Retroaktiv ARP AVATAR User manual

ARP AVATAR PATCH PANEL
INSTALLATION MANUAL

Introduction
Thank you for purchasing an Avatar Patch Panel Kit! These instructions are
intended to guide you through installing and using this kit. Before we get
staed, let’s go over a few guidelines:
Never open the Avatar or peorm any service on it when the unit is plugged
in to AC power. Take your time when drilling in to the front panel and when
making cuts to traces on the circuit boards. Careless work can damage your
instrument and diminish its resale value. This work should be peormed by
persons experienced with electronics and mechanical construction. This
modification is considered advanced and should not be undeaken by the
novice. Please consider hiring a professional technician or engineer to do
this work if you are not comfoable. This kit will take 8-10 hours for an ex-
perienced technician to install
Kit Contents
• Polycarbonate Graphic Panel
• (2) Potentiometers
• Heat Shrink Tubing
• (2) 50 pin IDC cables
• 1 PCB
• (36) 1/8” Switching Jacks
• (36) 3/8” Mounting Nuts
• (1) 1M Resistor
• (2) 50-Pin IDC Connectors

• Electric Drill or Drill Press
•6.5mm Drill Bit
• Center Punch
• Wire cutters
• Wire strippers
• Solder
• Soldering Iron
• Dremel or Exact-O Knife
• Phillips Head Screwdriver
• Heat Gun or Hair Dryer
Tools Required For Installation
The vinyl adhesive panel overlay is used as a template for marking and drill-
ing the ARP Avatar front panel.
Line up the graphics horizontally and adjust veically so the top edge of the
vinyl overlay just meets the orange front panel graphic under the LFO Re-
peat switch. The boom edge of the vinyl overlay should be approximately
33mm from the boom edge of the Avatar front panel. Secure in position
with removable tape taking care not to obstruct the holes in the overlay.
Accurately mark the center of the openings, remove the overlay, and drill
the VCO1 glide and VCO2 glide locations to all other holes to 6.5mm. Deburr
the holes on both sides of the panel. If drilling the panel by hand, always
remove the front panel and PCBs, and use a sharp center punch to prep
each drilling location to minimize the drill bit wandering. If using a drill
press, remove the circuit boards from the front panel and remove the pan-
el from the case. Wooden spacer blocks will be needed under the panel to
level it while drilling.
Positioning, Marking, and Drilling

Figure 1A - Alignment of Overlay
Figure 1B - Alignment of Overlay

Assembled PCB (Top View)
Assembled PCB (Boom View)

IDC Headers Mounted to PCB
Proper Orientation of Ribbon Cables

Panel Mounting and PCB Mounting
Before affixing the vinyl overlay to the Avatar panel, dry fit and verify the
alignment of the overlay, panel holes, and patch board hardware, securing
the jack hardware only loosely in place. Inaccurately drilled panel holes
may result in a slight buckling or misalignment of the overlay which can be
remedied by slightly enlarging the misaligned holes. The vinyl overlay has a
strong adhesive, so use care in affixing it to the panel.
Aach the 36 1/8” switching jacks and pots to the top of the PCB. Aach
IDC connectors to the boom of the PCB. Pay close aention to the keying
of the IDC connectors as well. Pin 1 is always marked on the IDC header
with either a 1 or a triangle pointing to pin 1. Make sure you know which pin
is pin 1 (brown wire) before you sta wiring. IDC Header A is on the le side
of the PCB (contains VCOs, S&H, etc) and Header B is on the right side (VCF,
VCA, Envelopes.)
Electrical Mods and Connections
Several conductive traces must be cut (electrically open) on the Avatar
circuit boards. This is best done with a rotary tool such as a Dremel but can
also be accomplished with a sharp utility or hobby knife.
The following pages have diagrams of the circuit boards to be modified.
There are ceain conventions that must be followed when using the dia-
grams. A cut to the PCB is indicated with a yellow line. Each cut will require
that a wire be tack soldered on to each side of the cut. A trace that does
not need to be cut, but still has a wire aached to it will be indicated with a
yellow dot. A wire will be needed on the oscillator board, and it is indicated
by a purple line.
The diagrams have a leer and a number indicating which wires should
be soldered to each point. The leer A indicates that a wire is on the le
front panel PCB cable. The leer B indicates that the wire is in the right
front panel PCB cable. There are 50 wires on each cable. The brown wire
indicates pin 1. For example, A12 would mean wire 12 on the le front panel
PCB cable. Trim the wires in the cables to the lengths needed to reach the
point on the PCB where they will be soldered.

A1
A2
A3
A4 A11
A12 A13
A14 A15
A16
A29
Figure 2.
Board B Top Le

A15
A16 A23 A24
A25
A26 A28
A27
A31 A32
A33
A34
Figure 3.
Board B Top Center

A30
Figure 4.
Board B Top Right

Wire
A6
A5
A18
A17
Figure 5.
Board B Boom Le
Figure 6.
Board B Boom Center

A19, A20
A21, A22
A7, A8,
A9, A10
A35, A36, A39
A40, A43, A44
A47, A48
Figure 7.
Board B Boom Right

B2
B1
B4
B3 B6
B5
A49
A50
A41
A42
A37
A38
B7
B8 B10
B9
B12
B11
B21B22
Do not cut.
This is from another
modication.
Figure 8.
Board C Top Le

Figure 9.
Board C Top Center

B26
B25
Figure 10.
Board C Top Right

B31
B18
B17
Figure 11
Board C Boom Le

vCF Connections
When connecting the VCF poion of the patch panel to the Avatar
PCB, mote that a resistor must be removed, and two wires of the
IDE cable must be connected and soldered together.
Figure 11 has a yellow doed box to indicate that the 1M resistor
in the pcb above must be removed. This can be done easily if you
have a vacuum desoldering tool. We recommend removing the
solder from the PCB side and then using a wire to gently poke the
loose resistor from the mounting holes. Be sure to recover the old
resistor so it isn’t le in the chassis. If you have removed board C,
you can simply clip the resistor out.
Once the resistor is removed, solder the 1M resistor to the PCB as
shown in figure 11. Aach wire B31 to the other end of the resistor.
Be sure to use some of the heat shrink tubing included in the kit to
prevent exposed metal and shos.
Now, connect B36 to B32. This can be done using the wires or sim-
ply by connecting those pins on the IDC header.
Reassembly and Testing
Be sure to test all of the functions on the patch panel and check
your work before reassembling the avatar. Take care not to leave
any metal shavings or loose debris in the case before closing.
You’re finished! Enjoy your newly expanded Avatar.