Hi all,
I have a Sub Phatty, love this thing. But the "frequency" knob seems to be calibrated badly. Whenever I turn the knob left or right so that the "beating" between the two oscillators slows to a stop, the knob is pointing to about 10.30. ie its not pointing straight up. Its crooked to the left. It should be pointing to 12 o clock or "zero". This is a bit unnerving. I tried running Firmware 2.0 update and it did a total re-calibration afterwards automatically (as it does). but still the knob is not pointing straight up when it is meant to be in "rest" position, regardless of the patch or note played.
is this a hardware thing? is there a trim inside that adjusts this knob? problem with my Subb that needs to go back to the factory? is yours the same? common problem?
many thanks,
Blackout
Sub Phatty "Frequency" knob calibration problem
Re: Sub Phatty "Frequency" knob calibration problem
Hi Blackout,
First note that if you are in "relative" pot mode, this can cause there to be some difference between the physical position of a knob and its value. If you want to be certain that a pot is "live" (parameter value = physical position) turn the knob all the way to maximum or minimum, and then set it to the desired value. If you do this with the frequency knob, then you should find that 12:00 does indeed give you zero beating between the oscillators.
UNLESS - there is a detuning due to the "beat frequency" parameter, which will also make the Osc2 frequency knob seem as though it's not precisely calibrated, because it's an additional sort of detuning applied to oscillator 2.
You can go into shift mode, then turn the osc2 frequency knob all the way to max or minimum then put it back to center... this will set beat frequency to zero... then get out of shift mode and repeat the same move (osc2 freq knob to max, then back to center)... now there should really be no detuning of oscillator 2.
If you do all these things and you still find that "no beating between oscillators" happens at a knob position other than 12:00... (and you are sure there's no pitch modulation happening either)... THEN you've ruled out all the other culprits and you might have a mis-calibrated osc2 knob. In that case there is a simple sysex command you can send to the unit to set the center point calibration for the knobs that need it - I can provide that info if it's needed.
-Amos
First note that if you are in "relative" pot mode, this can cause there to be some difference between the physical position of a knob and its value. If you want to be certain that a pot is "live" (parameter value = physical position) turn the knob all the way to maximum or minimum, and then set it to the desired value. If you do this with the frequency knob, then you should find that 12:00 does indeed give you zero beating between the oscillators.
UNLESS - there is a detuning due to the "beat frequency" parameter, which will also make the Osc2 frequency knob seem as though it's not precisely calibrated, because it's an additional sort of detuning applied to oscillator 2.
You can go into shift mode, then turn the osc2 frequency knob all the way to max or minimum then put it back to center... this will set beat frequency to zero... then get out of shift mode and repeat the same move (osc2 freq knob to max, then back to center)... now there should really be no detuning of oscillator 2.
If you do all these things and you still find that "no beating between oscillators" happens at a knob position other than 12:00... (and you are sure there's no pitch modulation happening either)... THEN you've ruled out all the other culprits and you might have a mis-calibrated osc2 knob. In that case there is a simple sysex command you can send to the unit to set the center point calibration for the knobs that need it - I can provide that info if it's needed.
-Amos
Re: Sub Phatty "Frequency" knob calibration problem
hi Amos! thank you so much for your reply and assistance. Great to know you are here to help out with such an in-depth knowledge.
you solved it....after testing it turns out it was the "beat frequency" parameter in the shift mode. This is a tricky one. I wander if others have fallen for this trap. it seems i need to do this "shift mode and freq knob all the way to the right and then back to center" trick for every single patch i have saved. seems all the patches i have created have inherited this flaw, which is why i suspected the actual synth was at fault. so im guessing this Beat Frequency parameter is not a global setting but separate for each patch. Would make sense.
quite possibly i created all my patches from one patch originally at the start when i first got my Sub...and that patch that was flawed. and just copied the problem on through all my patches as i was making them.
theres been some head scratchin i gotta tell you thanks for your help! Im very happy to know now that there is not a fault in my Sub!
Cheers,
Blackout
you solved it....after testing it turns out it was the "beat frequency" parameter in the shift mode. This is a tricky one. I wander if others have fallen for this trap. it seems i need to do this "shift mode and freq knob all the way to the right and then back to center" trick for every single patch i have saved. seems all the patches i have created have inherited this flaw, which is why i suspected the actual synth was at fault. so im guessing this Beat Frequency parameter is not a global setting but separate for each patch. Would make sense.
quite possibly i created all my patches from one patch originally at the start when i first got my Sub...and that patch that was flawed. and just copied the problem on through all my patches as i was making them.
theres been some head scratchin i gotta tell you thanks for your help! Im very happy to know now that there is not a fault in my Sub!
Cheers,
Blackout