After cleaning up old computers I thought I would get my old synthesizer out of the loft and give it a bit of love. The Jen SX1000 is an Italian monosyth manufactured around 1978 which I paid £40 sometime in the late 80s just before analogue became in vouge again. It has a single oscillator, no memories and no midi but is sounds great and the simple layout makes it easy to understand and a great way of leaning subtractive synthesis.
I had not used the synth for some time and while it worked, the controls (potentiometer) crackled when turning them and some controls like the LFO speed didn’t work at all. So armed with a can of Servisol Super 10 contact cleaner I cleaned the potentiometers which after a bit of persistence cleaned nicely.
The controls are nice and clean and there is no noise or crackles when turning them, the LFO works correctly and everything on the synth is working well. I still have a broken top C key which is missing a spring which I am still trying to track down but after a good clean the machine looks and sounds great.
In this video go through the restoration process and then give a quick demo of the sound of the Jen SX1000.
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