Minimax Tuning Stability Problem

[panthaakp]

I'm having trouble keeping the Minimax in tune. Randomly the unit will drop its tuning evenly on all keys. (Usually while I'm performing on stage!) I believe it goes down a 1/2 step. Anybody have any suggestions? It is updated to the latest firmware. Thanks!

[astroman]

do you run it at 48k ?
I don't have one, so no idea if you can deal with samplerate at all...
but switching from 48 to 44.1k is exactly the step in detuning you mention.
I know it from the Emagic EVP EPiano which obviously was 'tuned' to be run at 44.1k.
Setting the host to 48 detuned it one half step...

cheers, Tom

[panthaakp]

I dont believe sample rate has anything to do with it on these synths. (could be mistaken though) Thanks.

[astroman]

yeah, my point probably wasn't formulated appropriately anyway.
The 'system' of the Minimax calculates the oscillator frequency depending on the internal samplerate.
If the samplerate switches (for whatever reason) this calculation is off precisely one halfstep.
This may be an indication, or may be not...
The very same would happen, if the midi note events is shifted by 1.
Note numbers may be handled as a 0...127 sequence or as 1...128.
If we look further, we may find even more possibilities to spoil the party

cheers, Tom

[panthaakp]

oh.
so what you are saying is that while the patch is loaded and in use, the sample rate could be switching, causing the thing to detune on the fly? so maybe i should try reloading the firmware? would that help? thanks.

[slammah2012]

I am pretty sure all ASBs are a fixed sample rate.....
I would suspect either a shaky knob...CC# is causing the Jump...or
Just curious.....what midi Controller are you using to control the Minimax?...
If you are playing Multi's(multi timbred controller)...could one of your controller patches on the midi channel being sent to the Minimax be detuned on the controller by mistake? I suggest hook up the USB programmer and look for the keychange in contol messages midi monitor...

[panthaakp]

We are using a M-Audio Oxygen 8. All we do, is use it to play the synth. We don't use any of the knobs, sliders, or buttons, except to change the octave. We are also not using patches on the controller, bc we switch patches on the minimax itself. The key change occurs while we are in the middle of performing a song. It use to only happen while using one particular song patch, but during our last performance it went completely bonkers on all patches. (Not only key changes, but the saved patches themselves changed in sound and weren't how we programmed them).

We do use the same Oxygen controller with it, so maybe we should try another controller to make sure thats not the problem. Thoughts?

[MattVerzola]

Hi,

I am actually the synth operator with Pantha in his band. I appreciate everyone's help with this. I'd like to add some things I've noticed about the problem. First of all, I can't be sure it slips out of tune a half step. It could be a whole step. Either way the only way I am usually able to fix it is by resetting the minimax. On our last gig it actually slipped out of tune again even after it was reset.

Secondly, this has only happened during our live shows. During rehearsals everything is fine. This makes it extremely frustrating and almost impossible to troubleshoot. My theory as to why this happens during live shows and not rehearsals is power. I'm not sure if power surges or variances in the voltage are causing this, but I'm not sure what else is changing. The unit is part of a large rack, so I'm sure there is a lot of demand for power. But, this is the only one of three Creamware units in the rack that has this problem.

Could power be the problem? Or is the Oxygen 8 spacing out and sending some kind of sysex data from hell? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[fx1mark]

It's too bad you can't get it to do it while practicing, you could run the midi monitor and see if there is any odd data being sent to it. If it only does it while playing live, I would look at the environment. heat, vibration, power. where is it in the rack? maybe it's getting hot.

[slammah2012]

Hi,

I am actually the synth operator with Pantha in his band. I appreciate everyone's help with this. I'd like to add some things I've noticed about the problem. First of all, I can't be sure it slips out of tune a half step. It could be a whole step. Either way the only way I am usually able to fix it is by resetting the minimax. On our last gig it actually slipped out of tune again even after it was reset.

Secondly, this has only happened during our live shows. During rehearsals everything is fine. This makes it extremely frustrating and almost impossible to troubleshoot. My theory as to why this happens during live shows and not rehearsals is power. I'm not sure if power surges or variances in the voltage are causing this, but I'm not sure what else is changing. The unit is part of a large rack, so I'm sure there is a lot of demand for power. But, this is the only one of three Creamware units in the rack that has this problem.

Could power be the problem? Or is the Oxygen 8 spacing out and sending some kind of sysex data from hell? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

to help diagnose the minimax, try setting it to "local off" while you play live...that will bypass all the knobs and switches on the minimax panel...if it stabalizes, I think it would be a shaky pot on the miniMax....

on your controller, move all of the faders....if one is able to adjust tuning, this would also be a suspect.....also look for volume pedal assignments in presets....and the possibility of a moving mod wheel....any Recalibration procedures on your Controllers must be done with modwheels off...

[MattVerzola]

slammah,

Excellent advice. I'll try messing with the faders and knobs on the midi controller and see if i can reproduce the problem that way. If it's not there I'll turn local off. Hadn't thought of that...

I'll let everyone know if either of those fixes the problem. Thanks!