I have a new Minitaur purchased a week ago. Out of the box unit sounded great, all as expected, but after about 2 hours of use the Resonance filter knob appears to have crapped out on me. Suddenly the filter action is nearly dead, only effecting sound at the top end of the knob range when it goes into the self oscillation sounding whistling sound. previously the full range of the knob would effect the sound in a very obvious and pronounced way.
I return to the dealer to get a replacement unit. We test other units in the store. ALL of them (3 units) sound the same as mine in it’s current state. So naturally I’m told the sound is normal as they’re all the same, unless this is a bad batch, but they can’t make that assumption unless they hear the “before” sound.
Anyone have similar experience or advice on how to best troubleshoot and demonstrate the fault?
If you can’t hear a difference you could use an oscilloscope to visually examine the timbre change (or lack of) as you sweep the resonance knob. There are some free VST oscilloscopes available if you don’t have access to an actual unit.
After further testing the unit (comparing the Resonance effect to demo examples available on YouTube) it seems my unit is normal. Maybe I was thrown off at some point by something odd happening while tweeking the sound(?). I’m not sure but it seems the controls can act a little unpredictably. Or maybe I just need to spend more time with the beast to get to know its quirks better?..
After I installed Rev. 2 I remapped the Pitch CV to Filter Resonance. Now, every time I turn on the Minitaur there is no resonance (regardless of the knob’s position) until I give the knob a twist. Then it seems to function normally.
I see. I have yet to use the software but so far I’m getting the feeling the knobs actions are a little “quirky”. It’s a bit confusing as to whether there is a fault or not when knobs act a bit strange.
Yea, and now my Minitaur is not responding to the editor. When I open the editor and hit factory reset or default, my Minitaur’s not responding. I reinstalled Rev. 2 and it’s still doing the same thing. Software is okay and all, but it’s a pain sometimes.
Resonance is greatly effected by Cutoff frequency and Key Follow greatly effects how the note you are playing interacts with envelopes not to mention velocity which may be mapped to push Cutoff via the envelopes.
So my point is that one thing leads to another and unless you examine some of the under the hood features, you might not have the full picture.
Another thing is that there is a procedure to calibrate the CV inputs, but your unit should have been set from the factory. In short, it involves sending a reference voltage (5V dead on) and 0V into the jack and then executing code via SysEx. If you are not familiar with the procedure, it sounds more complicated than I’m making it sound and best to rule out any other issues with parameter settings before bothering with this.
Oh, and while I’m at it. If you have an expression pedal or a jack plugged into any of the CV inputs, the voltage which may be present on the wire will offset the knob setting. So keep that in mind also.
Seems so ‘simple’ (just seeing x # of knobs on the panel) but there’s alot more to it.
Thanks for the suggestions. No cv or pedals plugged in at all. I do understand that the pitch of the resonance is determined by the cutoff. The resonance is just simply non-existant/off upon power up, regardless of the knob’s position/setting. That is, until is give it a slight twist, then it realizes that it’s on and where it is (and works fine after that.) However, this did not happen until I remapped the pitch cv to filter resonance (which isn’t working right either.) I wen’t back into the editor and tried to changed all CV’s to defalt, and also tried the factory reset, but now my Minitaur isn’t responding to Midi from the editor at all. So I reinstalled Rev. 2 (and I can still play the Minitaur via midi controller, so obviously the Minitaur is responding to midi, just not from the editor.) After installing Rev. 2 NOTHING has changed and the problems still persist…
Problem 1: Resonance completely off reguardless of knob setting upon power up until I give it a twist. Then it seems to “realize” where it’s at, and function normally. The problem has been going on since remapping the Pitch CV to Filter Resonance.
Problem 2: Filter Resonance CV (which I remapped to the Pitch CV) is not working correctly at all. Resonance can’t be heard whatsoever when something is plugged into the cv. I’ve tried different setting of the knob, different LFO’s into the CV at all different amounts/intensity, etc..The only that that can be heard is what’s plugged into the cv. No resonance mixed with it.
Problem 3: Minitaur no longer responding to midi from the editor, even after reinstalling REV.2.
Another thing is that there is a procedure to calibrate the CV inputs, but your unit should have been set from the factory. In short, it involves sending a reference voltage (5V dead on) and 0V into the jack and then executing code via SysEx. If you are not familiar with the procedure, it sounds more complicated than I’m making it sound and best to rule out any other issues with parameter settings before bothering with this.
Also, I’ve never executed a SysEx command/code in my life (new to synths…just a dumb guitar player lol) but I’m willing to do it if I have to. I learned pot mapping and midi very quickly (by reading the manual, moog forum, and practice that is,) so if I have to learn SysEx I will, no problem (although I may need some guidance/spoonfeeding along the way.) I’d like to fix this problem myself, I just don’t know where to start. I’ve tried a few things (mentioned in the above post.)
Depending on what you are doing with the editor, or if you’ve been changing presets from the panel, you can certainly end up in a situation where the knob setting doesn’t match the internal parameter setting.
And (once again) depending on KNOB MODE, the behavior of what changes will occur when a knob is tweaked will differ. All this means is that it is certainly plausible that you can end up with a different setting or a given parameter that doesn’t seem to work based on how the knob visually appears UNTIL you turn a knob. Check here: http://www.moogmusic.com/sites/default/files/MINITAUR_REV_2_AD.pdf
It would be worthwhile to know what version of code you have in your Minitaur. And if you don’t know, a quick phone call to Tech support should be able to tell you (based on your serial number). From here a reset might be a good idea (and they can walk you through this). That way you end up a good starting state. If you’ve done some messing around with parameters within the editor and perhaps had code in Minitaur that didn’t match, you might end up with some weirdness.
I suggest this only because there were various versions of the editor distributed and if you haven’t upgraded your Minitaur code, and yours shipped with v1.x, the new editor which you may have downloaded might not work as it should as you explained and there may be other side effects.
Because there are so many unknowns, it’s best to find out where you are and get to a good known state. Then you can play around with Minitaur as a capable synth first and worry about the fancy features afterwards (there are many of them).
And don’t feel bad. I’m a dumb @ss bass player, but I’ve been working with Midi since the mid 1980s so this stuff comes easy to me.
Your suggestions are actually very helpful and I think explain some of the issues/weirdness I’ve been having with my Minitaur. So my Minitaur’s code wasn’t upgraded when I installed Rev. 2? It is from one of the first few batches, and I just recently downloaded the editor so yea that may be problem. See, I’ve never used the editor for anything other than changing the CV mapping. The Minitaur responded to it initially, but now when I go into the editor the Minituar doesn’t see any midi comming from it at all. Either way, I think your right. I’m going to give Tech Support a call and get it straightened out. Thanks a lot for you help buddy!
I haven’t been able to spend as much time on this as I used to but I can tell you that the firmware update procedure involves restarting it whilst holding in a specific button sequence, then pressing in another button without releasing the first.
Then you erase the existing firmware by sending in a SysEx command, followed by the new firmware.
To the best of my knowledge, the editor does not provide this functionality.
So best bet would be to simply call Moog Support and tell them you would like to do a ‘factory reset’ then apply the latest firmware. You’ll need to get your hands on some free software that is capable of sending SysEx command/packages. It only takes one run through to become familiar with the procedure; then it’s easy!
Oh no, no, I HAVE arleady installed the new firmware (I didn’t know that was SysEx, but either way I have erased the old and installed the new…then I re-erased and re-installed to try and fix my current issues, but it didn’t help.) I think we both just got a little lost with eachother’s responses, no biggie. Either way, I’ll keep you updated on what happens EM. Thanks buddy.