Does your K2000 have droning or screeching or popping sounds on some programs ? Potential Fix.

[SWD Pitviper]

Hi All ... my 2nd post of this issue ... apparently my initial post on this topic violated a rule or someone's sensibilities ... I'll omit the source of my repair, and my testimonial to the support and service I got this time and see if that satisfies the spam police.

I recently installed an upgrade to my K2000vp and, after reassembly, had a variety of droning, screeching, and popping/static noises in many of my programs ... even programs I loaded fresh from disk had the same issue, i.e, a variety of horrific sounds accompanying the program making the keyboard pretty much unusable.

I searched many of the Kurzweil forums and was unable to find a similar issue described, but the person that sold me my upgrade suggested that I turn off the effects on one of the affected programs and see if the noises went away. Sure enough, once I dialed the effects levels to zero on a program, the program cleared up and sounded fine (albeit without the effects)

It turned out that the SRAM ICs that store the EFFECTS parameters (not the EFFECTS chip itself) had become corrupted ... they are apparently very fragile and failure prone even if you don't crach the keyboard open. Now that I know what to look for, I have seen several other similar problems on forums and have not seen anyone come back with the solution, so I thought I'd post it here. I replied to the ones I found that had not gotten answered, but many were a few years old and the poster probably gave up or found the solution elsewhere.

Anyway, this may not be everyone's fix, but in my case, I simply needed to source the SRAM chips (only a few bucks US), replace them, and do a factory reset (turn the keyboard on while holding the 1-2-3 keys down, cursor down to the FACTORY RESET menu choice, press "Enter", and then turn the K2000 off and on), and voila (or Viola since that's one of my favorite K2000 sounds) I was back in business. My violation may have been that I posted the name of the gentleman that helped me fix my keyboard and referenced several of the cool add-ons he sells ... I can see how that part might have come across as an advertisement, but it was just my sincere (albeit a bit effusive) acknowledgement and appreciation for his help.

Hope that helps someone, and that Karma will put someone out there when I need help for some other issue ... they are, after all, 25 year old machines.

PM me if you want any more details.

Stephen

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Welcome, Stephen! And yes, your first post came across a bit like a testimonial in an infomercial.

 

[SWD Pitviper]

Welcome, Stephen! And yes, your first post came across a bit like a testimonial in an infomercial.

I'd chalk it up to youthful exuberance but I'm not that young. It's just so rare to find good *and* honest help (and innovative parts sources) on these 25-year-old beasts tho Many good folks on the forums, but this guy really knew his stuff. He even tried to send me the repair chips and an EPROM upgrade at his cost after my K2000 died, as if he felt guilty for ME screwing my own keyboard up. That's above and beyond.

FWIW, if anyone wants to know how to rebuild the FATAR keyboard internals of a K2500xs. PM me ... 3 hours and 14 pounds of dirt later and mine now plays like a dream.

 

[happyrat1]

Stephen,

First of all it is good to hear that you are not a hit and run spammer.

If you want to avoid that misapprehension in the future I'd suggest being a trifle more cautious when logging into a new forum.

Pasting a 2000 word document as your first post is definitely NOT the way to a sysadmin's heart.

Take the time to get to know your audience and for them to get to know you before you start offering solutions which nobody asked for.

Since you're also a Kurzweil owner I'd suggest you also check out

https://forums.godlike.com.au/

and

https://ksetlist.com/

These are the two main GOTO resources for Kurzweil Keyboards and you will find experts and factory support for most products dating back to the K2X series up to the present.

It's OK to post a link after like a minimum of 8 or 10 posts here and other boards have similar policies.

Honestly you have no idea how difficult it is to keep the forums clean when spam bots are posting hit and run messages which all look suspiciously like your initial post.

We have a nice, friendly little home here on the web and we try to help everyone with their keyboard issues but we usually wait til someone asks a question before we try to answer it.

Welcome to the forums and wishing you no hard feelings.

Gary

 

[mahapatra]

Hi All ... my 2nd post of this issue ... apparently my initial post on this topic violated a rule or someone's sensibilities ... I'll omit the source of my repair, and my testimonial to the support and service I got this time and see if that satisfies the spam police.

I recently installed an upgrade to my K2000vp and, after reassembly, had a variety of droning, screeching, and popping/static noises in many of my programs ... even programs I loaded fresh from disk had the same issue, i.e, a variety of horrific sounds accompanying the program making the keyboard pretty much unusable.

I searched many of the Kurzweil forums and was unable to find a similar issue described, but the person that sold me my upgrade suggested that I turn off the effects on one of the affected programs and see if the noises went away. Sure enough, once I dialed the effects levels to zero on a program, the program cleared up and sounded fine (albeit without the effects)

It turned out that the SRAM ICs that store the EFFECTS parameters (not the EFFECTS chip itself) had become corrupted ... they are apparently very fragile and failure prone even if you don't crach the keyboard open. Now that I know what to look for, I have seen several other similar problems on forums and have not seen anyone come back with the solution, so I thought I'd post it here. I replied to the ones I found that had not gotten answered, but many were a few years old and the poster probably gave up or found the solution elsewhere.

Anyway, this may not be everyone's fix, but in my case, I simply needed to source the SRAM chips (only a few bucks US), replace them, and do a factory reset (turn the keyboard on while holding the 1-2-3 keys down, cursor down to the FACTORY RESET menu choice, press "Enter", and then turn the K2000 off and on), and voila (or Viola since that's one of my favorite K2000 sounds) I was back in business. My violation may have been that I posted the name of the gentleman that helped me fix my keyboard and referenced several of the cool add-ons he sells ... I can see how that part might have come across as an advertisement, but it was just my sincere (albeit a bit effusive) acknowledgement and appreciation for his help.

Hope that helps someone, and that Karma will put someone out there when I need help for some other issue ... they are, after all, 25 year old machines.

PM me if you want any more details.

Stephen

Hi Stephen, My K2vx is making all short of noises. Your posting sounds like my problem. Could you please provide me the contact info of the person who helped you? I really missing my KB, thank you in advance

 

[mahapatra]

Hi All ... my 2nd post of this issue ... apparently my initial post on this topic violated a rule or someone's sensibilities ... I'll omit the source of my repair, and my testimonial to the support and service I got this time and see if that satisfies the spam police.

I recently installed an upgrade to my K2000vp and, after reassembly, had a variety of droning, screeching, and popping/static noises in many of my programs ... even programs I loaded fresh from disk had the same issue, i.e, a variety of horrific sounds accompanying the program making the keyboard pretty much unusable.

I searched many of the Kurzweil forums and was unable to find a similar issue described, but the person that sold me my upgrade suggested that I turn off the effects on one of the affected programs and see if the noises went away. Sure enough, once I dialed the effects levels to zero on a program, the program cleared up and sounded fine (albeit without the effects)

It turned out that the SRAM ICs that store the EFFECTS parameters (not the EFFECTS chip itself) had become corrupted ... they are apparently very fragile and failure prone even if you don't crach the keyboard open. Now that I know what to look for, I have seen several other similar problems on forums and have not seen anyone come back with the solution, so I thought I'd post it here. I replied to the ones I found that had not gotten answered, but many were a few years old and the poster probably gave up or found the solution elsewhere.

Anyway, this may not be everyone's fix, but in my case, I simply needed to source the SRAM chips (only a few bucks US), replace them, and do a factory reset (turn the keyboard on while holding the 1-2-3 keys down, cursor down to the FACTORY RESET menu choice, press "Enter", and then turn the K2000 off and on), and voila (or Viola since that's one of my favorite K2000 sounds) I was back in business. My violation may have been that I posted the name of the gentleman that helped me fix my keyboard and referenced several of the cool add-ons he sells ... I can see how that part might have come across as an advertisement, but it was just my sincere (albeit a bit effusive) acknowledgement and appreciation for his help.

Hope that helps someone, and that Karma will put someone out there when I need help for some other issue ... they are, after all, 25 year old machines.

PM me if you want any more details.

Stephen

Hey man, Thanks a lot for your post. That made me narrow down to isolate the problem with my K2vx. Sad story,, I took it to a Kurzweil recommended repair place in LA and his report was to change the main board. I was still strong with my guts and got it back from him. To my luck next I found a nice guy in my town, told him about the issue and the solution (Currupt SRAM). He did a test and for sure it is the effects SRAM. $12 and my K2vx is back. You are the only one who have posted a pretty clear information. I really did a lot of search online before I landed on your post. Thanks a lot.