Skip Navigation.
Section 0

ChromaTalk Archives: January 2003

Felt 'washer' under keys

David Clarke [21030085++] · Tue, 07 Jan 2003 19:09:54 -0500

Under each key in the Chroma there's a little felt washer/spacer.

Anybody know where to pick up a direct replacement for these?

Andrew Cohen · Tue, 7 Jan 2003 23:37:39 -0500

Hi Dave,

If this is just a question of functionality, you might be interested in the following:

I've noticed that the little felt "feet" you can buy for putting under stereos, VCRs, and whatnot are roughly the same thickness, compressed. You could easily drill a hole through with an X-acto to fit the key post. They're available at Wal-Mart or probably most Hardware stores. They're a tan color. Might come in green...I seem to recall seeing green.

Is diameter important? The ones I happen to have (for other uses) are a little bigger than the Chroma's at 1". (The Chroma has what appears to be by eyeball 3/4") They come in an assortment of sizes so 3/4" is probably available.

But, if you are looking for an *exact* stock drop-in for restoration purposes, none of the above will help you. :-(

Good luck!

Christopher Now · Wed, 8 Jan 2003 02:08:07 -0800

David -

A piano supply house should have these felt punches in stock, though you may have to buy them in bulk.

I found some on eBay last year for my Rhodes piano. The seller was offering all sorts of piano parts and was selling an assortment of sizes and thicknesses for about $12.00. Some were felt and some were thick cardboard. I didn't need any for my Chroma, but the keybeds for the Rhodes and Chroma are similar and were manufactured by piano keyboard companies.

You may be able to find some more on eBay with a little search effort. I may have a couple URLs for online supply houses - let me know if you can't find these, and I'll do a little digging.

Hope this helps

David Clarke [21030085++] · Fri, 17 Jan 2003 21:29:34 -0500

Just a quick note of thanks for everyone's replies!

Chroma on eBay: 3 Hours, Currently $227, No Reserve

Chris Ryan [21030691] · Wed, 8 Jan 2003 20:28:56 -0800

Yet another Chroma, and though there have been nine bids it looks like there's no reserve price (but keep in mind I'm an eBay amateur). Owner says "I do not know the working condition." So anyone wanting a Chroma for parts or restoration, you have about three hours. Item #934235386.

Doug Terrebonne [21030114] · Wed, 8 Jan 2003 20:42:33 -0800 (PST)

I would advise caution on this one... I have been trying to get more info from the seller but he's been very elusive... He claims he doesn't know the condition and can't test it because he doesn't have a power cord... After I told him it just takes a standard computer type cord and he could use the one from his PC or monitor he never got back to me...

The Changing Face of Chroma Dual Channel Voice Boards

David Clarke [21030085++] · Sun, 12 Jan 2003 22:10:08 -0500

Those of us who've had their Chroma opened will have undoubtedly looked at the 8 dual channel voice boards.

Once you've done that, you might wonder, how old/new are the boards? What should a 'current' board look like? How do I tell if I have KRLP or Tellabs tempco resistors?

For those owners who haven't peeked inside, have you ever wondered what things look like in there?

Over the past while I've had a couple different series of voice boards come through my hands. While I had them, I snapped a few pictures and made a few comments. These were put together and are posted as Voice Board Revisions: The Changing Face of Chroma Dual Channel Boards.

Mods to KMX Firmware (for continuous controllers)

David Clarke [21030085++] · Fri, 17 Jan 2003 21:32:35 -0500

A while ago there was a discussion on the list about possibly modding the KMX firmware to allow all the Chroma parameters to be mapped to distinct controllers. Did this ever go anywhere?

Jeffrey D. McEachin [21030073+] · Sun, 19 Jan 2003 11:53:37 -0800

Ken Y. said he would give it a shot in March of last year. Since then I haven't heard much from him. The problem is that he lost the source code.

I was prepared to do it using a disassembly, but I backed off due to Ken's involvement, and now I've got too much going on to work on it. Sorry. Perhaps later this year - I really want this for my own use.

If anyone else is into 8051 hacking, it seems like a simple project - expand some jump tables, write some routines to do range checking, and pass the right numbers to the interface output routine.

Chroma with Mods on Ebay

David Clarke [21030085++] · Fri, 24 Jan 2003 23:44:16 -0500

The Chroma currently on Ebay [item 2503109231] seems to have two mods I haven't seen before.

It looks to be a fan (or at least a vent) installed in the left end-block (back near the power supply).

The second mod seems to be a reasonably good idea - it looks like an external power fuse holder was installed just to the right of the memory protect switch on the rear panel.

Here are the pictures snagged from eBay.

Sandro Traversi [21010217] · Sat, 25 Jan 2003 13:34:24 +0100

About Chroma Mods

External power fuse holder is really a good idea and very simple to make.

I wonder the lacking of a headphone out on the Chroma. Anyone has experienced that mod ?