Our band is at wit’s end with a problem that has afflicted our keyboard player’s XS7 recently, and to a lesser extent my (bassist) XS6.

We’re a pop/rock/dance band that plays a lot of outdoor dates this time of year. We have used an XS7 and XS6 onstage for years without major problems (including outdoors), until this summer.

When outside, in a warm-to-hot and/or humid environment, all the D and G# keys of the XS7 quit sounding - dead. It also exhibits other strange behavior, like certain notes sustaining for no reason. The problems render it mostly unusable for part or all of a show. When the band plays inside, in a oool/air-conditioned/normal temp room, the problems go away - all the keys sound, no unusual sustaining or other strange behavior.

We had a local authorized service center look at it and they found some minor suspect connections/loose wires, which were repaired and the unit was cleaned up. The XS7 worked fine the first date afterward (inside), but had the same problems at the outdoor gig the next night. The keyboard was returned to the service center, but they could not duplicate the problem in their inside, air-conditioned environment.

This evening the keyboard was used again at an outdoor gig after performing flawlessly at an inside gig the night before. We were hopeful it wouldn’t have problems tonight, as the weather was not that hot or humid, pretty comfortable. Initially it worked fine, but as time went on, it started exhibiting the same problems - no Ds or G#s across the keyboard as well as other strange behavior.

My XS6 has problems at outdoor gigs as well, playing extra sounds/notes out of the blue on a couple of songs, but it doesn’t have near the problems the XS7 has, like losing certain notes across the keyboard.

Both keyboards have performed fine in hotter and more humid summers many years before, so this odd, and in the case of the XS7, crippling behavior has really caught us by surprise and left us wondering what is going on and what can be done. Both keyboards are stored in heavy-duty plywood cases in our equipment truck during the week, my XS6 has inner foam that exactly fits the keyboard, while the XS7 has some extra interior space on each end, allowing it to move around a bit. As far as we know, nothing has changed in our overall setup to cause these behaviors.

If I were to guess as to what the problem might be, perhaps there are come inner solder joints and/or connections in each keyboard related to the keyboard bed that due to years of moving abuse and extreme weather conditions at times (extreme cold and heat/humidity), are now problematic. Or the keyboard bed itself in both are starting to become defective.

I’m looking for ideas as to what this could be, if anyone has experienced problems like these in their years of using a Motif keyboard, and what the solution might be.

I’m hoping Phil (BadMister) will chime in with his thoughts and as to what direction we could go to get this fixed, especially the XS7. It is a major hassle, and we’ve resorted to renting an XS8 for the weekends, which performs flawlessly but is huge and expensive.

Sorry to go on so long, we’re desperate to find a solution and hopefully someone here can shed some light on what might be causing these problems, thanks!

What’s your power source? Are you using voltage regulators (NOT power conditioners) outdoors? Have you measured the actual voltage?

I always suspect the power first when digital equipment starts acting funny outside.

We initially considered power problems as the culprit. We use an older multi-rack Furman voltage regulator/power conditioner for all our sensitive electronic equipment, including the keyboards. Since we use a larger PA system outdoors vs. indoors (more speaker cabs/power amps used), obviously the power load outdoors is much heavier vs. indoors, which might cause problems, but it never did before this summer.

We have tried running the XS7 on a separate circuit - no help/difference. At one gig, when the XS7 exhibited the problems beforehand, we took it inside the separate trailer we used as a dressing room and powered it on - still had problems, mainly no D and G# across the keyboard.

It still could be a power problem we’re not aware of, like an unknown issue with the Furman unit, but both keyboards work fine indoors (under lesser power loads), and the fact that the XS7 started off ok at that recent gig in comfortable weather and then went haywire as the night wore on indicates to me it may be something else.

I am certainly not an electronics pro as some here are, but I do know that a circuit board with a hairline crack could work perfectly fine when in a moderate-temperature environment, and then expand just enough in a hot environment to separate a continuity path.

I would enlist the service technician to put the machine in a “hot” environment before troubleshooting to duplicate the suspect conditions...which, from your description, appears to be the triggering factor.

It shouldn’t be that difficult to set up a controlled “hot box” to achieve this.

Thanks cmayhle, good idea, will bring that up with the service center. Hopefully they can set up a “hot box” within their facility. If not, we’re supposed to have hot/humid weather here all week, and even if they set the keyboard outside their back door for several hours and were able to take it apart out there for a diagnosis (that’s assuming they have power out there for test instruments, etc.), that would help.

Worth a shot!

Possibly bad or cold solder joints.  I had problems with a Fender Rhodes Suitcase piano sitting in a finished basement here in the U.S. northeast with a varied temperature from winter to summer.  I ended up taking all the boards out of the amp and resoldering all the in/out connections.  Fixed all distortion problems!
There were also some bad solder joints on the preamp components(capacitors) which
needed to be desoldered after doing voltage checks.  A good tech with
a scope should be able to locate it easily.

o

Thanks robinvt, bad/cold solder joints would go along with what cmayhle suggested, hairline cracks in circuit boards affected by warm/cold temps. These keyboards have taken a lot of unintended abuse, with going from freezing cold/sweltering hot to room temp back and forth hundreds of times along with plenty of outdoor hot weather gigs, some that included rain, as well as extended storage in both temp extremes. Combine that with taking regular unintentional knocks in load/unload and transport, despite solid cases, and you have a recipe for potential problems down the road...and it appears here we are.

Good to know an experienced tech with a scope should be able to find and fix the problems, hopefully the local authorized service center is capable!

I have had a similar issue with mine notes would trigger and cut out on their own. The culprit was the contact strip in the keybed. Inexpensive as far as keyboard fixes go ......good luck I am pretty sure this may be your issue ;)