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Troubleshooting
Technology is great... when it works!
Working in a MIDI/audio environment necessarily involves some amount of troubleshooting. Things don't always work as expected and it is important to learn to analyse problems and fix them. It is so important that troubleshooting is a part of the electronic music course, especially in the Intermediate class.
Fortunately, most problems can be solved by some very simple procedures, a few of which are outlined here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The current Troubleshooting Guide text was written for the old and quite obsolete electronic music studios. The guide will be updated during the fall 2006 term to reflect practices for our new electronic music classroom.
Troubleshooting guidelines
You should keep a few basic objectives in mind as you attempt to resolve technical problems in the studio. Doing so, as you apply techniques described below and elsewhere on this web site, will make it more likely that your problem-solving is successful and that you don't accidentally make things worse.
Here are some basic guidelines:
- Don't panic. Studio problems often seem more dire than they actually are. A clear mind will help you analyze problems and solve them.
- Don't make things worse. While you should always try basic troubleshooting techniques, avoid randomly changing things.
- Keep track of what you do. It is a good idea to write down what you do as you work to fix the studio. Write down information about the situation before you made changes, what you changed and how, and what happened.
- Be sure that you can put things back as they were. This will be easier if you follow rules #2 and #3 above.
- Contact the instructor immediately if you cannot fix a problem. This is important so that he can solve the problem and get the studio running again as quickly as possible.
Another important guideline is to look for simple solutions first. Begin with the most obvious potential problems and verify that they are not the culprit. Almost all studio problems are due to the same basic issues - it is rare for something very unusual and esoteric to be the cause.
Contact the instructor
Contact the instructor when any problems occur in the studio - unless they are very basic problems and you are absolutely certain that you have fixed them. Don't wait. Contact him right away - both so to minimize your lost studio time and to ensure that the studio will work reliably for all students.
There are several ways to contact the instructor - try more than one until you are successful:
- Post a New Topic on this web site by clicking in the Discussion secction of the left sidebar. Type up a brief description of the problem and include any relevant information that may help with the solution. When you submit your message this way an email is automatically sent to the instructor and your message is posted in our discussion area. (You must be a member of the site and then log in.)
- Call the instructor. Call right from the studio if you have a cell phone. The office number is 408-864-8511. Leave a voicemail if no one answers.
- Go to the instructor's office in room AT105, located on the lower level of the Advanced Technology Building. Leave a note at the office if he is not in.
- Leave a note in the instructor's mailbox in the Creative Arts Division office (Room A47) or the faculty mail room in the administration building.
Of all of these options, the most useful is the online discussion area at this web site. When you use this method to report questions and problems:
- the instructor is notified immediately via email.
- the instructor can respond even if he is not on campus.
- we can use the discussion feature to further discuss the problem.
- the answer to your problem can include graphics and references to other resources on this web site.
- the solution can easily be shared with other students in the class.
Basic things to check
Keeping in mind the guideline about checking simple things first, there are some very basic checks you should make first.
- Check all devices that are active in the studio: synthesizers, mixers, computers, interfaces, etc. Are they all turned on?
- Try turning everything off, waiting a few seconds, and then turning everything back on again.
- Gently check cables to make sure they are plugged in fully. (But do not try to re-wire the studio!)
Local Control
Keep in mind that the synthesizer's local control feature must be disabled when you work in a MIDI sequencing environment. Otherwise you may hear "double notes" when you record.
Here is the procedure of disabling local control on the Roland XP-10.
- Press the EDIT button on front panel of the synthesizer.
- Press the "+" button until the display reads "System Setup."
- Press button 7.
- Press the "-" button to change the word "on" to "off" in the display.
- Press the EDIT button one more time.
Basic studio-specific issues
There are three electronic music studios at De Anza and each is somewhat unique.
Studio C and Studio D are used by Intro to Electronic Music students. Each has an iMac computer running the Logic sequencing program and a basic MIDI interface. Studio D also includes a small audio mixer and a Yamaha RX-11 drum machine. Studio C does not have a drum machine, nor does it contain a mixer since the audio outputs of the synthesizer are connected directly to powered monitor speakers.
Studio A is used by Intermediate Electronic Music students. It includes 3 stand-alone synthesizers, a sampler, two mixers, a signal processor, an advanced MIDI interface. Software includes programs for MIDI sequencing, sampling, and audio recording and editing. Due to the number of devices and programs that must work together in this studio, there is a greater potential for problems here and your trouble-shooting skills are more likely to be tested in this studio.
Troubleshooting Studio C
Almost all of the difficulties in this studio are due to fairly basic problems that can usually be fixed quickly.
- Check the local control setting on the synthesizer. Local control should be turned off - see the Local Control chapter in the syllabus for the procedure or see the section above on this page. (The symptom of an incorrect local control setting is that more than one type of sound will be heard each time you press a key on the synthesizer.)
- There is a known problem with the Opcode MIDI interface in Studio C that you can easily avoid - or fix if it occurs. Due to a software problem with the interface, choosing Restart on the Mac will cause the computer to "lose track" of the interface. The solution is to always choose Shut Down on this computer instead of Restart. (The symptom of this problem is that the sequencer will act as if there is no MIDI interface.) If you encounter the problem you should Shut Down the computer, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on again.
- When some software crashes (e.g. - the program or the computer freezes up) you will not be able to successfully relaunch the program unless you shut the computer down and then restart.
- Cycle the computer and synthesizer power on and off to solve many otherwise inexplicable problems. In other words, shut down the computer and the synthesizer, wait a few seconds, and start everything again.
Troubleshooting Studio D
- Make sure the speakers are turned on.
- Check the local control setting on the synthesizer. Local control should be turned off - see the Local Control chapter in the syllabus for the procedure or see the section above on this page. (The symptom of an incorrect local control setting is that more than one type of sound will be heard each time you press a key on the synthesizer.)
- When some software crashes (e.g. - the program or the computer freezes up) you will not be able to successfully relaunch the program unless you shut the computer down and then restart.
- Check the MIDI interface button in Studio D. The button on the front of this interface should not be pushed in.
- Shut down the computer and the synthesizer, wait a few seconds, and start everything again. This often solves problems that defy analysis.
- Check mixer settings. If you move every slider, knob, and switch to its middle position the mixer should work OK. (There is one exception: Some switches have only two positions. Fortunately, the mixer will work with these switches in either position.)
Troubleshooting Studio A
Due to the complexity of Studio A it is impossible to provide a complete list of all troubleshooting options here. In fact, analyzing and troubleshooting the studio is an integral part of the Intermediate Electronic Music course. However, there are some common problems that occur frequently enough that they warrant inclusion on this page.
- Check the local control setting on the synthesizer. Local control should be turned off - see the Local Control chapter in the syllabus for the procedure or see the section above on this page. Note that this only applies to the controller keyboard, since the local control issue is only relevant when you actually perform on a keyboard while recording. In other words, don't worry about local control settings on slave keyboards such as the Roland D-5.
- Check the power switch on the MIDI interface located in the rack on the floor. This switch has three positions: 1-8, off, and 9-16. This switch must be in the 1-8 position.
- Do not change the setting on the switch in the middle of the front panel of the MIDI interface.
- Check mixer settings. There are two mixers in this studio; this section refers to settings on the primary audio mixer that sits on top of the rack to the left of the keyboard. This mixer is too complex to describe completely here, but you should at least check that its power is on and that all of the sliders are turned up about 1/3 - 3/4 of the way.
- When some software crashes (e.g. - the program you are using or the computer freezes up) you will not be able to successfully relaunch the program unless you shut the computer down and then restart.
- Avoid making changes to <!--the OMS (Open Music System) program--> basic computer setup. <!--You can inadvertantly access this program from within Vision. If this happens you are probably best off simply closing the OMS application without making any changes.--> Contact the instructor with any other questions
- Do not set the sequencer to use external sync. If you do this accidentally (or discover that someone else has done this) set it back to internal sync.
- When using the Sample Cell software you may occasionally encounter a message that says "Disk is locked." This happens if you try to save a sample or instrument in the Sample Cell program without first choosing Save As... and putting the file into your folder in the student files folder.
- Cycle the computer and synthesizer power on and off to solve many otherwise inexplicable problems. In other words, shut down the computer and the synthesizer, wait a few seconds, and start everything again.
Program changes
Program changes (or patches) are often a source of frustration. Many times I've seen someone play a project back in the studio, only to discover that it played with all the wrong sounds. When we look carefully at the sequence by opening the strip chart and looking at patches, we invariably find that the program changes are missing from the sequence.
What confuses students even more is that their piece did play correctly when they were in the studio working on it during lab time. What happened between the time they recorded it and the time we played it back to cause the program changes to be lost?
The answer usually turns out to be quite simple. Generally, you either neglected to record (or otherwise input) the program changes into your sequence, or you did put them in but you accidentally deleted them as you worked on your project.
*NOTE: Intermediate electronic music students and intro to electronic music students using a "setup sequence" will not find program changes in the tracks that include the notes. If you are using a setup sequence you should check there for the program changes.
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