ID Labs

Latest Episode

What is ID Labs?

ID Labs is my little corner of tech geeking out. It started with a few vintage keyboards that I figured I could fix. Then I got more keyboards, then a drum pad, then more keyboards that I was fixing for someone else. Then I picked up a Farfisa organ of all things.

Over time though, I plan to settle in to a groove of both helpful how-to videos and my work restoring a few pieces of vintage gear. I also plan to build a few support pages here to hold things I have had to scour the internet to find. For sure I plan to post my adventures with the Alesis QS line of keyboards and my quest to write to a PCMCIA card, which I finally have succeeded in doing.

Keep an eye on this page as I hope to update it often and thanks for visiting!

Gear I’m currently working on restoring or refinishing:

Gear	Status
2 Yamaha DX7s	First one has been Recapped and still no sound. Midi out works, all the buttons and the cartridge work. Unsure what the issue is. Distorted sounds all around on second one. Not sure what the issue is, new firmware chip is on order.
M-Audio Keystation Pro 88	Loads of customization done so far. Faux leather wrap added to the top panel, sides and front panel spray painted silver, back panel ground to bare metal and new labels applied over the ports. New plastic screen cover is in, replacing the ugly, green one. Waiting on new slider caps.
Farfisa Mini Compact	Haven’t started this one. Plan to clean and re-tolex with bright colors and add a balanced output jack
Yamaha P95	Recapped the boards, still no sound. Not sure what the problem is yet.
Alesis QS 8.1	This one I’m keeping. I fixed 3 broken keys. Output is louder on the right side.
Casio CZ-101	New OLED screen is in place. Power port replaced, several cables inside have been replaced, but there’s noise in the output signal I need to sort out.
Fatar/Studiologic SL-161	This one is currently in the process of being custom painted.
Korg Kontrol 49	This one has a missing encoder knob and the joystick handle. Trying to find a replacement before I sell it.
Korg SP-250	I picked this up because it had some broken keys. Turns out I can’t even get it to turn on. Not sure yet what the issue is, but hopefully I can figure it out.