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Trouble with your Access Virus? Here you can get help when you have trouble or just don't know what to do.

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  #1  
Old 19.01.2013, 08:21 AM
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Default Indigo ---------> 1 key not triggering <---------

1 note will not trigger when played from its own keyboard

however the key does work when played via an external midi keyboard.

ideas of what could be wrong/how to fix it?

thanks!

(Moderator Edit: For all those who are having similar trouble, keep reading to the very bottom of this page (posts #5, #9 and #10) for a now-full tutorial on how to easily maintain keys & contact strips for the Virus Indigo itself. ~Timo)

Last edited by Timo : 19.05.2018 at 04:42 PM.
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  #2  
Old 19.01.2013, 02:48 PM
TweakHead TweakHead is offline
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probably you need to replace the bad key? try to find somewhere near you that can do that kind of repair, let them see what's going on. that's not even an expensive fix, usually. but sometimes, if it's a minor issue, some cleaning on the contacts will do... But I think you'd have to open the entire thing to get to the keyboard, and not everyone feels comfortable doing that, of course. But if you're a "do it myself" kind of guy, the guy here to ask for guidance on such things would be Timo for sure. Cheers
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Old 19.01.2013, 07:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TweakHead View Post
probably you need to replace the bad key? try to find somewhere near you that can do that kind of repair, let them see what's going on. that's not even an expensive fix, usually. but sometimes, if it's a minor issue, some cleaning on the contacts will do... But I think you'd have to open the entire thing to get to the keyboard, and not everyone feels comfortable doing that, of course. But if you're a "do it myself" kind of guy, the guy here to ask for guidance on such things would be Timo for sure. Cheers
cool, thanks.

i'll definitely open it up myself first to see if there's anything obviosly wrong before sending it off to get fixed.
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Old 19.01.2013, 07:18 PM
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by the way, how do i clean the key contact?
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  #5  
Old 19.01.2013, 07:58 PM
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The bonus with the Virus Indigo is that, unlike other keyboards, the keybed is extremely easy to get out, and therefore easy to do maintenance on (not that I personally have done maintenance on my keybed it has to be said, as I haven't yet needed to, so you would be treading on uncharted territory if you do so).

Most obvious thing to check first would be the keybed ribbon cable, making sure it's securely in contact with the keybed. Photos showing you how to access and remove the keybed (taken from my other re-potting guide) follow below.

Disclaimer (purely to cover my own arse):- It'll void any warranty you may have if you do it yourself, so if you don't trust the Virus in your hands get a proper, qualified serviceman to do it for you.



^ Indigo turned off, disconnected and under anaesthesia.



^ Turned over, for the keybed all highlighted screws need to be removed.



^ Turned over again. The keybed now slips out.



^ The keybed is attached via a ribbon cable, shown highlighted. Make sure this is firmly in position. Or if you want to remove the keybed entirely, disconnect it.

As for cleaning, if needs be, I've just been watching how this guy cleans the key contacts on his Kurzweil PC88.



Regarding the actual key contacts themselves, watch from 3:20 onwards.

The process with the Virus may be similar.
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Old 19.01.2013, 08:16 PM
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INVALUABLE INFO TIMO.....thanks!

i'll post again in this thread once i've performed the diagnostic and hopefully found the remedy.
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Old 19.01.2013, 08:23 PM
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Just noticed the process to actually get to the key contacts may well be different to the Kurzweil, as from the photo showing the underside of the keybed of my Virus Indigo it appears there's a black plastic cage over the base of the keybed, along with springs on the rear.

Without cracking mine open again, I'm presently unsure of the best method of attack to get access to the key contacts themselves.

However if you have a look at it and find it's not intuitive, contact SynthesizerService (who are Access Virus' hardware branch).

http://synthesizerservice.de

They offered me excellent info about repotting, so hopefully they would respond similarly. They were a little slow, if I remember, though, so patience if needed.
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PS > And another thing! Will the Ti|3 have user customisable/importable wavetables? A ribbon-controller or XY-Pad might be nice, too, please! Thanks!
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Old 31.01.2013, 04:46 AM
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following Timo's pics and Sound Logic's video above i cleaned the key contacts and successfully fixed the key that wasn't triggering.

i'll post pics of the process to get to the contacts in the next couple days for others who'd like to do the same.


thanks Sound Logic! thanks Timo!
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Old 29.04.2018, 08:37 PM
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Been recently having trouble with one of my own keys on my Indigo, it only played faintly compared to all the others. Opened it up several times, cleaned the contacts but no improvement.

Opened it up yet again, and on closer inspection when manually handling it it appears the rubber contact for that key had a tear around the contact itself. Consequently once the key is pressed the rubber contact won't return back down into position afterwards properly as it should, instead the contact remains partially up, as you can see:-



Flipping the rubber contact strip over and very gently spreading the rubber with my finger, you can clearly see the tear:



The contact was barely connected to the rubber strip to be honest, a consequence of the age of the keyboard and the amount of use I think.

Looked at other contacts and noticed a few others showing signs they were going the same way, so I decided to replace the whole 37-note key range with new strips.

The Indigo uses rubber strips grouped into 12 keys (one octave) per strip, with the right-most octave being a 13-key strip as it includes the top C.

They're seemingly hard to source! I tried http://SynthesizerService.de (Access' hardware service company) but they didn't get back to me.

The easiest that I've otherwise found, that appear to match the keyboard contacts I needed, was from a guy on Ebay from Turkey, of all places. So ordered 2x 12-note strips, and 1x 13-note strip.

Still currently awaiting delivery from Turkey/eBay.

Will let you know how I get on.
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PS > And another thing! Will the Ti|3 have user customisable/importable wavetables? A ribbon-controller or XY-Pad might be nice, too, please! Thanks!
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Old 18.05.2018, 12:08 AM
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Ok, new rubber key contact strips installed and works an absolute charm. This tutorial shows the middle octave being maintained.



^ Indigo keybed removed from Indigo (see one of my earlier pics toward the top of thread for this procedure).



^ Rear of keybed showing key springs.



^ Close-up of rear springs.



^ Just pull on the bottom of the spring(s) and then out, simples.



^ Incredibly phallic-looking springs they are too.



^ Without any springs, the keys just flop down. They can be removed by pulling them toward you. I found it best to remove all the white keys first.



^ Shows the underlying silicon rubber contact strip(s). They come in octave lengths. You can simply pull one or more of the strips off. I will be removing the strip for the middle octave in the above pic, in order to get to the aforementioned problematic key in that region.



^ Shows the top and underside of the contact strips. They come in 12-key (one octave) or 13-key (for one octave and 1 additional key for top-C) versions. Notice the little notch scooped out along one of the edges (circled), this is so you can locate which direction the strips should be installed. Also notice the countless little rubber legs on the underside.

If you're merely maintaining the rubber strips, you can wash them with clean water (no detergent) before drying thoroughly, ensuring there is no further foreign debris or fibres on them or the black contacts on the underside, and then replacing them.



^ Shows the bare carbon contacts on the Virus PCB after the rubber strip has been pulled off.

Important: Make sure they're clean and free from any debris that could otherwise impede the contacts from the rubber strip. All it takes is for a crumb or speck of dust to prevent the key from being triggered.



Make sure when you place the new or cleaned rubber strip, the 'notch' faces the bottom. This is important as the carbon contacts under the rubber strip are at slightly different heights - I'm guessing the mechanics are that one of the two rubber contact hits the PCB before the other one, as you press a key, and it uses this to calculate the 'velocity' by doing so.



^ Align the new contact strips, and use a toothpick to poke all the rubber legs through the PCB. Really easy. Make sure all of them have been pushed through so the rubber strip is fully flat against the PCB, and obviously don't push ridiculously hard.



^ Once the key strip is installed you need to slot the keys back on. Install the black keys first, followed by the white keys.



^ Then simply re-hook all the springs at the rear, they're super easy. Doesn't matter which springs are used for which type of key (white vs black).



^ Voila! All that remains is you reverse the procedure to install the keybed back into the Virus. Basically insert the keybed back into the keyboard chassis, hook up the ribbon connector again, and then screw the keybed into the chassis.

Hope this may help others carry out inexpensive maintenance.

If you are removing old strips and re-installing new ones, each strip cost me approximately £6 per 1-octave strip, plus P&P. The strips in question are also seemingly used on many other synths, such as Korg, Ketron, Roland, Kurzweil and Nords. You can get them from http://synthesizerservice.de but I got mine from the user "specialparts2012" (Turkish seller) on Ebay, which were slightly cheaper than SynthesizerService and I'd ordered them before SynthesizerService got back to me, but they may well be available elsewhere too. Be careful to obtain the correct ones as there are differing types of octave strips out there.

~Timo
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PS > And another thing! Will the Ti|3 have user customisable/importable wavetables? A ribbon-controller or XY-Pad might be nice, too, please! Thanks!
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