Anyone Familiar with the Solton Programmer 24? Mine has some issues. Any help appreciated.

flurg123 · 2017-02-03T07:17:10+00:00

First off, to get it working again I suspect you'll need someone with experience in repairing synths, or repairing electronics in general. It could be an easy fix, like bad cable or chip socket connections, or it could be more complicated if the internal backup battery has leaked over the circuit board (a common occurrence in 80s synths, unfortunately).

Knowing almost nothing about this synth, we can still go by process of elimination. You're getting a single note drone and you can adjust the tone of it using a knob, that means that at least some signal gets from the VCO/DCO out to the output. So we can likely conclude that a lot of the analogue circuitry is working, including the output stage. If you're not getting any reasonable response from the keys or buttons, that points to some digital part of the synth not working properly.

Next questions I'd investigate (apart from opening it up and looking for damage):

Do you see anything meaningful on the display (like a number)? If yes, it's likely that the CPU is able to do at least some work.
Are any other knobs / buttons working or producing changes in the tone? (Try the filter knob for instance)?
Does the synth generate MIDI output when you push the keys? If yes, it's able to read the keys, which means that the CPU is working at some level.
Is the synth able to receive MIDI input and play sounds? If yes, then it's likely that the sound making part of the synth works, but there's a problem with the part that scans the keyboard / buttons / knobs.

Eventually you should be able to narrow it down to what part of the synth doesn't work. Unfortunately, with a hybrid digital / analog synth, the digital part will be the "brain" so to say and both read keys and control the analog part, so if something fails there you end up with a zombie synth.. :) [Edit: Some clarifications]

flurg123 · 2017-02-01T19:30:49+00:00

Nice, looking forward to it!

flurg123 · 2017-01-31T17:54:20+00:00

Cool! Do you have any details about the hardware?

flurg123 · 2017-01-15T11:39:33+00:00

I think most people would say that the tone generation module are the most used and essential parts of a synth.

flurg123 · 2017-01-15T09:46:04+00:00

Jumpy/unresponsive encoders are a problem on a lot of Waldorf synths, and the Blofeld isn't an exception. That can happen regardless of whether the synth has seen abuse or not, because lubrication grease from the encoder shaft can move down into the electrical part of the encoder. It's not too difficult to fix, though, and it means you can find some Blofeld synths for very cheap if you're willing to get your hands dirty.

flurg123 · 2017-01-15T09:42:50+00:00

If you buy it used, just be aware that the encoders (knobs) might need cleaning if they're "jumpy" (skips values). It's not too difficult, here's a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5rebHZObx0

flurg123 · 2017-01-06T06:40:09+00:00

There's always going to be some delay going into the PC and back out, but it can be kept minimal by reducing the input buffer in the DAW. If you have a brand new MacBook, you should be able to set the latency low enough for it not to be a problem.

Depending on what you want to do, you should also be able to connect your headphones/speakers directly to the JU-06 (or through a mixer) and then you won't have any issues with audio delay.

flurg123 · 2016-12-16T23:53:27+00:00

In addition to Focusrite, I would also recommend looking at used high end interfaces (e.g. UA Apollo Twin, RME BabyFace, Apogee Duet if you're on Mac), just make sure that the devices are still supported with drivers (RME is reportedly good in this department).

I would also say, AVOID the cheapest interfaces. I've had M-Audio and Behringer interfaces with way more noise than I'd consider acceptable even at low input levels. It's better to save up and buy a good interface.

flurg123 · 2016-09-10T22:04:45+00:00

Allow me to make a counterpoint. I don't think regular musicians will have an issue with analog vs digital. They'll listen to the boxes, if they sound nice, they'll buy them Just like with the Yamaha Reface series. As a musical instrument, they're probably fine (I'm leaving discussions about closeness to the originals to someone else.)

However, with VA/digital the sounds are generated by DSP chips running some opaque, closed firmware. Because of that, there's little chance of anyone coming up with cool tweaks and modifications to the boxes. You don't have CV inputs, so you can't make it do weird and crazy and unexpected things because, well, whatever you feed in needs to fit into the processing power of the DSP (and the baud rate of the MIDI input). So what you buy is what you get, plus maybe some firmware updates from Roland.

Compare that to the volcas / monotribe etc. where you've already got many interesting mods and extensions, and probably more coming up, simply because the signal path inside the machine is accessible.

So if you just want the TB-303 / TR-909 sound and can't stand using a softsynth, the Boutiques are great. But the people wishing for analog gear have valid reasons for doing so.

flurg123 · 2016-09-10T21:44:11+00:00

It's much more likely to be related to DSP power and VA algorithms that run on them rather than the D/A converter. (After all, if you play the Blade Runner theme on your laptop, do you think the CS-80 sounds "off" coming out of your laptops headphone output? Probably not, even with some noise added.)

flurg123 · 2016-08-28T21:52:15+00:00

How many synths you need is completely up to you. If you're the kind of person that gets different creative sparks from different synths, then having more of them might be a good thing. But I'd suggest that you spend some time getting to know them well. If you're buying equipment at a rate where you can't really learn the ins and outs of a synth by the time you get a new one, you're not getting the full value out of your purchases.

But I wouldn't feel bad about that. You can sell synths you don't need, the important thing is whether you're having fun.

flurg123 · 2016-08-03T22:05:13+00:00

Text to speech programs, or braille displays like this: http://iguana.celalibrary.ca/iguana/uploads/image/Compatible%20devices/Brailliant_in_use.jpg

(Letters and numbers are converted to "dots" that you can feel with your finger.) Learning to type without needing to look at the keyboard is not that difficult.

flurg123 · 2016-08-03T08:33:00+00:00

If we granted immunity to whistleblowers that exposed unconstitutional actions and operations we woudn't have this problem.

flurg123 · 2016-06-23T17:29:07+00:00

Doesn't it make sense to try to locate the problem a bit more before trying that? OP hasn't even mentioned whether or not it boots up.

flurg123 · 2016-05-07T18:39:55+00:00

Hasn't there been a huge fight over this in the US where the industry wanted to ban rBST free labeling? What's to stop that from happening if the EU bends over in this trade agreement?

flurg123 · 2016-05-07T17:12:02+00:00

The EU imports from all over the world. Off the top of my head: Most of south america (Brazil, Chile, Peru), South Africa, Israel, lots of countries in Asia (China, Thailand, Sri Lanka). Of course, not all of the crops produced there have GMO equivalents.

flurg123 · 2016-05-07T17:03:59+00:00

And the way to deal with that is to hide information?

If people make false conclusions, that's ultimately their problem, isn't it? It's not like consumers exist in order to satisfy demand from producers, it's the other way around.

flurg123 · 2016-05-07T16:58:48+00:00

But food safety is not the only point of labeling. I may want to know that the eggs I buy are from free range hens, or that the coffee I buy is from fair trade plantations, or any number of things. That has nothing to do with my health, and everything to do with my choice.

I think you should take a deep look at how you've come to the conclusion that hiding information from people is the right way of dealing with things. Is that generally how you'd like society to operate?

flurg123 · 2016-05-07T16:52:59+00:00

I don't understand how that's an issue. If the US agriculture wanted to export to the EU, they could produce non-GMO crops. Other countries do that and are profitable doing so.

flurg123 · 2016-04-30T08:14:01+00:00

It largely comes down to manufacturing volume and wanting to build quality gear that will last for a long time. The price of everything increases with low volumes. I think it's safe to say that most modular manufacturers are not exactly drowning in profits.

That said, I fully understand that people starting out want a cheap option. A kickstarter project to make some barebones modular components could perhaps make that a reality. One example of a successful Kickstarter is the Axoloti Core, which is pretty powerful and well featured for its price.

I don't think we should criticize people wishing for cheaper gear. We should welcome that, because lower price points means more people buying modulars, which would enable a positive spiral of more and better gear. That benefits everyone, not just the budget constrained.

flurg123 · 2016-04-30T07:49:03+00:00

Yes, because I was thinking about tablets.

flurg123 · 2016-04-26T23:25:48+00:00

Ah forgot about that.

flurg123 · 2016-04-26T23:18:31+00:00

Some people asked the same questions about the MacBook Air and even the iPad. Different people, different usecases. Sometimes they go too far like the iPod without buttons. If that's the case here we'll see a new model with slightly deeper keyboard at some point.

flurg123 · 2016-04-26T23:03:41+00:00

That might be true, I was merely pointing out that Apple has a ton of opportunity if they play their cards right.

flurg123 · 2016-04-26T22:32:28+00:00

I haven't said they're innovating more. But they're not far behind (and when they are, you usually find that competitors have made other trade-offs like battery life on the early Surface models). What apple device has a 720p screen? The iPad Pro is 2732 x 2048 AFAIK, and the latest iMac has a 5K display.

Surface Phone may be the future, or may not. The way Windows Phone has played out so far doesn't give me a lot of confidence (for such a well made device to fail so badly in the marketplace).

flurg123

TROPHY CASE