AHHH! Wheel Madness! Help!

[vicgermani@yahoo.com]

I was very hopeful of the Take5 but I haven't had a great experience so far.  The first unit I got had issues with the Pitch/Mod wheels.  After calibrating them numerous times, I would change to a new patch and the Mod wheel would be full-on.  While playing, the pitch would change suddenly and after slightly moving the pitch wheel, it would go back to normal.  Sent that one back for a new one.

Got the new one and all was good for a bit.  Integrated it into my live rig and at the last practice before a gig, the wheels just stopped working!  I was controlling an external soft-synth and went to do a bend...nothing.  Turned the unit off and on again...there it was!  Worked again!  Set up for the gig, tested it again...nothing!  Power cycled multiple times, recalibrated multiple times...nothing!

Am I the ONLY ONE experiencing these issues, or are there quirks all around?  I have gigs straight through the next month now and have to think about retooling again!  Not what I had expected from DSI/Sequential.

I just wanted to check here to make sure I'm not missing anything before scrapping yet another synth.

[Manbird]

I was very hopeful of the Take5 but I haven't had a great experience so far.  The first unit I got had issues with the Pitch/Mod wheels.  After calibrating them numerous times, I would change to a new patch and the Mod wheel would be full-on.  While playing, the pitch would change suddenly and after slightly moving the pitch wheel, it would go back to normal.  Sent that one back for a new one.

Got the new one and all was good for a bit.  Integrated it into my live rig and at the last practice before a gig, the wheels just stopped working!  I was controlling an external soft-synth and went to do a bend...nothing.  Turned the unit off and on again...there it was!  Worked again!  Set up for the gig, tested it again...nothing!  Power cycled multiple times, recalibrated multiple times...nothing!

Am I the ONLY ONE experiencing these issues, or are there quirks all around?  I have gigs straight through the next month now and have to think about retooling again!  Not what I had expected from DSI/Sequential.

I just wanted to check here to make sure I'm not missing anything before scrapping yet another synth.

Have you been in touch with Sequential support? They'll likely be able to troubleshoot with you and suggest solutions...

[vicgermani@yahoo.com]

Have you been in touch with Sequential support? They'll likely be able to troubleshoot with you and suggest solutions...
[/quote]

This just started on Thursday.  I'm filling out the support form now.  I just wanted to see if others had experienced anything similar to see if a) it's a chronic issue, and b) see if anyone might think of something I'm missing...considering they won't be able to do much until Monday.

[iluvchiclets]

I had a persistent problem with my pitch bend wheel.  If I moved the wheel at all, when it returned to its centre position it would be about 1/3 of a semitone flat.

I would perform the Wheel Calibration and it would work perfectly...but if I shut the unit off and then turned it on, the problem was there again.

I wrote Sequential, and they suggested erasing the calibration data.  Remove all footswitches, cables, midi, etc.  Hold the TRANSPOSE UP and DOWN buttons and press GLOBAL. Select the first entry, CLEAR CAL, and press the WRITE button.

I then did all new calibrations,  as well as different tuning calibrations as I used the T5 over the next week at different Temps.   It solved the problem.

I didn't think their suggestions would work as it appeared to be a definite wheel calibration issue, but I guess tuning and wheel calibrations are tied together...

[kpatz]

I had a persistent problem with my pitch bend wheel.  If I moved the wheel at all, when it returned to its centre position it would be about 1/3 of a semitone flat.

I would perform the Wheel Calibration and it would work perfectly...but if I shut the unit off and then turned it on, the problem was there again.

I wrote Sequential, and they suggested erasing the calibration data.  Remove all footswitches, cables, midi, etc.  Hold the TRANSPOSE UP and DOWN buttons and press GLOBAL. Select the first entry, CLEAR CAL, and press the WRITE button.

I then did all new calibrations,  as well as different tuning calibrations as I used the T5 over the next week at different Temps.   It solved the problem.

I didn't think their suggestions would work as it appeared to be a definite wheel calibration issue, but I guess tuning and wheel calibrations are tied together...

Hi iluvchiclets,

I just got a brand new Take 5 yesterday and this morning was having the exact same issue.  Anytime I selected a new patch and moved the wheel, the pitch would go flat.  Recalibrating didn't help.  I tried what you posted (clearing calibration data and recalibrating) and it seems to be working fine for now.  I'll post back if I have any more issues.

I also had an issue after unboxing the synth where the pitch wheel was misaligned and rubbing, and it wasn't responding at all or erratically.  After contacting Sequential support, they suggested opening it up and reseating the ribbon cables.  I did this initially and it didn't help, but I did some troubleshooting with a multimeter and the pot appeared to be going open circuit.  But interestingly, probably as I was fiddling around and testing, the wheel and pot must have popped back into alignment, as it's not rubbing anymore and (other than the calibration issues which are HOPEFULLY fixed now by clearing and recalibrating), seems to be working fine now.

Anyway, now we have at least two Take 5 owners that have had the exact same wheel calibration issue.  I wonder if there's some firmware bug or an issue with the factory calibration routine that corrupts the data in a way that just doing a recalibration doesn't fix it.  Or, it was related to my attempts to calibrate the wheel when it was misaligned.  In any case, I plan to keep the synth running all day and playing with it, recalibrating the voices from time to time to get the tuning tables rebuilt, and see how it goes.

I'm loving the synth and its sounds so far, other than these pitch wheel annoyances.  I rarely buy newly released synths because they often have bugs, but I have faith Sequential will make things right.

[bennyblanco]

Hi guys! Having the same issues with the pitch and mod wheels of my Take 5. Quite often they start changing values on their own, especially the pitch gets changed usually with a whole note. I did clear the calibration and then reset all back again, the mod wheel seems to be fixed after that, but the pitch wheel keeps changing the tone. Any ideas on how to fix that as well? Seems there’s no resolution as yet. It’s bought brand new just recently.

[ninokamikaze]

Having the same issue! This is so annoying and customer support don't reply my messages. Does anyone fixed this issue?

[Wiktorion]

Been battling this tonight. Mod wheel suddenly jumps to max setting without me touching it. Happens a few minutes apart, constantly. Calibrated the wheels to no avail. Very very frustrating.

[ninokamikaze]

Been battling this tonight. Mod wheel suddenly jumps to max setting without me touching it. Happens a few minutes apart, constantly. Calibrated the wheels to no avail. Very very frustrating.

Apparently this is a common issue. You should contact support ASAP because they must replace the front board of your Take 5. Their customer support replies really fast and they ship the part really quick to you (I even received it in Ecuador). The replacement is very simple with the use of some basic tools.