Yesterday I took a gamble and bought a Yamaha QX-1 sequencer off Ebay for a decent price. I bought a Yamaha QX-3 about six months ago here in Japan and always wanted to have the Yamaha QX-1 as well. I really like these old school sequencers. As a kid growing up in the 80’s I could only drool over these in the music shop and now I can enjoy a little nostalgia and own them both. I don’t know a lot about the Yamaha QX-1, but it does have the 8 midi outputs coming out of the back, 8 polyphonic tracks, 80,000 notes, and an accurate clock resolution of 384 ppq (pulses per quarter note). It’s also a kind of a large sequencer and likely heavy. The one drawback is that it requires a working 5.25 floppy drive. I actually bought about 10 brand new boxes of 5.25 floppy disks about a year ago for under a dollar a box here in Japan. So I’m excited to have the media for it. By the way, the Yamaha QX-1 has been impossible to find in Japan lately which is why I elected to buy one off Ebay.
Although the LCD and Power have been tested on the Yamaha QX-1, I am still awaiting delivery of the unit to test the floppy drive. There is a very high probability that the floppy drive will not work. Thus the I’m currently checking out my options for either a replacement drive OR an emulator of sorts to throw into the Yamaha QX-1. I did read about a replacement 3.25 drive, but cringed when I found out it was from Route66Studios which, sorry I’m not a big fan of. Living here in Japan I’ve had to deal with a lot of mail order companies over the past 20 years and Route66Studios ranks at the bottom in my experience, so I’m going to try and look for another way should I require a floppy drive replacement.
Basically what I need to do is crack open the Yamaha QX-1 and inspect the factory drive and hardware controller. If I can learn more about it, I should be able to find out a suitable replacement for it. So my fingers are crossed that the drive components are not that ancient. Once I get the Yamaha QX-1 in the mail, I’ll update this post with some comments about the condition of the floppy drive. I’m just excited I get to “hopefully” use one of those new 5.25 foppy disks I bought recently. The last time I used a 5.25 floppy disk was back in University when I had to write a report using MS Word in the computer lab. That I believe was back in 1989 during my first year at the U of W! Wow!
UPDATE: I managed to get the HxC Floppy Emulator connected and working with the Yamaha QX-1. I no longer use the floppy drive. The QX-1 runs silent, faster, and can hold as many floppies as you can store on an SD card. The Yamaha QX-1 is much more usable now and with 8 midi outs, it’s awesome!!
UDPATE #2:
By popular request I have here the following:
HXCSDFE.CFG – HxC Yamaha QX-1 config file.
Empty01.hfe – HxC Yamaha QX-1 formatted blank floppy.
Here’s a new video of the Yamaha QX-1 attached to the HxC SD card floppy emulator. I made this really quick and will do a follow-up soon. Thanks!
Jim Atwood in Japan 
Hi Jim!
I had some success in just oiling the drive mechanics as the old oil started to get hard and so the drive couldn’t reach the necessary speed.
If you know a replacement drive type I could have a look in my collection as I still have some used 5,25″ drives here.
Ciao
Peter
Thanks for the tip Peter! Yeah, I have my fingers crossed the floppy drive works. I’ve read around the web that many are having some luck with a good cleaning and such. I also know many have had issues with the floppy disk getting stuck in the drive although I know there’s a way to release that.
I am curious if you know anything about the OS of the Yamaha QX-1. I heard there were at least two version of which the later one had a bit more functionality if correct. I’ll probably open up mine and check the OS and see what’s in there. I’m also not sure if the ROM IC chip is removable or not.
Thanks!
JIm
Hi Jim!
I don’t have a QX-1 and so I don’t know anything about the OS version that are available – sorry.
Ciao
Peter
Hey Jim, also being an 80s kid I could only dream of owning one of these, so I was thrilled when I was able to pick up one of these off of eBay for practically the cost of cheating. My drive actually worked so there’s a good chance yours will also. Good luck and report back to us.
Thanks Roy! I’ll certainly update my article when it arrives. I’ve also by the way, been following SynthFreq’s Youtube channel on her adventures with repairing a Yamaha QX-1. Her drive doesn’t work last I heard and I’ve been curious how she plans to fix it. I’ve sent her an email but haven’t heard back yet.
I see today she posted a new video. Thanks for the comment! – Jim
I’m curious about the 5.25 floppy disks that can be used with the Yamaha QX-1. In the manual the recommended floppy disk is as follows:
Maxell 5.25
Double-Sided
Double-Density
Double-Track 96 TPI
80 Tracks/Side
If correct, I believe a 96 TPI means 720KB for the Yamaha QX-1. I am particularly interested in whether a floppy disk with 48 TPI will also work. This would be 360KB if I understand 5.25 floppy disks correctly.
I noticed that it’s not too difficult to find 48 TPI disks, but rather difficult for 96 TPI not to mention more expensive.
Thanks for any insight into this.
Jim
I found the disks I need are Maxell MD2-DD 96 TPI which are going to be a royal pain to find. There are a lot of Maxel MD2-D floppies floating around, but note the single D in “Maxel MD2-D”. This means single track 48 TPI. The disks I have on hand are 48 TPI. So it looks like I can may try those and look into the HxC Emulator idea as well. Otherwise, I’ll be sitting on this Yamaha QX-1 until I find some Maxell MD2-DD 96 TPI disks…. at least one.
Hi Jim!
You can find these disks from time to time on Ebay and Amazon. At the moment Amazon Germany offers some of these: http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/B00BH0YNAU/ref=dp_olp_0/280-2047872-4677053?ie=UTF8&condition=all
Ciao
Peter
Hi Jim!
Here some on Ebay – maybe better international support than from Germany.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=md2-dd&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0&_nkw=md2-dd+5.25&_sacat=0
Ciao
Peter
I received the Yamaha QX-1 today but unfortunately I don’t have a spare floppy to test it….laugh. Those 96 TPI disks are hard to find. Thanks to Peter for the links but unfortunately from Japan I couldn’t grab those.
With that said I elected to take a stab at installing a 3.5 inch drive. I had an extra 720KB Shugart drive so I thought that would be a good place to start. I also have an HxC Floppy Emulator which I may test as well.
I opened up the Yamaha QX-1 and found it quite easy to locate and unplug the floppy cable and power cable. At the used music shop I got really lucky today and found an old 3.5 / 5. 25 floppy cable. It was long too, so I could keep the original 5.25 inside and simply slide the cable and power cable outside the QX-1 box. I then plugged in the floppy drive and power cable.
Now when I turned on the Yamaha QX-1 I noticed the following:
1. The QX-1 was able to power the 3.5 floppy drive just fine. As I expected it was continuously powering the drive.
2. It prompted me to enter a disk and hit enter. I did this and the QX-1 made a click accessing the disk drive and likely the disk. However, the message didn’t change to initialize the disk. Instead it just stopped after a few seconds.
Thus “something” is not quite right and I’m not sure what. The disk I used is a DD 720KB disk but the TPI number was 135 if that makes any difference. Not sure.
Also, the power cord has three wires colored red, black, and yellow. I ONLY have the red and black cables connected because that’s the only adapter I had on hand. I’m wondering if I need to connect that “YELLOW” cable to the floppy drive. I noticed on my Roland S-330 which has almost an exact same setup, there are three wires as well, red, black, and yellow.
Do I need to connect this yellow wire?
Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense to have a disk image burn beforehand to the floppy disk. After all, the Yamaha QX-1 is suppose to initialize a blank or non-formatted disk. That brings me to a thought that just occurred to me. On the Korg T2 EX, I could NEVER get a disk to work or initialize if it was not using a special non-formatted DD floppy disk. Just about every DD disk I threw at it, I simply got nothing. It was only when I found a blank image disk online that I discovered the T2 was EXTREMELY picky about it format types. Could the QX-1 be similar? I think I’ll go dig out my T2 DD floppy disk and give them a whirl.
So it seems I have a couple of things I can try. I’ll report back with my findings. It certainly would be great to get a 3.5 disk drive working on the QX-1. OR at least the HxC. We’ll see.
Actually the Korg T2 disks will not work because they are HD format and not DD. oops! Going to try the yellow cable.
Hi Jim!
There is no general answer if you need the +12V or not. Older drives needed it, newer ones not. So the best is to provide the +12V. The next setting is for the drive select. PC drives made the drive select with crossed cabling. The end of the cable (crossed wires) were for drive A, the streight through cable in between was drive B. Non PC drives sometimes had drive jumpers or even little switches on the PCB. Another setting/difference is how the drive select signal is used by the drive. Some synths/samplers need special settings/wirings here – like the Casio FZ samplers…
Ciao
Peter
Hi Jim!
Here is a datasheet of the original drive – so the base for drive compatibility tries…
Click to access Canon_MDD211_221.pdf
Ciao
Peter
Thanks very much Peter! Your info was very helpful. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
Hello Peter!
Well I think I’m making some progress a little bit.
I was able to successfully attach the HxC Floppy emulator to the Yamaha QX-1. The HxC is almost setup exactly the same as for my Roland W-30. Now when I power up the QX-1 I get the enter disk message. I then ensure the SD card is set properly in the HxC Emulator. After that, I get a “Disk Conflict” error which is actually found in the manual. The QX-1 then changes screens and prompts me to Yes or No initialize the Floppy. The tricky part here is that you have to press “shift” and THEN the Y key to get the initialize to execute on the QX-1.
I then get a “Now Excecuting” message o the QX-1. Meanwhile, the HxC floppy emulator toggles between “RA/WR” modes which means I think it’s trying to write. The tracks do not pass 1 however and I get a write error “WEOE” as it flips through a checksum. After a while the HxC return s to normal, but the QX-1 remains on “Now Executing”. The initialize procedure fails.
After some additional research it appears that the HxC cannot “format” or “initialize” floppies using the HxC. It can only write to disks that are already formatted or initialized. If I get the right “Raw Image” settings in the HxC config .HFE file it’s possible I can bypass the initialization, but that’s provided the settings are “EXACT”. I’m not sure i can come up with those just yet beyond the basic 160 tracks, 250KB, …etc.
SO, it looks like the HxC likely will work, but only after I rip a formatted image of a working QX-1 floppy disk. I don’t even know yet if it’s possible to connect the QX-1 5.25 floppy drive to my Windows computer and use something like Omniflop to rip the image. If I could do that, it would then be easy to dump that image into the HxC and that “should” work. It does with the W30, S300, and my Korg T2. That’s actually how I got the T2 to work. Currently I am using one of those 5-way floppy cables that have two 3.5 and two 5.25 connectors on it. Then there is a 34 pin connector to the mother board. My thinking is that I could run the ribbon cable and power cable from the PC directly to the back of the 5.25 floppy drive while still inside the QX-1 with an initialized disk. If I can then rip and image of a 5.25 disk, I’m good to go. I think the Emulator II+ guys “may” of done this before.
With regards to the 3.5 floppy option. There appears to be an additional step that I am missing. With the HxC I was able to get the “Initialize Yes or No” screen. With the 3.5 DD floppy drive I can’t get past the “Press Enter” after inserting disk. This means the cabling, pins, or jumper may be messed up on the 3.5 floppy drive.
I’m so close with the HxC Floppy Emulator. I’m sure I’ll get it here shortly. Thanks for the great info Peter. It’ helped quite a bit.
Jim
Hi Jim!
Wow, at least some success!
Here are some guys that have a similar problem – maybe you want to get in contact with them: http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/09/24/lo-tech-xt-cf-v2-emulate-xt-ide-hard-drives-with-a-cf-card/
Maybe you can find some tips in the manual of another disk drive emulation: http://www.ipcas.com/download/products/usb-floppy/usb-floppy-emulation-manual.pdf
Maybe pin 34 could be the problem why the 3.5inch drive does not work.. Connect pin 34 to GND by soldering a cable to the pin. This should simulate an all time disk ready.
Fantastic!!! Great links there Peter. I’ll check them out. Thank you!!!
Here are a few interesting tidbits about the Yamaha QX-1 that I found very valuable.
There is a test mode for the Yamaha QX-1 that allows you to test the functionality of the LEDs and Keys to determine if they are working properly or not. This is extremely helpful if you don’t have a floppy disk handy and want to find out if any particular QX-1 is working besides the power and startup screen.
To get into test mode, simply press keys 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 while powering up the QX-1. From there, the menu will direct you on how to initiate the tests. It’s super simple and again very helpful without a floppy.
Another interesting note is that these QX-1 floppy drives are highly prone to getting stuck. What I mean is the floppy can get stuck in the drive and you have to manually lock/unlock it to retrieve the disk. Despite common knowledge on the web, I have found this to be quite easy to fix or I should say jerry rig.
First you have to take out the screws on the bottom of the QX-1 so it will open up like a suitcase from the top….very nice!!! This will expose the drive. Then remove the screen mesh on the drive. Now while lifting the brass ramp on the left hand side, push the lock button on the from panel. Presto!! The drive unlocks/locks every time. Super simple!! Now you can just close up the top. The lid is heavy so I found I really don’t need screws unless I transport it. The fit is nice and snug. Also, you can save your data, power down, and then obviously stick your finger in there to jog the ramp to unlock. You might want to unplug the power cord as well. The point here is that these drives are very old and if you need to get the disk out, it’s actually very easy, so don’t go nuts!!
Right now I have some DS DD 48 TPI disks coming in the mail today or tomorrow for testing. I don’t have any 96 TPI disks, but with some research I’ve found that 48 TPI will likely work as long as they are initialized on a fresh disk. Fingers crossed that these disks will work temporarily until I find proper 96 TPI DS DD disks. Mainly, I’m looking for Maxell MD2-DD 96 TPI disks which are proving difficult for me to acquire at the moment.
If anybody reading this has “one” they can spare, I would definitely buy it from you. Please comment or send me a note and we can arrange how to pay and ship. I’d be most grateful. Hopefully the 48 TPI DS DD disks will work sufficiently so that I can work with the QX-1 while searching for 96 TPI disks.
Here’s another interesting point that I hopefully can explain correctly….
48 TPI ( Tracks Per Inch ) relates to the width of the tracks. 96 TPI disks have tracks that are more narrow than 48 TPI. I’ve read that a 96 TPI DD drive will simply overwrite a 48 TPI floppy with tracks that are more narrow within the wider 48 TPI tracks. Most claim this will still allow you to use the 48 TPI disk in a 96 TPI drive, but NOT a 48 TPI drive. The 48 TPI drives cannot read the narrower 96 TPI tracks very well or at all. The Yamaha QX-1 uses a 96 TPI drive, so my assumption is that 48 TPI will work as long as the disk meets the minimum requirements of DS ( Double Sided ) and DD ( Double Density ). So we’ll see.
Hi Jim!
Yes, I remember that back in the 80ies I also used 48TPI sometimes for my 96TPI CP/M DIY computer – and it worked quite fine. What not works are HD disks as the megnetic material is different and so the write precompensation, write current and read signal…
Ciao
Peter
Thanks Peter! Yeah, last night I actually tried an MD/HD floppy disk and got a “Disk Protect” error. The disk did not have the memory protect sticker over the notch on the right side, but since it was an HD disk I thought that was probably the reason why. I also think it was a 1.6MB and 256Bytes/Sector floppy. Yeah, I was desperate and the disk specs were way off, but I was really curious about what would happen. I also wanted to test out the drive because I was having lock/unlock issues. About six months ago I bought a 10 pack of these floppies for a dollar here in Japan. I got excited thinking a floppy was a floppy when I bought it….laugh. Now I know there are LOTS of variables to these disks.
Anyways, I’m expecting my 48 TPI DS/DD disks any day now in the mail. I’ll give those a whirl and keep you updated. The good news is that the 5.25 floppy drive in the QX-1 appears to be working just fine except for the occasional stuck floppy issue which is easy to bypass so far. From now on I plan to stick to the proper disk format as well with the one exception of the TPI rating of course.
Thanks again!
Jim
WOW! Unbelievable. My DS DD 48 TPI disks arrived today and I anxiously tried one out. I got the same “Disk Protect” error on the Yamaha QX-1. After careful inspection of the disk drive, I discovered two missing screws right next to the disk protect detection system.
When I first got the QX-1, I noticed a rattle noise and inside there was a gold screw rolling around. I couldn’t find where it was suppose to go, but now I see that it belongs to one of the two holes on the drive. I can’t say for sure, but it looks like there is a missing part on the floppy drive. My guess is that this missing part is connected with detecting whether the floppy has a protect tab or not. Since it’s missing, it defaults to “disk protected”. So it seems until I find a way to bypass this, no disk will be valid. Crap!
So, I’m now looking at the Canon MDD221 manual and photos to try and determine what is missing and how I might be able to bypass the protection system.
I also haven’t ruled out the 3.5 floppy drive or HxC floppy Emulator solution either.
Until then, the Yamaha QX-1 will be sitting on a shelf until I get a lead.
Thanks!
Jim
Hi Jim!
The disk protect has normally been solved in two versions:
1. mechanical micro switch
opto interrupter like these https://www.google.at/search?q=opto+interrupter&safe=off&rlz=1G1SMSN_DEAT444&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=TcqVUYqTKK3W4AS19oGYAQ&ved=0CDgQsAQ&biw=1876&bih=1011
For testing you could of course generate a dummy signal but with this you can of course not protect the disks any longer – but for testing this would be OK I think.
Ciao
Peter
Hi Jim!
I had a look at the drive manual (link above in another message from me) on page 15: you can see that they are using a photo interrupter. And they also mention in the specs that an opaque label should be used. So you should at least find 3 open wires (maybe 4) for the opto interrupter. GND, LED Drive, Decoder output. Maybe another GND if the LED and decoders don’t use a common wire for their signal return.
Ciao
Peter
NOW WORKING!!!!
Hi everyone!! I now have my Yamaha QX-1 up and running with the HxC floppy emulator. You need the latest firmware in the HxC which allows you to initialize an HxC floppy disk. No more Canon MDD221 or Maxell floppies required. Awesome!!!!
Thanks to Jeff over at HxC for sending me the latest firmware.
I can confirm that my Yamaha QX-1 is up and running connected to the HxC floppy emulator. No Canon MDD221 disk drive required anymore. So far everything works but I’ll update this post once I record a couple of sequences. Note that you will need to get adapters for the power cable and ribbon cable of course to connect the Yamaha QX-1 to the HxC.
Simply Brilliant!!!
Jim
Hi Jim!
Cool! Congratulations!
Peter
Well everyone! I recorded a few tracks using the Yamaha QX-1 and HxC SD Card Floppy Emulator. It’s works PERFECT!! I took the old Canon MDD221 floppy drive out of the QX-1 and put the HxC SD Card Floppy Emulator inside. Here are some advantages of using the HxC Floppy Emulator.
1. The Yamaha QX-1 is now much lighter!! Without the Canon MDD221 tank of a floppy drive inside, the QX-1 is easier to handle.
2. The Yamaha QX-1 can initialize and format floppies on the HxC Emulator SD card.
3. I believe the performance is faster. Perhaps it shouldn’t or it just might be my imagination, but it really does seem to run fast. You do have to hit the ENTER key as usual but for some reason not having or hearing the floppy engage makes you feel it’s faster.
4. When I power off and then on, the Yamaha QX-1 starts in an instant. I mean it starts FAST!!! It starts faster than several other more current sequencers I own.
5. You can now swap SD cards and transfer data to the computer or exchange floppies with others via the web or email. That’s cool!!
6. You can save money and time trying to find the Maxell DS/DD 96 TPI disks which are virtually non existent. You can fit as many floppies on an SD card as you like as long as the SD card is large enough of course.
7. The Yamaha QX-1 completely runs silent now. No noise at all.
8. The HxC emulator is much more stable than the floppy drive. I’ve had it for 2-3 years now without any failure or issue. You can now get a little rough with the QX-1 and it won’t break the floppy drive!
9. The HxC totally brings back to life the Yamaha QX-1. This is fun if you’re into vintage gear!!
10. With a little luck, this may increase the resell value of the Yamaha QX-1. Of course there may be other issues with the functionality, but now that we’re past the floppy drive problem, perhaps the QX-1 will rise once again.
Thanks for the help everyone and special thanks to Peter!!
Hi Jim!
Thats really great! Thank you for your report.
And yes the HxC can enable faster access/function as the floppy disk controller doesn’t have to wait for disk ready signal so long as no track stepping that is quite slow has to happen on flash devices. So you can save at least some milliceconds (if not more on the old drives) for track changing, maybe even head loading and also sector addressing. If you are waiting for a special sector than you can have to wait nearly one complete spin if you just have missed it. Flash addresses directly. That why SDD drives in PCs are so fast compared to harddisks… and with floppies this effects is even more recognizable.
Ciao
Peter
Post a new video on Youtube of the HxC and Yamaha QX-1.
Hi Jim, many thanks for sharing your experience with QX1 and HxC. I purchased myself a QX1 few months ago for $ 50. As a 80’s kid myself, it’s like a dream comes true, a perfect complement to my TX816, RX11 and DX7! However, I was quickly stuck with the floppy locking the disk; even if I quickly found how to eject it myself, opening the case each time is not the best. And not talking about the noise. Of course, I discarded all my 5″1/4 floppies many years ago…
So I crawled the web and found Lotharek’s HxC and good solution (not cheap however). But, as none has reported working experience, I was quite reluctant to order one.
So I was starting to study a replacement myself; not only replacing the drive, but the floppy disk controller (fujitsu MB8877), with an Arduino, Raspberry Pi or micro-controller My choice finally is a PIC 16F877 by Microchip.
However, because of your success, I will probably stop my development.
Hello everyone,
By popular request I have here the following:
HXCSDFE.CFG – HxC Yamaha QX-1 config file.
Empty01.hfe – HxC Yamaha QX-1 formatted blank floppy.
http://jimatwood.net/QX-1.rar
You should just need to download, extract, and drag these over to your HxC SD card. When you turn on the QX-1 it should boot into the system OS and your QX-1 should be fully operational. If you encounter any additional issues, you may need to update your HxC with at least “HXCFE_V1_8_1_9a.upd”. That’s the firmware I currently use.
The HxC Yamaha QX-1 formatted blank floppy is just that. I ran the disk initialization on that file and so it “should” be a direct image copy of a real formatted QX-1 floppy disk.
Please feel free to comment if you have any questions. Enjoy!
Jim
Do you have any idea if this would work with a yamaha su700?
I’ve been doing a bunch of research on this and I’m close to pulling the trigger on buying everything needed for this project. However, I’m worried about the firmware. Have you updated since then? If not, do you know where to find the correct firmware or still have it?
Jim, was there a particular reason to choose the HxC board form factor you are using? I am planning to convert my QX-1 as well, thinking the http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=42 would be fitting well into the 5.25 floppy slot of the QX-1 (with a 3.5 to 5.25 slot-adapter) – allowing easy handling from the front. But now I’m wondering if I’m correct, as I don’t want to spend more on the wrong solution – any advise is highly appreciated 🙂
Hello! The HxC Rev C emulators I use for my samplers including the one for the Yamaha QX1 were purchased a couple of years ago. With regards to form factor they were the only choice I had at the time. They are quite versatile for connecting to any sampler/synth I test with it. I have three HxC units and rotate them around quite a bit with different synths. For a more permanent solution, the newer units might be better because they have either special cases or different sizes. The one I have connected to the QX1 above has been used and tested with about 5 other synths. Thus it has been convenient to not have it so permanent in my case…..although I now use it A LOT with the QX1, so I may try to make it look nicer….laugh.
Thanks for the reply & cool, I’ll go for 3.5 case formfactor then & let you know how it goes – I might even design a faceplate replacement, so i works well with Yamaha interface design principles … hehe.
Wow! Congratulations on your tireless work with the QX1! I have one of these wonderful old machines and used it in the late 80’s and early 90’s to beef up my band’s sound with a vocoder, some midi instruments, a midi-pack light show and pre-programmed patch changes for my guitar rig. When the bass player moved away, the QX1 saved our bacon and took up bass duties. With the live drummer still onstage, nobody missed the bassist. Who knew?
Like many others, I had to give up the Yamaha due to high maintenance disks and the drive’s fragile nature. However, I refuse to take to the stage with a laptop and mouse; quite clumsy. It also takes the romance out of a performance when you can use the same machine to send emails and file your tax return.
Just this afternoon, we (the old band members) got together and went through our repertoire using a laptop and it just reinforced my resolve to avoid the PC for live gigs. With the QX1, it was simple: scroll and ‘play’. So, I googled it.
And now you’ve given me hope. Maybe, with all the great advice and experience packed within your posts, an SD card upgrade will become accessible to the technologically challenged- like myself. Thanks again!
Shawn
Hello,could someone tell me if there is a way to fix the key on qx1 that doesn’t respond on pressing?
Hi Tartaro, on mine, I had the same problem (REC key not responding). The issue was in fact the plastic axle which has been broken and badly fixed. I 3D-printed a few axles and then replaced the broken one: now works like a charm. Have a look on my site to see how to disassemble the key. http://francois.basquin.free.fr/blog/2013042801.html. I have 4 spare axles.
Hello Francois,
thanks for your post,but I have removed the upper part of the key and the plastic axle seems good at least in apparence,but I was not able to disassemble all parts of the key.I was afraid to do damage.One question:for remove the key must I desoldering the key from the board?If the axle is the problem how much you sell it?thanks Mario
Yes, you will have to de-solder the key from the board. Once done, it’s pretty easy to disassemble: the upper and lower parts are snapped together. Take care of small parts though. Good luck.
Hey Jim
Firstly thanks so much for documenting your discoveries with the QX1, with exception to Synth Freq who also does a superb job, you are the only other person I have found that deals with the QX1 on the internet, which seems crazy.
I wondered if you have experienced or know of an issues I am having. Basically I can’t use any functions that require SHIT ^ and a button, although I did momentarily have this working for about a minute after unplugging a midi cable from the in port, before it returned to not working again.
I have run the diagnostics test and both the SHIFT ^ button and all the other buttons work just fine, but it seems just that combination of SHIFT ^ and say INSERT for example, wont work, and it simply outputs ‘1’. This is the case for any SHIFT ^ combinations.
This make any programming of sequences into the QX1 impossible with only live recording and some editing available.
I only bought my machine a week ago, so I suppose it’s possible I am doing something wrong? but I have read and re-read both manuals and am 99% certain I am going about it the right way and it’s just not working. Additionally, I also tested the function of SHIFT ^ and a to tap through characters on creating a Disk ID, and it wouldn’t scroll through. I did this as I wondered if for some reason the disc had some setting I wasn’t aware of that removed this function…I appreciate I am clutching at straws haha and it seems highly likely there is some issue.
I also open the QX1, wiggled everything I could see in a desperate hope I could replicate that minute where the SHIFT ^ function worked, but nothing.
One thing I did noticed was a ROM error on the diagnostic test reading: Rom error IN00927 IN00936. Although I would have thought if that was the cause, I would have had that 1 minute of use on the SHIFT ^, and it would simply not work all together.
Anyway, any help or suggestions would be amazing.
Thanks again
Martin
also me many problems with the key.bring to the service,they clean internally but I think the keyboard age can be a big issue.I think the diagnostic doesn’t detect key problem.
Mario
Hey Mario
Thanks so much for your reply, I just methodically pushed that SHIT ^ button in various positions and finally…finally managed to get it working consistently. You were totally right!! The connection is dirty it seems.
Do you know to clean it would be from removing the circuit board or just the keys itself from the front?
thanks again
Martin
Hi Martin to be honest I don’t remember very well,they told me that was removed the dirty parts and reccomended me not to leave in a wet ambience,but after some days the chain key didn’t respond.I tried 2 service assistance but the result was not so good and durable I think.It is very good timing machine but the age is a big problem.
Anyway removing the circuit board is simple and makes the cleaning more convenient.
Saluti
Mario