Fixing an Ion and cheap voyager synth questions

[shadowshocker]

Hey, I got a used Ion a little while back and recently one of the knobs is not working too good. Specifically, the 2nd oscillator shape knob. It still is hanging on by a thread, but barely works. When I turn it, it only "catches" and changes the shape a little. Sometimes I spin it and it doesn't work at all, and then randomly will catch a little and change a little and that's it. I can still use the other knob (white main knob) and the interface to change the shape, so it's not a big deal for me, but I would still like to get it fixed sometime/soon. So, my question, is this an easy fix that I could probably do myself? Is it just a loose connection that I can go in and fix, or would it be better to have someone else with experience take a look at it?

 

My second question, I have been listening lately to the Minimoog Voyager synth and man am I in love with those sounds it can get. I'm still sorta new to synths, and I like my Ion, but I kind of want to get another synth sometime in the future...what I'm looking for is something better than the Ion but with a similar interface (lots of easy tweaking to easily mess around with). I also want something with good pad sounds, and maybe some sounds similar to the Voyager . I'd be willing to spend alot more than the Ion I bought, but not nearly as much as the Voyager...so what are some synths I could go check out around $1000-$1500?

 

Thanks

[enx]

Moog Little Phatty

 

Dave Smith Instruments Evolver

 

Access Virus

 

Korg Radias

[-groovatious-]

I'll swap you an ION knob for a FET

[boose44]

Doubt that it's as easy a fix as groovatious' problem, but I'd definitely have someone qualified to take a look at it under the hood.

 

As for other synths, the Little Phatty, as had been suggested, is one good idea.

 

You should be able to find a Voyager RME (Rack Mount Edition) for around 1,500.

 

Don't forget Studio Electronics, also. Their mini clone, the SE-1x, is a killer.

 

-bruce

[Gribs]

I had the master volume potentiometer and the output transistors go on my Alesis Ion. I sent it to Audio Design and Service for repairs. They are a certified Alesis repair shop (one of two in the USA AFAIK). It cost me ballpark $160 for the shipping and repair, but in my case I thought it was worth it since my Ion was not suitably usable without the repair. At the time I was also thinking about selling it so I wanted it good working condition. It turned out my oldest son really wanted it to learn on and it is a very good board for that so I gave it to him instead.

 

I am not sure how many leads there are on the rotary encoders on the Ion and how they are attached to the case and the circuit boards. I never took mine apart to look. I can imagine scenarios where the replacement of the encoder would be easy and others where it would be a major pain. Of course the encoder might not be the problem or the only problem.

 

The first thing I would do is make sure you have the latest operating system installed (1.06) - the manual tells you how to check for that. To update the OS you will need some sort of MIDI adapter for your computer. The cheap Maudio USB adapter works fine and AFAIK is class-compliant so it is "plug-and-play". You will also need a program that can "play" (read "write") sysex files to the MIDI bus. There are some free programs out there like MIDI-OX that will work better than the one Alesis used to have on their web page (don't know if it is still there). I had some issue with the code Alesis had not being able to write long strings of bytes/words or something like that to the Ion without hanging. I tried to do a sysex dump to the Ion using Alesis' code but it failed. I searched around and found MIDI-OX and that worked fine. After you make sure you have the latest OS, the next thing I would do with the new operating system is a full reset of your Ion. There is also a self-test that the OS can do that checks all the rotary encoders and lights up the ones it thinks might be bad. I think that just because the test thinks the encoders might be bad does not mean they are - it is just a possible diagnostic tool. I had several encoders light up on mine as possibly bad that were working fine (this was about 2 years ago) and are still working fine today.