How to fix a MIDI keyboard with a pencil.

[@DJPain1]

I fixed three keys on my Nektar 61 key TODAY using this video. Thank you-- you saved me a couple hundred dollars.

[@lrennayl]

Thank you so much, I used to have a piano that had about 5 working keys and was able to completely repair it

[@TimD900]

Thank you, Mike! This helped me fix an Acorn Masterkey 61 today. I used Dixon Ticonderoga #2 soft pencil graphite. Ten years later and your video is still helping people!

[@andrewelk23]

Pulled out an old Edirol PCR-M80 after a number of years of sitting and had a few dead keys. This tutorial brought it right back to the land of the living. Thanks!

[@nogoatsforyou9720]

What a classic. I had issues with my own Edirol pcr-m30 with many non-working keys. Not through overuse, mind you - it had about 5 hours total playing on it... Was just not happy to sit idle for 4 years, I guess. I cracked the cover, and just gave one of the contacts a straight up clean (even though they looked pristine under that rubber boot thing). After a simple wipe, they started working again. I'm going to get some contact cleaner and give it a once-over and it should be good as new. Thanks for the vid - I won't be using a pencil, but because of your video, and the comments, I found what I needed. You have my thanks! :)

[@markuslebt]

i was working for a clearing company. my boss took an electric keyboard/synthesizer and stuck it into the trash container. i immediately pulled it out. took it home. cleaned it. it works with 100% integrity.. now its in my music corner waiting for the muse to kiss me... in our society 80% of the stuff we throw away only takes a little bit of time, knowledge, oil and spit to fix.. we daily throw away things that kings in former time could only dream of... great video..

[@MidnightVisions]

The problem with doing it this way is if the graphite loosens over time, and spreads and comes into contact with a power and ground connection, instant POOF! You can buy a product called rubber contact repair at most electronics shops. Another method of repair is to use a silver emergency blanket and cut out a circle the same size as the circuit board contact, and glue that to the rubber contact so the silver side comes into contact with the circuit board, that also works very well.

[@Max16032]

It's still a great solution with zero spending. IMO using the pencil trick is only problematic when the contact circuits are very worn-down (i.e. decade old, or abused daily).

[@albertsparrow9485]

Thank you for creating the video so many years ago comes in handy when I've got, edirol PRC-50 for $20 bucks it has a spilled drink problem and I have to clean up all the contact pads, your video gave me a good idea of what I'm in for thank you 😇

[@bilino987]

Hello everyone, I wanted to say thank you to the creator of the clip. I saw and got the courage to try on the keyboard acron masterkey 61. You have no idea how happy I was that suddenly a problem was solved that bothered me for so many years and all this within 30 minutes of work. Thank you !!!

[@riggstv1]

legend.... saved me a few bucks, was looking to buy another midi until i watched this video(i also have a endirol midi) cheers man

[@uncurledbeast4]

Repaired my liquid damaged NI S25 after watching this video I thought it was permanently damaged. Most of the keys stopped working and now it's like new again! I didn't have to remove the keys everything is easily accessible with the keyboard upside down after removing the bottom panel and pad PCB. Thanks for the info and useful video

[@LipHop22]

My M-Audio Code 49 was full of dirt inside and I couldn't use 6 keys for over a year. Thanks for helping. All the best!

[@NERGYStudios]

You honestly don't know how much anguish and pain your video eased! Thank you!

[@trevorgissing1208]

Great video. Worked a treat. Was just about to biff the old Edirol into the trash, but a bit of work and......BOOM, she has a new lease of life. Thanks for posting.

[@captaincook9611]

Could guess what the video was going to show from the title because I have been doing this for a while. Great to see you discovered this as well and made a nice video illustrating the process! I have concerns about how long the repair-job is going to hold. It will be nice to find a conductive paint that lasts for a ling time.

[@TheKurtster]

Great video! Thanks for posting. I tried this on my PCR-M1. The contacts look different than this one but the style of the rubber piece on top is identical. All the buttons worked perfectly before I put it back together but when the keys are on a few still don't make contact. I'd love to find a more robust way that ensures contact.

[@KudosCultureCartel]

you legend it worked perfectly. samson graphite 25 if anyone here is wondering if it works for theirs

[@benderbi]

Man, you say this is tedious having just 25 keys. I have 61, at least they're not 88 but they're a lot anyways!

[@Tabula.rasa.abracadavra]

i have an 88..... 😢

[@nonametrackz7887]

I have a Alesis V49 One of my Notes weren't working , so I decide to follow along with your video . After Opening it looked almost exactly like your Midi Does ,Did everything you did now all the notes works ! thanks alot almost through out the midi .

[@zackscruggs4543]

I own the M-Audio Axiom 61 and I have to say I followed your tutorial dead on. It fixed my keyboard. Thank you so much! man. I bought it used for cheap so I expected something to be wrong with it. I found wads of hair under the keys. It was disgusting.

[@DineroMunroe]

I got mine for $400 when it first came out, I need to put it in the shop, because I thought it was DONE. its just in my room catching dust

[@MichaelMuller13]

Thanks for the instructions! The pencil didn't work very well for me, but a Circuit Scribe conductive ink pen did the trick. There was originally only one key working on mine, now they all work!

[@SISKworks]

+Michael Muller Nice! Yeah over time some of the keys that I fixed are now starting to fail again. Thanks for the Circuit Scribe tip. I will definitly look into that.

[@SISKworks]

+Darko Dronjić well to be completely honest it did not hold up very well. It worked good for probably a few months but some keys have stopped again. I would suggest trying to find a product that is actually meant for fixing these type of keys/buttons.

[@sngtimeout]

Rakia solves all the problems here in the Balkans, so did this one...NAZDRAVJE! ;)

[@AndrewSemko]

awesome! just fixed my old keystep midi keyboard! 🤟

[@liumander]

Just had the same problem in the same keyboard. I'm fixing it now. Thank you very much!

[@ZipSnipe]

This is a great cheap way to do the repair BUT if you spend about $20 and buy silver circuit pen and then clean the circuit board and the rubber pads with the pencil eraser first and then clean with denatured alcohol . Then on just the rubber pad part you put the silver circuit pen and do like a stipling effect on the rubber pads. The reason manufacturers use graphite is its cheap but silver is a great electrical contact and the silver circuits pens I have discovered are the way to go they last a lot longer. It is very tedious though.

[@fabriceDziezuk]

I agree with the vodka solution of @AlnairLindalwe! But I would use isopropyl alcool instead. It worked like a charm for my casio/yamaha toy keyboards. Don't use graphite over grease and goo that is on your contacts... Just clean them ! I also have a sticky PCR-A30 I need to clean...

[@fabriceDziezuk]

fabrice Dziezuk So... I cleaned all the contacts of my PCR-A30 with isopropyl alcool and... It does not work any better... I have to try your pencil trick. It's strange this method worked for my previous toy keyboards and not this one. I suspect a misconception...

[@bigmanlizard7326]

good shit found one of these on ebay for $10 listed as for repairs did this.. it works fine $10 keyboard dont mind if i do

[@rafaelcapetilloGTO]

thank You so much!!! I have a lot of time that I can't belive it that works fine but now I'm triying and is perfect!!

[@magnusfiskvik509]

Thanks a lot. Managed to fix mine as well. Will switch to a smaller keyboard next time though as I have the PCR-80m ;)

[@captaincook9611]

You don't necessarily have to paint the "surface contacts"; often the contact points of the rubber also wear out and some graphite there can work very well!

[@nth7485]

This is all fine and dandy as a TEMPORARY fix. Sooner or later the graphite will wear off... It would be nice with a long term fix. Anyway, good video thx.

[@Ogulcan.Yildirim]

Thank you so much Mike. Now my midi keyboard works like a new one. Cheers! :)

[@front2427]

I found one of these down the amenity tip today and rescued it

[@Pan6888]

Nice one is there a certain type of pencil that you have to use or just any kind of pencils ?

[@Pogomix]

If the keys trigger notes via contacts, how do they transmit the MIDI velocity? Maybe I just need to go to bed already.

[@SISKworks]

I'm not totally sure. But I think it might have something to do with the two sets of contacts per key. Maybe it can measure the difference between contact closure and translate that to velocity.

[@xbase190]

Mike Sisk I guess it'S the two receptrors. there are 2 spots. the second spot get touched by the key after the first one. The harder (faster) you push the key, the shorter the delay between the 2 contacts.

[@Pogomix]

Xavier Beaupré Ah, ingenious!

[@keyofbrink810]

It worked for my keyboard! Thanks for sharing!

[@musicmachinelab6561]

Great video. Problem is, the graphite doesn't hold up over time. Wish it did. After about a year or so, you're back to the same problem. A bad design by Edirol unfortunately.

[@vaclavmuller]

Glue a piece of aluminum foil on rubber parts.

[@woodswalker88]

Wow!! I would have thought "DeOxit" spray would be the thing to use. I have a Keystep with ONE key losing its velocity. It's the most important key of all... Middle C.

[@Anshul1614]

I got a used Axiom pro 61 with unresponsive pads. Only 1 pad works and the others are completely dead. I opened it up and saw no oxidation, but just a little tear on the strip that connects to the circuit board. Is there a fix?

[@lipstickspeedball]

TOO FUNNY. I would have never thought to draw on it instead of cleaning it with a Q-Tip. LOL Too Funny Thank You for that. I never would have thought.!!!

[@lipstickspeedball]

And I am in that very Process right now. I'll let you know the Out come later.

[@duc3r_prod]

just one of my 7 keys didnt get to work, dont really shore why that one is beeing stuborn, any ideias mate?

[@andreaschristodoulou4274]

Very good, but do you reckon a soft tip pencil rather than a hard one its better or any pencil will do ???

[@RememberToLove]

hello, I have two Casio keyboards wk-1800 & wk 1630. Both have the same issue, 8 keys in the upper register only play once. They only play if the touch sensitivity is turned off, but they only play once and then will not play again until the keyboard is turned off & on. On the screen, it shows that they these notes are still being played/ sustained, that is why you can not play them again. I have already opened up the keyboard, vacuumed up all dust & debris in and around keys & wiped down the circuit board. I have also tried switching the pads from other working keys to see if the pads need to be replaced, but unfortunately the problem still exists. I haven't been able to find someone who can fix the keyboard on the island where I live. If you can give me any direction toward fixing the problem, I would most appreciate it. thanks & kind regards. ps. I tried the graphite with a pencil, but it didn't work.

[@jitendratiwari4339]

Thanks dude 😍

[@sorry11303]

Wow 1 dislike that's really funny it works good video man thank you it helped me out a lot

[@SISKworks]

Jeffery Johnson Glad it worked for you :-)

[@nth7485]

I have this same issue on a PCR-50, but for all keys. Using a lead pencil doesn't seem like a long term solution. What would be a long lasting solution?

[@kayin30]

Any thing to do if the this solution only fixes some of the keys?

[@officallyjak]

OMG YOU LIFE SAVER, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@johnschreiber5424]

Wow, I've heard of using a pencil eraser but not the graphite! How's it holding up?

[@Yahootie]

It worked for me. Thank you very much!

[@binal5542]

Thank you so much

[@roryhensen]

very helpful video! thank you!

[@MrDanielTalevski]

Brilliant

[@ecorrea_1]

compre un midi m audio keyrig 49 aprecio huevo y lo repare con tu video ,toma tu merecido like

[@takedeepshhh]

thanks for this!

[@dylannewth]

this worked yay i thought i was gonna have to buy a new keyboard

[@Kendonezia]

help......my m audio fast ttrack pro interface ....its no longer showing up in windows all the lights. come on meaning the hot keys.input everything i dont know what to do

[@tomsky]

Just bought maudio oxygen 49 with 2 keys not working this gives me hope !

[@srinivaschary3640]

i have M audio oxgen 61 midi keyboard......one note is not playing correctly...sometime it is dead and sometime it is holding if i play and taking long duration ......how to set that key?,,,,,,pls help me out

[@SISKworks]

Muffin Music Makers I have no idea. No way for me to know what is going without opening it up and inspecting it. Have you opened it up yet?

[@thestringsbandmunnalaskar2044]

I will try this method..

[@45rpm.]

You don't want to get a line of graphite joining the two halves of those contacts either or that note will be always on and will not work.

[@SISKworks]

Well obviously. But if you do get a line connecting to two pads you can easily erase it with the edge of the eraser on the pencil 😉

[@ashscott6068]

The PCB laquer is too smooth to write on with a pencil...usually.

[@ashscott6068]

Forget I said that. No reason to bother putting laquer on that little strip, since the laquer is applied last, and the pads are just masked off. Mine DID have dye and laquer between the two halves of the pad for some reason. Seems like extra pain in the ass for no real gain.

[@minecraft-qh5ir]

Ash Scott a

[@hanopokolo]

Thank you! You saved me!!! I am happy :)

[@yannd6692]

Thank you it worked perfetly!

[@RC-dt5vt]

Genius

[@myriad1973]

What type of grease is used to help dampen the keys? After cleaning the contacts on my PCR-80, some of the grease was removed accidentally.

[@bigmanlizard7326]

just some generic multi purpose grease, like £5 on ebay

[@thaflexmachine5267]

you the fucking best !!!! i saved my little lpk25 had about 5 keys not working

[@TheAdventuresofDrewandAmanda]

awesome! thats good to know!

[@nakeddesignuk]

Another option: I lost about 10 keys on my edirol. I found good old washing up liquid works a treat. Use warm water and washing up liquid on both the rubber pads and the board - leave for about 10 mins to let the water and liquid do its work - and then clean off thoroughly and dry. I have no idea why this works, but my theory is that it cleans off microscopic residue that builds up over time.

[@specialbeat]

Hi, thanks for the video, I have a second hand PCR-M1 with some keys not working, will this be the same fix do you think? Thanks

[@SISKworks]

specialbeat I don’t know for sure but I would assume the same fix would work for yours also.

[@specialbeat]

@@SISKworks thanks. Just realised that the contacts on the PCR-M1 are gold rather than carbon. So I'm guessing it's the rubber part that's at fault as the gold contacts are clean. I guess I could try a soft pencil on the rubber contacts.

[@joseluismartinez9822]

como se llaman ese tipo de gomas que usan esos teclados? no es mejor comprar las gomas nuevas para evitar que el problema se repita?

[@beto1515]

El problema es que ya no están disponibles son teclados muy viejos Roland ya no las hace

[@SIRONEDRAGON]

That is Brilliant !!

[@VanGolliaz]

Thank you sooo much! :D

[@SISKworks]

Did it work for you?

[@VanGolliaz]

Yes! the graffiti helped a lot for some notes, but I think I need to buy another rubber tape for one specific note, because it's already old and the contact doesn't worked even with a lot of graffiti! haha But thank you, it helped! :D

[@uncletom1971]

How do you find the feel of the keys on this keyboard? You have any other keyboards to compare with? I ask because I find my PCR-50 keys a bit stiff compared to i.e. my M-Audio KeyRig49.

[@user-io8gh4yi4s]

Bro what kind of pencil? 2b 1b or hb etc. ?

[@tw19801113]

useful thanks

[@sfire051]

works well thx!!

[@alexandracosta3807]

some keys are way louder on my keyboard will the pencil trick also work for that?

[@SISKworks]

Alexandra costa probably not.

[@alexandracosta3807]

@@SISKworks just found a tutorial on that aswell :) fixing the keyboard as we speak :) and its starting to work again :D thanks!!!

[@nehemiahzo_]

My problem is when I’m recording it repeats keys after they’re played

[@marijojadresko9082]

Which DAW you use?

[@Actua111]

Those contacts have clearly oxidized, a can of contact cleaner from an electrical hobbiest store will fix it up and last much longer. A good brand cleaner will have oxidization prevention too, you won't have to do it again for a long time.

[@Actua111]

Yep, no need to be too gentle. Give it a decent rub. The rubber pads too. I've fixed many keyboards this way.

[@mtdawgy]

I'm going to be repairing mine and I was wondering if contact cleaner would be the better way to approach this. The pencil/graphite method he shows I'm sure will work, but since the work is so "tedious", I prefer to only do it once in a great while. But great video!!!!

[@jerseyboi21fla]

i just brought the same midi controller and all the keys are dead i did exactly like the video still didnt work

[@IntrinsicGamer]

Subscribed!

[@xbase190]

Use 5B + pen

[@Lablackabdelemajid]

I Do it but she didn't work please help me

[@lordstylo3025]

Why do my keys get stuck.

[@SISKworks]

+Lord Stylo Impossible for me to tell with the amount of information provided. What have you tried?

[@kevinmulloy1331]

Roland JD-Xi-RD

[@royrijpma]

what i don't get.. you want the graphite on the pad's of the button's so why not "draw" whit a pencile on that pad's

[@SISKworks]

Roy R yes you are correct but the graphite did not really want to stick to the pads. But you should definitely give it a shot! 👍

[@royrijpma]

ill well. need to say that its plausible. you need to "dip" the pads in Graphite powder... and you will coat them.. your tip is great. have a GEM keyboard. non of the keys worked. so i did the graphite Trick , and except voor 11 key's, that don't work is the rest fine.. found that some pad at the first run not work. but after working them in (pressing continuously).. they start to work again.. great trick to try.

[@DrAmnesia]

LOL.. Dont do this please, just use IPA and give the entire board en rubbers a good cleaning... 🤦‍♂

[@SISKworks]

Did that. Didn’t work. Conductivity was gone. This definitely works in a pinch but not a long term fix. Thanks for watching and commenting even if you are wrong. 🙊