How to fix a MIDI keyboard with a pencil. 

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

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!

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! :)

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..

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 😇

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

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 !!!

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

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.

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.

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!

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 .

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

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

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

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!!

It worked for my keyboard! Thanks for sharing!

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.

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

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.

It worked for me. Thank you very much!

very helpful video! thank you!

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!

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

Thank you it worked perfetly!

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

That is Brilliant !!

Thanks dude 😍

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!

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.

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.

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

thanks for this!

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

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.

awesome! thats good to know!

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

Thank you so much

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

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

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?

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

works well thx!!

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.!!!

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?

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

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

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...

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

I will try this method..

Thank you sooo much! :D

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.

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

Genius

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.

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

Subscribed!

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

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

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.

useful thanks

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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

Is this a pretty universal tutorial?? dont want to take apart my keyboard for it to be completely different. I use an alesis q49

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

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.

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

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

Roland JD-Xi-RD

Use 5B + pen

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?

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

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

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.

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.

Why do my keys get stuck.

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

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