Hi,
I rencently purchased one of the few tribute phattys in London. I am generally very proud of it. I however I do have one major concern regarding a very audible digital buzz when a midi signal stream is being output from the phatty into the midi->usb/audio interface (X-Station) the X-station is the hub for audio/midi. This noise is heard from the x-station audio outputs 'bleeding' from the midi sent by the phatty . I have tested lots of other gear with with the x-station and have eliminated that as the problem.I have isolated the problem to the phatty. Bear in mind that the noise is not heard directly from the phatty ouput only the xstation while its hearing midi from the phatty. Thinking it maybe a grounding issue I plugged the midio out via and octopus squencer however the tick is heard still heard.
I apologise for the downer, but this is such an ugly sound which is a pity for me because it mars my recording joy. I would really like to know if anyone else has experienced this and ultimately how I can eliminate the problem.
On an up note. It goes without saying the LP TE is my favorite little keyboard!
Many thanks,
Wilson
Phatty TE Midi out signal bleed heard in audio interface
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pushtin_cat
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:14 am
Hi Wilson,
This is new to me! I will check with our engineers to determine what might be the cause. So you are hearing this from the X-station audio output only when the LP is sending MIDI? Not when other gear is sending MIDI to the X-station?
Does the noise happen when you are sending only MIDI notes from the LP or does it only happen when you are sending CC-data such as from the mod wheel?
Thanks,
Amos
This is new to me! I will check with our engineers to determine what might be the cause. So you are hearing this from the X-station audio output only when the LP is sending MIDI? Not when other gear is sending MIDI to the X-station?
Does the noise happen when you are sending only MIDI notes from the LP or does it only happen when you are sending CC-data such as from the mod wheel?
Thanks,
Amos
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pushtin_cat
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:14 am
Hi Amos,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Thats correct I only hear this sound when the phatty is transmitting any kind of midi signal be that notes, CC-data or mod wheel. Heard in in the line audio outputs are ticks corresponding to signals sent from the phatty i.e I twist any Pot and I can hear the digital midi noise.
I have tried with lots of other midi gear I have and can only create these symptoms with the phatty. I have tried plugging the phatty into other gear as I mentioned my octopus, but the noise leaks though. I suspected it is possible that some midi ground loop problem is the culprit. I have made sure the the power supply is properly grounded. no avail. I am not such a pedant, but this noise is 'really' distracting recording and is quite unuseable if I wish to record the audio while playing (right now if I wish to do that I have to unplug stuff which is a pain. ahh midi should be dodo....Its long overdue...
Im interested to hear the new from the enineers.
Thanks,
Wilson
Thanks for your prompt reply. Thats correct I only hear this sound when the phatty is transmitting any kind of midi signal be that notes, CC-data or mod wheel. Heard in in the line audio outputs are ticks corresponding to signals sent from the phatty i.e I twist any Pot and I can hear the digital midi noise.
I have tried with lots of other midi gear I have and can only create these symptoms with the phatty. I have tried plugging the phatty into other gear as I mentioned my octopus, but the noise leaks though. I suspected it is possible that some midi ground loop problem is the culprit. I have made sure the the power supply is properly grounded. no avail. I am not such a pedant, but this noise is 'really' distracting recording and is quite unuseable if I wish to record the audio while playing (right now if I wish to do that I have to unplug stuff which is a pain. ahh midi should be dodo....Its long overdue...
Im interested to hear the new from the enineers.
Thanks,
Wilson
-
pushtin_cat
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:14 am
===Amos Wrote===
Hi Wilson,
We talked about it a bit on Friday but I don't think we have enough information to make a thorough determination yet. One thing that came up is that it is unlikely to be ground (earth)-loop related, as you say it still happens when there is a third piece of MIDI gear in between the LP and your X-station. This third device provides opto-isolation of the MIDI signal so there is no common ground between them. By chance is your X-station hooked up to a laptop computer? I have had issues with odd clicky artifacts recording to laptops sometimes; in at least one case this was resolved by lifting the earth pin of the laptop power supply (using a ground-lifting adaptor; don't mangle any power plugs in your troubleshooting attempts).
Let me know any other details you think are significant... also, are you using a mac or a PC computer? On theory here was that it might have something to do with the literal pattern of bits being send by the LP MIDI output as opposed to the bit patterns generated by your other (non-troublesome) MIDI gear. This was to explain how it could still happen when an intermediate piece of gear was buffering the signal. If this theory has any merit, then we ought to be able to record the MIDI output of the LP to a computer and play it back into the X-station and get the same result. Of course that might require a separate MIDI interface so that the data could still come in via the X-station standard MIDI input jack.
All the best,
Amos
Hey Amos,
Hope you don't mind I thought it would be good to continue in the forum as it may be some help to others in the future.
Firstly thanks for checking with the engineers.
Heres some more additional information that may be pertainent.
X-Station powered by USB via PC laptop (I will try running the x-station stand alone off its own PSU)
The ticks are heard even when the computer is passive or powered off (only the xstation is active) the ticks will be heard as soon as there is some connection path to between the xstation and the Phatty and of course whilst a parameter is some kind is being altered on the phatty and its firing midi.
To test the Lit. bit pattern I will record from the phatty in my hardware seq. then play that back to the xstation.
Let you know how it goes.
Many thanks for your help
Wilson
Hi Wilson,
We talked about it a bit on Friday but I don't think we have enough information to make a thorough determination yet. One thing that came up is that it is unlikely to be ground (earth)-loop related, as you say it still happens when there is a third piece of MIDI gear in between the LP and your X-station. This third device provides opto-isolation of the MIDI signal so there is no common ground between them. By chance is your X-station hooked up to a laptop computer? I have had issues with odd clicky artifacts recording to laptops sometimes; in at least one case this was resolved by lifting the earth pin of the laptop power supply (using a ground-lifting adaptor; don't mangle any power plugs in your troubleshooting attempts).
Let me know any other details you think are significant... also, are you using a mac or a PC computer? On theory here was that it might have something to do with the literal pattern of bits being send by the LP MIDI output as opposed to the bit patterns generated by your other (non-troublesome) MIDI gear. This was to explain how it could still happen when an intermediate piece of gear was buffering the signal. If this theory has any merit, then we ought to be able to record the MIDI output of the LP to a computer and play it back into the X-station and get the same result. Of course that might require a separate MIDI interface so that the data could still come in via the X-station standard MIDI input jack.
All the best,
Amos
Hey Amos,
Hope you don't mind I thought it would be good to continue in the forum as it may be some help to others in the future.
Firstly thanks for checking with the engineers.
Heres some more additional information that may be pertainent.
X-Station powered by USB via PC laptop (I will try running the x-station stand alone off its own PSU)
The ticks are heard even when the computer is passive or powered off (only the xstation is active) the ticks will be heard as soon as there is some connection path to between the xstation and the Phatty and of course whilst a parameter is some kind is being altered on the phatty and its firing midi.
To test the Lit. bit pattern I will record from the phatty in my hardware seq. then play that back to the xstation.
Let you know how it goes.
Many thanks for your help
Wilson