I have the chance to obtain a somewhat beat-up Akai AX80. One key is nonresponsive. It seems to me since it's only one key, it's likely to be a mechanical problem rather than an electronic one. What are the odds this will be easy to fix?

worked on several of these. Most common problem is wear on the conductive rubber contacts. They get 'mushed' down too far and the key hits bottom before the contact hits the foil. Dirty fix is to glue a thin cardboard shim on the bottom of the key where it presses the rubber bulb.Best fix is to renew ALL the contacts with one of the repair kits on the market.

When the wise man points to the stars, the fool looks at the finger. - Confucius

Remember this unit is very prone to the bad interconnect problem on the panel buttons. Test ALL membrane buttons before you agree on a price. This is not a death blow, but will take several hours of work (and some soldering skills) to repair.

When the wise man points to the stars, the fool looks at the finger. - Confucius

Yeah I'd much prefer an AX60 with sliders or whatever rather than cheesy plastic buttons. Oddly enough I have yet to see one of those for sale. I've asked the guy with the 80 about the buttons, hopefully its all good but even if I need to learn how to solder to tune it up, I'm still going to go for it if the price is right. From what I understand it's a massively underrated synthesizer, notwithstanding maintenance problems.

That sucks. $103 is a steal for a working AX-80. If I had noticed that one on ebay, I would have bid on it.I have one on the shelf right now, but it will be some time before it's ready to sell. I'll post it on VSE when it's done.

When the wise man points to the stars, the fool looks at the finger. - Confucius

i know man, it was a ridiculous price!! this is the second time I find myself on this forum bitching about just barely missing a ludicrous deal on ebay (missed a Polaris for $150 or something dumb like that), so I know there will be other ones on there. I think I've got it down to a science now, i'll get the next one. On the plus side this gives me some time to try and track down a cheap -60. .