Welcome Aurora

Alex Bhinder at Plasma music has created a new power supply upgrade during UK Covid19 lock down, it’s marvelous!

Fed up with the hum coming from your transformer? Wrong AC line voltage and needing a converter? Concerned about the enormous amounts of heat generated?

Then you need this upgrade.

Chance Meeting

I met Alex when he purchased an MKS70 replacement display. Alex had quiet times during Covid19 lock down as he was unable to run his recording studio. I dared to suggest that he created a PSU for the MKS80 based on my MKS70 version. The MKS80 was on my never ending list of things to do. Many people had asked me to design one and I feared they would be disappointed.

Design

This project was not straightforward, especially around the mechanical aspects. The simplicity of the resultant design hides many of the physical difficulties of putting it together.

Careful attention was made to the layout around filters and power/return traces. Good component choices were made and extra money was spent in key areas.

For the MKS80, we decided on different power converters that have lower leakage and better efficiency (in practice) than the ones used in the MKS70. They were also generously overrated so that running “spot temperature” would be much lower, as it spread over a larger area. Results demonstrated that the extra cost was worth it.

Attention to detail is wonderful and it also has some new metalwork around the original transformer area to finish the job off perfectly.

It is important when designing electronics that reviews are sought, it was a pleasure to share my experience and review what was done in this design.

Original Roland Design

The original Roland layout is shown below, the key points here are:

• Transformer, fixed voltage depending on country of supply
• Large heat sink
• FR2 PCB prone to dry joints and fractures

More Information

ALex has written up a full explanation of the design and how it was done.

Details of how it goes in the MKS80 and the different stages of fitting.

Alex can be contacted here.

Copyright © 2020 Super Synth Projects, Guy Wilkinson. Copyright © 2020 Plasma Music Ltd., Alexander Bhinder.