On most sounds, I’ll be holding a sound out and there’s a slow fade to distortion that is very similar to dialling in bit rate reduction (down to 2 or 4 bit) then fades back in. There seems to be no pattern to it, no CPU warning, and difficult to reproduce (rather random)
Steps to Reproduce
_load in a scene (I used Atcha_Samadhi)
…latch any key on the “resonant lift” (blue) patch
it helps it when it’s lower as written in my statement, but it shouldn’t be doing that though no matter the volume? Which makes me believe it’s more of a volume thing more then anything.
I mean you could test it. Drive the volume of the other engines past 100% (not just in the mixer, but the individual voice as well) and see what happens.
I’ve tried changing levels, unsyncing delays, etc. I can’t control when it happens, but I’ve had this happen with all of the engines, at various levels, in various “sync” states. The problem doesn’t seem to be, nor does it sound like, any kind of audio-level distortion or overdrive, hence I keep referring to it sounding more like bit rate reduction (note: I can reproduce the exact same sound by using Ableton’s Redux plugin whilst reducing bit rate below 8bit).
I understand headroom issues with the unit (many of the Scenes in the default set actually overload, which is another strangeness about the unit out-of-the-box) and since this sort of work is my profession for the last 20 years, I’m confident the sound is nothing like an audio overload distortion. No squaring of wave peaks. I’ve recorded some of it into audio to see the wave shapes and what it’s doing is actually dropping to digital zero in between waveforms; something that happens in the bit realm. I can provide examples if you like.
I should add: I really want to solve this because I love the workflow of the Synth and the sound of it. I just want this to be solved with a firmware update or maybe I have a defective unit? Looking to solve this mystery
i think i figured out the issue with PHZ. The shape 1 parameter. When it’s 0 to 20 or somewhere in that range, it starts acting up. However there’s something with the mix parameter too, if it’s too high in that engine it still causes issues. Negative values on the mix parameter works better.
Sometimes it’s hit or miss, so the above may not help after-all.
Still think this engine needs to be looked at badly!
Agreed about the engine needing to be looked at. I think the CPU is strangely underpowered considering what the unit is supposed to be capable of. Granted, $500 is pretty cheap comparatively to other synths, but I feel like my OP-Z has more power to it.
I made a comment on a related post that could be pointing the same direction for this issue:
“I’m going to sound nuts here: my thinking is this might be an SEU (single event upset).
In microprocessors with limited data throughput pathways, this can easily be an issue. More modern electronics have multiple throughput pathways making SEUs less troublesome.
I hope that’s not the case with the Synth because that would mean it’s not resolvable with a firmware or software update.”
I went for a couple of days of sporadically using the Synth in session and it worked okay. Then, a couple of days following, and today, on the same patches and under the same circumstances, it’s dropping out / glitching to the point of making my clients rather frustrated.
I’m within my return window and, I’m sad to say, I’m probably going to get an RMA and send it back. I love many things about this unit, but its unreliability and no solution anywhere that I can find is a deal-breaker for me.
