Korg DW-6000 battery replacement recap

The battery of my Korg DW-6000 kept failing to hold enough charge to remember the patches. Instead of continually reloading the patches every time they were forgotten, I finally ponied up and cracked it open to replace the original battery that was soldered to the board. I followed along with this invaluable tutorial video to help me in the process.

Once I cracked it open... Discovering the insides

You have to remove a ton of screws from the underside of the synth's housing to pry it open and once you do, there are about 8-9 different multi-pin-connected wires that must be disconnected to fully open it up. Thankfully they're labeled with numbers. You also need to disconnect the power cable housing which is held in by two screws. When you get it open it's easy to see a specific board has the battery (it also houses nearly all of those 8-9 wires connections from the top to the bottom of the synth). Luckily I was able to remove every screw with the same size screwdriver.

My work table. I did use some flux while cleaning the pins after I ripped them out.

The factory soldering job for the battery was fairly beaded and once I soaked up most of the solder I noticed the pins were bent to the board. I removed the solder using only a solder wick, and had my iron at 350 degrees for that. It wasn't that straightforward as the wick would get stuck to the board and then I had to also like rub it on the solder to really soak up every little piece. I noticed there was a lot of solder still stuck into the pin holes after the surface of the board and the connection elements were fairly clean.

I was able to soak up most of the solder and then I straightened the pins with a razor blade. Still... the old battery was really in there, I'm guessing because of solder that I wasn't able to soak up with the wick that was inside of the pin holes. I didn't see any corrosion. In retrospect I could've probably added some solder as I tried to wiggle it free, but instead I just kept at it with the wick, and also heating up tiny little spots of solder and trying to loosen the original battery's pins.

You can see here the aftermath of ripping out the old battery

Eventually I was able to loosen up the pins by heating the old pins (I bumped up the heat to 400 degrees at one point) and then sort of wedging the battery back and forth like I was pulling teeth, and I was able to remove 2/3 easily. The last pin caused problems and I broke that pin off inside the hole, with only a little bit remaining in there from one side, though a sizeable piece off the top of the board. Luckily it was one of the spare positive (+) connections so it was irrelevant.  

I only needed two of three to connect the new battery. For good measure I used some pliers to pull the final third pin "scrap" up in an attempt to remove it. I made sure to heat up the solder that was stuck in the pin hole as I removed that scrap and it was successful. I kept holding up the board to a light to see if I could see through the pin holes, and I could for 1/3.

2/3 pins to connect the new battery wires

When I connected the new battery wires I applied some flux to the tip of the soldering iron and pressed it into the pin holes for 3-4 seconds, then pushed the wires in. They didn't go fully in at first, but only partly. Then I repeated this process again with some added solder from the other side and only then was I was able to push the wires (for the new battery) more fully into the pin holes, which was good. They more snugly went in and sort of melted into place perfectly. I secured them in there nicely and was happy they weren't just hanging by a thread, or anything.

The battery replacement manufacturer sent me the wrong velcro (two fuzzy sides, no rough side), but luckily I had some rough-sided velcro handy (from my pedal-train) and used that to stick the battery onto the surface of the interior of the synth. I used a damp paper towel to clean the inside before I applied the velcro.

From there I reconnected every single wire (I believe 8-9 of them) with the lid partially shut using a tiny flashlight I propped up. This part wasn't that easy because the synth's housing is made of thick metal so it really weighed down on my fingers and arms as I kept the thing partially propped open. Then I screwed in all the screws and... moment of truth. I plugged it in, reprogrammed the patches and boom, it works again. Magic, really. - Mike.

Btw the total cost was $15.99 for the soldering kit, and $8.95 for the replacement battery.

First impression: Ramones - Too tough to die CD (Remastered)

From the ages of about 15 until 23 I was full of useless information about rock bands. Whether it was band members, record labels (a thing of the past, really), music videos, producers, albums, obscure one-off EPs, I just retained the information.

As I approach middle age I've noticed I've forgotten a lot, but every once in a while I revisit music trivia as an interest. Back in 2016, I became obsessed with learning about The Ramones, based on clips of their documentary "End of the Century."

With the Ramones I was curious about their ability to tour for 20 years and essentially put their entire lives into what some would call a frivolous music pursuit. I had to figure out just how this was practical for the members. Turns out the whole project was funded by a man named Seymour Stein, and without him, they would've likely packed it in after a year or two, forced to earn a living like the rest of us. Yet, they were lucky enough to be "chosen" and alive during an age when the potential for easy piracy wasn't in the pockets of every consumer. Add in their propensity to play live non-stop and a popular T-shirt logo and you can put some of the financial-security pieces together.

As with most bands, there is usually a distinction between live and recorded sound. The Ramones as a live act are impressive. Their ability to rattle off song-after-song is akin to completion of a rigorous physical-fitness challenge. The sound of their studio recordings, however, is less than impressive. The early stuff is amateurish and filled with mistakes that wouldn't have made it anywhere near wax towards the tail-end of the signed-artists era, and the album with their only hit song, "I Wanna Be Sedated" comes across as sterile and lifeless. In terms of fun-fact trivia it's interesting to note "Sedated" became a hit four or five years after it was originally recorded and released. This supports my unrelated thesis on the music video as the best promotional tool for any music act.

It seems to me like The Ramones reached a pinnacle just before they were to record "End of the Century" and because of the fuddy-duddy production on that album, it was truly a "botch-job." The songwriting on "End of the Century" is quite good, but the production ruins any chance of recorded-sound success. Again, it's a textbook botch-job. "I Remember Rock'n'roll Radio" and "Rock'n'roll High School" are amazing songs, just watch or listen to a live performance of them. The studio versions are overproduced and contain wonky and inappropriate guitar and drum sounds. It's a disaster.

I've checked out Johnny's take on it all, and his ranked list of Ramones albums from his book, "Commando" is a helpful guide. I've also read Marky Ramone's autobiography "Punk Rock Blitzkreig" and absorbed his take on everything. Still, I've only been compelled to check out the CD quality of two of their albums: Subterranean Jungle and Too Tough to Die.

Subterranean Jungle is interesting to me because it is the last album with Marky before his past alcoholism caught up with him. It's sort of like a "breaking point" album, and I like the artwork on the front cover. The music found within is pretty good and one particular track really speaks to me, "In The Park" which seems like an obscure Ramones song. The drum sound on the album is less than ideal, but quirky in it's own way.

Too Tough To Die is doubly interesting because Tommy Ramone is listed as a producer along with Ed Stasium (who manned the boards for "I Wanna Be Sedated"), and with Marky out of the picture, we hear the first drum-playing of Richie Ramone. To top it all off, the album features Dee Dee as a performer and writer. Firing on all cylinders, Too Tough to Die is like a second, more powerful pinnacle of the band. The album itself is triumphant beyond its namesake.

 

After playing through Too Tough to Die a handful of times, I can say it's the best Ramones album I've heard so far, hands down. It makes a lot of their other recorded stuff sound half-baked in comparison. Dee Dee, who is an inventor of punk rock, performs blistering vocals on the album. The songwriting and production are great. There are no dull moments. The music is "full of life." The songwriting is great, and the production is great. It's that simple.

I was also struck by the recorded sound, which features a pleasant and warm compression within the mixes that I haven't heard pulled off nearly as well in other forms of music, but perfectly suits the distorted guitars of the Ramones. The compression itself is used artfully and enhances the listening experience. It sort of acts like a sedative to the loud and choatic arrangements, and provides a uniformity that perfectly straddles the line between chilled out and energetic. To top it all off, Joey goes all out on vocals and doesn't hold back. If you're going to buy a Ramones studio album, this is the one to spend money on. - Mike.