#1

So I install a brand new (purchased new last October) Earthsea, plug in the (just arrived new today) grid, power on…and only a few of the buttons in the upper left flicker on the go off. So far so good.

BTW - The red stripe on the power cable is aligned with the little white bar at the receiving end on Earthsea. I’ve even swapped the other end to different power sockets in the power bus board.

But I’m getting nothing on the grid.

My case should have plenty of power: https://www.modulargrid.net/e/racks/view/208790

I’ve got a Synthrotek deluxe power with the following capacity:

+12 @ 2.0A
-12 @ 1.5A
+5 @ 1.5A

All of the other modules in the rack light up per usual, so I’m pretty sure I’m not running a power deficit.

So I patch into jacks 1,2 and 3, pos to 1v/o in Mangrove… power off. Power on…

Now I’ve got the three lights dim in the lower left, twisting knobs shifts lights…

Then I power off, power back on to test…

Nothing on the grid, no active LEDs on Earthsea.

I will try to upgrade the firmware tomorrow, but the lack of LEDs troubles me.

(PS, I did play with grainfields for a good hour to brighten up my day, gawd I love this thing)

#2

hey bob–

so you got the earthsea last october and this is the first time plugging it in? it was/is new from control?

something seems busted with the hardware, if nothing is showing up. your power situation is totally fine.

there might be a cracked solder on the usb jack, or one of the inter-board connectors. you can check yourself if you’d like, but the quickest fix would be to ship it in. i’ll e-mail you the details to do this-- i’ll cover cost.

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#3

Thanks Brian,

Yes, got it new from Control in Brooklyn and this was the first time plugging it in. I will get it posted to you today to the address you shared. I’ll cover the outbound postage as my karmic offering to a successful repair and great music ahead.

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#4

dang Bob. wss getting ready to geek out with you on the earthsea

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#5

s’OK, @shreeswifty it’ll be back in a few days. In the meantime I’m getting my grid on and studying the manual. HINT: I’m definitely patching the three mod channels of ES to Three Sister’s Quality, Frequency and Span right out of the box…

#6

cool.
I won’t try recruiting you for organelle~ till end of summer :slight_smile: then
hahah seriously though it’s pretty darn fun
I also just got an OWL open hardware stomp box and it’s a hoot too. [punny]

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#7

Give me a few months, but yeah, I’m looking forward to an organelle. And I’ve even got a MI Ears in my rack so I can feed it in.

#8

sweet!
i hope all is well with you

pp

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#9

Well, I am very happy to report the problem is solved. Brian was able to work his magic and my wee little Earthsea arrived safe home today where it is purring along perfectly.

Thank you so much Brian for your patience and generosity.

Now, I have to figure out how to get rid of that background hum…

(exeunt, fiat lux)

#10

you may have a ground loop between your modular power supply and audio output, which is a common problem. i use a ground lift on my modular’s power supply-- or an audio-out module with a ground lift. or you could use a DI.

or you could externally power the grid to remove the noise, if the grid is the source?

#11

I’m pretty sure the grid is not the source :slight_smile:

There is a pretty inexpensive DI box I can put in between the headphone and the rack to see if that works. Of greater concern is whether the high-frequency hum comes through when I feed a mix to the AD ODIO for export to Abelton / Audacity.

#12

Hi Brian,

I’m having similar troubles with my Earthsea. I bought it second hand and used it for the first time about a month ago. It was working perfectly up until this afternoon. I plugged my grid in and it’s not powering up, no lights on the module either, nothing! :frowning:

Trouble shooting I’ve tried:
It’s not the power, as I have a Dopefer 3U PSU2 case which is plenty of power
Not the cable, I tried another and also tried it in a different socket
Not my grid, it works fine on my Ansible

Which must mean that there’s something wrong with the hardware?

It’s very strange as I didn’t do anything that should have had any potential of damaging it. The only thing imaginable is that something could have come lose while it was in the case in my car when I was driving, but even that doesn’t seem right!

So frustrated, was really looking forward to playing my Mysteron that just came in the mail with Earthsea!

Any advice or help at all would be appreciated :two_hearts:

#13

make sure you tweak your levels before you do any major surgery
y ou will have a few different gains structures and i recall having to finagle the AD009 to sound proper because i was sending bins back and forth with a M4L patch in ableton and the AD was the noise culprit --you can also filter the AD009 of course…

#14

e-mail info @ monome . org

and we’ll get it working

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