broken soundcraft lcd (DC2020)

Hi

We have soundcraft DC2020 console. .İt was broken by one of customer.LCD monitor was broken sı ı have to change it.

where ı can fint it.I couldnt use console without lcd.


thanks

try soundcraft?

ı tried

they have no idea and lcd

You usually have to replace the ENTIRE COMPUTER ASSEMBLY. there are no longer any spares.

I used to look after one of these, and sold it after the LCD failed. There was no support from Soundcraft. Scenaria also had a DC2000 for a while, and he had to buy an entire spare DC2000(with other faults) to get the LCD and make one working one out of two.

Sorry for the bad news, but you're screwed if you can't find something like scenaria did.

The video output on the earlier DC2000 was not readable by the outside world; I'm not certain about the DC2020, but the odds are against you...

You might have a permanently dead DC2020 there... :sad:

-Sorry.

Keith

sorry to hear that, my ex working place had a similar problem with the computer....no support from soundcraft...is it such an expensive and nice console, turned into a piece of crap because it is no longer supported by soundcraft...incredible, that situation says many many bad things about a company...

if anyone knows anything about spares for the computer assembly, let me know

nothing like the old faithful neve i have behind me...so user serviceable !

Well, Soundcraft belongs to Harman

:twisted:

hehehehe

...of course they belong to harman.

my engineer friend who replaced me tried to interface the console with a mac but doesn´t work....

the console fried a couple months after i leaved the place so i personally dont know many details....

just to confirm what the other posters have said - if the LCD is dead then you have a problem. Nobody seems to have any spares any more - I'd suggest you take a look on ebay and see if you can get a spare DC2020 for spares.

IF it is just the backlight then it's possible to replace the backlight (like you can on an Akai S1000)

also there is screen emulation software at http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet.asp?product_id=39 - haven't used it myself but it might be worth a try.

But it's only the automation-part that's affected, right? Or does the whole mixer fail without the computer?

The mutes, solos etc do not work without the computer. The computer needs to boot for them to work.

Every so often, the computer used to get "scrambled", and wouldn't boot. we had to re-install the software. When this happened AFTER the screen went bad, we could no longer re-install the software and the console became unusable. -That's when we pulled it and replaced the whole console... (With an SSL 9k as it happens... :twisted

But what happened when ours 'scrambled' the last time was that mute switch 1 muted channel 4, mute switch 4 muted channel 2, mute switch 2 muted channel 18... just random useless stuff... -Same with the solo buttons for bothe channel and monitor in both cases.

As long as you DIDN'T mute and DIDN'T solo, you could use the board, but it wasn't really useable, as clients always wanted things soloed... or muted... We really couldn't go on much longer like that.

Keith

Oh my god. That reminds me of an 'analog' Amek-Mixer that didn't put out anything in front of 2.000 people when the band started to play. Funny Situation: The Band didn't realize the problem because of In-Ear-Monitoring... Something with the old DOS-Computer.
I guess the DC-2000-computer is a third-party-development. And Soundcraft doesn't do anything to help? Man, we're not talking about Tamagotchi's Harman!
@ Aris: try a post here http://forum.analogconsole.com/viewforum.php?f=25
There is a guy who seems to be a former Soundcraft-Engineer, maybe he can say at least something.

I know a lot of funny stories about Amek Recall desks doing funny things.
In my area was only one PA company which had those boards. They really made a fuzz when they bought them. Those guys thought this is the best board ever. What they didn´t realize was that you could do a changeover + linecheck in the same time that you need for the recall of the desk. Anyway, after a few years they had serious trouble with the automation, causing 120dB noise in a concert several times. In one show it happened that spectators had damaged ears and went to court with them!

causing 120dB noise in a concert several times

Click to expand...

I saw this done by a Behinger EQ/Analyzer once and it took all the HF-Speakers in the system with it.

@ Jens: Da ist ja immer noch eine Gitarre in deinem Logo! Wie uncool

Wieso schaust du auf die Gitarre? Wie uncool :grin:

shyte this reminds me of a couple of years ago when one of our flying faders computers took a dump in a big way and we couldn't get it to work IIRC wouldn't even turn on. Had to find a replacement Dos/windows 3.1 386 computer. Remember those beasts back when they were king, they were the shit. years later who still has them? Anyway we searched and finally found a guy who had one. When we showed up to purchase it, he was all like I

can;'t figure out why you would want something so old, I've got 5 more I will toss in for free.

Click to expand...

Of course we took all 6 for the price of that one which went for something like 20.00 US. Which has me thinking I know Martinsound been talking about doing a flying faders update to a current PC for ever when will that ever come out. Doubt full it will now days. whats keeping martin sound in business anyway sure as hell isn't their automation. Might be those pres as they sound good :?
Sorry to jack the thread but you would be surprised who keeps what out there. You just have to look real real hard sometimes. PLus being 3'rd party part it still might be available. well one can hope

This reminds me of the festival I worked 3-4 years ago... they had an Amek Recall for the FOH. Very neat console, but what really worried me (as a recently former software developer) was that the thing required a 486 laptop to function. Having dealt with all the weird DOS high memory issues in the first few years of my software career, I knew how weird & fragile those machines could be. And good luck finding a replacement a few years later!

Hiya Aris,

just catching up on about a month's posts, and I've come across your post.

If it's the LCD itself - the only option you got, is to try and get a second hand console for parts.
I'f, on the other hand, it is the 'backlight', then there is a way forward, and it's not as people assume, that there is a lamp assembly under the screen.
the display light, is an electroluminescent panel (ala t4b), and the main problem with this is the driver circuit - electrolytics drying out, transistors going faulty etc,

You'll need the service manual drawings, can't remember what the number is, but the parts that need changing are;

TR1,3,4,6,7,9,10 - MPSA42(NPN)
TR2,5,8,11 - MPSA92.(PNP)

C47,48 - 220u 63v,
C49,80 - 2u2 50v,
C50 - 220u 63v,
C51 - 470u 100v,
C52 - 2u2 50v,
C53 - 2u2 50v.

I got rid of my DC2000, after the heads up from our emminent scouse boffin, I can still remember the feelings of dread, after reading the post
http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=116&highlight=dc2000

Hope this can help you in some way.
just got up from a 16hr nightshift, and I'm f**kin 'angin, so apologies for post that might not make sense - i'll have a look again after :? :shock: :sad: :grin:

Steve :thumb:

Bore da, Steve.

-Scenaria's post in your linked thread goes into better detail than I remembered. -Funnily, the most common question asked about DC2000 series consoles online is: How can I fix my dead LCD (or backlight).

It might be possible to just build some ultra-simple CMOS latched switching to take care of mute, solo, EQ and anything else which relies on a computer, the you could just pull the computer and have at it, as a non-automated (fully manual) console.

-Oh, except my dusty memory is nagging me that some or all of the metering is driven by the computer, which is how it's able to "scroll" letters across the meterbridge on power-up. -You might have to make metering circuits as well.

I wondered about getting a dead one and making it fully manual, but it WILL be a lot of work, and you'll still have a DC2000 with no automation and a dead computer at the end of it all, so the negligible resale value would mean you'd be investing lots of time at no return...

So is it the LCD, or just the backlight on the console that started this thread?

Keith

Here is a dc2000 for spareparts..
maby that helps
http://www.audio-alchemy.co.uk/fast/usedgear.htm

Dunno if you your LCD is broken or just the backlight...
I repaired the backlight of a DC2000. An electrolytic capacitor was the problem. First I changed these MPSA... high voltage transistors... but that wasn't the problem. :wink: If I remember correctly the voltage was amplified in two or three stages.
Voltage for the backlight is around 100V. EL foils are easily available and cheap. But you have to be careful when changing the foil. :wink:

it will look like this from the inside: