Moog Music Forum

I'm loving the sound & features of my new Messenger, but the knobs don't seem to be calibrated correctly:

- With bipolar control knobs, the neutral position isn't at the center/noon position. This is most noticeable with everything to do with oscillator pitch.
For example, the neutral (A = 440) position of the tune knob is about 1 degree clockwise from the noon position.
The neutral position of the osc2 pitch knob is about 2-3 degrees counterclockwise.
The neutral position of the osc mod amount knob is about 3-4 degrees clockwise!

- On all knobs, settings about 4-5 degrees fully cw or ccw don't seem to do anything!
[edit: meanwhile, somone on the sequencer.de forums has pointed out that this last bit probably isn't a fault, but a characteristic of the pots. but obviously, the main neutral/noon position calibration issue remains]

So clearly, those knobs haven't been calibrated correctly at factory.

I've tried a factory reset and the tuning procudure (available in fw v1.07), neither of which changed anything.

So, how can i recalibrate all those knobs?
Is there a panel calibration mode? If so, how do i enter it?
A google search finds panel calibration procedures for the Sub37 and the Muse, but not for Messenger....

apparently, my unit isn't the only one affected by this issue - although it seems worse on mine, affecting other knobs than just the tune knob.

as mentioned in the other thread, i've created a support ticket with inmusic about this and would encourage anybody experiencing similar issues to do the same.

i'll post here when i got a reply - hopefully with instructions on how to recalibrate all knobs...

bad news from inmusic customer support: they were very friendly, immediately understood the issue, and checked back with moog tech - with sobering results:

- this is indeed a pot calibration issue.
- pots can only be calibrated by moog technicians. there is no user-accessible pot calibration routine for messenger, nor are there any plans to implement one in the future.
- according to moog, the knob misalignment on my unit is "within specifications and tolerances". which i find rather shocking on a 800 eur synth, given that the osc2 mod amount knob is off by several degrees!
- they advised to ask my retailer for a replacement unit - but if this kind of aberration is "within specifications and tolerances", that seems like a bit of a gamble to me. :/

just to illustrate, here is what the neutral/center position of the osc2 mod amount pot looks like on my messenger. according to moog, that's just fine.

Hey, I had the same issue with my first unit (now got my third haha). The tuning was off by a half note on OSC 1 on the unit - a little bit more as your mod knob. The support told me it’s a faulty unit and I need to send it back (but this was in the 30 days and done by the retailer though). Also I had some more issues with the unit as well. I found that very frustrating and I think you should definitely ask your retailer. What can you lose anyway?

yeah, this does seem to be a common issue. some other people on sequencer.de are reporting the same thing.