something weird happened to my emx today

[acertainpoint]

I was messing with the synth section on my emx, and as I was chaning to oscialliators, my emx went screwy.

it started turning up and down various things rather quicky, resonance being the main one

the synth was complety messed up and I couldnt fix by turning knobs or anything


so I messed around with it a little longer and it hasnt happened since


has anyone else had this problem or anything similar?

Ive owned for little over a year now, so my warranty is out.. and im freaked that its going to grow worse

im going to mess with it for a solid hour when i get home, test everything out I can to see if it acts weird again.... im just scared thats its about to die or malfunction on me


any help would be appreciated.

[harvestein]

Sounds like the the firmware might have just screwed up. Its just software and can malfunction like all other software. So i think it would be a one off. If it keeps happening you could try updating the firmware as it may have got corrupted.

If its the same dial that keeps going up and down, it may be that particular dial is going fauly, they are quite sensitive POTs so you can get something affectionatley called 'knob jitter' after a while of heavy use. This is when the EMX- thinks your moving a dial a little, when you are not touching it. But dont panic yet. I think it may have been just a software glitch!

[Ruso]

Sounds like the the firmware might have just screwed up. Its just software and can malfunction like all other software. So i think it would be a one off. If it keeps happening you could try updating the firmware as it may have got corrupted.

If its the same dial that keeps going up and down, it may be that particular dial is going fauly, they are quite sensitive POTs so you can get something affectionatley called 'knob jitter' after a while of heavy use. This is when the EMX- thinks your moving a dial a little, when you are not touching it. But dont panic yet. I think it may have been just a software glitch!

You know you shouldn't make such bold statements unless you know for a fact that this is what's happening. You are comparing a very simple environment to a PC program. There's a HUGE difference. I've been on here for a long time, and not once did I hear about a "corrupted firmware".... I guess that's not true but nothing that in any way cause someone's knobs to turn wildly on t heir own....

Obviously what he's having is the most common problem with the electribes. It's called knob jitters, it is cause by dirty potentiometers(knobs). If you'd like more detail search the forum for "knob jitters".

You will have to take it to a korg service center to get it fixed. If not, then you will have to get the par yourself and solder it in to replace the faulty knob. If you are interested I have a broken electribe laying around for parts.

Good luck, it's a pain in the ass but if you're still under warranty korg will fix it for free.

[acertainpoint]

thanks for the replys guys


I came home this morning and spent a solid hour with it, turning every knob, ran through every menu, ran through smartmedia, etc, and everything was ok..... so if it is knob jitters or what not, its not bad YET..

what sucks is my warranty just ran out a week ago, go figure.


so, I guess Ill keep my fingers crossed and hope it doesnt happen again... I use this sucker alot for my band, and its a MAJOR component to our music, so if something were to happen, I cant afford to have this lying in a repair shop for months while the dealership is waiting for the parts..

I guess I would have to buy a new one, fix the old one and sell it



if anything happens again to it, ill bring it up here in the forums.

thanks!

[CELL]

ive had the same problem with my esx. its the arpeggiator ribbon, probably a design flaw. not sure whats under the pad but if you give it a pretty good push, it'll short whatever circuit lies beneath the ribbon. ive never opened nor have i ever viewed a schematic of the electribe series but based off what happened to me i know the ribbon was probably bridging the circuits below. its safe to assume the chips that are under the ribbon have something to do with the filter section.

-Cell

*1st post* greetings forum!

[Ruso]

I do not remember there being anything under the ribbon, as far as I remember it's an independent part. Could be wrong though.

[harvestein]

Ruso I mentioned the firmware because it was a one off, the symptoms he described i thought were a bit extreme to be caused by 'knob jitter'. And he said it only happened once. Firmware can crash, same as your mobile phone, or mp3 player. Mine has done it once or twice as well, typically if its a dodgy power supply or power spike can make it crash. Suppose thats waht i get for gettin one from the states the using a cheap power converter.
thankfully i havent lost any data though, but a guy i knew in glasgow lost everything. He had some nice beats as well. Thats not to say that it happens a lot though.

So the staement wasnt that bold. I thought suggesting soldering new Potentiometers was a bit extreme for a one off.

[Ruso]

I wasn't by any means suggesting swapping a pot himself. I was saying it's an option if he feels comfortable doing it. I've done it myself, it's not very difficult.

[psim210]

I do not remember there being anything under the ribbon, as far as I remember it's an independent part. Could be wrong though.

Ruso is right once again.

The metal backing behind the arpeggiator is mounted to the PCB in such a way that when you give her a good push (or any push depending on how abused your unit is) it slightly moves that PCB around, and its the same PCB throughout the unit so that movement causes the "knob jitter".

My only evidence to that is doing the unthinkable and running my machine while disassembled [DISCLAIMER: do not disassemble your own machine it voids warantees and you could get hurt] and using the arpeggiator ribbon on its own free from the housing and had no problems.

getting too hyped on my first post gotta cut it off here.