Memorymoog board upgrade?

[oldmasterjds]

Hi,
Is anyone out there working on a CPU upgrade for the Memorymoog?
Seems that a number of us MM owners would be interested unless you can afford the cost (and wait) of a Lamm upgrade - hmmm, i could sell the house!
I recently upgraded my Rhodes Chroma with the CC+ board and it's pretty cool, can't imagine life without her now.
Peace

[nicholas d. kent]

Given that the LAMM is still available (though not cheap) it probably reduces anyone from wanting to do a labor of love project involving a huge amount of time for something with relatively limited sales and profit margins. Not that you should never say never but these projects seem to need some kind of incentive like the undertapped potential of the Chroma.

Then again I've noticed someone on Ebay selling some sort of, as far as I can tell AFAIK non-LAMM but velocity and AT modded MemoryMoogs $13K, so someone is doing some sort of upgrade, albeit not cheaply.

[MC]

That AT/velocity modified MM+ is a scam.

One, moog never offered such a modification.

Two, it can't be done without major circuitboard replacement and major firmware rewrite.

Three, the pictures show zero evidence of such modifications.

Four, the original Panasonc keyboard is still shown in the MM+, which has zero facility for velocity.

Looking at the seller's other auctions, they're either way too high or other bogus modifications are claimed.

[Kevin Lightner]

They may have done such mods.
Never know. They're offering it without the mods as well for less.
But the seller has almost 2000 sales and 100% feedback, great pics and appears to know a bit about MM's.
I'd be more willing to bet it is what they say it is.
Check out their auction # 220717014176
How well they've implemented these additional functions, who's to say?
Overpriced? Probably, but it might sell anyway.
They also have an Oberheim Matrix 6 for close to $2000!

[RL]

Seems that a number of us MM owners would be interested unless you can afford the cost (and wait) of a Lamm upgrade - hmmm, i could sell the house!

The the reason for the LAMM price are not the MIDI or autotune improvements. I have to replace more than 800 old parts and the labour time for this job are around 150 hours. Just to replace the digital board with more functions will not improve the stability of this old lady.
Have fun,
Rudi

[Wesley]

Where do the LAMM people reside? I live between Chicago and Milwaukee, and I need to find someone to service my Memorymoog Plus.

[MC]

Germany

[Kevin Lightner]

The "Lamm people" is one person, Rudi Linhard.
The person who just posted before you: RL.
He's in Germany.

I can't recommend any one person or service center to work on your Memorymoog, other than Rudi.
He has the most experience of anyone.
(I used to repair them, but no longer do.)
But shipping a MM can cause problems also.

Otherwise, it should be noted that when choosing a service center, one often chooses the name of the business, not necessarily the tech who will be working on it.
So a recommendation or critical post about one service center, may not apply as time goes on.
Personnel may change. Businesses can be sold.
So if you own a complex instrument such as a Memorymoog that requires repair, you basically have to start writing or calling service centers to ask questions.
For example: Do they have experience in Memorymoog repairs, offer any warranty, have sources for the CEM chips (if necessary) and so on.
Test THEM. Ask lots of questions.
Many service centers will agree to take almost anything in, hoping to make some money.
Do your homework and find out if they themselves are up to the task and know what they're doing.
With the Memorymoog and other complex instruments, there's usually several problems present.
Making one reliable is a huge job.

Good luck.
KL

[PJW]

Hello All,

My First post
Having Seen Rudi L & Kevin L having input here Thought I join the forum (two ppl I respect & admire)
I'm a MM+ owner, I've had it now for 11 years or so, I bought it in Japan cost 1k I bought it with 2 faulty VCO's, I had it serviced once which cost just under 500£, I had the psu updated as well since then its ran perfectly.... until recently.
minor issue to do with the keyboard contacts, I removed the keyboard and clean the contacts but still having issues, some notes not triggering and the D1 one key plays a higher octave note, if anyone can shed some light on what the issue could be I would appreciate it.

Re: the subject of the board upgrade, my MM+ came with an upgrade I have some info on this but not too much, as the documentation was in Japanese, which I had some of it translated many years ago.
I'm not sure what the original MM+ midi spec was, but Mine is basic. Control of mod + pitch wheels and midi keyboard mode selection it also 'can send and receive midi data dumps, seq and progs, and no need to input code for protect.
there is 5th item but that was never translated
the heading of the document is in english "MemoryMoog plus Midi version Up By SympTech Oct.10/1990" on power up it displays "SYMP1.0
does anyone know about this update and can it do more than I know?

Another cool thing it came with documentation about the "Moog Song producer" which from the diagram seems a little ahead of its time.
8 drum trigger outputs, 4 midi outs 1 in 1 thru also 2 foot switch sockets and 4 sockets for syncing, start stop sync in & out. all running from a commodore 64!

thx guys
patrick W

[Technician Larry]

I see the Chroma mentioned a couple of times on this topic. I've got one in excellent cosmetic condition in a road case. My customer is a little eccentric and has more gear than i have seen in any one place in my life. He seems to have lost interest in the Chroma. It had a bad 5V PS capacitor - bought a new one from Mouser - $40 for one cap! 5 volts is good, but the CPU does not wake up. Customer does not want to spend any $ on this and has left the unit in my hands to determine it's fate. This is the first Chroma ever to decorate my shop - even when I had the warranty account I never saw one of these. I've been trying to determine the value and can find little or no info. Anybody here have some words of advice?

[MC]

Chromas are definitely desireable polyphonics and are worth fixing up. They're commanding decent dollars, can't give a figure though.

[latigid on]

I've been trying to determine the value and can find little or no info. Anybody here have some words of advice?

http://rhodeschroma.com

[megavoice]

Hi MC !

Yes, go to the page above, chime in into the Chroma Talk, those guys are VERY helpful. Doesn't matter if you are in the States or in Europe, there are very skillful techs around. But I warn you, a diagnosis from far for the Chroma in most cases couldn't be done.

Good Luck!