Electribe ES-1 S sampler going crazy! Random patterns...

Pitchblender · Post by **Pitchblender** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:58 am

Hello everyone - I wonder if someone can help with my ES-1 problem. It's just started jumping randomly from pattern to pattern. Mostly stops on A.01 or B.33 but changes maybe 5 times a second although sometimes it seems fine for a couple of minutes.

I know it's probably dodgy hardware, and I've repaired it before, but I can't find any physical faults after scanning the boards for cracks etc.. although 3 LEDs don't work on the pattern select 1-4 rows. I can't see these affecting the pattern select mode though, but I could be wrong.

It records samples fine and does everything apart from stay on a pattern, so I could just use it to trigger samples, but hey my phone can do that...

I couldn't find a service manual online either, which could help, so apart from spending loads on an official repair, is there anyone out there who can point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Discore · Post by **Discore** » Fri Feb 13, 2015 3:14 pm

A common issue of the older Electribes is the main dial. Does it also switch samples when you're choosing a sample and stay in the selection menu for a while?

Pitchblender · Post by **Pitchblender** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:59 pm

Hello - no, it works fine in sample mode, so it's not the physical dial. I think it's hardware related but can't find a service manual to trace the circuitry. Really annoying. It actually flickers fast and sometimes stays on A.01 or B.33 so it's probably a loose connection / short which will be hard to hunt down....

crazytiti · Post by **crazytiti** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 7:21 am

http://www.warningwillrobinson.com.au/m ... manual.pdf

Pitchblender · Post by **Pitchblender** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:28 pm

Thanks crazytiti! I managed to trace the breaks in the circuit board and resolder wires across it. It was still jumping when I first put it back together so I opened it again and resoldered and it's now running well

Brrrrkreisel · Post by **Brrrrkreisel** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 12:38 pm

hey pitchblender!

how did solve the problem exactly? i'm dealing with the same.

did you find the breaks obviously or do i have to use a osci?

Pitchblender · Post by **Pitchblender** » Mon May 02, 2016 12:57 pm

Alright dude

It was pretty simple, tracing exactly where the current flowed and scratching a tiny area of green off the board until it showed copper. I planned where these points were going to be carefully as I needed the wires to lie flat and not have excess wire floating about yet keep the insulation covering as much as possible.
I used a magnifying glass on a stand to examine every crack and which circuit flow was broken, and looked for alternative routing.

Pretty simple really, but time consuming... luckily these old circuit boards are much more spaced out than recent gadgets, so much easier to trace problems.

I used the service manual to get a rough idea of signal flow to eliminate the areas which were working fine, but I'm no whizz and have failed to repair other gadgets...

Hope this helps

Brrrrkreisel · Post by **Brrrrkreisel** » Wed May 18, 2016 11:36 am

Great! Thank you so much. I found the breaks and bridged them. There were close to the card-reader. I also changed the Encoder which i got from Korg. Now it works like brand new.