New Misa Kitara-like

[BJG145]

I've always been fascinated by the Misa Kitara, so when I recently came across one being offered for $150 I decided to check it out. It apparently has a hairline crack sending out some rogue (but not unworkable) messages, and it'll accrue some additional fees as it wings its way across the Atlantic. But since the only others I can currently see for sale are £1500+ on eBay and Reverb, I thought it was worth a punt.

I might have pulled the trigger too soon though, because while Googling stuff about it, I came across news that this long-discontinued instrument is getting a 2019 reboot. There's a post on their Facebook page promising more news soon, and there's a page here offering pre-order. (Seems a bit strange; not sure if there's a particular link between Misa Digital and Front End Audio or something.)

I've also realised why the Tri-Bass is more sought-after than the Kitara, having touch-sensitive keys. I haven't yet seen any Kitara videos that impressed me with their musicality, but I did like this Tri-Bass cover...

https://youtu.be/AMaZ4PewbEc

The pre-order page above, while remaining vague about the spec, suggests that it will be possible to switch between Tri-Bass and Kitara necks.

Hmm...intriguing...

[BJG145]

Oh...latest update is that I've been sent a refund/cancellation with the explanation that the 'persistent touch' that's manifesting in a corner of the screen due to this slight ding makes it impossible to access most of the menu system.



I think it's an obsolete capacitive touchscreen, though I get the impression these can be repaired in some cases...? I've asked him to stash it in a cupboard while I try and figure out if it's repairable...

[BJG145]

Godammit, another Kitara slips away.

This one was actually the superior Tri-bass masquerading as a Kitara. Instead of the £2000/£3000 listings by Russian and Australian chancers, it was started for a very reasonable £100, and stayed at £104 until the last minute.

Unfortunately, persistent questioning revealed that this one was also suffering from touchscreen problems which might very well have been irreparable. I was daydreaming about junking the discontinued display for a Raspberry Pi-driven substitute screen and then haranguing Folderol for guidance on setting it up, but in the end this broken mess sailed away for £360.

I had to vent my frustration by picking up a broken BeatBuddy Instead. As a bottom-feeder in the music-tech bardos of eBay, I'm developing expert knowledge of characteristic failures and their resolution. (And if the patch doesn't work...well, there's still Folderol...)

[BJG145]

...so I picked up this non-working BeatBuddy on eBay, but I couldn't do anything with it. I emailed them asking where I could get it repaired, and they said, send it back to us and we'll ship you a new one. I just had confirmation that it's on the way. I don't imagine they can be expected to do that all the time, but it's pretty impressive customer service from Singular Sound.

[zenguitar]

How’s that for festive spirit

Yo Ho Ho.

Andy

[BJG145]

I see that Misa Digital have now updated their homepage, so maybe the new model first announced in Jan 2018 is gradually inching closer...

[cloudwalker8]

Was wondering if you or the seller got anywhere with figuring out if the screen could be repaired? I have a Kitara that I haven’t used in over a year and turned it on today to find the same persistent touch problems on the screen making the thing near unusable. Not too sure what my options are at this point since there’s no real support out there anymore

[BJG145]

...yeah, no, I've been tempted to buy a secondhand one but I've been put off by the number of people posting on their Facebook page saying their device suddenly went haywire and they can't get it repaired, the screen seems to be discontinued and the company don't seem to reply to these queries. (If it's not physically damaged and it's been in storage, it might be worth trying to dry it out thoroughly with silica gel and warm air.)

Phantom Touches on Surface: Desiccant

My venerable Surface Pro 2 had this problem about a year ago and after doing most of the steps in this checklist without success, I broke down and took a trip to the Microsoft Store. The store happened to be in Jacksonville, Florida (which will be important in a bit).

One of the techs in the store happened to have worked with upper-tier support on this very issue. It turns out that it can be caused by moisture working its way into the touchscreen assembly through minute cracks in the adhesive holding it all together. It can happen anywhere but it most likely to happen in a humid environment. The only reason the local tech knew this is because he had seen so many cases of this problem in Jacksonville, which is located right on the ocean so it’s always humid.

However, this means that you might be able to eliminate the phantom touches by putting your Surface in a large, sealable container with some (4 small ones or 1 large one) silica gel desiccant packs for a day or two. If you don’t happen to have some, you can buy them from Amazon for less than $10.

Even if you don’t live in a particularly humid place, it still might worth a try before performing a restore/reset or exchanging your Surface.

https://www.lovemysurface.net/phantom-t ... n-surface/

[CH7]

I too picked up an old Misa Tri-bass. It turns out it has the same digitizer fault.
I was hoping i could find another similar spec digitizer to the HF804F-V1.3 but so far i've found no clues to a compatible device.

The only other way to fix this might be to use an arduino to intercept the rouge data coming out of the digitizer, filter the 'noise' and pass on the 'cleaned' data to the Misa mother board. Its all done over Ic2, but you would need the IC2 specs for this digitizer, or create a program to read the data, and then make your best guess at the protocols.

I can't believe the folks in china aren't making a compatible digitizer, eg same underlying chip set, or ic2 protocols. That said, its possible the inventor of the tri-bass sourced this digitizer as the cheapest stock he could find , for good reasons.

There are working tri-bass out there, so i'm wondering if they have the same digitizers installed.

The search continues. Anyone?

[BJG145]

No idea, but I'd be interested to see any pictures of the internals/electronics. I was wondering about the possibility of fitting a new touchscreen and a new DIY Arduino brain to interpret the controls. I'd like to know what the wiring from the buttons looks like, and the circuit that handles it; shouldn't be too difficult to sort those out if it's accessible. As for the touchscreen, maybe it's possible to borrow some ideas from Matt Bellamy.

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/ ... our-guitar

https://amptonelab.com/products/xy-midipad/

[BJG145]

Still no sign of the new Tri-Bass, in the meantime I'm wondering whether to make one of these.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPKxNTt-8A4

[Drew Stephenson]

it's the kind of thing all commercial studios should have to be used once on every album.