Has anyone ever experienced one of both channels (on both the master and headphone out) being much quieter than the other one? I’ve got almost 12 dB of difference between the left and the right. It’s not an issue in the studio where I can compensate on my audio interface but it makes it unusable for playing live.
The previous owner soldered on a blue screen upgrade so that might have something to do with the issue, I assume. Maybe he messed up something on the board.
Hi, I only have allegorical evidence from reading here on elektronauts but it sounds like the volume pot on your MD is starting to crap out and so far, it’s only impacted one stereo channel. Do you have the ability to test or replace it? If not, then I might talk to a friend who has some tools or, alternatively (if there isn’t a reasonable synth tech in your area), maybe you can find a computer or television repair shop and ask them to take a look at the volume potentiometer for you.
I’m not saying it that it couldn’t be something else, but I’d clear suspicion of the vol pot before proceeding to assume that anything bigger is going on.
Good luck.
Thanks for the tip. It sounds plausible for sure. I haven’t held a soldering iron and a multimeter for more than 10 years, so I wouldn’t trust myself with this. I’ll see if I can find the contact infos of some synth repair shops around my area (south west Germany).
For a lot of MD issues (including the “space invaders” error) people recommend unplugging and reseating the ribbon cables inside. It comes up a lot as kind of a general cure-all but if the physical component (pot) is failing this won’t do anything, however it’s a pretty non-committal act which you can try without doing additional damage or any soldering.
You’ll find it a lot if you look at old threads like this:
So certainly, it’s up to you if you want to even bother with this and don’t open the machine if you aren’t comfortable doing that, but it’s relatively simple and free to try.’
Edit: I was just thinking about this a little more and you might be able to run a couple of tests by routing tracks to the individual outs and determining if the volume drop is present at those outputs as well.
I can’t remember whether or not the individual outputs bypass the analog pot or if they just send the mono channel through it, but observing the behavior might give you a little more information about the nature of the problem to help you identify the cause until you do have a chance to go and get it checked out.
I’ll try that. Seems harmless enough. Thanks.
Judging by the PCB, the previous owner already replaced all the potentiometers except for the volume knob 
Yeah, from the look of things they did a real bang-up job of it too… But since those are working, we won’t think too hard about it.
Can’t help but notice that they also added a nice big glob of black silicone adhesive (or epoxy? looks a lot like JB weld) to the volume pot though. It’s possible that in doing so, they were attempting to prolong the life of the pot due to a similar issue or? Anyways, it does not clear the volume pot of suspicion to see it like that, I think if anything it reinforces that it could very well be the culprit.
I don’t know if you had a chance to experiment with the individual outs like I mentioned before. I put that information in my last post, but it was after we already spoke.
If you want to try and find a workaround using them or if you want to use them for further confirmation that the issue is the pot, it might be worth your time to check the level coming out of them. Like I mentioned in the other post, I can’t remember if the individual out signal chain bypasses the analog pot entirely on the MD but something in the back of my mind tells me that I read about the individual outs being used by someone to help diagnose volume pot issues.
Unfortunately, I read so many posts on here I’m not 100% sure where I saw that but might be worth a shot. In any case, just seeing the pot I’d probably recommend replacing it one way or the other if you want to futureproof this device.
Sorry, I missed your edit with the suggestion for testing the individual outs. Tbh I’ve never used them so far, I just always adjusted the input gain on my audio interface for the right channel on the master. I tested the individual outs now and they vary wildly:
When set to MAIN:
Oof, I have no idea what to make of that. When you 0 out the volume is there any bleed through on either channel? Sometimes a pot will be screwy in the middle but might work at the top and bottom of the rotation.
I feel like it’s hard to ignore the condition of the actual component itself, but I think it would be smart to get someone with a meter in hand to confirm what’s going on, unfortunately I might be out of suggestions other than replace the pot.
Maybe this helps I use to have two MD and one MKI (older and more used but really well cared) begin with some cracks on the volume pot and later on one channel was louder and after some service / cleaning the situation was better more stable, pro diagnostics reveal that the volume pot was the case.
For the photos you post I see the black plastic and the dirt on the insert I guess that is in really bad shape and maybe is the cause of some problems on your unit
Now that you mention crackling, there is a little bit but only while turning the volume knob.
Yes same on this case
