no sound from one key - PG Music Forums

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A bit of basic keyboard trouble-shooting skills required here, if I may appeal to all you keyboard players (hey, I think that’s everyone).
I have one key of my board, a Juno-d, which is making no sound in audio and failing to send a MIDI signal.
To all other intents and purposes, the key looks and feels normal, responding to pressure in the same was as the other keys. It is not damaged or broken.
I have noted no other dysfunctions in the board.

As luck would have it, it is the lowest key on the board so life can go on without it.

What is my best course of action here?

Many thanks,

Marc

If you are not good with electronics, the best course of action would be to ignore it and keep on using the keyboard as-is.

If you are a good hand with opening up something as complicated as a MIDI keyboard, if you know the basics of keeping it in good health while it is opened (not good to create more troubles when trying to repair one!) then you might be able to open it up, examine the situation carefully and see if it can be put back to rights.

Could be anything from a connector that needs reseated (connector from keyboard action to mainboard would be the suspect here) to a bad key sensor (not so good, the fix may have to be replacing the entire keybed) to something on the mainboard such as a bad chip or a cracked printed circuit board or bad connection. The latter is a VERY RARE situation to find, but deserves mention.

In my experience, dead keys at either extreme end of a keyboard are typically the victims of spilled liquids or pieces of solid flotsam and jetsam working their way down under the key via the cracks between keys. Guitar picks are notorious.

--Mac

Hey buddy...

Usually that indicates a bad contact. Did you buy it new? sound like it may be a few years old. If it hasn't been damaged by a fall or ? , then it could just be that you blew a cap. Be it contact or cap, a repair could cost over $100. Unless you are good at that sort of thing. First try spraying some contact cleaner up under and toward the back of the key. You may have to remove the case to do this. As you said, it is a key that is seldom used, so it may not be worth the aggrevation.

toucher

Modern MIDI keyboards that feature touch sensitivity do not use contacts.

They use conductive plastic sensors that are sealed.

Don't apply contact cleaner spray to them, it won't help and in certain cases over time the chemicals may cause the other plastic sensors to deteriorate prematurely.

--Mac

Thanks guys for these rapid response posts.

I bought the unit new in 2005 and have used it, transported it, gigged with it very regularly since then.

The golden rule of first aiders is not to cause any further accidents, so I think that's my best course of action as regards this board. I would not feel happy at all taking the casing off.

It could well be that I will simply buy a spare. It seems like you can get one for around 400 Euros, maybe less. In any case, I'm getting fed up with constantly disconnecting it and reconnecting it to my home studio set up before and after every band rehearsal.

I guess a hard case would not be a bad investment either.

Thanks again,

Marc

Don't overlook a good and qualified keyboard repair service either, Marc.

A good idea is to make sure they hang a tag on it that says, "Call with Estimate first" so that you can decide whether or not you want to pay for repair after they have done the troubleshoot. Any reputable repair shop should be willing to do that. Of course, if you elect not to get the repair done, usually for reasons of high cost, there will be a smaller fee for you to get your keyboard back in most instances. This is fair, for it takes a technician's time and talent to troubleshoot the problem and come up with an estimate for repairs.

The repair may cost a LOT less than another keyboard, the only problem can be "downtime" and how long the shop may have to keep the unit in order to repair it.

--Mac

THanks for that Mac.

Any other key and I would have no option but to get the thing fixed.

It's the down time that is more worrying that the cost, but then again if I get to buying a spare, the down time won't matter too much.

If there were, say a pick, lodged somewhere down there would giving the board a firm (but gentle) shake be worth a try?

Quote:

If there were, say a pick, lodged somewhere down there would giving the board a firm (but gentle) shake be worth a try?

Can't tell you for sure, but a careful shake or two is certainly worth a try.

--Mac

I haven't opened a Juno-D but I have opened a few others, Juno-106, 60, Juno-G, etc.
The Juno line seems to be assembled to come apart fairly simply. The Roland Samplers were a whole 'nother story.
Remember the old 106 and 60's? That was nice- a couple screws and the thing had a piano hinge on the back just opened up with plenty of room to see everything.
If you rely on the Juno-D and see yourself using it in the future (and can afford it) a replacement while you can get them wouldn't be a bad idea. You could dump all the settings from one to the other to have two of the same setups and be prepared for disaster.
When we played a lot in Chicago we used a couple W-30's this way. If one had a problem the other was always ready to run the show. We relied heavily on those boards for sounds, changing patches on guitar processors, other rack FX, etc. Having to play without one would have been a whole different show!
I still have that thing around here somewhere... along with a couple hundred floppies it accumulated. Oh yeah; there's still an extra floppy drive for it that should be with it too.. hmm.. time to get into the 'old keyboard closet' and see what else is in there I haven't thought about in a while.

BTW, I had the exact same symptom on the W-30 and dissassembled it to see what was causing the problem. It took a long time to get to the keyboard sensing pad, which I removed, looked at, wiped off and put back. When I got it all back together it worked fine..never did know for sure what caused it. I probably should have just shook it beforehand, but it was a pretty heavy board.

I had dead keys on my Korg, and I disassembled it and cleaned the contact pad, put it back together, and it worked. It wasn't hard to take apart, but if you are not comfortable with electronics, then it would be better to have someone else look at it.

Gary

THanks Bob, Gary,

sound advice.

Marc

I've done this a number of times with Roland keyboards.

Firstly the keybed unit is removed. The only electronics to be worked with is one or two ribbon cables which attach to the keybed. Once these are carefully removed the keybed can be dissembled from the casing.

Next the plastic keys are removed one by one. These are held in place by a spring at the back of the key. Once the keys are removed there is a grey rubber strip spanning approximately one octave. These can be gently removed and the contacts cleaned.

Once cleaned everything is replaced in the order removed.

As has been said above - if you are not comfortable with this sort of operation let a technician do it - that being said I have done this a number of times on my Roland keyboards and it isn't too difficult. The problem with Rolands keybeds is that the row of contacts is no completely airtight and in time dust gets between the contacts and circuit boad creating dead nots or alternatively notes at full velocity.

A google search on 'cleaning Roland keybed contacts' may reveal a complete article with pictures of the operation. I know I saw it somewhere but can't remember now where it was.

Kevin

What a helpful and informative post. Many thanks, Kevin.
Oddly enough the suspect key has made a small comeback and now plays at around 20% velocity.

My current plan is to live with it as long as there is just this one key affected and then to take the board into a reputable service centre if things get worse.

Just not brave (or stupid!) enough to have a go myself!