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Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => Drum machines => Topic started by: nochtanseenspecht on November 04, 2010, 08:10:00 PM

Title: simmons sds200
Post by: nochtanseenspecht on November 04, 2010, 08:10:00 PM
greetz,
i have here a sds200 drumsynth with a non functioning psu
i've found out it 's the transformer.
for some reason there's never any info written on transformers >:(

is there someone here that worked on one of these ?
in wich case there might be info on the pinout of the psu flatcable..
the sds200 has the same psu as the sds400/800

hope i get it alive again.. next step would be cv in on the pitch then if possible
ok have a nice evening
nochtanz
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 04, 2010, 08:31:14 PM
Ah, now I had one of these on long-term loan, and gave it back.  What to do is, figure out what the voltage regulators for the power supply are and that will give you a clue to the voltage.  You can work it back from there, so for example if it wants a 15V supply rail you want a 12V transformer, because 12*sqrt(2) = 12*1.4142 = 16.9V, giving enough headroom for the regulator to work.
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: nochtanseenspecht on November 04, 2010, 08:51:17 PM
hey thanks Gordon!
did you like this drumsynth btw?
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 04, 2010, 10:59:04 PM
Yeah, there are some pretty mad noises to be had.  The "Second Skin" pot brings in a strange ringmod effect.  I had a lot of fun triggering it from a home-made interface and feeding it through a tape delay, which my flatmate described as being like the Smash robots falling into a cave.
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: electoyd on November 05, 2010, 11:57:42 AM
i picked up 2 sds9 with 10spare eproms for £60 quid last year dont think the girl i got them from realised what they were, couple of broken pot stems and some random pot knobs, but i just got a set of replacement knobs and they look pretty good now, happy days!   The sds 8 is a cracker as well, fat sounds and all analogue, the sds9 is part analogue/part digital.

http://electro-music.com/forum/post-132672.html (http://electro-music.com/forum/post-132672.html)  If your after a wicked drum synth, this is a beast i was lucky enough to find one, has a great range of sounds that go way beyond normal drum sounds.
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: Gordonjcp on November 05, 2010, 01:57:40 PM
I believe they use Curtis synth voice chips for the analogue bits.  The SDS-7 uses a weird big hybrid thing which looks like it would be hell to replace.
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: nochtanseenspecht on November 06, 2010, 08:43:43 PM
Ah, now I had one of these on long-term loan, and gave it back.  What to do is, figure out what the voltage regulators for the power supply are and that will give you a clue to the voltage.  You can work it back from there, so for example if it wants a 15V supply rail you want a 12V transformer, because 12*sqrt(2) = 12*1.4142 = 16.9V, giving enough headroom for the regulator to work.

once again: thanks a lot Gordon,
i followed your suggestions, found a new trafo, and it works again :)

i must say that i prefer my coron ds8 soundwise, not that i'm dissapointed,
but i imagine the small decay range will get me bored after a while
and i guess resonance control would have been nice
and cv control over the pitch would have been nice to
but for what it is; nice analog percussion machine :)
Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: Circuitbenders on November 08, 2010, 12:34:59 PM
On a related note i've just finished a TAMA Techstar TS305

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1709.0.html (http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1709.0.html)



Title: Re: simmons sds200
Post by: nochtanseenspecht on November 08, 2010, 01:11:16 PM
wicked