A4 Major failure

volcan · 2014-03-02T12:09:58.000Z

Hi
I have a big problem, I’d like to have your advice
I have big issues with my analog four. I use it regularly since a few months, it’s a wonderful machine and its the main gear of my live with an octatrack for samples and beats. Two weeks ago I was working with the A4 and headphones and suddenly the sound stopped while the sequencer was still running, I tried loading different patterns, mute/unmute, I plugged the unit on speakers but no sound. I turned it off and reloaded the last Update and then it worked again but the sounds were totally out of tune, some of the instruments of my kits were replaced by another even when I recalled the kit. I used it for a few hours trying to recall the sounds of my patterns and it seems to work again but sometimes strange little stuff happening like some sounds behaving strangely. I reprogrammed all my sounds and it seemed to work for a while but yesterday, the voices began to crack…
So what do you think, soft or hardware failure? I have two dates coming next thursday and friday and i am in deep sh…t.

void · 2014-03-02T12:24:05.000Z

I dunno man, from your description it could be anything, including user error.
what do you mean when you say “voices crack”, and sounds behaving strangely?

according to occam’s razor the silence issue was likely mutes in chain mode.
strange voice behaviour can be caused by performance macros.

volcan · 2014-03-02T12:33:56.000Z

Thanks but definitively no, I know how to use performance macros or to erase them and i am quite sure it is not “user issue”. I already played live with it and i’m confident with the machine and the way to use it event tough i Am not a power user. The voice cracking means that now when playing the sound is making cracks using headphones or speakers (like when you have failed speakers or headphones and my speakers and headphones work well with my other gear.). Sound behaving strangely means that sometimes it goes totally out of tune, or the sound that I programmed doesn’t sound like when I did it, it just sounds bad like little cracks or just lame sounding, really hard to describe.

void · 2014-03-02T12:42:17.000Z

hm… if you’re confident that kits were saved properly…
another thing to check for is rogue MIDI from other gear messing up some parameters.
also make sure the power supply is okay.
maybe do the analog calibration routine.
save your project, do a factory reset.
that’s all i can think of…

beyond that, probably best to contact support.

volcan · 2014-03-02T12:52:55.000Z

Thank you for your help
I used it without midi to test, also I never used the wrong power supply, I labelled it with color tapes to avoid errors. I already did some user errors at the beginning erasing my stuff, etc…but I am quite sure that now the problem doesn’t comes from me. The cracks is really like when you have broken phones or speakers. If I save the whole project on sysex and doing a factory reset, will I be able to recall my kits and my patterns?

void · 2014-03-02T12:58:00.000Z

yes… but make sure that each kit is saved. sysex shouldn’t be necessary, just save it on the +drive…

volcan · 2014-03-02T13:06:32.000Z

I already saved them with distinctives names on the unit, do i to do another thing to save it on the drive+ and will I be able to save the patterns on the drive+ too?

void · 2014-03-02T13:13:49.000Z

you can save the complete state of the machine as one of 128 projects since OS version 1.1.
including patterns, kits, etc.

check out the section about Projects in the manual…

basically go to GLOBAL > PROJECT > SAVE PROJECT

volcan · 2014-03-02T13:16:39.000Z

Yes I did a whole project sysex dump, I will now save it on +drive. Thank you very much for your help.

DjHorner · 2014-03-02T13:51:41.000Z

I had a similar problem a while ago before the os 1.1 update, track 1 wouldn’t trigger sounds from the sequencer, though it would still play from a keyboard. The sounds became completely unstable on all channels, not just pitch but the other parameters as well. The status indicator light on track one was dimmer than the other chanels.
I’m pleased to say this all got sorted with the os 1.1 update. It seemed the project file had become corrupted. I created a new blank project and everything workes perfectly. I can still load the old project file and the erratic behavior returns.
Hope this is of help

void · 2014-03-02T13:55:06.000Z

""DjHorner"":

The status indicator light on track one was dimmer than the other chanels.

that is just song/chain mute.
hold chain + press a track button.

volcan · 2014-03-02T14:36:03.000Z

@Dj Horner Now that you say this I feel alone. That’s a big problem if the project file is corrupt. I have two live coming thursday and friday and i won’t have the time to reconstruct my whole project from scratch…What if I create a new project and import kits and patterns from sysex? would it work?

volcan · 2014-03-02T14:36:35.000Z

I meant less alone

djd_oz · 2014-03-02T14:44:23.000Z

[quote=“” volcan""]
What if I create a new project and import kits and patterns from sysex? would it work?
[/quote]

Definitely worth a try.