Finally joined the EII Club (Sampling and Voice Problems).

[rtech]

I purchased a fixer upper EII+ HD over the weekend. I spent about 10 hrs+ trying to revive her, as she was dead when purchased. I got it to boot from the hard drive and loaded some sound banks, but during tests I discovered that voices 4 and 5 are not working. I get sound on output 5 sometimes but it sounds strange. The sound on output 5 sometimes just loops endlessly until I keep pressing other keys to cancel it out. I tried swapping the SSM chip with a known good voice but it did not work.

My other issue ,which is bigger than the dead voices, is the sampling does not work. When I hit the sampling module button I get loud (75%+ on the VU Meter) metallic noise. I get noise regardless whether there is an input source or not.

Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I wanted to be in this club for the longest and here I am, like most trying to bring this baby up to its fullest potential.

rtech

[dr.c]

On the deficient voices, take off the S3528 and put them back in place.

Voice 5 : does it do the endless sound if you launch the note in MIDI, and ont from your E2 keyboard ?

[rtech]

dr. c,

  Thanks for the advice. I cleanded the ICs on the voice board and did get channel/voice 4 working, but 5 is still doing the looping thing. I will try using a midi controller to triger the voice later on tonight. I will get back with the results.

  On another post I read that sometimes this issue could be caused by a defective ram chip where the OS loads to. Which RAM IC # does the OS use? I have an EII+ HD so I figure I can swap them with the second bank chips. My Digital board is Rev.1 and it does not have the piggyback memory board.

Once again thanks for the advice. 

rtech

[rtech]

Dr. C and  any one else that can help,

  I tried triggering the sounds with a MIDI Controller and the same thing, Voice 5 loops endlessly until I cancel it out with other keys.

  I also did some more test on the Sampling Noise. I tried trimming the AD but when I test the voltage with the Sampling Module Selected on IC75(Pin 1) I get almost 10V, without Sampling Enabled it get a very small voltage in the mV range. I could be wrong about the IC Number as I am at work and going based on memory(I tried this over the weekend). According to the Repair Manual the difference in voltage between Sampling Enable and when it is disabled should be 10mV or less. When I sample something into the EII I can hear it but very distorted. I get the best sound when using the max Gain of +40DB, when I use no gain I can barely hear the sample(what I hear is mostly metallic sounding noise).

What could be the issue? A defective IC, Resistor or is the Trim defective?

  I am getting closer and closer to having a fully functioning EII, any help or advice will be apprecitated.

--Update: I did further test on Voice 5 and discovered that if it does not loop, the sound coming from it sounds at full level/higher than the other voices it also sounds distored. I know it is channel 5 related because when I dissable the voice the problem goes away.


Thanks.

rtech

[rtech]

Any one with any suggestions?   

  I did some more tests but are still having issues with voice number 5. I swapped all the ICs listes on the service manual on voice 5 with a known good voice, but the problem of the voice looping endless still persist. I am begining to think the problem is within the digital board. Any tips on which IC to check?

  I am also trying to fix the sampling problem, like I stated on an earlier post the sound input gets clearer when i increase the Gain to 40DB and set the gain button to Max. When I try to Trim the sampling gain using the instructions on the Repair Manual does not improve the Noise.

Please help with any suggestions.

Thanks.

[rtech]

I can not believe no body has suggestions. Please help me solve my Sampling Issue?

[esynthesist]

dude, there are only certain people that get help around here.

... it's also possible that no one has a clue how to solve the problem  
The kind of problem mentioned by rtech is not of the type "very common, have seen that many times, so here's a hint...".
Dr C is the reference on this group for hardware stuff.
I guess if he doesn't reply, he doesn't have a hint neither.

[JMP]

dude, there are only certain people that get help around here.   Too many ego's around here man.
I have high jacked threads on accident and I wasn't aware I was doing it and now anything I post isn't
being responded to also.   You notice how some people have people coming out of the woodwork for solutions,
and then some people's threads never get answered.  I'm not sure what it is.   I wish you luck.

That's crap. I only got my EII a year or so ago and got help in here but had to put in the work myself too to understand these things. You were pulled up about reading the manual the other week and I thought exactly the same thing at the time... Anyway, I've offered to help you with your EII & Sound Designer issues as you're in exactly the same position as I was a year or so ago. Be cool and let me know when you get that Apple SCSI CD rom.  

BTW, sorry to go OT, but as E-Synthesist said, not everyone has the answers, particularly on very technical stuff.  
Rtech, do you have a vintage synth/kit tech anywhere you can get to? Where are you located? Some issues are just best taking to the experts, I had to also when I first picked mine up to sort out several things.

[rtech]

I am here in southern California. I know of forat and other techs out here but, one local one told me that the output and digital board needed replacement so I took it back and cleaned both boards and got it working except the two issues mentioned on earlier posts. I think the tech that I took it to didn't even open it to test it. Since I got it almost working properly and have been reading this user forum I thought some one here could help me.
 
  I will probably have to take it to forat or some other tech familiar with EMU stuff. I just have to put some money aside since it will probably not be cheap.

rtech

[Elmbeatz]

...
 I'm not sure what it is. 
...

Well, at this point, I simply neither have a solution.
If I had one, OF COURSE I would post it in this thread.

[rtech]

One more try at this. I am getting too much noise coming from voice 5. I know is voice 5 beacause even when I turn the voice OFF from the special menu I get noise(Huming/Electrical noise ) from the Individual Out 5 and from the Mix Out. All the other 7 voices are perfect, I get nice clear tones from them.

Is there a way to permanantly dissable the voice (5)? Can I take out a specific IC so that nothing comes out of it?

Thanks,

rtech

[esynthesist]

Mmm... that's interesting.
It indicates that the problem should be in the final stage of the audio processing circuitry.
Maybe I should have a detailed look at the schematics...
...it seems like a problem that can be solved without killing the 5th voice permanently

[rtech]

.

[rtech]

never mind. thanks.....

[esynthesist]

Do you have a (digital storage) oscilloscope ?
To check where in channel 5 the distorted sound starts...