This is my first blog post! Woohoo. Tonight, in true synth nerd fashion, I disassembled and cleaned the controller board for a Yamaha RM1x that I just got from ebay. In the description of the RM1x, it stated that it was missing two knobs, which isn't a big deal (I have tons of spare knobs). But, after I cleaned the thing (something I always do when I get a used piece of equipment) and turned it on to test it, a couple of the keyboard buttons were not very responsive, and one was completely unresponsive. Obviously, this isn't a good thing. I had a similar issue with my QY70, which I also disassembled, cleaned, and put back together. It worked great after that, so I'm hoping this will do the trick with the RM1x too.
Disassembling the RM1x is not exactly for the faint of heart, but it's not terribly difficult either if you take notes of where everything goes. I opted to mark each hole according to screw size and taped the screws to each section. Yes, I told you I was a nerd. While I was at it, I decided to pop off all of the switch caps and right now they're soaking in a bowl of soapy water so I can clean the grunge off of them. Looks like whoever owned this thing before me got a lot of use out of it, and also seemed to like to eat while using it (!).
Anyway, if the cleaning doesn't take care of the problem, then I'll replace the switches. They're sealed momentary switches with rubber contacts. I've seen these on the big electronic suppliers' websites, so sourcing them shouldn't be an issue. Surprisingly, they're also soldered through the board and not surface mount, which is great if I do actually have to replace them. But I hope I won't have to do that. This thing is already turning out to be more trouble than what I paid for it.
