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Timo · Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: Inside the Radias (pics)

Opened up the Radias to do an initial reccy on its innards today, so thought you might be interested as to what's inside. Smile

My pics are by no means comprehensive. I was mainly looking with regards to maintenance of the white rotary encoder and the main volume knob.

Apologies for the quality of the pics, such is life I only found out that I took the pics in the wrong mode after I'd put the Radias all back together again! Consequently they're a bit grainy.

^ 1) with the backplate removed.

^ 2) A perspective shot showing the layers of PCBs. Top-left is the PCB for all the jack sockets, it's still attached to the main silver front chassis.

^ 3) from the other side.

^ 4) I completely removed the whole silver front chassis (front panel and socket plate), and rotated it 180º. Only the PCBs remain. In the above shot I'm just moving the jack socket PCB out of the way.

^ 5) The PCBs by themselves. With the jack socket PCB now out of the way, the dotted red circle toward the right shows roughly where the white encoder is attached (to the very lowest PCB).

^ 6) Above shows the three solder "feet" of the rotary encoder attached to the lowest PCB. To get to this layer (in order to replace my encoder) removal of the upper PCB layers will be needed when I come to do it.

^ 7) shows the footprint of the volume knob pot (I will be replacing this knob too).

^ 8 ) Turned the other way. This pic shows the front of the Radias with the chassis/fascia completely removed. You don't even need to take off any of the knobs!

^ 9) Something to be VERY aware of if you ever do this yourself: When you take the chassis off the front fascia, there are lots of small transparent pieces of plastic that fall out (such as circled).

These transparent pieces of plastic act as magnifiers for the LEDs, as the the LEDs themselves are actually countersunk by quite some way (about 1cm deep) beneath the front fascia. These bits of plastic bridge the gap, and to the outer world they look like real LEDs.

^ 10) As you can see there are quite a few of them! They all fall out together (if you tilt the PCB past 90º), as nothing holds them in. Great care must be taken to not to lose any. They're hard to spot when they fall out (as many of them are for single LEDs, in which case they're even smaller), and they could be very easily scattered.

So it appears with a little courage, and a lot of labelling (there are lots of different types of screws used on the main silver fascia and below), and with care not to lose the plastic LED inserts, you should be able to do maintenance on the Radias (if after the warranty has expired). Now to see if Korg will sell me a new encoder and volume pot.... Smile

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nemmo · Senior Member Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 309

I posted this thread in our blog ( http://musicobject.blogspot.com ) . Korg reviews are welcome !

YorkshireLad · Joined: 09 Jan 2009 Posts: 42 Location: Scarborough

Thanks for that Timo, it's always interesting to see what's under the hood!
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Gear: Nord Wave, Korg Radias, Novation Supernova II, Roland V-Synth GT, Moog Voyager Select, Nord Lead A1, Arturia Spark LE, Arturia Spark LE, Behringer Virtualizer 3d (x2), Lexicon MX400.

Akiss · Joined: 04 Jun 2008 Posts: 33

Thanx for posting these... You never know when they will become handy, and good luck putting it back together, it doesn't look that easy...
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rfoshaug · Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:07 am Post subject:

Nice pictures, Timo. I always wondered what the Radias looked like on the inside. Wink

How cool it would be (and also a lot of risky soldering work) to replace the LEDs with a different color, both for the red indicator LEDs, the backlit buttons and the backlights for the knobs. Smile

But to get to the LEDs you'd have to dig your way through a lot of electronics.
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mantras · Joined: 08 Aug 2007 Posts: 18

"Now to see if Korg will sell me a new encoder and volume pot...."

How did this work out Timo?

gdh · Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 11:43 pm Post subject:

Damn, I was going to take mine apart as the volume pot is scratchy but that is not going to happen now. Thanks for the post & pics.

Rosen Sound · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:53 pm Post subject:

how much did a new encoder cost ya?
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Current gear: Korg Kronos 61, Oberheim OB-8, Alesis Vortex
Past Gear: Triton Extreme w/moss & ram, Korg Radias, Kurzweil Micropiano, Triton classic, & Karma
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Timo · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:20 pm Post subject:

Timo · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:22 pm Post subject:

Rosen Sound · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:23 pm Post subject:

Timo · Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject:

Rosen Sound · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:34 am Post subject:

it would be greatly appreciated if you post pics Smile

thanks man!
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Current gear: Korg Kronos 61, Oberheim OB-8, Alesis Vortex
Past Gear: Triton Extreme w/moss & ram, Korg Radias, Kurzweil Micropiano, Triton classic, & Karma
Come visit my Burbank California repair shop/recording studio! Rosensound.com
And my band: Sirion.us.com

Mack · Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 14 Location: Finland

nice.

hah, i want my radias to look as badass as in picture 8!

ToneNoob · Joined: 27 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

How electronics savvy are you. Any chance of rigging up a digital output?