Cutoff knob not working

[orientgene]

Hi,

I'm going crazy here – after a couple of months of hassle free operation the cutoff knob on my Prophet-5 keyboard is only working intermittently.

I have tried:

- resetting global settings
- updating firmwares
- removing usb and midi cables
- power cycling

Occasionally it works as expected! Then the next time I switch it on it's gone again.

Interestingly the little red dot appears when it passes the patch setting so the knob is working, just not affecting the filter.

Does anyone have any ideas please this is rather upsetting.

[HockeBocke]

Contact support ..... 

Cheers !

[Quatschmacher]

Have you inadvertently put the pot mode into “pass thru” or “relative”?

[orientgene]

Thanks for the replies.

After explaining my problem to support including the fact that the problem is intermittent and the knob continues to send midi data, so it is not entirely disengaged, Sequential have asked me to take it to a service centre.

Since I got it a few weeks ago I have found the effect of the filter envelope and amplifier envelopes a bit confusing compared to synths I've had in the past so I'm a bit worried if other knobs have been intermitent that could explain it...

Was really hoping it was a software issue.

Will update post here in case anyone else has this problem in future.

Cheers!

[Quatschmacher]

If the pot mode is in relative, it would still send out MIDI data. Do check the globals menu, set pot mode to jump and see if the problem goes away.

[orientgene]

Thanks Quatschmacher, I have tried all pot settings, resetting Globals etc.

Sometimes it all works fine for a while, for example I reflashed the firmware (against the manual's advice) yesterday and it started working again. Then as soon as I quit my DAW and restarted it, it stops it working again, even if I then unplug the MIDI (USB) and cycle power.

Means (to me) it must be a software issue.

Sequential have asked me to take it for repairs which will take 2-4 weeks which seems extreme for something that doesn't seem to be hardware.

But if no-one else has had a comparable problem seems to be the only thing to do.

[Quatschmacher]

Does the problem only occur when you are hooked up to your DAW USB? Just wondering if there’s some kind of MIDI loop happening via your DAW.

[orientgene]

Does the problem only occur when you are hooked up to your DAW USB? Just wondering if there’s some kind of MIDI loop happening via your DAW.

That's what seems to trigger it – but then problem continues even with USB/MIDI unplugged, power cycled etc.

[LPF83]

Does the problem only occur when you are hooked up to your DAW USB? Just wondering if there’s some kind of MIDI loop happening via your DAW.

That's what seems to trigger it – but then problem continues even with USB/MIDI unplugged, power cycled etc.

But if you reboot the synth without the DAW running, does it occur at all?   If it does not, it means the issue has something to do with data your DAW is sending.  Which DAW are you using?

[orientgene]

Does the problem only occur when you are hooked up to your DAW USB? Just wondering if there’s some kind of MIDI loop happening via your DAW.

That's what seems to trigger it – but then problem continues even with USB/MIDI unplugged, power cycled etc.

But if you reboot the synth without the DAW running, does it occur at all?   If it does not, it means the issue has something to do with data your DAW is sending.  Which DAW are you using?

I just quit the DAW and plugged headphones in and cutoff knob started working again.

I think you're right.

Because I generally have to run the Prophet through the soundcard to hear it it means Logic X has been engaged most of the time while I've been trying to fix the problem – leading to this confusion.

I have had problems with Logic sending weird MIDI data to my KIWI modded JX3P before – which was fixed by selecting the "Bypass all control surfaces" option in Logic - which was one of the first things I tried when diagnosing this.

Fingers crossed I won't have to send this in for service then – but do you have any idea where to look next?

Midi Monitor doesn't seem to register any strange activity coming from Logic.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply

[LPF83]

Does the problem only occur when you are hooked up to your DAW USB? Just wondering if there’s some kind of MIDI loop happening via your DAW.

That's what seems to trigger it – but then problem continues even with USB/MIDI unplugged, power cycled etc.

But if you reboot the synth without the DAW running, does it occur at all?   If it does not, it means the issue has something to do with data your DAW is sending.  Which DAW are you using?

I just quit the DAW and plugged headphones in and cutoff knob started working again.

I think you're right.

Because I generally have to run the Prophet through the soundcard to hear it it means Logic X has been engaged most of the time while I've been trying to fix the problem – leading to this confusion.

I have had problems with Logic sending weird MIDI data to my KIWI modded JX3P before – which was fixed by selecting the "Bypass all control surfaces" option in Logic - which was one of the first things I tried when diagnosing this.

Fingers crossed I won't have to send this in for service then – but do you have any idea where to look next?

Midi Monitor doesn't seem to register any strange activity coming from Logic.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply

I haven't used Logic in a very long time, I'm fully on Cubase for Windows now, so maybe someone familiar with Logic X can chime in.   In Cubase, solving this sort of thing usually is about juggling the relationship between local mode on a given synth, so turning local mode off is a fairly frequent troubleshooting step for me.  And then (in Cubase) it matters whether I've currently selected the track that's controlling a synth for input, whether its in record mode, whether monitoring is on, etc.  And then depending on the situation I might use the track filtering in Cubase to only allow certain CCs on certain channels etc.  To be honest the cutoff knob not working at all is usually not symptomatic of the MIDI loop issues I typically see, but with a DAW it's always possible something else is sending data to that channel that's affecting it.   Just last night I couldn't figure out why patches on my Rev2 seemed to be "cutting out intermittently".  Then after many minutes of reboots etc.  I realized I had accidentally switched the preset on the Strymon BigSky it was feeding into to some weird tremolo effect ...   point being it's easy to get lost in all the cables and forget what's affecting what... the same can be true for DAW plugins.

[orientgene]

Thanks so much – changing the midi receive channel seems to have fixed the issue.

That is a relief.

I am a bit surprised sequential support gave up so soon and booked me into the repair shop but thankfully doesn't look like I'll be needing that.

Really appreciate the advice and troubleshooting

cheers

[LPF83]

Thanks so much – changing the midi receive channel seems to have fixed the issue.

That is a relief.

I am a bit surprised sequential support gave up so soon and booked me into the repair shop but thankfully doesn't look like I'll be needing that.

Really appreciate the advice and troubleshooting

cheers

I'm a little surprised they didn't first isolate the issue from the DAW... but with Dave's recent passing I can imagine how things might be a bit chaotic there right now.  At least that's been my experience in small engineering groups -- if a key player unexpectedly leaves for any reason, the rest are left scrambling trying to figure out the basic operational stuff that person used to handle (let alone the parts of the job that were their actual role).  It happens because in small companies people tend to wear too many hats (even if by necessity) rather than have clearly defined roles and it tends to create a weird, difficult to replace roster of duties for each individual.

Glad you got the issue worked out though.