they don't know specifically which parts are faulty... without certain spares around, and without deep familiarity, it can be tricky to tell. In cases like this, less experienced technicians will simply say "we need to order a board". This is almost certainly unecessary... and if they mention it, consider shipping it off to a place like Duane, myself, or even Kurzweil. of course, of the three, Duane is most likely to have any Kurz-specific parts! not to mention the masterfull experience that almost any other tech working on a PC2 will find intimidating!

[InsaneDuane]

In cases like this, less experienced technicians will simply say "we need to order a board". This is almost certainly unecessary... and if they mention it, consider shipping it off to a place like Duane, myself, or even Kurzweil.  of course, of the three, Duane is most likely to have any Kurz-specific parts!  not to mention the masterfull experience that almost any other tech working on a PC2 will find intimidating!

Thank you for the good publicity Saul600!