THOSE SHORTS!!!! 1983 again

My suspicion- “I got angry and hit it (thereby spilling my beer all over it.)”

Fantastic demo - thank you. Enjoyed how you made this [seemingly] accessible for enthusiastic amateurs - i feel reasonably confident i'll be able to apply suggested advice.

Thanks to this video I was able to repair a dead key on my synth. I took it apart and sure enough - the same sort of circuit board with the rubber pads on top. I cleaned some gunk off the underside of the rubber contact pad, put it back together, and it works perfectly now. Thank you!

I feel like i'm watching an early 2000s how to video from late night bbc mainly because of the shorts..... Great Video btw

OMG. I can't thank you enough for sharing your video. I decided to clear the dust of my beloved Korg Karma only to find one key was not working. I was so gutted, but then I watched your video and proceeded to take it apart as you showed in your video. it worked !!!! WOW. Thanks again.

Thank you a lot Markus for this video and sharing your knowledge! It made me find the courage to open up my old Korg MonoPoly synth and fix by myself the 16 keys that didn't worked anymore. I just cleaned the contacts with the pencil eraser and a special "contact cleaner" from WD-40. A lot of money saved, the proudness to fix something myself and a lot of music incoming. Thanks again, great job!

Amazing to see this 6 year old vid. I just did the same service on a scraped Roland from a very dirty barn under old scraps. Some fine wires were eaten by rats. All keys were muted. It has no adapter. So I dismantled all the keys, rubber contacts strips and boards. I washed them all in detergent with a soft tooth brush. Then I tested it with an old repaired adapter. The keyboard works like a new piano. Unfortunately, all other voices and features don't work. The volume control is also not functioned. The adapter became very hot because it has a half amperage rating.

Just used this method to bring a dead key back to life on a $1300 Juno I thought was f**ed. Worked like a charm. Used a little bit of 99% isopropyl and a cue tip. Thank you, sir!!!

Thank you so very much for this one! I finally managed to fix my Novation X-Station that had been laying around unused for about four years. The lowest two octaves were dead, but now it works again thanks to your instructions! It was nice to find the very same parts inside! :)

Excellent. Thank you. I've got my dad's Yamaha psr-2700 to have a go at so gloves on and preparing the speculum.

That's great! Such a common problem. +1 for the shorts.

Thank you for this video! Its one of the most well explained ones on the topic I'd say. :) Attempting the repair of an old Medeli SP-1 tomorrow.

It is useful! I'm watching this with an Orla R 510 sitting in my bedroom that I just picked up (for free!) with a couple of dead keys (and one that's sticking up at a strange angle) Im going to open it up and have a look. Now I have some idea of what to look for! Thanks Marcus!

I really enjoy your videos! I've used your technique on computer keyboards for years. That pencil eraser trick has saved many a circuit for me too! Many years ago, when Commodore 64 was THE hot item, they had plug in modules for things like a modem or a printer card, games, software and so on. These would get wonky after a while. A good scrub of the contacts with a pencil eraser brought them back! Believe it or not, when I get a tape recorder that has been in a flooded basement and the heads are total grunge, the pencil eraser can bring them back without harming them. Thanks for your video. Would love to hear you play sometime.

Thanks for the upload man! Saved the day on my VK-7-we owe ya one!

Markus your videos are great source of various tips n tricks,also it is source of vocabulary to improve my English. Keep it up.

Thanks Markus - fascinating and informative as always! Many thanks!

Thanks. I'm about to do my korg sp200 keyboard. It's nice to get others insights and tricks.

Great video again Markus! Good to see more of that Dad Dancing too haha!

I really enjoy your videos, my favorite are the repair videos, I am not really a dude who knows anything about synths nor am I really interested in it, but I do enjoy the little tidbits of history about them, and I enjoy the explanation of the methods you use to repair them, and the process you show. I personally do not think I am gaining anything from it besides entertainment since I do not work in a field where this knowledge is pertinent, but maybe one day I will be doing something, and an "I actually know this" pops into my mind, and just maybe I will realize it is because of these videos. Either way I figured I would leave a comment to voice what I enjoy about your content, and that I do enjoy it. ~Best of luck to your Markus, and I look forward to more content. -- oh and by the by the way I found out about your channel was a reddit post about you going into the Nagra lithium battery power pack.

Killer shorts Markus.

I've had to do this myself a few times. Very well done! Since the key action presses town on the plunger at an angle, the two pairs of contacts are made at a slightly different time. This small difference in time will be larger for slow pushes, and shorter for quick pushes, and is what the on-board controller uses to calculate the velocity of the press (this particular keyboard of yours might not be velocity sensitive however)

Thank you for sharing your skill and God bless you!

thank you so mush , for all your videos , you helping so many musieans ! hello from France .

I tried to fix a keyboard before but it didn't work. I tried again, while wearing some ultramarine shorts, and it TOTALLY worked. Thanks Markus!

Great video. Love the repair videos!

Thanks! I learn something new with every video. :)

I enjoyed watching this! I have an organ with a few keys not working. You were a bug help!. I will dive into it

My Yamaha DX100 has more dead keys than working keys...I have been at a loss as to how to fix it. I will have another look after seeing this. Thanks, Markus!

thanks for sharing,man! psa;if theres any chance of fluids inside your keybed,open it up and clean it! if not,arcs will arise.

Thanks for the DIY video, I got a Crumar Stratus with a few keys not working. This will help me a lot with visualising the work i yet need to do.

Always incredible content😄 Love it !

My technics kn2400 has one key dead, G2. Now i know where to look, thank you sir.

another great video. always love them.

I really enjoy your videos

Nice one Markus!!!

Nice work. Damn heavy organ.

very interesting Markus!

I do love the shorts Markus :P

I have a Korg KARMA with a few keys not working - I am going to give this a try! Thanks Markus.

As always very well made video. Thanks Mark for sharing.

How could a man with such amazing shorts have such an angry keyboard-whacking friend? You, sir, are the Lord of the Synth!!!

Well done, the JD800 has almost the same rubber contacts btw. I believe your friend was actually 100% right. Over time the emollient in the rubber gathers into little droplets still inside the "fabric" of that rubber. They get bigger as the rubber gets older. Some substances can evaporate and the rubber gets stiff. Some are just sitting on the surface as an oily film. If you got an old rubber contact and your microscope can do higher magnification you can even see those droplets. Once you hit the an old keyboard hard they spill out of that rubber at once and make this oily surface on the board. So it stops working as a result. Same thing if you use specific keys very often. This stuff also happens to remote controls if you abuse the buttons over a longer time. Especially the button for "Program number increase"

This really helped demystify what might be under the hood of my new compact synth. I’ve been thinking about converting it into a module and using a midi controller with grown up sized keys. Am I correct to suppose I can remove the mini keyboard altogether and use midi controllers with the midi input on the now-modular synth?

Excellent information and hope this helps me solve a similar issue on my Roland Keyboard......thanks

Markus- im having a problem with my Juno-60. when you press a key it sounds fine but then the note sounds again when you release the key. any help would be appreciated!

That was a good video so simple and got the idea.. thanks.

Nice. I've had to do that a few times. My D-50 had a couple of notes stop working and a quick cleaning fixed it. My OB-8 keyboard was really bad when I got it but a full cleaning fixed it all. However, if I don't use it for a couple of weeks a bunch of notes stop working until I play them a bit. Just dust I think. Also my Sequential Six-Trak's number pad . The 2 button doesn't work until I press it a couple of hundred times. Then it works fine! Those little carbon buttons are a bit dodgy I think!

Hi Markus, great explanatory video! I have the same problem with my Oberheim OB-8 keyboard, but inside it, rubber plungers are different from Roland keyboards and have just one carbon. Do you know if there are any places to order those type of rubber plungers? Thanks

I have a 1977 lowrey key organ the last tenant left it here but 3 of the organ keys on the top row dont work and when I turn it on now theres a persistent humming/feedback noise. Can someone let me know if this fixable? My friend fixes instruments, but how much hours of labor etc? Please it's got the original receipt guy paid almost 3000 dollars in 1977 still has the original receipt and book and chair in excellent condition

Those are some crunchy sounding drawbars :) Enjoyable as usual

Thank you so much. I have a midi keyboard with a couple dead keys. I am gonna give it a go and grab the ole pencil eraser and isopropyl alcohol and with any luck my keyboard will be fully back in action. I’ll let you know.

Thanks for another wonderful video Markus. I have a dead 'YES' button on my Korg DSS-1. I took it apart to see if it was something I could clean, but it's one of the little box buttons with a nodule sticking out the top. Do you have a video on how to repair this type of button or would it be best to just buy a another part and fix it that way? Thanks for your help. Take care, Sam.

Thank you mark

great vid . Thanks !

Excellent video. It makes me want to open my 505 again, and see if I can clean the Tempo pot, so it doesn't spaz out.

This video reminds me of the channel 8BitKeys, love the vids where you repair things - wish I had the skills :)

great video once again ty

Hi! I have a Casio cgp700 and it’s nearly new but many keys stopped working so I’ve been looking for videos to help me fix it. So I did this cleaning method for the contacts and it works much better but some keys are still not good. Perhaps I didn’t do a thorough enough job? I will retry this. Even though my keyboard and this one are years apart in age, you are correct, they have almost the same stuff on the inside! Thanks, very helpful!

Great work, Markus! Your videos always interesting and cool. Those speakers on the left - Wilson Audio?

It looks to me like that spill happened a long time ago, since it's had time to create rust. I'd guess the keys were barely still working with the messed up contacts and that rage whack was enough to kill them.

Thanks for this I have a Yamaha SS30 with an unresponsive key and some that aren't reaching full volume so I suspect it's either this or what is explained in your other video. Now to figure out how to take it apart.

It ....it even has an floppydrive in it ((O.o)...I bet someone spilled some beer on it :D

Awesome video Markus! My auld Roland U20 is gonna thank you in a very near future I think!

Useful video. Many users including me, have issues on the Akai mpc pads (no velocity sensitivity) . Do you think there is any DIY solution ? Thanks

It is better to use a match to push back in the contacts or just ease and press them in with your fingers, in my experiance, using a small screwdriver like that can risk breaking or puncturing the rubber because of the hardness of the metal.

Another good vid from ya ,,,

Hi i have a triton workstation wete a few keys sounds much louder than the others...could u knw wat problems r they??

hello sir, i cleaned one of mh contacts and still no sound, any ideas as to what else it might be? thanx

Nice job, Markus :-) (And neat tip on replacing the rubber lugs.) Why did your friend hit the keyboard out of frustration? Coz it wasn't working after he dropped his drink in there! People misremember and misreport...

Thank you for doing this video. My Korg Mono poly has a few dodgy key. I'll have to look into it, and see if that's the same problem. :)

the problem with these cheap, crappy carbon contacts is the thin layer of carbon wears off with a lot of playing time, then you don't have a contact any more. and those cheap strips of rubber contacts are ridiculously expensive. higher end keybeds, like they use to use in the korg trinity for example, used metal contacts instead of the cheap rubber. of course, without opening something up, there's no way to know what's in there.

That's how the electronic keyboard knows how strong you are pressing on the key. It senses the Time Difference between the two buttons/contacts on that rubber plunger thingee, and determine how fast keys are being pressed (Thus Velocity Sensitive Key). Faster = Harder, so it knows how hard you are pressing down on the key.

I watched your video and am going give it a try

@markusfuller Is there a way to fix a cracked circuit board? I have a dead key and it's right nead the crack that I found

reminds me of one of those old Elka synths

i have yamaha pSr-e433 here in ma home and all of E and Bflat is not working what du think is the problem?

I have a Roland XP80 that was stored in a non air conditioned room. The adhesive holding the metal weights to the underside of the keys let go and the weights are dropping and sagging down from the bottom of the keys. Would you have a suggestion for a proper adhesive to re-affix them? Id so should I try to clean and start over or just add adhesive and clamp?

Merci beaucoup 😀

Just found your channel!

Thanks for sharing the repair wisdom and techniques. You make it seem simple when it wasn't. Because of watching 2 of your videos I think I'm ready to get into my roland ep7 and see if a simple cleaning can save it. Out of 70ish keys almost half are dead. In the mid to higher end keys there is a row of notes that work for just short of 3 octaves. 3 to 5 highest keys are dead along with 2 octaves of lows with a few random notes in a row that work. Also the power into the keyboard jack needs ample wiggling and positioning for the red power light to stay on. I wonder if I can pry the female plug contacts with a small flat screw driver to make that work better... Excellent video.

I have purchased a Roland Hp700 digital on a yard sale for 20 dlls and 2 keys dont work in the D and F key in the bass key area. I have removed the keys and clean the rubber contact pad and contact in the circuit board and still dont work. Checked the pin connectors and ribbon cables under key contact circuit board and are fully plugged in, everything seems to be connected properly. Even try a new contact pad and still dont work What can the problem be. Im about to give up on it.

Markus, Love your repair videos. They give me the confidence I need to try servicing my babies on my own. One question though. I'm trying to find pencils with good erasers that don't just leave residue and marks. You mention "Pencil Erasers that are slightly gritty work best". I feel silly asking but would you happen to have a brand I can google? I need to perform this on my Oberheim OBXa and Roland Juno 60. Thanks!

that jig you did at the end was funny! Curious, who's your mate in the photo there on the wall to the left? lovely and interesting video as always sir markus!

My Akai XR10 drum machine has dead rubber pads. Cleaning did not help. Any ideas?

How can i replace contacts on a dead key? Some keys are dead and its bcoz the contacts on the board peeled off..yamaha P70

I am having trouble repairing a 61 keys Ashbury (kb-200). 1-16 fine 17-32 dead 33- 48 fine 49-61 dead... Those are blocks of 16 keys that are probably connected to some 4 digits address control chip but I have no idea which one it could be. Any clues? Thanks

Could you please fix my Jp8000 synth. I think it's a dust problem.Dead keys. Notconfiedent to do it myself.

Hey Markus, i've got a Roland PCR-30 with a lot of those dead keys and cleaning them hasn't really help. I've also found someone online selling those rubber contact strips but they were very expensive (in my humble opinion). Do you know of any supplier who sells them for an affordable price? Thanks! Cheers from Portugal

hey mark how would you fix it if the PCB would have had cracks? you said it would have been an easy fix, just wondering how? nice vid mate

What would you have done if the board had been broken? Soldered it back together and soldered wires over the breaks?

Yup looks like someone spilled something maybe. So you'd scrub the contacts with ethanol initially ...let dry then measure with probes laying them side by side on the rubber contacts measure resistance on 2K scale. They should measure 200 or so to 700 or so. If they get much above that they're flaky and if they're over a few thousands ohms they likely won't work at all. and clean with ethanol (don't scrub hard) on the actual circuit board. I don't recommend erasers due to abrasion on those board contacts! The q-tip was a better idea there because those are *thin* and you don't want to lose a lot of it. You're scrubbing too much. Let the solvent do it and carefully scrub lightly. Anyway I've seen those wear through so careful there. Now if you get bad reading on the rubber contacts with probes pressed down lightly side by side you can get either new contacts if still available (I have some probably for that one. Looks fatar) OR you just get my contact disks which are 1.5 mil thick stick on conductive re-faces for those rubber cylinder contacts! Makes them better than new in terms of stability. Material made for NASA. Check the sounddoctorin.com/synthtec/parts/key.htm on the 'good news ' links under various key types.

Good job.. Please how to repairing rubber contact

What melody are you playing at 13:12? Interesting bit about the contacts, will surely remember that one, since these are used in all kinds of electronic equipment!

thank you! I'll be opening my Yamaha PSR!

I got a newer Yamaha Model: #PSR275 with a flaky middle C key. What would you suggest? what does that keybed/contacts look like? any tips?

Hi Markus, another great video. Thanks. On a sad note, had you heard that Isao Tomita died late last week? Real shame. M

i have tried this but not working sirr can u help me plzzzz

I have a Korg Microstation and every 4th key doesn't work when playing the keys in order from left to right. Any thoughts as to what to look for if I open the keyboard and try to fix myself? It's a pity because its a lovely sounding keyboard and it's unplayable. If every 4th key doesn't work, I suspect it's a hardware problem, not software. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!