How cold is too cold for keyboard equipment.

[John]

I played an outdoor gig last night. And as I was putting on my jacket I wondered "How cold can a Kurz get?"

Can you play an outdoor gig at a Ski resort?

[Enigma™]

actually, it's moisture you have to worry about.
Electronic equipment is prime in the cold, because of the circuits heating up etc.. This is why you hear about supercooled computers, heatsinks, and other COOLING devices.
The problem is when you take it from the cold too quickly to somewhere warm. Then condensation builds... You should leave your synth to clamitize for at least an hour after playing outdoors.

[Cary]

I agree. I would also be concerned about keeping my hands warm enough. My freind's band played an outdoor gig in the fall and they all had problems keeping their hands warm enough to play.

[Drusillus]

I have a nasty habit of leaving my keyboards in the trunk of my car after late-night band practices, and they've gotten very cold and I've never had any problems. The only thing I notice that if I plug in cold keyboards the LCDs are usually pretty sluggish for the first few minutes or so until they warm up, this makes me think it's probably better NOT to let your synths get too cold if you can help it.

[Sol]

The other potential problem with taking your equipment from someplace cold to warm quickly is that the metal will expand... I don't know how this might affect performance or anything, but it could be hazardous.

[Enigma™]

Yeah, I took my Kurzweil outside once, and it shrunk so much that I couldn't play it!
Until I warmed it up :lol:

[Georges]

If you take your equipment from cold to warm, be sure to wait AT LEAST one hour before switching it on again. Otherwise, in the worst case condensation could cause the risk of a shortcut, killing your motherboard and thus the synth with very bad outsight for cheap repairs. On the other hand, you have to ask yourself the question about the coldness of your hands I guess. We had a concert at August 30, 2003 and it was 10 degrees cold, geez ...

[John]

Maybe you should have one of those big gas space heaters in your "gig bag". :lol: :shock: