Nord Lead 2 stuck notes by sweating in concert

[vigliensoni]

Hi,

I've used my Nord Lead 2 since 1997. Lately I've had problems when gigging in *hot* venues. Sweat coming from my face enters the Nord, the keyboard's circuit boards gets wet, and some of the notes get stuck and others don't play. Horrible. After these gigs, I have to open the synth, dry it, and make sure that all keyw work properly again. However, I can't do this process during the concert, and so I'm getting frightened because I never know how the synth will behave.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Has anyone a similar problem?

Thanks,

G.

[WoutBlommers]

First of all don't hang with your head above the keys
Secondly use a sweat band around your forehead and change this every two songs, because you are probably a heavy sweater...

My doctor tells me to get ride of my overweight...
That's is a reason why I produce too much sweat.

Wout

[vigliensoni]

Funny but not useful...

Do you think guys of any kind of silicon/plastic layer in spray that I could use to cover the keyboard's circuit and avoid the short circuit due to humidity?

[mjbrands]

Wow, I'm surprised you never had any permanent damage. What circuit boards are getting wet exactly? The main one (with the output jacks), the interface board (with all the knobs and buttons) or the two circuit in the keybed? If it was the power supply getting wetting, you'd probably have blown a fuse (or worse).

You might be able to use a thin plastic foil (cling film?), but that would trap heat and might cause the main board to overheat, potentially leading to crashes/glitches and even component failure. I have no idea if silicone spray would work (it just might), but dust will stick to it and it'll create a mess over time. Again, no idea how well silicone spray would work, but I'd guess it would work better than covering the (main) board in some kind of foil.

Plastic foil might be an option for the interface board and the keybed. You might be able to prevent moisture from entering via the knobs by pulling the knob caps off and glueing small 1-2 mm think o-rings (plastic, metal) to the top panel, with the shafts of the pots sticking through the hole in them. If their diameter is similar to or smaller than that of the knobs, you wouldn't even be able to see them after you put the caps back. You could even fill the tiny opening between the ring and the cap with some silicone grease or something like that (might change the feel of the knobs a bit though). Of course, this won't stop moisture from coming in via the display or the knobs. 'Water-proofing' the display could be done by sticking some plastic film over the opening of for the display (if you do it on the inside of the top panel, you probably wouldn't be able to see it in normal use). I don't really have an idea for the knobs; you might need to do something with a thin plastic film. For the rubber contact switches on the keybed could probably do something similar as with the buttons).

Anyway, I don't think it is a good idea to try and make the Lead more resilient against moisture entering, but if not sweating on it is not an option this might be your only way to mitigate the issue.

[WoutBlommers]

Maybe cling film on the outside is an option? Create a kind of rack ears (using the screws at the sides and the back) to which the plastic can be attached about 15 cm above the synth. Make it sloping towards the back so the moisture can drip away there.

[pablomastodon]

Your sweat is mixing with whatever other dust, lint, cat hair, small change and guitar pix already inside there and mucking up the key contacts. It is not likely that the mainboard or power supply board are being affected or your symptoms would have been VASTLY more catastrophic.

Your least expensive option would be to refurb the keybed contacts -- completely disassemble all moving parts, clean individually, and reassemble. This can sometimes restore normal function, but results can be spotty depending on the history of the thing. Your most expensive option would be to replace the entire keybed assembly.

The middle option is to replace the contact PCBs with contact strips for fresh reliable switching circuits, but it will still be worthwhile to take apart ALL the keys and scrub them down in a bucket of soapy water with an old tooth brush.

Parts inquiries should be directed to distributor on a nation by nation basis. In Canada and the USA, that's me. If you'd like to discuss the operation in detail, just give me a shout.

Pablo Mastodon
pablo.mastodon@AmericanMusicandSound.com
Nord Technical Support USA/Canada
(800) 994-4984 x3030 USA
(800) 431-2609 x3030 Canada
(813) 644-8480 (direct line)

[Mr_-G-]

I do not think that you will find a reasonable solution to the problem, because using the instrument in a place where it can easily get wet is not its intended use conditions.
Electricity and water are not a good combination. Sweat, is probably worse because it contains electrolytes which should conduce electricity better than water alone.

I would avoid silicone spray. It might avoid making contact of water with the circuitry, but the problem might remain for the mechanical part of the key contacts.

What about bringing a towel? or a fan?, or more tongue in cheek: you could try one of these glove boxes, but it won't look pretty
http://www.laboratory-supply.net/gloveb ... ._2JPG.JPG