Out of Tune Upon Startup

OceanMachine

Out of Tune Upon Startup
« on: April 29, 2020, 03:29:39 PM »
I bought a new OB-6 key version two weeks ago and it's always way out of tune upon startup. I realize VCO synths need some warmup time, except the OB-6 (like the P6) has an internal temperature sensor and the data is stored in a table every time it's calibrated. I currently own a P6 key version, which hasn't needed a single calibration and had an OB-6 module, which needed slight calibrations on very rare occasions & only randomly while playing. I contact Sequential support about this and was told it's normal and would cease after a while, except I just don't see any improvement and doubt it's going to get any better.

Does/did anyone else experience this? If it got better, how long did it take to improve?

Edit: Just to be clear, it does stay in tune once calibrated, yet it's back to square one with being out-of-whack every time it's turned back on if it's had a sufficient amount of time to internally cool down again.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 04:08:56 PM by A Thousand Eyes »

Re: Out of Tune Upon Startup
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2020, 06:31:51 PM »
How many times have you calibrated the new OB? It's my understanding that you need to fill the "table" by calibrating it when it's out of tune. Eventually the table will be populated with settings that reflect the average temp of it's new setting. (your studio) This sounds normal to me from what I've read and experienced first hand. There is a way to clear the calibration table and start from scratch so to speak. Do a search here for "clear calibration table" or something similar.


Re: Out of Tune Upon Startup
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2020, 07:52:30 PM »
Mine was like that at first too, just clear the calibration table and start over. Worked great for me, instant stability.

OceanMachine

Re: Out of Tune Upon Startup
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2020, 08:47:32 PM »
Mine was like that at first too, just clear the calibration table and start over. Worked great for me, instant stability.
I was thinking of resetting it as I remember reading a while back about clearing the table. The advice of the Sequential tech was to "calibrate immediately after you turn it on", yet the manual states to "let it warm up" to normal operating temp and that it should only take a few days... It's hard to know which of the aforementioned procedures for populating the table is correct, but I'd assume it's the latter... 

Re: Out of Tune Upon Startup
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2020, 09:35:04 PM »
The more often you call the calibration routine while it warms-up, the more temperature values will be stored in memory and the more reliable the auto-tune should be in the first moments after power-up from cold.
That being said, after owning my OB6 Desktop module for a couple of years now, my OB6 never is perfectly in tune for the first 2-5 minutes after power-up despite having cleared the calibration temperature table and doing many dozens of calibrations.
I just learned to live with it. As you say, after a warm-up period, it is quite stable.

Oberheim OB-X8, Minimoog D (vintage), OB6 (Desktop), Oberheim Matrix-6 (MIDI Controller for OB6), VC340

OceanMachine

Re: Out of Tune Upon Startup
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2020, 10:43:41 AM »
Mine was like that at first too, just clear the calibration table and start over. Worked great for me, instant stability.
Yep, worked wonders.

Much appreciated.