YAMAHA RX11 vintage 1984 drum machine repair MF#57
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- Repair of an old 1984 Yamaha RX11 digital rhythm programmer drum machine with bad switch bounce problems due to years of grime and dirt.
I have to buy most items myself to make these video's so any help would be greatly appreciated "become a Patreon" / markusfuller
I bought an used RX11 this year and had the same problem with the bad pads/triggers. Luckily I quickly found your video which gave me the courage to repair this myself. And luckily repairing was only cleaning in this case. Thank you very much!
This is the sound of early erasure. Love it !. They used the RX at their first albums "Wonderland" , "The Circus" and on some later tracks. Pure 80`s.
+T. h.orsten im a big fan of erasure. seen them many times in concert and met them both. Circus album was brilliant.
+markusfuller Wow. You met Vince Clarke and Andy Bell ? As a synth nerd that is one of my greatest wishes in life. Especially meeting Vince in person. I grew up with erasure and depeche. Thats the soundtrack of my life.
Oh the biggest meet comes in October. JMJ himself will be meeting me or is it me meeting him. anyway cannot wait to finally say hello to him.
I have an RX7, it's loads of fun once you get the hang of it
The first 2 Erasure albums soley used the RX11. Very underated machine.
Same with a few Kino albums.
I wanted to thank you! I was able to repair my Rx11 with help from this Video. I did have to replace the battery and I had never desoldered or soldered on a circuit board before. I had to purchase some proper equipment to do it. I had bought it “In Good Working Order” from EBay. Alas it was not, the buttons/sliders were in bad shape. I cleaned them up as you demonstrated. After a factor reset it is as close to new as it can be and it works flawlessly now! Thanks Again!
I love drum machines. This was a great look inside one that I'd heard about, but never really looked at. Keep it up!
+Michael Smith Thanks Michael. I have a few old drum machines around the house, I wish I had Moby's collection though.
markusfuller I also wish I had Moby's collection, and the required space to put it all. One day, it would be interesting to have a drum machine rumble, where you'd take all of yours, and connect them in any way possible, to make the most odd/complicated/noisy patterns possible.
I have several around the house. I keep thinking I should get around to sampling them all before they die of old age. or before I do.
The former seems a better choice.
Awesome job restoring that vintage instrument. A very old keyboard I had actually had those very same sounds. It was made about the same time as this instrument. Thanks for showing this.
+ThomasGrillo I bought a RX11 and an SPX90 from calsboro sound back in the 80's rrp for each was £599 got both for £1000 cash.
+cresshead I just bought an rx11 and spx 90 for a grand total of 70$ :)
The buttons got autotrigger since it got wet :D
I have the RX15 and although it sounds a bit lame, I've found the drum samples useful in multiple occasions. And if they get some distortion you can get very nice crunchiness in the sound :)
you can put RAM1 Cartridges in the slot and store some patterns there. actually the same RAM1 Cartridges the DX7 and the DX1 use
thanks for the upload! :)
I have the same problem on an RX15. Appreciate the video!
hello thanks for your share
I would like to create custom rom waves for this drum machine
for information this ones utilises an unusual custom serial bus intended..
according to you,
what would be the substitute component and how can i program it ?
just bought one and your video is exacly what i needed cause my buttons are wacky too. excelent, thank you sir!
Thanks for this video. Helped me to get an RX11 I've just bought working again.
Mine also had a few faults that had developed over time so if one of these has been sitting for a while it's worth checking some menu settings. Initially, I had only two sounds and had to change the sound routing back to stereo, not multi out. Then lots of the pads were glitching, so a quick flick through the sound variations for those pads fixed that. After I found some memory problems stopped me creating new patches, I just did a full reset and the unit is now tip top 👌
Swich Cleaning was very helpful thank you!
I started working with an RX-15 in the 2nd half of 1984… and then about a year later the RX-11. Oddly enough, I was not the owner of either of these machines, they were purchased by other musicians I was working with. I was a competent drummer who read music and was making a transition to playing keyboards and synths… so I did the bulk of the drum machine programming.
The Yamaha RX machine offered "ground-breaking" value for the time in which they were released, but I NEVER really cared for the majority of the sampled sounds… in particular I thought the toms were horrendous. It was frustrating trying to use these machines to cover the drum parts of the top 40 oriented pop tunes we were doing. You only had 2 velocity levels (unaccented & accented) and fx processors were so expensive at the time that we couldn't afford to dedicate a hardware fx device just to the drum machine… so throwing a bit of the same reverb being applied to the vocals was the best we could do. All this to say… I don't look back on these machines fondly. i CAN understand interest in Linn, Oberheim DMX, Emu SP-12 & 1200, Akai MPCs (of course)… but not these Yamaha RX series.
It seems my BPM switch is not working, is there any reason for it?
These are much better than people give them credit for and when mixed properly sound decent, only thing it really lacks is the ability to pitch your sounds up or down. The sequencer has some interesting functions and is easy to use
Yamaha's first digital drum machine, along with its little brother the RX15. Also their first programmable one. I like the kicks, snares and toms, but I'm not so keen on the hi-hats and cymbals. I had to replace three of the mechanical buttons on mine, and spares are available from the Syntaur website. You can also get newly made cartridges with four banks on them from a seller on eBay who reverse engineered the original ones.
Nice to see your video. I bought the RX 11 when it was new, payed 640 £ for it.
A huge amount of money then, but of course my songs would be so much better with it. ;)
+Nimrodsmovies I keep seeing new products at the music shop thinking I could sound so great if I kept spending money and my music would be brilliant, It never works but I have so much fun just playing with music that it does not matter anymore.
Pulled a solder in CR2032 from an Akai ME30PII MIDI patch bay the other day. Original early 80’s battery and still measured 0.238 VDC. Had my wife touch it and we went back to the future.
The cartridge slot takes a DX ram cart for sequencing - the internal memory is easy to fill. If you ever want to sell it let me know.
Also this has PSK tape sync co will lock nicely to any DAW over MIDI - BUT it won't let you record in external sync!
Also noteworthy is that it's swing is done off 1/24 midi clock, hence only 54,58,63 etc on the swing %
I wish they were smaller! B ut nice build quality.
Great video. I like all the slow zooms, subtle.
+James Porch Thanks James for the added knowledge. what I like about making youtube video's is someone always has a bit more knowledge to add to the comments. yes the build quality is good for a 1984 product, some modern day manufacturers could learn a thing by revisiting the past. If I sell it I will let you know. Nice to see you in GAK-audio the other day. :-)
Thanks for the great video. I just got one of these and used this as a guide to help me open the unit and fix the switch bounce mine had. I gave you a shoutout in my video of it and posted a link to this video in the description.
NLind Thank You very much :-)
I came here precisely from that link
How do you take off the buttons from the circuit board? I don’t want to accidentally break my unit 😂
the data entry slider is mainly use to adjust some parameters like individual volumes ; you press the "inst level" button, then the snare for example, and the "data entry" slider become the volume of the snare ; not really convenient but well it works ; I have the RX15 wich is the same as the RX11 except it has no separate outputs so this data entry slider is really important to me :) great video :) cheers !
I used to have a RX11 when they came out in 80's the cartridge slot was to extend the amount of pattern and song memory, similar to the DX7...might have been the same cartridge actually...love some of the snares in that ..there's saggy one and one tha perfect for marching like rolls...I sold that for an RX5 which i have along with a korg DDD1 both of which work well to this day!
RX drum machines ... the sound of New Orders Brotherhood album ... check it out !
thanks for the cleaning tip, i just got one of these myself, and was having the same issue hopefully that'll fix it
Greetings interested in fixing and cleaning older drum machines and samplers. I know some electronics and made minor fixes but am hindered by soldering issues and knowledge about certain chips. I have an RX 11. Everything seems to work but one sound does not sound though button or midi control. Ive tested the multi outputs and stereo but no luck. Kindly what would you suggest? Thanks
Thanks Markus - great video! Very interesting to see the switch cleaning method, very cool!
+mCKENIC Thank You :-)
I just received a Yamaha RX5 from Japan... A few keys do no work correctly. I hope that I can get this machine working again with the helpful cleaning tips you provided in your video. Thanks!
The RX5 is very nice. I used to have one, MINT. I regret now I gave it away. I mean, I prefer Roland R-8 that I have now, but I think the RX5 is was higher-end, it was considerably more expensive than the R-8 when it came out.
Another great video from the named master of RUclips electronic instrument noodling. Fantastic video Marks. Thank you.
+StickAroundBennett Thank You :-)
"That is just a horrible song" hahaha indeed! Nice job, Markus :)
+zolhof still laughing at that lol.
+zolhof Add loads of distortion and it's the next hardcore-banger.. ;)
Two years and I am still laughing at that. That deadpan voice and the hands at the sides... "That is just a horrible song". Ha ha ha ha, Markus...
The rx15 has the holes for individual outputs but no board. Would be cool to figure out how to get individual outputs for the 15
So, the pad buttons are just pressed on? I just got a used RX7 with 3 stuck buttons and a soldered in CR2032 that needs replacing... I was hoping to learn how to disconnect the DM circuit board horizontal connectors. Thanks for the video and advice on the cleaning!
A great delve into a venerable ermmm, well, maybe not a classic but a bit of history. Imagine all the pop songs made with this and a DX7....but we still kept an interest in music !
Is that Eprom bottom left of the board exposed ? just thinking it should have a piece of dark tape over the window if it is, for the next battery change in strong sunlight.
+slider2732 Hi Slider, yes the Eprom has a label over the window. It does sound old indeed but I guess there wear a few songs in the past made with these, I guess it could sound better with plenty of after effects.
Your the best ! I could not let myself just pull the buttons lol ! Thank you
i got an rx 15 last year, and it has that same "bouncing" button problem, and now I know why. niiiiice. perhaps i should get adventurous and clean it up like demonstrated here... but at the same time that takes time and effort, and i'm lazy. ....
I too am too lazy to do many jobs but if you want it working then its very satisfying if you complete the task yourself.
I used the RX-11 for a few years. I swear...it is the most plain vanilla sounding drum machine ever made. I remember trying (unsuccessfully) to create dance tracks with the thing...it just didn't have the vibe.
Brilliant help Markus, when I got my RX11 with exact same problems. It's been working great, but tonight its on my lap & a real hotspot underneath below the start stop buttons. Be grateful for any suggestions what's going on there?
Hello. just under the start button is where there are a couple of voltage regulators and they are screwed down to the base to help with heat dissipation. however they should get warm but not too hot, those power regulators have a thermal shutdown built within so the whole unit should suddenly stop working if the component gets seriously hot but that area can get warm as it is designed that way as a heatsink for the power regulators, they can be easily changed with a soldering iron as they are not on the main circuit board but have 3 wires going to them which makes replacing them easier but even changing them over you may find the new ones get just as hot. however under normal working conditions they can get quite warm and you may only be noticing it as it is on your lap, normally you will not notice it as it would be on a stand or desktop.
@@markusfuller Thanks so much. Built before anyone even thought of laptops. No vents or fans, just solid metal. got quite uncomfortably hot but didn't shutdown. Presume, like you say, it's normal operation but I rarely use it that way.
@@organicearthful mate I just got mine today and started getting paranoid about it, I was just looking for a comment here mentioning this lol. Any issues with that, after 3 years?
Mr. Markus your accent is boss! i always say this in your vids but it is...
What I like most about your vids is that we see the guts/insides at the same time as you do and experience things at the same time as you. then we get to see you tear into it and bring frankenstein back to life. look forward to the next vid!
You should periscope one day (i think it requires a twitter account). do you have a twitter and/or instagram mr. Markus?
These were quite popular with "one man band wedding musicians" - people who play alone at weddings and anniversaries. You could programme the rhytm for a number of songs and once the start button had been pressed the drum machine worked on its own and did variations, fill-ins, and all that automatically so you only had to do the organ or keyboard playing. I don't like them because they work totally autonomously and don't care if you can keep up with it - in other words: If you miss a beat the whole song will be chaos untill you catch up! I prefer the ones you control on the fly.
Yes this one is under my desk and may never get used again.
Was the volume slider just dirty? I have the exact same problem with my SY22 and figured the fader was worn out and needed replacement. If I can get away with just cleaning it, that'd be great!
I love drum machines just for the nostalgia element...would not use them today...I know some still do
Hi Markus, I was wondering if you could fix my RX7 I love this machine it can do the same thing the new ones are doing. My machine is second hand and its not saving what I write and the buttons are not responding to thier job. Also the voices get distorted and make a weird noise. Please help me fix it. Can I send it to you?
looks different from mine... inside! At least for buttons. I got rx7 and button mechanism is completely different. I like that you told something about those chips.
+mdjey2 I have an RX5 same idea but separate outs.
Not exactly. In RX5 you can edit your sounds (pitch, env, adr, loop..). Quite serious compared to 11.
Excellent video, Thank you , I will be cleaning mine soon.
Would Deoxit work to clean the stuttering switches/drum pads?
Always enjoyable. Keep 'em coming!
I saw on mine long component with abbreviation on board RM. What is that for
Do you think that one could load custom sound chips?
The first thing to do when you pick up a new piece of equipment - is to download the manual. The most of your questions are answered then
Indeed, the manual answers some of the questions raised in this video. Extracts below, thanks to Wayback Machine (archive.org). goo.gl/FdyRXs
Congratulations on your purchase of a Yamaha RX11 Digital Rhythm
Programmer!
Your RX11 represents the crystallization of the most sophisticated electronic music technology, combining advanced microcomputer control with a top-quality digital PCM sound storage and reproduction system. With the RX11 you will be able to program virtually any type of rhythm pattern you required for your music, and since the instrument sounds are digitally recorded, they are indistinguishable from live percussion instruments.
To ensure that the RX11 will give you maximum performance and versatility, we urge you to read this operation manual carefully before
attempting to operate the unit...
CARTRIDGE OPERATIONS
As a convenient alternative to cassette tape storage, the RX11 permits storage of pattern and song data on special Yamaha data cartiridges-the same RAM-1 cartridges used to store Yamaha DX1 and DX7 Programmable Digital Algorithm Synthesizer voices. Cartridge operations include saving or loading all patterns and songs, and saving or loading single patterns.
All cartridge functions are accessed from the cartridge control mode, which is activated by pressing the CARTRIDGE button while holding the FUNCTION button.
DATA ENTRY TRANSMISSION
The position of the Data Entry control can be transmitted to other MIDI equipment permitting remote control of some function of the receiving equipment. The data transmitted is MIDI channel information other event data.
Can an expert recommend an alternative to glass fuses?
CR2032 dead after all this time? Well, both my DX7 and RX11, purchased in 1985, still have their original batteries :-) The cartridge slot is for RAM cartridges (the same as DX7), allowing more patterns and songs.These drum machines are very cheap nowadays. Sure they sound cheesy by now, but still useful with the separate outputs and as the MIDI which allows triggering external sounds.
Nice one! Provided you didn't pay too much for it, I think you've done well!
+fkthewhat This was a bargain for what I got it for.
Hello, great video!
I have 2 RX11, one has a grey screen the other has a blue screen, do you know if there are different revisions?
@@LB-pp7pu Hi I have only seen the grey screen version but just had a look at google and some do look blue though i do not know why. sorry i have no answer for you.
@@markusfuller Ok, thanks!
Know anything about repairing a Akai MPC 2000xl?
Great video! I've got the RX15 and the right ouput doesn't work either with the phone output or the L/R out. What could be the problem?
you might need to clean the inside of those jacks, use a cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol and just swab it around in there
Data entry does what it says on the tin - levels. tempo etc.
Debateable that this will ever be truly valuable in that it's full on digital - no VCAs or filtering to add 'magic'. Samples sound very similiar. The DAC is warm though!
+James Porch I don't think it would ever be valuable but it does have that simple 80s pop sound to it and with enough after effects maybe I could get something interesting from it.
Any ideas on how to change the battery without losing all internal data? My machine says change battery and won’t let me do anything (like send Sysex) the buttons don’t do anything while the change battery is in the screen. This I don’t know how to save the data before removing old battery.
this is what the rom cards and the cassette backup is for
How do change the back up battery for this and RX 21 same battery ???
Thank you for cleaning with isopropyl alcohol tip, probably I will need this. :)
+Emir Ercan Ayar Thank You Emir. after cleaning the switches should give no problems for years. I would not suggest switch cleaner as they sometimes contain a lubricant and dust sticks to that. Best wishes from Markus
All I can say is...you know some good car boot sales!
hi, do u know (or anybody here) how could i "knock out" the sounds on this rx11? because i remember that approx 20 years ago(yeah:D) i could do something illegal power on switching , and after this the rx11 gave me different interresting sounds:) wasnt distorted, it was clean, but it sounded like a filtered , modified sounds i made some drummusic whit this newly created voices, i can send you i recorded it to tape...so my question is wheter you met this phenomenon?
Csaba Borbely Hi I do not know about this secondary sound, but I will have a play with the rx11 and if I find out i will let you know.
if i well remeber now, these altered sounds comes out if you switch the power on "slow". it means that the power button you "have to" tilt slow to on state, and you have to hear a "zzzz" from the unit for a moment(of course because of the insufficient contact in the power button switch house), im not saying try it, and i also dont want to try it again because its a really old hardware i dont want K.O.:) but that is the fact (if i well remember) that it gave altered sound until you re-poweered the unit normal way...i try to find the tape i recorded a drummusic on it...but my sony decks both gone wrong because of belts i mean (last time it was used 2 years ago lol)
this video realy helps me out! I have the same switch problem on one of my american audio radius1000 cd players. The play button does not work right, i have the push realy hard on it. I hope its the same problem with the switch as in this video!
+Dennis de vries Hello Dennis, It could be the same problem , I hope you have a go and get it fixed, Best wishes from Markus
+markusfuller many thanks. the button works mucht better now!
Brilliant. Im pleased it worked for you Dennis. Best wishes from Markus
Nice work ;-)
Thank for the cleaning contact method
:-P
Do you sell anything that you repair . Where do you sell them
Did you clean the volume slider and has it helped the control?
yes I cleaned the volume slider and it did help the control. though I sold the unit a few years ago I hope it still works well.
I just bought one of these. When i turned it on it started humming really loud, half a minute later it turned off and started smelling in the back. can you tell me what happened? its really disappointing
thanks
It's fucked. That will be $45 labor charge.
I've got an RX15 and sometimes when I boot it up the screen is all black, any diagnostics on that?
+Landon Balk Hi Im not sure why that is starting up all black do you mean all the LCD pixels are just showing black ?. if so it may be due to a problem with the display intensity setting though that is in a menu setting and you need to see the display to be able to get to the menu to adjust the display. Thats an awkward problem I do not have a how-to-fix answer to that one. There must be an answer on the www somewhere. My apologies from Markus
+markusfuller Yeah, the LCD pixels are all black, and it looks like the contrast is set to max, but it only happens a percentage of the time when I turn the machine on. I have taken it apart and even installed a new LCD screen, but the problem persists. Thanks for the response though, guess I'll keep doing some more research.
Hi Landon. To be honest I am not sure what it going on there and do not have the answer for you. I hope you get it fixed, Keep trying. Best wishes from Markus.
hi markus. congrats for your excellent video!, do u know how to solve no-sound issue from right channel,?? just i can hear ihe left output...thanks!!
+Miguel Rviz Hello Miguel. sounds like there may be a problem with either the right preamp or it could just be a problem with the actual jack socket , sometimes over time the jack sockets can loosen a little and dry joints can occur between the jack and the circuit board track so resoldering it can often repair this fault. however have you tried a full factory reset of the unit incase the pan/balance has been set wrongly ?.
No ..i reset it..i also checked pan settings..i ll check solderings as you suggests!! Maaany thanxx!
I hope its something simple to fix and you get it working again. Best of luck.
"Select pattens" sounds like something a medieval shoe salesman would have said.
That is worth something now!
This machine have the bell of the devil himself. Only cons is that the machine heat quite fast..so need to be careful when using. I think I will put it in some laptop stand to let it breath.
Got any issues with it eventually? Mine heats up in the bottom right corner
It's a classic but that one has seen better days. I'd sample those glitches and make some cool, totally original music.
It seems strange seeing drum machines with no knobs on them.
+friendofCHAKA Yes Its a shame really but I guess if I used a midi controller then possible I could get something useful from it ?.
how many drum machines have you found in your car boot
I think I have about 5 here but in total over the years i have had dozens of them and sold or swopped many of them.
Mine still works after 38 years
I foudn this video very useful! And thank you so much for this. I dismounted one of this drum machine years ago, and I took off the plastic barrier for the cartridges... don't know why! And now I don't know how to fix it. Can you help? Thank you, sorry for my horrible english!
Catholic Neurologist Hello. you should be able to just open it up and put the cartridge barrier back on than just attach the spring and it should be ok again.
Thank you, again! I'll try!
i want to do this so bad but im afraid of messing something up!
Just brought it down from the attic 12/03/2016
hey mark please Do a Tear Down of the Casio Xw-P1 and Xw-G1 !!
Hi I can only terdown what I buy so if I get my hands on one then I will open it up for you. Many thsnka from Markus
Another great video
THANK YOU For The INFO...
Good work
+Roland Gerard Thank You Roland
i had one of these for a few months. iam too lazy for it
Nice video! Gr D
+DannyKey Thanks Danny
Had one. The lack of tune-ability made it useless for me.
+James Reeno I have seen a little about modding these RX11's but i'm not sure if its worth the work to do it.
wow! i remember having a whole lot of "No" fun with mine, i don't even know why i bought it?
father
Что ты показываешь...Покажи возможности...Что там внутри-это никого не интересует...
Ты идиот или как? Прежде чем писать посмотри чему этот канал посвещен.
My RX11 needs to be factory reset constantly due to the LCD cursor getting stuck before the values. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
well, the only way you can really “reset” it is it remove the cr2032 ram battery, which requires soldering… and that will reset it, but if you want to save patterns of your own you will need a new battery or solder it back in