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The state of the TV repair business what it is, I have moved into music
equipment. These guys are like the hifi audio guys. And old tube amp from
1957 is gold. Even some solid state amps are at least silver. Powered
mixers, they bust a nut every time I fix one of those.

Now comes keyboards. Regular keyboards, fine. But then we have MIDI
controllers. These used to plug into the joystick jack on PC soundcards. Now
they are USB. That is not the question though, the question is - is there
standard software for a PC that would let me test all or most of these
controllers ?

If there is I should find an older version for free and stick it on my bench
PC. I don't know about everyone else but I think if I fix a keyboard I
should test all the keys. Right ?

Also, let's say an older one comes in with the old joystick plug. My bench
PC is a laptop and does not have the jack for that. Maybe I should get a
desk PC with an older soundcard ? And if I do, would that software maybe
come with the drivers for the card ? Hell I already dropped the laptop and
broke the screen. I brought in a monitor so I could use it but it is an old
CRT with a weak CRT so I have to get something better. It was here and it
was expendable but it is ****ty. Either way, this laptop has a virus, and it
is an "upgrade" from Vista to XP. Actually doesn't run all that bad. So I
already got a mouse on it and am consieering an external keyboard so I can
just slide the thing into a nook somewhere and save bench space.

A tower I could put on the floor but then plugging anythihng into it would
be a bitch. Maybe I could make an extender for that joystick jack. With USB
it is no problem, in fact I think I have a USB extension cord.

Anyway, comment : Now you see what time can do. I was just about the
preemininent authority on TV repair in the past. Seriously. And now I am
learning. I have to. I have to because I want more money.

Just like the old days. It's like time got reset.

I am getting used to this work though. People WILL spend some money on it,
when they would throw a TV on the curb if it farts wrong. It seems that
audio of some type is what I am going to do now. Whether audiophile, and
some of them are nuts, or musicians, and all of them are nuts, maybe I can
eek out a living until I can get my SS or croak.

I have figured out the usual. I need more bench space. I need to have a spot
where I can pull guitar amp chassis and leave the cabinet there. (that
resembles how the TV business used to be a LONG time ago)) I have a test
speaker that can pretty much handle anything, it has that warning on it
"WARNING, THIS SPEAKER CAN MELT YOUR BRAIN AND ANYTHING IN YOUR FRONT
POCKETS". Actually another thing might be a power soak. I know how to make
those, the one one I have at home consists of a taoster oven and a 150 ohm
resistor. I am good up to 1,600 watts I guess but the impedance might rise
as it gets hot. If an amp burns that up I AM INPRESSED. But for work I think
I'll just order some big Dales.

At any rate, the MIDI thing is one I know very little about, the interface
and all that. Other things I do at least have a clue but any pointers would
be nice. Do you test ampos at full power before shipping them ? I think it
is a good idea but I can't rsally do it right now. It is not common that
something ****s up at really high power but sounds fine lower, but it does
happen. I would like to at least be able to say I checked it.

Another thing is I intend to connect something other than a guitar to these
amps. A simple music source but wired up to the right cables. Maybe the PC
audio but padded down and wired to both ¼" and XLR plugs. I can get the
material for the PC audio. Hell, I even got sit tones dot wave. Not that I
would use it there, but I mean I got such diverse music it is ridiculous. I
also have something called cyberkeyboard which is an onscreen keyboard you
can play with the mouse or (PC) keyboard. Problem is there is no way to make
a pure sine or square wave out of it, but if say I wanted A - 440 or C - 512
I could probably depend on its accuracy.

Anyway, whoever works on all this stuff, what works for you ? tbhough the
MIDI question is the main one, any other ideas to make me more effective at
this, I appreciate.

Thanks in advance for whatever you got.





For testing MIDI gear you need:

A cheap USB MIDI in/out box.
MidiOx (free program that does everything)
An old sound module or keyboard.

This is all I have and need.

You will need to hear the results of the keyboard you are repairing, since a
lot of faults are due to the velocity sensing not working properly. MidiOx
will display all the data but will not tell you this data is not what it
should be.

Instead of the old sound module or keyboard, you could instead use a
software sequencer with a virtual instrument. I find a physical box much
easier, but then I had one. Never bothered to install any sequence
software/sounds on the PC, way too much stuff that you need to get working
properly. If you're fixing something you need to monitor it with something
you KNOW works, not something you have to work out why it isn't right now
but it was last week.



These days I also fix a lot of USB controllers that are not keyboards, i.e.
they are DJ control surfaces or DAW control surfaces. MidiOx is essential
here to test everything, and to display faulty sliders or datapots that
throw out spurious data randomly (the equivalent of a scratchy pot on a
guitar amp).




Gareth.