If I wrote everything down, it would have been a small book. :) I used a shorthand that some people would understand. It was late at night. :)
> Tracey - to clarify - the 'diganostics' section of
> the Service Manual is not necessarily intended to be a
> 'follow these steps in order to check the health of your
> keyboard' but instead it contains a set of individual
> notes about how different functionalities can be controlled.
> The idea is that these can be used as a sort of 'tool
> box' by someone to try to investigate/diagnose an
> issue.
But it sure helps not driving blind.
> The Oscillator Enable/Disable section is saying that if you
> want to make it so an oscillator doesn't sound - then if
> you have it set up as a 'pulse' waveform, and set
> the width to max (or min) - then that will 'turn
> off' output from that oscillator.
BUT - it didn't. That's what I was meaning.
> 4) LF D 2 - Revision 5. Poop.
> Revision 5 is functional - but if you have concerns about
> that you can always arrange for newer firmware to be
> active:
Some say Rev. 9 is better.
> http://www.rhodeschroma.com/?id=polariseproms
I have the .bin file but of course, no prommer in miles from me. Have to farm it out to someone and no doubt it'll cost.
> 10) LF 12: LED did not go on and I heard a click. Had to
> power off / on.
> What of you mean by "Had to power off/on"? Was
> the Polaris stuck? Did it no longer respond to user
> input?
Yup. That's what I wrote. Shorthand again.
> ... 11) Noticed Bank B had organ sounds which it should
>not.
> There are no hardcoded default programs in the Polaris. The
> programs are 100% defined by what was/wasn't loaded by
> the user/saved by the user.
BUT - if you do a RESET - LF D 12 STOP doesn't wipe out all patches? Either that or it didn't do a full RESET, only what it wanted or didn't want to.
> One of the diagnostic results not reported on was LF D 1
> (Battery state). What did you see here? Whether or not the
> batteries are new or old, it is important to know what the
> Polaris 'thinks' it sees for the battery voltage
> (e.g., if something is preventing the battery voltage from
> going where it should - then every time you power off and
> back on you could end up with random values and
> settings).
Didn't see that one. Hmmm... Is there any feedback from the Chroma on the number pads, like the EPROM test? I'll look that sucker up in the Service Manual. That was the MAIN TEST for me and my DX7 when I changed the batteries. Also, that is one section I did not reseat when I took it apart.
> If not mistaken, it should have scratch patch because
> I previously did a RESET.
> It all depends on specifically what was done. If the
> 'reset' referred to here is like the LF 12 'Cold
> Reset', then that wouldn't necessarily blank all the
> programs.
Tried that. That's why it's confusing I have organ and marimba patches instead of nothing or a scratch patch.
> If you did 'LF + D + 12 + STOP', then that will
> erase everything (and all the programs and adjustments will
> be blank).
Yup. An old friend told me once that you can almost re-write the Chroma if you're not careful. I believe him now.
> 12) Tried to go through all of "A" Bank using
> the numbers...
> A8 - Moved to G 8
> A9 - Moved to H 9
> A10 - Moved to I 10
> What specifically are do you doing/seeing here?
It jumped to the new numbers. Bang! Press "A". Press "8". Whoosh. "G 8" shows up on the patch display. That is definitely bizarre.
> - you press "A" and it flashes (and nothing no
> other program bank letters are illuminated)
> - you press "8" and instead of the panel keeping
> "A" lit up and "8", the panel now shows
> "G" (on solid) and "8" (on solid)?
You got it... No stability.
> A11 - No LED, Click and stayed on A1 - no sound. Turn
> off / on.
> What specific steps are being done here? E.g., it was noted
> that you 'stayed on A1'.
Showed "A1" instead of "A 11".
> So - for this test that you were going through all of the
> "A" bank, how is it that when we did the A11 test
> it was already on "A1"?
Yup. Standard testing procedure. Start at stable point and move outward. A1 -> A1, press A1 - A3, etc. Put it back to a starting point and then test the others.
"A"
> - press 1 - see the flashing A LED now turn solid and see
> the "1" button turn solid (with all other bank and
> program LEDs being out).
Yup.
Press A1 to stabilize.
>- press 2 - see the program LED change from solid
> "1" to solid "2"
Yup.
> - press 3 - see the program LED change from solid
> "2" to solid "3"
Yup.
> - press 11 - see the program LED change from solid
>"10" to solid "11"
Nope. they jumped around to different letters and numbers. See above.
> ... I think I need to focus on adjustments or some new
> part(s) in the Synth.
> Perhaps - but the only way to know 'what' is to
> figure out what's wrong and identify the functionality
> involved.
OK... listening...
> Some basic/key important observations:
Shoot...
> - are you finding that the behaviour changes 'over
> time'? E.g., if you leave the Polaris on (not power
> cycling it) are you finding that (for instance) program A1,
> A2 and A3 are 'OK' when you first power on - but
> then after some hours somehow A1, A2 and A3 are
> different/broken/different?
The only time I've seen that is when I fixed something inside twice. Put the cover on, screwed down everything and went through all the letters / numbers. Perfect! Everything went smoothly.
Then, after a period of time, everything went haywire as I've been posting. An hour, at least, maybe more. I was going to leave it on all night and let it "burn in" like we do with PCs but it went whacko before I went to bed. The synth acted strange shortly thereafter. This leads me to believe that Paul's new face plates seem to be working and something inside is acting up.
> - are you finding that memory contents change across a power
> cycle? E.g., that during power up 1 you have 12 LEDs light
> up in Bank A, 12 in Bank B, etc. - but during power up 2 -
> or after it has been off overnight you find now that there
> are more/less patches defined/contents of patches
> changed?
Patches have not changed. Same bunch of gobbledygook as before. Most are scratch patches, except for some "B" and "C" - the organs ans percussion type stuff. A1 is a scratch patch. Haven't been able to do a Sysex or tape load. They would probably stick because it plays patches fine.
BUT! I have seen a few scenarios - didn't write them down - when hitting a letter many numbers showed up. Not always consistent. For instance "A" and then 2 - 8. "B" and then 7 - 12. Weird sequences of numbers.
> 14) LF B 1 - 6 seemed to work without issue.
> 7 gave a honk and went to flashing
"F".
> 8 gave a honk and went to G 8.
> 9 gave a honk and went to H 9.
> 10 gave a honk and went to I 10.
> 11 gave a click and went poof - locked up. Turn
off / on.
> 12 gave a click and lit up B 1 - 3. Locked up.
Turn off / on.
That's locked up and had to turn it off and back on.
> There's something not good occurring here, seemingly
> related to what the Polaris believes has been selected for
> buttons 7-12.
Yes... the only time 11 and 12 don't honk were the 2 times I mentioned above when all the pads worked properly.
> If you don't use program buttons 7-12, and restrict
> yourself temporarily to buttons 1-6 - are functional
> problems seen?
Yup. With different letters, but didn't go through them. "A" was enough for last night. It was about 4 AM when I quit.
> E.g., if there not already some patches, create some by
>editing the scratch patch and storing a changed version to
>A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B1, B2, B3, etc. If you now only
>use those (along with any slider editing you wish to do) are
>hings nominally OK, or do certain things failing?
One thing I haven't done, since I took this out of storage, is create a patch. That I can do for the next "exercise". :) I've been fighting the other fires first, like the output / headphone jacks and top left board - fixed a few LEDS and tried to do my best on the Cutoff and Resonance sliders. They work better than before, but still not up to speed. They are a minor issue, considering the overall picture.
Thanks for your time...
Tracy