Scot Solida here. I’m a writer (for Computer Music and MusicRadar) and sound designer by trade, and have been into synths, samplers, drum machines and recording tech since 1980. I have a room full of old and new stuff and have recently been wallowing in nostalgia, digging up gear from my past. Since some of my favourite instruments were from Ensoniq, I’ve long known about (and bought from) Syntaur. That, of course, eventually led me here, where I see some familiar names (Hi Teksonik!).
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Hi All, French viewer here !
I stumbled upon Synth Wizards while doing my usual run around the YouTube synth community. I love your show !
Really, it’s educative, entertaining and reassuring to see that people still have the knowledge do get the job done with passion and humour.
I’m into anything noisy; synth and electronic instruments being pretty good at that, no wonder why I love them !
I’m the proud owner of a Roland MC-505 that I’ve taken apart multiple times, either to fix it or just to learn more about it.
I also own a much more recent Arturia Microbrute that I actually never minded opening, and I’m saving to get a vintage analog poly synth. I’m still not decided on a make or model but I think that I will recognise my pearl when I’ll hear it 
By the way @cody : I love your attitude in the show, keep it up ! 
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My name’s Dave Bailey and although I’ve been on the forum for a bit, I just noticed this “introduce yourself” page. I’ve been playing piano since age 7, got into synths around 1984 (I was 15 at the time,) starting with my prized Roland Juno-6. Bought the Roland D-50 when it came out and then my Korg T3 a few years later. My trio of gigging boards for the next ten years would be my Roland RD-300s digital piano, D-50 and T3, all of which I still have. Added a General Music SK760 in 1999 for performing live with MIDI tracks. I do a fair amount of easy to medium repairs, so added some rack synths to my collection over the years as well as badly neglected Yamaha DX7II-FD I refurbished. I also have a Hammond XK-3c organ setup as a Leslie 3300 for when I’m feeling a bit R&B inspired. Syntaur has been an invaluable resource for all my keyboard repairs over the years.
I have had fun with my YouTube channel “DavRBailey”, and was honored to have a piece of one of my songs used for the latest Synth Wizards episode! Thanks for that! Love the Syntaur store, YouTube channel as well as this forum! Long live the 80’s and synths in general. ~Dave~
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Hi everyone. Self taught keyboard/synthesist here… Started out out with Casio VL-1 and a Rolf Harris Stylophone in 1981, followed by Moog Rogue, Roland Juno-6, Roland SH-7, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland CR78, Tascam M244, , original Minimoog model D, Roland TR626 and TR707, Roland JV1000, FantomX6 and VSynthXT and a Mackie VLZ 1402 Pro. It’s a sad, sad story, but I don’t own any more of those vintage keys, much to my chagrin.
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Hello,
Donnell here. Synth enthusiast getting out of plugins and VSTs and back into hardware. Currently the proud owner of an Akai S950. Looking to learn about the synths that made the music I grew up listening to. I’m over 40 lol.
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Ah yes, I remember when I was 40… Barely…
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New forum user. I like to make Japanese sounding Italo and compu funk
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I am a big fan! Thank you for all the knowledge and resources you share.
G’day! I found my way here because YouTube recommended a Synth Wizards video to me. I absolutely love your YouTube show. It’s fun, entertaining, and very educational and your passion for your work comes shining through. And the icing on the cake is your business provides exactly the service I was looking for. I tried to order some Roland parts here in Canada but Roland of Canada refuses to sell them to me because I’m not an authorized Roland repair centre. I’m just a guy trying to put some of my old gear back together. I can see here that you sell all the parts I need to fix my gear so when I get home I’m going to double check what parts it is I need and order them from you. Ha ha! Take that Roland!
As for me, I’m an internet has-been who used to make a very popular webcomic around the turn of the century (still feels weird saying that and not meaning 1900). I’ve been a working musician since the 80s with keys and accordion being my main instruments (I played accordion on one of Thomas Dolby’s recent albums too). I play in a folk punk band called Babbage Industries. I also work as an actor, stage mostly but I have done one short film called Chewed which was written and directed by my friend Mike Trebilcock (some of you might remember him from the band The Killjoys) and I’ve done some Canadian television as well. I also do 2D illustration work and 3D graphics modelling (specializing in designing clothing for 3D figures).
I’ve been an electronics tinkerer since I was a child so it’s great to see a helpful resource like this. I’ve already picked up a few helpful tips just watching your videos.
Can’t wait to see the next episode of Synth Wizards.
[Edit]: Oh! And I’m also a huge fan/collector of vintage Casio keyboards. I love scouring thrift stores and finding an old Casiotone buried under a pile of old toys. There’s just something about the sound of an old Casiotone that makes me feel happy.
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Hi I happen to do a quick search here for casiotone and noticed you mentioned it in your thread. I just found a gem I’ve been searching for and now have the classic 80’s casiotone MT-40! It works except a few problems like three keys not working and some problem with the memory tone bank(1-4) and can’t access the 22 tones to save to the bank. A couple tones are set in 1and2,3,4 seem to be the same. But for some reason can’t save or access the tones to save to the memory bank. Other than those problems the keyboard works great. I’m looking for someone to take a look or possibly repair who has knowledge of this old school retro keyboard. Any suggestions or refer me any info for repair would be greatly appreciated. I’ve contacted Casio and they said if it needs repair the parts are no longer available and can’t be repaired. Most other service places have a $100-$160 fee just to diagnose it and not included in the repairs if needed ouch!?$&@. AnywAy thanx dave
Usually with symptoms like that the problem is the contacts on the buttons/keys themselves that are the problem. I don’t have an MT-40 (wish I did though) but it’s probably not too challenging a project to open it up and check the contacts. Most of the Casiotones open pretty easily. If it’s a bubble switch on the key contacts, which it probably is because they’re inexpensive to manufacture then it shouldn’t be too hard to fix.
The bubble switches are usually thin metal semi-sphere domes that sit over top of contacts. When the dome is pressed down it closes the circuit. These domes are held in place with what looks like a strip of clear packing tape. Sometimes these metal domes will fatigue and crack affecting the reliability of the contact. More often though the packing tape like strip that holds the contacts in place dries out and loses its adhesiveness and either lets the dome slip out of place or allows dirt to get in to interfere with the contact. If the dome is not cracked then you can clean the contact with some contact cleaner and put the dome back in place and seal it down with actual packing tape cut to the right size. I’ve made repairs similar to that on a number of electronic devices (when I was really young I used to fix the contacts on my old Atari 2600 joysticks which used bubble switches like that).
The other type of bubble switch common on consumer model keyboards is a bubble switch where the tape holding down the domes is a springy foam tape like you see often with double sided tapes. These ones are a little harder to fix.
If you’re inexperienced at repairs this is actually a pretty good repair for a novice because the disassemble should only require a screw driver and there should be no need for any soldering and if it’s dirt or corrosion causing the problem it’s often evident just by looking at the circuit board that there’s a dirt problem. A lot of these consumer keyboards were bought originals as toys for kids which means it’s not unlikely that dirt and liquids have been spilled into them. This would be a perfect opportunity to try your hand at repairs since the keyboard is itself not that expensive.
And for anyone wondering why someone would collect/repair such a cheap consumer grade keyboard, here’s a good article about the cultural significance ofthe Casio MT-40 and it’s Sleng teng riddim.
Great to meet another Supernova II guy! I’m new here so maybe this is not true on this forum, but elsewhere when I mention Supernova II keyboard players I meet typically have no idea what that is. Kind of fragile things but I love mine.
I’m John and new here. I think of myself as a keyboardist/synth guy though compared to some of you I’m sure I am an amateur. I have 9 keyboards including a SuperNova II, Waldorf Q, and Sequential Profit 08 Rev 2. I’m strictly a hardware guy—never got into soft synths—and I like diversity of gear. I’ve done some recording and have work on bandcamp but prefer to play with a band or group, though I’m not in any at the moment.
Joe Here, retired rocker. I have vintage gear, 74 Minimoog Model D, Korg Poly 800, Roland Alpha Juno 2, Ensoniq SQ-80, Roland XP50, All of it in need of serious love.
I so much wish you all did repair service for poor dudes like us. lol.
Maybe you could recommend someone in my area around D.C.?
But it IS fantastic to be able to find a community of like minded people.
And you DO sell parts at Syntaur
My dream is to have my entire rig up and operational for the first time in 20+ years.
They’re nice to look at,… but they’re meant to be played! Am I right?
Anyways, looking forward to maybe meeting some of you nice folks.
I’ve started repairing keyboards for my kid who is learning. My first repair job was a Roland RD-150 which had about 6 keys that stopped working (you can see what I did here - repaired one burnt track - https://youtu.be/Un7Ehkn_G5E?si=ePUWCsJpkTTZavBG). Since then there have been some more glitchy keys, so i suspect there are some more burnt tracks that need fixing.
I’ve also decided to pick up cheap/free keyboards from places and try to repair them. I did work for a while as an electronics technician so while i haven’t worked on keyboards before, electronic repairs aren’t foreign to me.