I was on the gig the other night, ready to rock my Sub Phatty on a new tune, and as I started playing, I noticed the cutoff control was acting strange. As I turned it, the cutoff would open, but then almost immediately jump down to 200hz. EVERY TIME. RAAAR. After that, if I continued turning it, it would jump to random points in the cutoff spectrum only to land at 200hz.
I thought maybe it was weird power at the venue or some kind of strange issue that power cycle would fix, but alas, it does the same thing in my home studio that I use it in all the time.
If anyone has any advice on what is up with my synth, I would be very appreciative.
If you’ve been automating the cutoff with MIDI, the MIDI values you send get kind of “added to” the values indicated by the knob position. So if you’ve previously used MIDI to send a low cutoff frequency (or say, sweep it low), and the Cutoff knob was turned up high at the time, then you grabbed the knob and turned it down, the Sub’s “internal position” of the knob can end up really low.
Initialize Globals resets these “internal positions” (my description) so they agree with the physical position of the knob.
I’d advise you to keep a copy of the chart in your gig bag. If you’re working with parameter automation at home and taking the Sub out live later, you’ll get a lot of use out of it.
I did try that, to no avail. It is starting to shape up to look like a hardware issue. I discovered that if I apply a little but of downward pressure to the cutoff knob, the synth behaves perfectly normal. Hopefully this is an indication of an easy fix…
Still haven’t heard back from tech support, but I do have an update. If apply light downward pressure tho the Cutoff knob, it acts 100% normal. As soon as I take my finger off, the frequency immediately returns to the 200hz position.
Final update. I got my Sub Phatty back from the factory today. I was able to use the priority RMA service to have it expedited. Andy and Nick from the service department were great. They kept me informed and turned it around quickly so that my gig/studio schedule was not interrupted too much.
The Subby works just great now, it ended up being a faulty cutoff pot. I’m very pleased with the service and courtesy showed to me by Moog and they have earned a lifelong customer. Now, back to shaking the foundation!!!
Hello,
We are very sorry to hear about any issues you may be having with your Sub Phatty.
Please contact our tech support so we can make arrangements to take care of you asap.
