MATRIXSYNTH: Sequential Circuits Prophet VS with Flourescent Display


Thursday, April 26, 2007

Sequential Circuits Prophet VS with Flourescent Display

Remember the Sequential Circuits Studio 440 with Vacuum Florescent Display? Here's another by Mark. Title link takes you to more shots.

"Here's my Prophet VS keyboard, which I have just retrofitted with a
vacuum fluorescent display by Noritake. Because the VFD is thicker
than the stock LCD by almost 3/8", the lengths of all the standoffs
between the front panel, the front panel PCB, and the switch PCBs
have to be increased. The pots and LED display have to be stood off
as well. Other important details: a blue filter for the VFD, a
neutral density filter for the alpha numeric LED display, double
stick tape to secure the filters, extra long pins to connect the
switch PCBs at their new mounting height. The most time consuming
part was selecting and ordering all these parts, installation was
done in a couple of evenings.

I'm not generally a fan of putting blue LEDs in old synths, but the
Prophet VS did come from the factory with a blue backlit LCD, and has
blue front panel graphics, so what the heck. The trick to installing
blue LEDs is choosing the right resistor value. If you just do the
math and install the recommended value, they can be almost blindingly
bright. Right now they are at a very comfortable brightness, though
I may change the resistors one more time to match the LED brightness
a little more closely to the VFD.

I hope you like it!"

Indeed. Wow!

5 comments:

  1. nice job for a great synth :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just what I want - another Dave Smith product with obnoxious blue LEDs blinding me while I play it. Thanks, but I already have an MEK, I'll pass on blue LEDs in my VS.

    ReplyDelete
  3. harsh comment retrosynth.

    I think the display looks great.

    Mark, can you pleae tell me which model no. of noritake display is required?

    Thanks!

    Donnacha.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Noritake part number CU16025ECPB-W2J-N02.

    This works in both the Prophet VS and the Studio 440.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I hope this is not the same Retrosynth on Youtube. I cannot listen to one of his videos. They are pure rubbish. No instrument is ever demo'd properly and 99% of the synths are not depicted as they should be. I can't stand those videos!! A bunch of sci-fi garbage that sound the same in every freakin video. Pure trash.

    The VS looks beautiful. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

To reduce spam, comments for posts older than one week are not displayed until approved, usually same day. Do not insult people. For items for sale, do not ask if it is still available. Check the auction link and search for the item. Auctions are from various sellers and expire over time. Posts remain for the pics and historical purposes. This site is meant to be a daily snapshot of some of what was out there in the world of synths.

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