Need help, Phatty misbehaving

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Tangsonghe
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:03 pm

Need help, Phatty misbehaving

Post by Tangsonghe » Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:23 pm

Have a series of gigs this week and made a last minute decision
to use the phatty for the first time. I'm running the Phatty
into a Lexicon MPX110 and I can't seem to shake off a
problem where the RAC keeps kicking in and switching
the knob values. It is really annoying and will ruin my
performance.

Amos has suggested this is due to earthing problems but
I've tried a DI box between the Phatty and Lexicon, different
sockets etc and it still keeps happening. It seems that
as soon as I plug something into the audio out it happens.
Just using headphones makes it stop. Please Amos or anybody
else, if you have any suggestions I'm all ears.

Tangsonghe
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:03 pm

Post by Tangsonghe » Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:31 pm

Just to add, with more testing using just headphones
and no audio out, I actually get the spooky knob changes
too.

fidooda
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:36 am

Post by fidooda » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:24 am

i think i had a similar problem, after the OS 2.0 upgrade, the analogue mode on the LP switched back to "TRACK". I noticed then some funky knob value changing. I realised the setting was changed with the upgrade, brought it back to "PASS-THRU" which fixed the problem for me.

Now this morning after reading your post, i just tested my LP back in TRACK and i don't see the bug anymore (well if it's a bug, i'm not here to make a judgment).

Try switching ANALOGUE MODE to see if you problem goes away once you put it back in TRACK.

good luck.

Tangsonghe
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:03 pm

Post by Tangsonghe » Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:40 am

Thanks, Fidooda, I'll try switching the settings from track to
pass thru and back again when I next see my Phatty (it's in
a van now so it'll have to be during the first soundcheck).
If that doesn't work I'll just use pass thru during the gig.

Will let you know if it works!

Amos
Posts: 2438
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2003 3:11 pm

Post by Amos » Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:37 pm

it's 99.999% likely to be an earthing-related problem. You're certain you are using a properly-grounded 3-conductor power cord? There ought to be little plug-in devices for testing how good the earthing is on any wall socket; electricians use them all the time. You might want to find/borrow one and take it to your next gig. I think it's safe to say that clubs with dodgy power to the stage are not exactly rare. ;-)

In any case, have you ever noticed this problem at home or anywhere else other than onstage? Is there a lot of / any lighting fx associated with your show? Was the DI box you used transformer-isolated? All useful bits of info. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

-Amos

Tangsonghe
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 2:03 pm

Post by Tangsonghe » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:29 pm

Thanks Amos. Will do the tests and let you know. Need to get off my butt and
get more methodological. Actually, this will be the first time I take the Phatty
on the road. Four gigs at Glastonbury. It's only had home use so far. I
started getting the problem when I upgraded the OS and at the same time stopped running the Phatty into my mixing desk and started running it straight into my delay units (trying out my 'gig rig'). I've tried a transformer
isolated DI box to no success.

If all fails I'll switch to pass thru. Am very excited about using the Phatty.
It was a last minute decision put off because for this project I've become
very used to the Roland SH32 and Alesis Ion patches I carefully made
years ago. The Phatty, Ion and SH32 cannot get near each other in sound
character so I've had to say to myself 'don't try to make those SH32
patches on the Phatty, you can't!, make Phatty patches and improve those
chops!'.

Amos
Posts: 2438
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2003 3:11 pm

Post by Amos » Wed Jun 25, 2008 1:39 pm

Tangsonghe wrote:Actually, this will be the first time I take the Phatty
on the road. Four gigs at Glastonbury.
EPIC! Congratulations. :cool:
Tangsonghe wrote:I started getting the problem when I upgraded the OS and at the same time stopped running the Phatty into my mixing desk and started running it straight into my delay units.
It'd be worth checking the signal and ground conductors of the audio cable going into the LP for any stray voltage using a volt-meter... one person who had similar problems reported some voltage on the ground conductor of their audio cable, which was being caused by some other piece of gear in the chain. Also useful to note if this happens when no audio cables are connected (phones or main output) in which case it might be the AC power that is suspect in some fashion. Keep us posted.

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