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Those of us who are lucky enough to own a PPG
Wave synthesizer will be all too familiar with its shortcomings, in particular
it's awful keyboard action and limited midi spec. Well fortunately a bunch of
enthusiasts (strangely both Austrians) have been busily working away and have
produced 2 kits designed to correct these issues. Both kits are simple enough to
install by the careful hobbyist and don't require any specialist knowledge -
although please take care, if you are not confident opening up your PPG and
poking around, take it to a suitable repair shop.
The keyboard kits are supplied by Alexander
Guelfenburg at Virtual Music in Vienna http://members.aon.at/virtual-music/
The Ver 8.0 Software update is provided by
Hermann Seib and you can also buy it from Virtual Music. Hermann also has
details regarding his experience with the keyboard upgrade kit on his website http://www.hermannseib.com/english/synths/ppg/default.htm
1. The Keyboard Update (or go direct to
the software update)
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The kit itself consists of a manual , 70 cut
pieces of blue insulated wire, 70 small pieces of green felt and 70 larger
pieces of green felt and thats it ! |
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The next step is to open up the synth. There
are three screws at each side / end cheek...remove the first two and
loosen but do not remove the 3rd screw at the back - this will allow you
to pop up the panel rather than having to remove it completely. |
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Remove the keyboard by removing 2 screws
directly underneath the keyboard then sliding the keyboard back slightly
and don't forget to remove the ribbon connector which sits underneath.
Note : Its a good idea to put some foam normally under this connector as
it can pop out sometimes (you might notice I cut a bit off from the foam
holding the cards in place for this !!). |
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Remove all the key's - very simple just undo
the black screw at the back of the plastic key, you might need to tilt the
key forward a little to free it. |
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Now were getting tricky - take off all the
springs at the back of the metal rockers. Best way is to use long nose
pliers and grab the spring at the base, pull it down a little at first to
unhook it. Try to maintain constant tension or the spring will fly off and
you'll spend the next 20 mins on the floor trying to find it again
!. |
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With the spring removed, gently prise the
J-wire guide out from the pin under the metal rocker. Lift the
rocker at the back clear of the locating tab the lift forwards to remove
it. The picture shows a removed rocker sitting on top of the assembly. |
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This close up of an upside-down
keyboard illustrates the whole assembly in a bit more detail.
Always take care NOT to break a J-wire, they are NOT easy
to find spares ! |
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With metals rockers removed the condition of
the original damper bushes is now horribly clear ! Yeuuch ! Next step
remove them - they should just pull off or more likely disintegrate when
you try. Scrape any residue off the metal tangs underneath and clean them
up. Take some time to straighten them up evenly ! They are quite easy to
bend with finger pressure. |
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Now take one piece of wire per metal tang and
wrap it round as tightly as possible. Best method I found was use your
left hand thumb nail to hold the start and wrap one loop as shown, at this
point I put a few drops of super glue on and then wrapped the rest. This
part was very tedious ! |
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Now glue the new felt dampers to the inside
of the metal rockers. When a key is pressed, the felt dampers will hit
against the blue wire. Glueing them is a pain in the ass, superglue
doesn't work - use a universal quick drying glue and I found using a
cocktail stick the easiest way to apply the glue. Place into position
using tweezers - I used angled fine tweezers (Tamiya) bought from a
model shop and they were perfect for this. This operation was very very
boring ! |
Then just simply re-assemble the keyboard: slide
the rockers in over the dampers, reconnect the J-wire guides and place through
the metal locating tang at the back.....simple enough...
BUT wait......hang on........something's....not quite right
here....!
Did you spot it ! Yes folks I put the metal rockers all back on
in reverse order ! Despite numbering them I had disassembled the keyboard from
behind and re-assembled it from the front - of course I didn't realise this
until I had completely finished reassembly ... At this point I opened a bottle
of Cote Du Rhone, closed the kitchen door and retired for the evening.
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Next day after stripping the keyboard again
and reassembling in the "ahem" correct order, cleaning up the
keys - its ready to go back in. Job Done !! |
All in all I guess it took me around 12 hours and in all
honestly its really very simple but very tedious and a bit fiddly - but is it
worth doing ? Hell YES ! The synth feels like new again and that's quite
something.
Best tip ? - Keep a nice bottle of wine ready just in case !
2. Software Update to
Rev 8.0
Thankfully this is much easier to do and it gives your PPG
capability to dump and receive patch data in Sysex format.
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Open up your PPG and locate the I / O board -
its at the back of the card rack. Remove the 4 ribbon cables shown and
gently pull out the I / O Card. |
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Using a flat blade screwdriver , gently prise
out the old EPROMS marked 8 , A , C & E. |
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Carefully install the new EPROMs taking care
not to bend anything ! And thats it....put the card back in , reconnect
the ribbon cables , close up and job done ! |
