Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

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ryan42
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Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

Post by ryan42 »

Some of you may have seen my other thread in which I described the manner in which my Oasys, upon overhearing my plans to sell it for a Kronos, decided to kill itself to become unmarketable. The response wasn't very exciting, as you see, but I did end up fixing the keyboard, and in the hours long process I learned a few things about the RH2 keybed that I think some of you may find interesting.

Firstly, the RH2 keybed is made by Fatar. Specifically I believe it is a Fatar TP-40. I was nearly set on purchasing a new TP-40 "wood" action keybed if my efforts to repair my existing keybed failed. Unfortunately for anyone wondering if this is a viable option, that didn't happen. :-P

I believe that this keybed is used in the Studiologic SL-990 and SL-880 keyboards.

Working on the keybed once removed from the Oasys was a little difficult. The keys are removed by compressing a pink colored on top of the rear of the key farther than it physically looks like it should go. The rear is lifted and the key moves forward and off of the keybed. The physical hammer action is simple. The velocity is measured by a two rubber dome pads at differing heights which are contacted by the key itself—the hammer action is not involved.

There are two contact strips for the keyboard. One ranges from lowest note to Middle C and the other is the rest. These are the contact boards - I matched the part number on them. They are green where as one of mine is yellow and the other one is orange though.

The reason my original problem occurred is really unknown to me. I fixed it by removing the rubber from the contact circuit board and wiping both with standard contact cleaner. All is better now.[/url]

I managed to lose one spring, which sits at the very back of the keys and provides some tiny amount of upward force. I couldn't perceive a difference between spring and no spring. Either way I didn't want a difference in the middle of the keyboard, so I robbed the one from the lowest A note and moved it to the one I lost after checking the tensions were the same.
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McHale
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Post by McHale »

out of curiosity, did you see a way to "lighten" up the action to make it play more like a semi-weighted?
Current Korg Gear: KRONOS 88 (4GB), M50-73 (PS mod), RADIAS-73, Electribe MX, Triton Pro (MOSS, SCSI, CF, 64MB RAM), SQ-64, DVP-1, MEX-8000, MR-1, KAOSSilator, nanoKey, nanoKontrol, 3x nanoPad 2, 3x DS1H, 7x PS1, FC7 (yes Korg, NOT Yamaha).
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Post by Kontrol49 »

The reason my original problem occurred is really unknown to me. I fixed it by removing the rubber from the contact circuit board and wiping both with standard contact cleaner. All is better now.

Although I've never fixed a hammer graded Keybed,I suspect the problem is similar to a lot of synth action beds that either the Velocity setting is either full on upon different force or non triggering at all,cleaning the circuit board to which the Rubber strip connects with it with Isopropyl alcohol usually remedies the problem...it just a case of dirt or dust causing the fault,although unusual to find such an issue of a Keybed as recent as an Oasys.(suppose depends on the environment it been kept it)

Normally this type of issue has arisen in synths that are older,I've had it happen in older synths Like the 01w or Wavestations,which have a few years under their belts and perhaps not been serviced in the lifetime of ownership,this I found was a common occurence and the main issue why keys would not work,hence the owners sold them on for fear of it being unrepairable or beyond their capabilities,something I found got me some bargains over the years and I repaired them and sold them on for Profit once fully functional

Although on the few Roland D50's I fixed with this problem,if you made the circuit pad too clean it was just as problematic,which could be fixed by lightly rubbing some grease paper over the contact on the circuit again.

You'd be suprised what dirt and grime gets collected under the keys on older synths,even worse if the gear was exposed to people who keep their gear in Smoky environments(even makes me shudder now to think of the state the Z1 was in when i bought it*surprised it never got cancer through passive smoke exposure)

*Strokes the Z1 and says "Its Alright now my friend your safe"
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Kontrol49
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Post by Kontrol49 »

McHale wrote:out of curiosity, did you see a way to "lighten" up the action to make it play more like a semi-weighted?

not sure you'd be able to lighten up the keybed unless there is a way to remove the weighting??Seems a lot of work and effort to make it feel more like a semi weighted synth action,if you can remove the material that gives it its weighting that is??

Altering the velocity reponse in global menus so you didn't need to force the keys so hard for max velocity values may help
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Post by Akos Janca »

Ryan, thank you for the report. Please post a link also in the service thread if you agree: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=58617
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Re: Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

Post by MartinHines »

ryan42 wrote:Some of you may have seen my Firstly, the RH2 keybed is made by Fatar. Specifically I believe it is a Fatar TP-40.
A small correction. According to the OASYS Service Manual, the OASYS 88 (RH2) keybed is a Fatar TP-31 w/ Aftertouch.

My understanding is the keybed is a custom design for Korg (i.e. not sold to other keyboard manufacturers).


P.S. -- According to the Studiologic website, the current products SL990 Pro and SL990 XP both use a Fatar TP40GH action.

Additional FYI: The Kurzweil PC3K8 uses the TP-40 action. Outside of Asia it is the TP-40L.
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Post by McHale »

Kontrol49 wrote:not sure you'd be able to lighten up the keybed unless there is a way to remove the weighting??Seems a lot of work and effort to make it feel more like a semi weighted synth action,if you can remove the material that gives it its weighting that is??

Altering the velocity reponse in global menus so you didn't need to force the keys so hard for max velocity values may help
I have to think it's more than just the weights under the keys. I could be wrong as I'm only guessing but if that's the case, those suckers are coming off.

Key velocity will help for many of the issues I'll have with the RH-3 though. I will give that a shot first.

Thanks,

-Mc
Current Korg Gear: KRONOS 88 (4GB), M50-73 (PS mod), RADIAS-73, Electribe MX, Triton Pro (MOSS, SCSI, CF, 64MB RAM), SQ-64, DVP-1, MEX-8000, MR-1, KAOSSilator, nanoKey, nanoKontrol, 3x nanoPad 2, 3x DS1H, 7x PS1, FC7 (yes Korg, NOT Yamaha).
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Post by ryan42 »

McHale wrote:out of curiosity, did you see a way to "lighten" up the action to make it play more like a semi-weighted?
Sorry, I'm terrible at replying to forum posts.

Not really. The hammers are obviously drilled to be weight balanced. You could take more weight off of the hammers but you would, in doing so, hinder the keys from returning to the up position quickly and without bouncing on the up-stop.

That is of course unless you were to add upward force by replacing the spring (found at the top of the keys) with a stronger one.
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ryan42
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Re: Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

Post by ryan42 »

MartinHines wrote:
ryan42 wrote:Some of you may have seen my Firstly, the RH2 keybed is made by Fatar. Specifically I believe it is a Fatar TP-40.
A small correction. According to the OASYS Service Manual, the OASYS 88 (RH2) keybed is a Fatar TP-31 w/ Aftertouch.

My understanding is the keybed is a custom design for Korg (i.e. not sold to other keyboard manufacturers).


P.S. -- According to the Studiologic website, the current products SL990 Pro and SL990 XP both use a Fatar TP40GH action.

Additional FYI: The Kurzweil PC3K8 uses the TP-40 action. Outside of Asia it is the TP-40L.
Very interesting. I purchased a service manual off of eBay which I do not believe is the official Korg manual. It is on legal paper and is almost entirely schematics except for a few pages of text describing how to enter test mode and the table of contents. The test mode page looks like someone hacked it out in Word in two minutes. :-/

I wonder how different the TP-40 is from the TP-31. Since the contact strip part numbers cross reference to the TP-40 keybed, I suppose there is no reason why the TP-40 couldn't go into an OASYS. Certain physical aspects may be different but from a glance they look physically the same. Different weighting maybe?
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Re: Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

Post by MartinHines »

ryan42 wrote: Very interesting. I purchased a service manual off of eBay which I do not believe is the official Korg manual.
Check your Private Messages (PMs).
** KORG Product Support Contacts **
(they support BOTH hardware and software)


Korg USA Product support -- https://www.korgusa.com/contactus (For fastest service I would suggest calling them on the phone)

Outside the U.S. contact your Korg Country Distributor -- https://www.korg.com/us/corporate/distributors/
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Re: Everything I know about the Oasys RH2 Keybed

Post by McHale »

ryan42 wrote:I purchased a service manual off of eBay which I do not believe is the official Korg manual. It is on legal paper and is almost entirely schematics except for a few pages of text describing how to enter test mode and the table of contents. The test mode page looks like someone hacked it out in Word in two minutes. :-/
Believe it or not, that's the official. Someone merely printed out the .pdf onto legal paper.
Current Korg Gear: KRONOS 88 (4GB), M50-73 (PS mod), RADIAS-73, Electribe MX, Triton Pro (MOSS, SCSI, CF, 64MB RAM), SQ-64, DVP-1, MEX-8000, MR-1, KAOSSilator, nanoKey, nanoKontrol, 3x nanoPad 2, 3x DS1H, 7x PS1, FC7 (yes Korg, NOT Yamaha).
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Post by ryan42 »

Oh, well very well then. :-P

I was thinking it would be a bit more situational but I suppose the schematics tell you everything you need to know.
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Post by MartinHines »

ryan42 wrote:Oh, well very well then. :-P

I was thinking it would be a bit more situational but I suppose the schematics tell you everything you need to know.
The Service Manuals are for Korg Authorized Service Technicians. They don't want to read alot, but rather want schematics and parts lists.

Korg also has a Service Intranet where they can get Service updates, notes, etc.
** KORG Product Support Contacts **
(they support BOTH hardware and software)


Korg USA Product support -- https://www.korgusa.com/contactus (For fastest service I would suggest calling them on the phone)

Outside the U.S. contact your Korg Country Distributor -- https://www.korg.com/us/corporate/distributors/
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Post by mrpanoff »

McHale wrote:out of curiosity, did you see a way to "lighten" up the action to make it play more like a semi-weighted?
Maybe to put an extra-thick self-adhesive felt strip over the existing one (inside the RH2 metal casing) to prevent the hammers from being fully released?

That would reduce the keystroke though, although it will give the keys that piano-like ability to be lifted up a tad.

What do you think guys? I'm thinking either this, or to try replace it with an RH3. But then you have to make sure aftertouch is compatible.
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