Do I actually NEED you? Break and I'll know.....

It seem the true test of whether you actually need a piece of gear in your studio comes when it breaks down.

In 2003 I was in the market for some new gear; an analogue modelling synth to be precise. The object of my GAS was a Korg MS2000B. I seem to remember it was about £500, but something tells me it must have been more.

Anyway, during the journey to “Sound Control” I suddenly decided to take a different route and stop off at the second hand store. This was purely on a whim. Ever since I was young this shop has been an Aladdin’s cave of instruments and gear (albeit overpriced). What made me take a detour and go to the shop I have no idea to this day. But I’m glad I did.

My SuperNova II - dead

With the £500 cash in my pocket for the Korg I wandered into the smelly and cramped second hand shop to be greeted by a vision in blue. I’d never seen a Novation Supernova II keyboard before. The rack was almost obligatory in the early 90’s, especially if you recorded dance music, but the keyboards are much more scarce. The price of this rare and beautiful beast? You guessed it: £500.

The stats were heavily in favour of the Novation. The Korg had a small 44 key keyboard, a mere 4 voices and was monotimbral. The Novation had 61 keys, 24 voices and was 8 part multi-timbral. No contest.

Recently however, the Supernova has been ill. One of the master outputs decided to die and some of the LED’s no longer worked. Reluctantly, I took the Novation out of the studio and tried to carry on without it. This is the real test of whether you still actually NEED a piece of gear. Space is a real issue for me currently and every instrument has to justify the space it occupies.

The Supernova revitalised

I soon found I needed analogue type sounds and turned to the synths I had left. I have “classic” or “retro” soundboards in three of my ROMplers and whilst they provide some useful sounds, they just aren’t editable enough to be used as analogue modelling synths. The idea of getting my JP8080 or MS2000BR (yes I got one some years later) out of storage did not appeal as they are monotimbral and sonically just don’t cut the mustard. The Waldorf XTk is editable but just too noisy and mad for the subtle pads and glistening sounds of the Novation. VST is all well and good but somehow it just doesn’t appeal to me. Thus the Supernova went to the synth doctor at Sound Service, it was obviously needed.

At first, the diagnosis was of a terminal fault. Searching eBay led me to despair of owning a Supernova keyboard ever again, racks are 10 a penny but keyboards are not quite so abundant. With this in mind, the synth doctor went back and pulled the guts from the synth again.

It seems Novation do not make their circuit diagrams available to the public and diagnosing a fault on a board as complex as that in the Novation without one is very tricky. After many man hours, new chips and a lot of head scratching the synth began to live again. Now its back I am a little lighter in the wallet but relieved my bargain may provide loyal service for another 10 years.

So, if you are ever short of space or wondering if you need to replace a synth, remove it from your set up and try working without it for a few weeks. You’ll get your answer soon enough.

The plucky Casio

For some reason I always liked the idea of owning one of the Casio CZ series of synthesizers from the 1908’s. So, a few years ago, I decided to buy one. But which one?

Whilst the CZ-101 is a classic synth beloved of many, its small keys and user interface made it look a bit like the ‘toy’ Yamaha keyboards of my childhood. The CZ-230S is also toy like and to add insult to injury it isn’t even programmable. The CZ1 is the daddy of the CZ range and is both rare and relatively expensive. Thus I began looking for a CZ1000 3000 or 5000.

After a few weeks I discovered a CZ3000 complete with RAM cartridge, manuals, programming guide and original dust cover for about £100 on eBay. When it arrived, the mail had not been kind to it and the casing was a little smashed up and cracked, some of the buttons didn’t work and it generally looked worse for the treatment of Parcel Force. Luckily Sound Service managed to resurrect the Casio and it began to function again. Yet, I never really got time to play it and after a few weeks languishing on a stand the CZ3000 and all the rest of my equipment went into storage as I had to move house.

During the house move, one of the keys on the CZ3000 was smashed, I lost track of the RAM cartridge and generally lost interest in the synth. When I finally unpacked my studio some months later, the Casio was consigned to storage and not seen for years.

However, a few weeks ago I decided to try eBay again with a view to acquiring a new key for the plucky old Casio and get it up and running. Remarkably I sourced a new key from an eBay seller and took it to Sound Service once again for some TLC.

Now the CZ3000 is enjoying some time out of storage and is fully operational. All I need now is a slider cap for the Stereo Chorus knob to make it complete. 

Now you must excuse me, I have to go into the attic to retrieve the programming guide for this thing as I have no idea how phase distortion synthesis works and every sound I make is crap. Hope it was worth repairing....