Month: January 2019

Changing the Battery on the Elektron Octatrack

January 22, 2019 — Leave a comment

I have been getting the “Battery Low” message on and off for a while now. I thought I would open it up and take a peek. Here is what you need to do if you are in this situation.

  • A screwdriver with a 2 mm hexagonal tip.
  • A Panasonic CR 2450 battery.

Both of these items are a bit uncommon so here is some more information. I happened to have the screwdriver as part of a Radio Shack Electronics Screwdriver set. The set has 20 interchangeable tips, including the one listed. The CR 2450 battery is something I had never seen previously. It is larger than most coin batteries and I would say it’s about an inch in diameter.

Once you have all these, it seems to be a simple matter. Pop out the old (I think I am going to pull it out with a pliers actually) and put in the new one. Haven’t done it yet but seems to be a 5 minute operation if all the materials are available.

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes if you change your battery.

Rare cartridges for Yamaha RX5 drum machine

January 13, 2019 — Leave a comment

Not too long ago I did a video on button repair for the Yamaha RX5. I happened to be browsing eBay and I saw a (very expensive) auction for an RX5. The auction includes two very rare cartridges that add TR 808 and TR 909 sounds to the RX5. They were produced by Metra Sound in Germany which also produced other Yamaha cartridges. There doesn’t seem to be any pictures of these cartridges available anywhere so here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Metra Sound Cartridges for Yamaha RX5
Metra Sound Cartridges for Yamaha RX5

They are bigger than the the usual cartridges and one of them here is taped together.

Quite a lot of money for sounds everyone can get for a few dollars on an iPad but the cartridges themselves are an interesting piece of music history. Enjoy the photos and drop me a line if you win this auction 🙂

Metra Sound of Cologne, Germany
Metra Sound of Cologne, Germany