Series 1, Hard-wired ---> Modular

[Benjamin Brodin]

Hi gang,

    It has become time to bite the bullet and do some serious work on my Neotek series 1 (12x8). Problems crop up over time, and during work can be avoided, but they have piled up and I need to make this desk easier to maintain. My console is hard-wired, which (as far as I know) was only done on the very early Neoteks. Working on ANYTHING requires disconnecting the console, tilting it up and removing the bottom; not convenient. I won't post pictures here (if anyone is curious I can email them), but basically there are 20 single (bare) wires running between all the channels and buses.
    Has anyone here undertaken such a task? I contacted Mike Stoica, but apparently they haven't done a conversion there, so can't really help. Info I'm looking for (and questions I'm curious about) include: size/brands of ribbon cable, connector types and sizes, building some type of mounting bracket/board inside for securing connectors (versus having the connector mounted on the channel), and basically any experience or opinions anyone has to offer (except of the 'don't do it' variety). I'll also be recapping the board and replacing faders, so no terrible rush.
    Thanks in advance! This group is a constant savior.

Regards,

Ben

[Cletus Baker]

Hi, Ben ...

You'll find that "the very early Neoteks" were intended as "road boards", as opposed to permanent fixtures in a studio. Essentially you could choose a hard wired board or one with pull-out channel strips. We chose the hard-wired version, even for our studio. The sole reason: reliability. Our tech got tired of snipping and re-soldering those buss wires, and found a ribbon cable answer, but it seemed to me that a) the THIN ribbon cable wiring he used was on the very edge of big enough to carry the voltages all the way down the line, and b) the need to clean edge connectors frequently was as much of a hassle as had been the very INfrequent need to dig into the buss-wired console in the first place.

It's six o' one, half a dozen o' tother. Ya takes yer pick. For myself, I now have my own studio with my own hardwired Neotek Series I. I thought I was going to have to do some MAJOR maintenance again (after about 15 years). I had had my tech replace the TLO's with Burr-Brown chips when he last recapped it, and I was down to having lost the full use of 19 channels of my 32 channel board. Two weekends ago I had the tech over and was ready to snip all of the buss wires. But lo and behold! Simply ejecting, cleaning, and reseating ALL of the B-B chips cleaned up all but two channels. And they didn't require anything that forced us to snip the busses, either.

So I'm sticking by my buss wires. Just one man's opinion.

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Clete Baker | cle...@bltd.com
Studio B, Ltd. | ph 402-455-3000
Omaha, Nebraska | fx 402-455-8269

[Benjamin Brodin]

Just and update for interested parties:

    Recapping has been a relative breeze, but getting (or building) a ribbon cable loom for the console seems to be nearly impossible. Molex won't do single custom orders, and while it is possible to find ribbon cable with the correct pitch, it is much more difficult finding the corresponding connectors. I'll post back when I find the solution, which I believe is out there somewhere! In other news, if anyone has an extra 2xVU meter (and driver board), I'd be happy to buy it. Cheers!