I was finally able to work on the Polaris with my computer engineering friend. We were able to solve the power reset issue. We tweaked the R17 trimmer until the red LED went on. It now turns on and off properly, and plays. We also successfully replaced the membrane panels. They function normally. 

While we were inside, we replaced the D batteries, which were still holding 3.0 volts. 

Unfortunately we now have a new problem to solve. Every note is out of tune - one quart to one half step sharp. The sound of the oscillators appears to be wavering. We attempted the Tune All function, which completed but did not change or fix the tuning. 

We read in the manual that you can disable the oscillators by setting them to Pulse with the width at 0%. When both oscillators are set this way, the keyboard makes sound. Is that the expected behavior? We tried isolating the issue to the oscillators but we don't understand what the proper behavior is. 

We tried isolating the 6 voice channels, but all channels played exactly the same, too sharp. They all wavered and were out of tune. 

Using the Pitch Bend lever, we could force it into tune while holding the lever in place. 

We found an article online of an Australian Polaris owner who had the same issue. He had to replace all the tuning caps on Channel 1 (C102-C108). Do you think this could be the same problem? If not, how could we debug this? We have an oscilloscope and multimeter and schematics. 

The original capacitors are polypropylene and my engineer friend doesn't know what that is. Can we just use ceramic caps? 

Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated. 

Thank you for all your time and help. We are excited by the progress we have made, and can't wait to make music with this synth. 

Best regards,

Fetz