Got the Kenton Pro Solo MkII for my D. It works perfectly.
One of the reasons I got it, is because it´s impossible for me to use the springless pitchwheel set to a fifth. I sound like total disaster
Not only that, if I use it (with horrible result) and return it it to center position, the tuning shifts almost a quarter tone, because the center is not totally exact. The wheel moves a little in center position.
Probably worn out a bit I guess…
But the Mini is SO damn cool on it´s own with its great keyboard, so I don´t want to play it from another midicontroller all the time.
Is it possible to somehow have a springloaded pitchwheel installed in the Mini?
Is it possible to set the range to a major second (2 semitones) ?
Yes. Yo need someone with skills in mechanics. And a little bit of electronics, because you will have to unsolder the pot for better mechanical construction.
Add two resistors on the +10V and the ground side of the pitchbend pot. You might choose trimmers to calibrate the range and the center.
Every electric repair job should be able to do this. Even if they are not specialisted in instruments at all. But better use a trusted person.
With some mechanic skills it should be a problem to dd a return to zero position for the original wheel and pot. But I won’t modify my Minimoog. I got a ribbon bender of the Liberation as pitchbender. It is perfect returning to zero.
When you modify your pitchbend wheel, try to get the little hole in the wheel in a good shape for good zero returning. Maybe try to fill the dip with something that will get hard after a while. And it should stay there. Use the centering cone to get the hole in the right shape.
You might undo the wheels and swap them. There is also this little dip in the mod wheel. And there it is unused. But be sure to get the wheels on the right point of the axis. You might have to adjust them according to the schematics and your ear for zero pitchbend and zero modulation on the right spots of the wheel.
You might also think about adding the dead zero spot modification on the pitchwheel. I think it takes only 4 diodes.
You might like to get two springs fixed to each end of the wheel (where the little metal pin is on later minimoog wheels). And fix the other ends of these springs to the left hand section metal plate. This should give you a spring loaded action that is also easy to undo if you like to have you Mini in the original state later.
You will have to do some experiments for the right length and strength of the springs and their non-wheel end points.
Keep us informed (maybe pictures too?) here, once you did the modification. Others might find this information also very useful. I really wonder now, why I never heard about this kind of modification of a Minimoog before, now that most synths use spring loaded pitchbend wheels.
I bet that Jan Hammer had a spring loaded wheel on his Minimoog !!!
None of the vintage Moogs had spring loaded pitch wheels, although it was an option for the Memorymoog.
You can add a deadzone to a Minimoog pitch wheel but it’s a bit more work than just adding deadband diodes. The pitch wheel pot is tied to (+)10VDC and ground - the ground connection has to be replaced with (-)10VDC. Then the bias voltage needs to be changed on the oscillator board or all of the VCOs will be off by half an octave. This involves replacing three resistors on the VCO board, and you have to play around to find the correct bias resistor value.
The pitch bend range can be changed, you need to replace three resistors on the oscillator board - and it takes some playing around to find the right value resistors.
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