Synthophone Reed Setup

SYNTHOPHONE REED SETUP

REED TOOLS

BRUSH-ON Krazy Glue,
Razor Blade & Clamp

The plastic clamp is a
Sears Craftsman.

The blade is for scraping off any excess glue from the underside of the lip sensor where it attaches to the reed.

Notice my old Vandoren reed case?
It perfectly holds 2 reeds
ready to go!

3 techniques of how to hold the sensor
for scraping.

Be very careful with razor blades !

Apply glue to the back part
section of the sensor.

(the butt end where the
clamp holds the reed
and the metal together.)

I removed one red grip side for better accuracy to see that I'm clamping on center.

Clamp the reed for at least a minute.

Using the butt of a reed to check
the height of the magnet.

This is a good place to start till you find
your own preference.

I like mine a hair higher than this.

If you're getting too much pitch bend DOWN and it's too hard to lip UP then raise the magnet.

With a gentle nudge, bend the magnet tongue higher which would logically allow
the pitch to go UP.

If the pitch lips UP too easily pinch the tip
to bend the tongue down, which logically
makes the pitch go down.

If a magnet should come off the tongue...

Check which side to glue.

Hold the loose magnet near a magnet
that is already mounted
to test for polarity.

The magnets should repel.

Glue the opposite side.

Synthophone Reed Adjustment Instructions

1. To start - set up the magnet height a little low.

2. Put reed on mouthpiece, mouthpiece on synthophone, hit synthophone power on.

3. Turn Symmetrical Pitch Bend all the way Up to "Level5"
< palm "F" + side "C" then click up 5 times >

4. On the VL70m you should notice the pitch bars go all the way down.

5. With the mouthpiece in your mouth -- lip up.

6. If your magnet height is correct you should see all the pitch bars go up.

7. If only a few up-bars display or if it's hard to lip up,
then the magnet needs to be raised.

8. Power OFF Synthophone.

9.     WARNING: Removing the mouthpiece while the power is still on will
        make your synthesizers play a loud sustained tone.
        It won't harm the synthophone, it's just really annoying ;)

10. Remove mouthpiece, or if you have the skill just the reed,
raise height, put it all back together then power-up, and check again.

11.    Ultimately, you want to have all bars up and down equally at Level 5.
         After the reed is adjusted correctly, back down the synthophone lip level settings
         to where it's comfortable to hold pitch.

end notes:

- With practice you can put together and adjust a reed in 5 minutes.

- Learn the shortcut of removing just the reed while leaving the mouthpiece on the neck.

- It's not necessary to turn the power OFF. Instead hit the PANIC function and the newly
set reed automatically "zeroes in" (calibrates) so that you get a "flat zone" for center
pitch and a well-balanced up/down bending for "symmetical pitch bend."

- It is also possible to test pitch bend by simply pressing up the reed with your thumb
and observing the results on your VL-70m.