I have another Ketron board on my bench now, this time an X1. It has buttons which are very intermittent to work. Some you must really push hard to activate, specifically, the start/stop (red button) and style variation B (or 2).

I have the board taken apart since there were many broken * posts which I have all repaired and the board now screws together tight.

Any suggestions from anyone?

I know this area has alot of expertise from past experience.

Regards to all!

Hi Nogi boy,
this may seem a daft question, but have you tried switch cleaner on the offending switches? I've managed to revive supposedly dead synths in the past this way, and it's surprising what a little Servisol or similar cleaner can achieve.
The reason I'm asking this is your comment on them being intermittent in use. I'm guessing that there's some dirt in there from use and that may be causing the intermittency?

Hope this helps,
Best wishes,

David.

Hi Guys,

This is a fairly common problem with the little tactile switches * to Rolands, Yamaha's...in fact anyone that uses the pesky little things. The good news is they are abundantly available, you should bbe able to order from Ketron, but they are a standard switch that can be ordered from any electronics wholesaler. you need to check:
1) how many pins (legs). i think its 4 on the X1
2) the profile (height of the switch body)
3) the height of the actuator (the part that is pressed)
4) the weight (how much force it takes to press the switch
5) and wether it 'clicks' when you press (you can buy silent switches)

The bad news is the X1 has a double sided PCB so extreme care is needed when desoldering and removing the old switches! just damage one solder point and you ruin the pcb. So you may wish to very carefully try Daves suggestion (don't get any on the plastic...it will make it soft!!), but in my experience you have to bite the bullet and fit new switches.

Reegarding the plastic posts - it is a problem with plastic keyboards...we have to be a little imaginative to sort those! Using bigger screws is not ideal but the most common quick fix. I normally use a quick setting epoxy resin (Araldite rapid) to fill in the posts, once the resin is hard then drill a hole of the correct size in the now filled posts.

I tried the cleaner, with no positive results.

Then I dove in (head first) and removed a switch, it is actually four components; the button, the plastic structure that holds the button on top of the switch and secures the l.e.d., the l.e.d. and finally the switch.

The switch is a tiny, sealed, four legged push button (normally open) unit.

I moved some switches around to unused areas (such as drum volume up and down) and replaced the ones that were inoperable but necessary (start/stop), style variation B with those.

Now they all work perfectly.......go figure.

Thanks evereyone!

This is maybe helpful. I replaced many of these tactile switches in my Ketron X4. I am not sure if the height the same on X4 and X1.

That sure looks like them.

Do you have a source for them (pricing) ?

if your in the UK you can order from us, otherwise try http://www.farnell.com