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[Headphones73]

I went to a area of Seattle I haven't been to in awhile. Walked into their local pawn shop, and spotted a ESX for $250. I asked to try it out of course.

I noticed it's paint job was a little faded in its red, and once we hooked up the power supply, I plugged in headphones, hit play....

And I noticed that the shift button wasn't working, since I couldn't transpose any of the patterns. Many patterns didn't even have a name, and I wasn't sure if the LCD screen had burned out, or the previous owner decided to leave the patterns info blank?? (I think pattern 4 showed up as Disco1).

I felt, in its condition, buttons not working, that I was going to pass. A shame really, because I need a ESX, but not one that's going to need repair. So I guess I'll have to hope when I find one used from the internet that it doesn't have any issues.

[WestLondoner]

SS: Yes indeed, your post reassures me that I was right not to sell mine, when I was briefly tempted to 'test the water', a few months back.

LS: The auction site gave me an offer of £1 FVF on anything I sold, for a limited time, so I put my perfectly working ESX1SD up for sale at around £385. Interest was quiet at first, but then a few days later a guy privately messaged me offering £350 in cash to take it from me, even offered to collect it, as he wasn't too far from me. So I had a think about it, and then the reality hit me: "once I started to miss it, how easy would it be for me to replace this, with one just as excellent, if I sold it?" and the answer is I could be waiting half a year or even more to get one in as good a condition, working as well and for no more than the same price without paying a small fortune in postage costs. So as soon as I realised my error I took it off sale, and haven't been tempted again since. ESX1SD are getting harder and harder to find, at anywhere near an inexpensive price, especially if they're working well and in excellent condition, so it's no wonder that one with so many faults was being offered for sale at $250. But that being said, you were right not to buy it: the shift key needs to work perfectly for it to be of much use; And an LCD display which appeared blank, is another definite no-no. Have to say - well done for avoiding that one!
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Sep 2016: just opened a soundcloud a/c: https://soundcloud.com/user-793524974/

[thehighesttree]

$250 is quite a nice price. If it was only the shift key, you could've talked him down and paid in cash to get a good deal ($200 maybe) after explaining the importance of the shift button and the fact that they're discontinued.

In reality, it was probably either a contact filled with dirt or dead: it's the toughest part of the ESX to access but not a hard fix with a gentle alcohol cleaning. If indeed the contact was worn out from years of use, you can invest in one of those "trace repair" pens to re-draw dead contacts. It seems very unlikely that any deeper components failed if there were no other issues. The previous owner probably didn't know how or bother to rename their patterns; I've bought 4 electribes in total, and not one had more than 1 or 2 user patterns even created!

If it's still there, try to get it for $200 and get it into the hands of someone with electronics repair experience. In all likelihood you only need to take a q-tip with rubbing alcohol to the contacts under the little shift button once it's all apart, but be careful about touching the exposed circuits, since a little static electricity can really ruin its insides! If you have an allen key and a Philips screwdriver it's easy to open, but make sure you do something to ground yourself to avoid static discharge: if you have a long-ish wire, run it from your kitchen sink and wrap it around your wrist to ground yourself. DO NOT do this during a thunderstorm!

It's worth learning how to do basic repairs and maintenance on your machines, so pick up a soldering kit too if you plan on having a lot of them.

[Headphones73]

I can wait on a better working one. I'd be fine with a ES-1, but I really want a ESX that didn't look like it needed a paint job, LCD screen replaced, and I want the buttons working. If it means I pay more, fine.