I’ve finally resolved the issue that was affecting some ASR-10’s from working properly with the SCSI board.

I’ll do another post with an in-depth discussion of the issue, but I’m almost certain that this issue affects the original Ensoniq SCSI boards as well. Unfortunately I sold the only genuine SP-3 board that I owned, however I’m building a few of the older generation of the SCSI board (which is 99% the same as the Ensoniq board) to verify this.

If you have an original Ensoniq SCSI board in your ASR-10, you can check for the problem by toggling between 30kHz and 44.1kHz. At 44.1kHz you will hear distortion or audio artifacts. It doesn’t happen every time you switch, and it will sound slightly different each time.

If it turns out the problem does exist on the original SCSI boards, I will be offering a solution to fix it.

I haven’t updated things in quite a while. I hope that you are all well and that the pandemic hasn’t impacted you too severly.

Personally I have had some substantial changes this year. I quit my day job back in July. Besides having to spend 3 hours each day in the worst traffic in North America, I absolutely hated the job. I’ve had more time to work on some of these projects (though, a lack of income has hampered that somewhat…)

Here’s the status of various projects at the moment:

KORG DSS-1

Parts are becoming more scarce and the ones that are available have had an increasing defect rate. Nevertheless I have been making small quantities of the upgrade. Some very good news is that there will be a firmware update that fixes some major MIDI bugs with system exclusive transfers. I’m also working on a Midi Quest profile to handle the expanded sound and sample banks.

The DSS-1 upgrade will be $350.00 including installation once it’s available.

ENSONIQ ASR-10

I stopped selling the SCSI board for the ASR-10 as an issue cropped up with some ASR’s when using a 44.1kHz sample rate. Frustratingly, my ASR-10 here didn’t have the problem, nor did a second unit that I purchased. Finally, I just received and ASR-10 that exhibits the issue and I have been able to trace the source of the problem. I’ll do a separate post about this. Hopefully the problem will be resolved and the boards will be available again in January 2021.

Once available the SCSI kit will be $199.00 plus shipping.

The DI-10 digital I/O board will be undergoing a redesign to make it all surface mount (as many companies won’t do through-hole assembly anymore, and through-hole components are disappearing from many suppliers’ inventories). Many of you have asked if the overheating problem with the rack ASR-10’s have been solved (as it relates to the sample rate of the interface). I now believe that it is not limited to the rack but the keyboard as well. It seems that the earliest revisions of mainboard (the ones with lots of wire jumpers) are prone to this issue. One of the ASR’s that I have has this issue, so I may be able to come up with a solution.

The DI-10 kit is $179.00 plus shipping.

ENSONIQ EPS16 PLUS

Both the SP-2 SCSI kit and FB-2 Flash Bank are both available. I did have an issue with an incorrect resistor on the FB-2 which resulted in intermittent operation. This has now been corrected.

Both kits are available for $159.00 plus shipping.

SEQUENTIAL PROPHET VS/STUDIO 440

The CEM5530 clone is still available.

The price is $75.00 each plus shipping.

SEQUENTIAL PROPHET 3000

I have both the I-627B adapter (for rev A machines) and the 4 MB memory expansion available. Rev. A machines require the I-627B voice chip upgrade to properly address additional memory. Unfortunately the only source for this chip was Wine Country Productions, who have stopped selling it due to a high defect rate. Those lucky few who have purchased and I-627B with hopes of upgrading can upgrade to the full 8 MB (4 Megaword).

Both the adapter and the memory expansion are $99 each plus shipping.

SEQUENTIAL PROPHET 2000

I have developed a memory expansion for the Prophet 2000. This will be going into production soon.

Price TBD.

DYNACORD ADS/ADS-K/ADD-TWO

I have the 2MB memory expansion available as well as the memory terminator.

The price is $129.00 plus shipping.

OBERHEIM OB-Mx

Though the OB-Mx voice board has been complete for some time, some of the IC’s are completely unavailable now, particularly the CEM3382. I have made an adapter board to use the SSI2162 VCA, which is undergoing testing. At this point it’s not economically viable to produce these boards but that may change in the future.

Price increase: Sharp-eyed readers will notice that prices have gone up. I’ve had to outsource most of the assembly and testing, and component prices have gone up, as well.

Shipping: I now ONLY use Parcel Monkey for international shipping. The rates are not much more than shipping through the post office and they are much more reliable, and faster. Generally, shipping outside of the lower 48 states will be $40-$50 (Canada is slightly cheaper).

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ANY OF THESE UPGRADES, OR HAVE A QUESTION, PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM, NOT THE COMMENTS SECTION. THANK YOU.

IF YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED AN UPGRADE, AND ARE HAVING ANY ISSUES WITH IT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Specifically, the older ASR-10 SCSI boards with a “WD” square SCSI chip need to have this chip replaced. Also, the Flash Banks that I have sold that have a 2.2k resistor in the R9 position need to have that resistor replaced with 100 Ohm. I will do either repair free of charge.