norns shield

St0rMl0rD · 2021-08-30T09:13:34.009Z

From what I read, the norns has a superior sound quality chip, and I’m sure that the bigger connectors don’t hurt either - it’s one of three main reasons why I’ll be switching from shield to factory norns, the other two being battery powered (portability) and design (aesthetics, as well as portability).

tournesol · 2021-08-30T10:07:11.521Z

Got you. I think I’ll go with the factory Norns as well then.

Spencer_Salmon · 2021-08-30T17:11:22.496Z

Is norns shield strictly mono output? Not sure if the other plug is part of the pi and something separate on my older edition shield. Thanks!

Ben · 2021-08-30T17:17:09.821Z

The Norns Shield output is a single 3.5mm (1/8") stereo plug, per the documentation.

dsiah · 2021-08-31T21:09:50.479Z

Hi All, I recently built a DIY Norns w the latest shield bought new from monome and I used the most recent image: Release norns 210607 · monome/norns-image · GitHub

But I’ve never been able to get WIFI to work. I can connect my laptop to my norns via Hotspot, but I cant find any networks and my norns is right next to my wireless router when testing. I used a brand new Raspberry Pi 3B+ and bought everything from the recommended items for a build in the documentation. Any idea what might be wrong? The reason I need it is to fix some of the apps like wrms that are corrupt (no idea why that happened either but I intend to redownload some scripts to fix that once I get wifi working).

All help is greatly appreciated!

gcode · 2021-08-31T22:01:27.316Z

hi !
have you tried to forget the hotspot that is selected by default in the wifi menu ?
it has been reported that it could fix the wifi issue, i had some trouble to connect to my router at first too w/ the same shield batch/image combo but it worked after forgetting (DEL) and selecting my hotspot (ADD) again.

dsiah · 2021-08-31T23:41:42.081Z

Thanks, I just went to go check if those existed and the networks actually already started showing up. FWIW I did see a bunch of default networks like nnnnnnnn and Norns and test when I was initially having this issue so maybe if someone else sees it that might be a way to reproduce the issue.

St0rMl0rD · 2021-09-14T19:25:40.972Z

Hi everyone,

Just now I’ve noticed that the output on my norns shield is MUCH quieter all of a sudden. I’ve tested all other instruments as well as my audio interface and they’re all fine. The issue is definitely in the audio output of the norns shield - confirmed by direct monitoring with headphones from its stereo output. All the system levels are fine, with Awake playing and 0 dB.

Any ideas?

alley_cam · 2021-09-14T19:58:37.098Z

Headphone output direct from Shield is useable but the output level won’t be as loud compared to a device with a headphone output

Have any connections changed in your setup going from Norns to Mixer / Interface?

St0rMl0rD · 2021-09-14T20:04:31.345Z

Nothing, literally just opened up a new Logic session today and the output on the shield was quieter than yesterday.

infinitedigits · 2021-09-14T20:44:29.133Z

St0rMl0rD:

Any ideas?

This happened to me today too on my shield that I soldered. It’s happened once before and that time was because one of the audio jacks needed resoldering: DIY: norns shield - #1175 by infinitedigits
I haven’t checked what happened this time but the audio jack will be the first thing I check again. Did you solder together your norns shield? If it’s a newer shield I don’t know. I have a newer shield too and it has never had low levels ever.

distropolis · 2021-09-15T19:11:02.581Z

I’ve had it happen when using a power supply that does not supply enough current.

Watch the red light on the Pi. If it blinks on and off that is a sign that it isn’t getting enough power while in use. Switching to a robust/recommended supply has resolved the “sounds quiet” issue for me.

St0rMl0rD · 2021-09-16T06:31:21.612Z

Checked the power in a different outlet, all was good there, then switched back to its regular place, and now it seems all good again. Hopefully it stays that way, thanks!

oscillateur · 2021-11-13T06:16:33.282Z

I’m not certain this is the right topic, I couldn’t find one specifically about the Norns Shield’s output volume.

My Norns Shield recently started misbehaving in a weird way : the ouput volume is very low.
If I look at the levels screen, I can see them behaving properly. Same when checking the levels parameters (setting everything to +0dB). But when I connect the Shield to my mixer or directly to headphones, the output is very low.

I tried a bunch of cables/channels for my mixer and also as mentioned directly with headphones. Everything is consistent : the Norns seems to work but the output volume is very low. I tried several scripts (generating sound with Dronecaster or o-o-o for example or processing inputs with pedalboard/greyhole).

I initially had a quNexus and Midi Fighter Twister connected through USB and disconnected them to be sure this was not due to some power issue. My power supply is one made for RasPi and has the desired specs, the power cable itself is also good (it all used to work perfectly).

Could this be some other setting somewhere that is not right or does this look like a hardware problem ?

ldezem · 2021-11-13T10:01:41.769Z

I get this too on some reboots. I think its a grounding issue as when I hold the power in usb while booting the volume is good. Interested to learn if there is an other solution/issue.

chrisl · 2021-11-13T10:14:00.582Z

I experienced this last week and ended up flashing a new SD card to start from a clean slate. Everything has been fine since, but I’d love to know what’s going on.

xmacex · 2021-11-13T10:52:39.723Z

Ooh what a folk theory/alchemy/sorcery, or in contemporary parlance, a lifehack. I encounter low volume issue too sometimes, plus have a constant hum on my gear, so I will definitely try holding on to power to see if it helps. Interesting, thanks! 🪄

ldezem · 2021-11-13T10:58:08.610Z

one must their birthflesh on iron feel with touch

St0rMl0rD · 2021-11-14T11:34:46.082Z

Interesting that it seems to be a common issue. Interested to know what the workaround/solution for the low volume could be.

wakyct · 2021-11-14T18:29:15.457Z

i’ve routed my Shield’s output to an external dac over usb before, could that be a way to isolate the issue to the output jack maybe?