Moog Music Forum

Hey everyone. I turned on my Moog Little Phatty Stage II today and it's all whack. The calibration preset is distorted. All the top row dial settings (Mod, Oscillator, etc.) slowly keep going up or down the setting (the light blinks one more blink clockwise or counter-clockwise slowly causing the sound to be affected, obviously.). When I push the Overload button (to add some overdrive/dirt), the setting gradually goes up on it's own without me doing anything to it. These are some of the problems I'm having.

Yesterday, a mic stand fell into the front of the keys on the Moog and ended up depressing one key. With just a little effort, I was able to depress it. The back of the key seemed to be stuck, but went back to normal when I freed it. I wouldn't think this could cause these problems, but what do I know.

Has anyone experienced this?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Dan

Sounds like a power issue to me but I'm guessing. Are you sure the mic stand only struck the keybed? Did everything work perfectly prior to the accident and start going bonkers afterwards?

Give Moog a ring in the morning and explain the situation. If you are the adventurous type and you warranty is already expired (and you're handy), take a run at opening the front panel to see if everything seems to be in tact (board isn't cracked, all connectors are properly seated, etc.)

Hi,

I have a Tribute 2.0 (upgraded). Mine is like this too. After the boot up sequence and for a few minutes on the controls are moving slightly. The lights go up one and down one for example, and then after a few minutes it seems stable. This is the kind of issue that makes me think that there might be bigger problems down the road. Maybe I'll have to get rid of it before all the digital stuff inside craps out? Honestly - I really don't think these synths will be around as long as the model D...

Thanks for the replies. The LP worked fine before the mic stand fell on the keys. It's not like it fell that hard. It maybe fell 2 feet from standing upright to maybe a 60 degree angle against one of the keys. I did, however, just move into a new house and that's where I plugged the LP in and noticed an issue. If there's a possibility that it's a power issue, then maybe I should try a different outlet in a different room. I am running my guitar amp, pedalboard, Moog LP, iMac, printer, Apogee Duet, 2 Yamaha nearfield monitors/speakers, and a paper shredder all through the same outlet on the wall via power strips. Perhaps the problem? Will try when I get home from work.

More specific details on what's happening. The Modulation, Filter & Oscillator knobs (towards the top) gradually and uncontrollably move their settings up one notch at a time on every setting...some more than others. If Overload is selected on one of the settings...it will gradually increase until it's at near max. As previously mentioned, the Calibrate setting sounds more distorted than I remember.

Make sure the outlet the LP is plugged into is well grounded.

Can poor grounded/ungrounded outlets cause the problems I'm experiencing? The outlet is 3-prong, but that doesn't mean it works the way it should.

Yes, similar problems have occured with the LP when not properly grounded. I had a similar thing happen with certain effects in the audio out chain. Only happened once or twice.

Krinor wrote:Hi,

I have a Tribute 2.0 (upgraded). Mine is like this too. After the boot up sequence and for a few minutes on the controls are moving slightly. The lights go up one and down one for example, and then after a few minutes it seems stable. This is the kind of issue that makes me think that there might be bigger problems down the road. Maybe I'll have to get rid of it before all the digital stuff inside craps out? Honestly - I really don't think these synths will be around as long as the model D...

This DEFINITELY sounds like a grounding issue. The LP is very sensitive to voltage changes and poor grounding, for some reason. Try contacting Moog, and see if they have any suggestions.

It was a grounding issue. I tried a different outlet in another room and did not have the problem, so that outlet must be grounded (or better grounded).

Thanks for the help everyone. Problem solved. Glad nothing is wrong with the LP.

MagnumSSS wrote:It was a grounding issue. I tried a different outlet in another room and did not have the problem, so that outlet must be grounded (or better grounded).

Thanks for the help everyone. Problem solved. Glad nothing is wrong with the LP.

Another success story!

Turns out that the real problem was the fact that my Apogee Duet/iMac were connected to a 3 prong outlet via a 2 prong extension cord via a 2-to-3 prong adapter. That lack of grounding caused the signal connection via the 1/4 " cable (connecting the Moog audio out to the Apogee channel input) to make the Moog go haywire (controls move on their own). Once I grounded the power for the Apogee/iMac setup, the problem went away. Before that, I had the problem of controls moving on their own when the 1/4" cable was connected to the Moog...but not when the 1/4" was not connected to the Moog. Hope this detail helps someone in the future.

MagnumSSS wrote:Turns out that the real problem was the fact that my Apogee Duet/iMac were connected to a 3 prong outlet via a 2 prong extension cord via a 2-to-3 prong adapter. That lack of grounding caused the signal connection via the 1/4 " cable (connecting the Moog audio out to the Apogee channel input) to make the Moog go haywire (controls move on their own). Once I grounded the power for the Apogee/iMac setup, the problem went away. Before that, I had the problem of controls moving on their own when the 1/4" cable was connected to the Moog...but not when the 1/4" was not connected to the Moog. Hope this detail helps someone in the future.

Good points. Thank you. i'll have to try this with mine. I have it set up via an old Tascam 424 cassette recorder (it has a nice mixer, and I run all my synths through it). The Tascam is an american import and I power it with a 220-110V adapter... Probably lots of potentially weird grounding issues there...

I had the same issue while my laptop was plugged in the same outlet. When I unplugged the laptop everything worked fine. I also had the same problem with a very long extension cord while I was playing in my friend's garage. It seems that this issue can happen when the phatty is very cold. (Like taking it out from your car in winter)