9.02 Lockups

m lebofsky

Experienced
Config:
Ultra 9.02
Rocktron All-Access midi controller (have not changed its configuration in over a year)

During my first band practice with 9.02 firmware, axe lockups (hi pitched squeel and frozen) on patch changes
After reboot things are OK for a few patch changes, then frozen again.

In a 3 hour practice with approx 20 patch changed, 3 freeze ups.

I never experienced this under any other firmware version


After practice I spent some time trying to figure out what was happening.
I can make it freeze (1 out of about 20 time) if I enable an effect (CC) and then quickly switch to another patch. Can't seem to find a pattern to it though.

Also - I assume it's not related, but my wheel is lately doing the turn it clockwise and watch the values "sometimes" go in reverse trick (happens when scrolling through patches and when editing inside patches).
 
It's just me :?:
Honest, my band mates heard the squeels and saw the Axe lockup; plus, I can force a lockup via my midi controller within 2 minutes if I try .....
 
Give me the exact sequence of events that cause the problem. Also, standard or Ultra.
 
I have the All Access and an Ultra.

No freeze-ups here, but my wah was turning on during the sound check before the gig (I have it set to auto-on/off) even though I did NOT have the wah expression pedal (or any expression pedal at all) plugged into the All Access.

The Axe-FX was showing midi messages from the All Access constantly, blinking off for second, then showing long periods of activity even when no one was near the All Access.

I checked to make sure the "ignore redundant..." parameter was on and it was.

I took a patch cable and looped the expression jacks on the All Access (plugged each end into the two jacks). Midi activity stopped, gig went on fine with no hiccups.

Don't know if it's related, but thought I'd mention it in detail; perhaps it is related.
 
Extensive use, but no lockups yet.

The auto-engage thingy is a known one, reported several times.
Happened to me a number of times. Almost like there's some kind of shortcircuit, making the wah thinking it's being stepped upon and translated into midi. Spurious data, it can happen, ask Mission Engineering.
I switched cables (plastic plugs instead of metal) and it never occurred since.
 
Scott Peterson said:
I have the All Access and an Ultra.

No freeze-ups here, but my wah was turning on during the sound check before the gig (I have it set to auto-on/off) even though I did NOT have the wah expression pedal (or any expression pedal at all) plugged into the All Access.

The Axe-FX was showing midi messages from the All Access constantly, blinking off for second, then showing long periods of activity even when no one was near the All Access.

I checked to make sure the "ignore redundant..." parameter was on and it was.

I took a patch cable and looped the expression jacks on the All Access (plugged each end into the two jacks). Midi activity stopped, gig went on fine with no hiccups.

Don't know if it's related, but thought I'd mention it in detail; perhaps it is related.

That's totally an issue with the All Access. With no exp. pedal there's noise on the input and it thinks the pedal is moving.
 
FractalAudio said:
Scott Peterson said:
I have the All Access and an Ultra.

No freeze-ups here, but my wah was turning on during the sound check before the gig (I have it set to auto-on/off) even though I did NOT have the wah expression pedal (or any expression pedal at all) plugged into the All Access.

The Axe-FX was showing midi messages from the All Access constantly, blinking off for second, then showing long periods of activity even when no one was near the All Access.

I checked to make sure the "ignore redundant..." parameter was on and it was.

I took a patch cable and looped the expression jacks on the All Access (plugged each end into the two jacks). Midi activity stopped, gig went on fine with no hiccups.

Don't know if it's related, but thought I'd mention it in detail; perhaps it is related.

That's totally an issue with the All Access. With no exp. pedal there's noise on the input and it thinks the pedal is moving.

I agree. It disappeared once I plugged in the cable... it stopped. So the All Access needs a bit of attention. Perhaps replacing it with a MFC from Fractal would teach it a lession. ;) :D (I had to.) :D

I'll clean the jack out and see if that fixes my issue.

Sorry for the thread jack; thought it *might* related since I have an All Access like the OP.

Thanks for the information Cliff.
 
Scott Peterson said:
I'll clean the jack out and see if that fixes my issue.
I wouldn't expect that to solve the issue of noise on an unconnected socket, Scott (unless is not shorting and should be). A shorted jack plug would probably solve the problem.
 
GM Arts said:
[quote="Scott Peterson":iv8sdtb7]I'll clean the jack out and see if that fixes my issue.
I wouldn't expect that to solve the issue of noise on an unconnected socket, Scott (unless is not shorting and should be). A shorted jack plug would probably solve the problem.[/quote:iv8sdtb7]

I've heard of amps with effects loops that will cause noise with nothing plugged in because the switching jacks start to oxidize. Spraying some deoxit on a cable and inserting it a dozen times will clear it up. So, if those are switching jacks, that could be the problem.
 
For the record, cleaning the jacks did nothing. Shorting it out (or plugging in an expression pedal) solves it.
 
Re: Ultra 9.02 Lockups

OK I figured out the 6.02 problem I am having.

The following setting must be in place:

- midi - send realtimesysex (tempo or all). Then patch changes "may" freeze the system. Do 50 fast patch changes and it will freeze.

- midi - send realtimesysex (none or tuner). Patch changes will not freze the system, no matter how many or how fast.

Ignore redundant PC messages setting (on or off) has no bearing on the above results.

Thank you, and good night ....
 
Re: Ultra 9.02 Lockups

m lebofsky said:
OK I figured out the 6.02 problem I am having.

The following setting must be in place:

- midi - send realtimesysex (tempo or all). Then patch changes "may" freeze the system. Do 50 fast patch changes and it will freeze.

- midi - send realtimesysex (none or tuner). Patch changes will not freze the system, no matter how many or how fast.

Ignore redundant PC messages setting (on or off) has no bearing on the above results.

Thank you, and good night ....

Keep tempo real time sysex off usless you are using the fractal controller. It only works with it and it freaks out other controllers.
Ignore redundant pc changes only keeps the axe-fx from reloading a patch it is already on. So if your foot controller is sending out a program change of 100 w/ drive on and you have another patch on your foot controller that uses program change 100 on the axe-fx w/ the drive off; there will be no dropout when you changes patches, it will just turn off the drive.
 
After a few emails back and forth with Fractal at 10:pm (I assume Cliff) we think the problem is -

The Rocktron All-Access controller does not like having Fractal specific streaming sysex data (ie midi send Temo or send All) coming in at the same time I am sending patch change data. Typically I had the Axe set to send ALL midi data (tuner and tempo) since I like to use those features of the PC editor. Since the Rocktron unit doesn't support tuner or tempo data coming into it, no real loss; except for the fact that I must reconfiogure the Axe's midi I/O each time I use the PC editor vs the Rocktron unit. May be Wiki worthy as something to look out for when using non Fractal foot controllers ?
Problem solved.
Thanks again Cliff.

PS I did ask for a MFC-101 to solve the incompatibility issue, but there was no response :?
PSS Answering emails late at night to diagnose a problem that really had nothing to do with the unit itself says volumes. Just makes you smile.
 
Re: Ultra 9.02 Lockups

javajunkie said:
m lebofsky said:
OK I figured out the 6.02 problem I am having.

The following setting must be in place:

- midi - send realtimesysex (tempo or all). Then patch changes "may" freeze the system. Do 50 fast patch changes and it will freeze.

- midi - send realtimesysex (none or tuner). Patch changes will not freze the system, no matter how many or how fast.

Ignore redundant PC messages setting (on or off) has no bearing on the above results.

Thank you, and good night ....

Keep tempo real time sysex off usless you are using the fractal controller. It only works with it and it freaks out other controllers.
Ignore redundant pc changes only keeps the axe-fx from reloading a patch it is already on. So if your foot controller is sending out a program change of 100 w/ drive on and you have another patch on your foot controller that uses program change 100 on the axe-fx w/ the drive off; there will be no dropout when you changes patches, it will just turn off the drive.

:mrgreen:
 
Farkin' All Access. 20+ year old technology gummin' up the works. ;) :D

Still a good controller after all these years, but that indeed needs to be in the Wiki for AA users.
 
When the Axe-FX streams out that MIDI information is it on all channels? Isn't there a way to send MIDI information just on specific channels and couldn't you set the all-access to only receive on a specific channel? Maybe that is more general MIDI and not implemented in either the Axe-FX or All Access or both.

If the All Access (or other controllers that have similar problems) could be set to "listen" on a specific channel and if the Axe-FX could control which channel the MIDI for tuner/tempo is sent on, in theory, could you not then maintain both the All Access and the Editor and not have the issue you were experiencing?
 
mworkman said:
When the Axe-FX streams out that MIDI information is it on all channels? Isn't there a way to send MIDI information just on specific channels and couldn't you set the all-access to only receive on a specific channel? Maybe that is more general MIDI and not implemented in either the Axe-FX or All Access or both.

If the All Access (or other controllers that have similar problems) could be set to "listen" on a specific channel and if the Axe-FX could control which channel the MIDI for tuner/tempo is sent on, in theory, could you not then maintain both the All Access and the Editor and not have the issue you were experiencing?

It sysex data it doesnt use a MIDI channel. The editor works fine if you just set it to tuner only and set the tempo cc# in the editor.
You can maintain a controller and editor setting by setting the send reatime sysex to tuner only.
 
Back
Top Bottom