Korg DW6000 bad battery or something else?

I recently acquired a (previously but suddenly no longer) working DW6000.

  • Powers up to Program 1 | Parameter 1 | 0.3 on the LEDs.
  • Fuse appears to be OK
  • Only sound is what I guess is a 60 cycle hum

Previous owner warned me that the battery might be bad. I opened it up and found a jury-rigged battery holder for the CR2032 taped in place. The battery reads fine on my multimeter but no sounds load on power up and while the parameter slider shows up as changes, nothing happens to the sound.

When I try to switch the Tape and Write switches to Enable on the back panel, all the LEDs go out. I have a data audio file from Soundcloud that seems to be the right file for tape restore but the board is not having any of it.

Any suggestions?

when you replace a battery in these synths,(I have an 8000),you “lose” all your patches,(sounds)to reload them you will need;a program like,midi ox,and some sysex files,and several different midi sources(and midi cables) I say several sources,because myDX-8000 is picky about where it gets its midi from. You will hook up the midi cables to your source(computer,and a midi interface) switch the buttons on your 6000 to midi and tape,(this may take a few tries) to get right ,but then you`ll hit the midi ox,and it will download the sysex of whatever files you tell it to,(I use some from Espen Kraft) I like Vangelis a lot,and he made some killer patches.Give that a try,and I get mine in with a usb to midi cable,so you should be able to,also.It Does Not Take Long,5 minutes tops you should have killer sound coming from that DW=6000,plus there are Thousands of Patches on the Inter Web.Good Luck

Typically whenever an internal memory battery is replaced, you must perform a system software reset first, typically with some specific combo switches presses, before you reload any saved patches to memory. The procedure is generally specific to each model and should be documented in manuals and/or online. Until reset, some unpredictable bizarre display or sound may be manifesting.

yep.The DX is no different,and the OP will have to find some more info,I think,But If I,a lowly Guitar player,can Make my DX-8000 sound Heavenly,So Can He,a little documentation goes a long way.You can still find owners manuals online for these old synths…The DX`s were designed to Tape load,or SYSex Load,and I loaded Mine via SYSEX.Sounds Heavenly,thanks to E. Krafts Patches…I did not perform any “system software resets”.