Bug: abrupt volume drop when changing presets (intermittent)

[OB1]

Moderators just help with the forum. We don’t create the gear. Thanks.

Sorry my bad.

Would still be great to hear from anyone who could help as this issue is making live performance with the AX8 unreliable. If nothing happens I guess I'll have to look for something else.. I'm hoping I won't have to because the Fractal stuff sounds really great. But I need something reliable.

 

[Dario Giuliano]

I've had this happen to me intermittently. Switch to a preset, and the volume drops significantly. Switch to another preset, and volume is restored. Switch back to the "problem" preset, and its volume is restored, too.

It happens only rarely, and I haven't found a pattern to it.

It happens only rarely for me too, but it happens in different situations. In home with the usb connected, in the practice room with stereo PLUG output and even on stage with canon output. Always with a ernie ball vp1 connected to epression 1.

 

[Rex]

It happens only rarely for me too, but it happens in different situations. In home with the usb connected, in the practice room with stereo PLUG output and even on stage with canon output. Always with a ernie ball vp1 connected to epression 1.

Has it ever happened to you when no USB cable was connected?

 

[JDSStudios]

Volume gets very quite to me too.
It happened all night long on my last live performances.
It never happened on firmware 10.0

This is very frustrating, I am not a part-timer, I do live performances for a living.
I have to keep changing patches to regain normal volume.

 

[Stratoblaster]

I've commented about this issue earlier in the thread and just want to add a bit to this...I've had this happen again a few times over the last couple of months at home only while tweaking presets.

While not overly scientific, some trends I've noticed with regards to the audio dropout:

• it only occurs when I'm doing a great deal of tweaking across several presets and switching between presets a lot via the hardware buttons; I've never had this happen when switching presets with Axe-Edit during intense tweaking sessions
  
• I've never had this happen playing live; possibly because I'm not tweaking/saving, etc. a whole lot (??)
• I've only had this happen once at rehearsal, and that was after I was tweaking/saving several presets during the rehearsal session a fair bit. Otherwise, I've rehearsed a lot with the AX8 (no tweaking) and only had the dropout happen that one time
  
• it doesn't matter if Axe-Edit is or isn't connected; I've had dropouts happen either way (again, only switching via the hardware buttons after editing for some time)
  
• this seems to happen very soon after saving a preset; after saving, the dropout occurs after only switching to a couple of presets shortly afterward

The only common thing I can determine is that the dropout only occurs (for me) during heavy editing of several presets over time/single session and doing a lot of switching with the AX8 hardware buttons.

FWIW I have two Mission expression pedals connected and properly calibrated, etc; I read somewhere that the unused CC inputs should be disabled/or hard set to zero (something like that) to prevent MIDI CC garbage possibly causing issues and I think I've done that (I looked into those settings some months back but should re-visit this), but...perhaps this is related to the unused CC inputs being read strangely after a preset change and causing grief...just thinking out-loud...

It's like the main OUT level(s) get set to zero/fully off (where you can still hear a bit of the signal coming thru when they are physically set that way). A preset change to another one 'refreshes' the main OUT level(s).

 

[Rex]

I've commented about this issue earlier in the thread and just want to add a bit to this...I've had this happen again a few times over the last couple of months at home only while tweaking presets.

While not overly scientific, some trends I've noticed with regards to the audio dropout:

• it only occurs when I'm doing a great deal of tweaking across several presets and switching between presets a lot via the hardware buttons; I've never had this happen when switching presets with Axe-Edit during intense tweaking sessions
  
• I've never had this happen playing live; possibly because I'm not tweaking/saving, etc. a whole lot (??)
• I've only had this happen once at rehearsal, and that was after I was tweaking/saving several presets during the rehearsal session a fair bit. Otherwise, I've rehearsed a lot with the AX8 (no tweaking) and only had the dropout happen that one time
  
• it doesn't matter if Axe-Edit is or isn't connected; I've had dropouts happen either way (again, only switching via the hardware buttons after editing for some time)
  
• this seems to happen very soon after saving a preset; after saving, the dropout occurs after only switching to a couple of presets shortly afterward

The only common thing I can determine is that the dropout only occurs (for me) during heavy editing of several presets over time/single session and doing a lot of switching with the AX8 hardware buttons.

FWIW I have two Mission expression pedals connected and properly calibrated, etc; I read somewhere that the unused CC inputs should be disabled/or hard set to zero (something like that) to prevent MIDI CC garbage possibly causing issues and I think I've done that (I looked into those settings some months back but should re-visit this), but...perhaps this is related to the unused CC inputs being read strangely after a preset change and causing grief...just thinking out-loud...

It's like the main OUT level(s) get set to zero/fully off (where you can still hear a bit of the signal coming thru when they are physically set that way). A preset change to another one 'refreshes' the main OUT level(s).

Thanks for the added info, @Stratoblaster .

I’ll add that I had this happen several times during heavy sessions of preset auditioning, with no saves, and only making changes via footswitch stomps and AX8-Edit preset (EDIT: and scene) selection.

 

[chris]

i have to guess this is something on preset load.

 

[Rex]

i have to guess this is something on preset load.

I think that's at least part of it. I've only ever seen it reported immediately following preset selection. It may also have to do with preceding scene selection.

 

[Stratoblaster]

i have to guess this is something on preset load.

I think that's at least part of it. I've only ever seen it reported immediately following preset selection. It may also have to do with preceding scene selection.

I've only had the issue after a new preset load and no other time, but only when I'm really 'working' the AX8, doing a lot of deep-editing/saving over several presets and switching between them rapidly and many times over.

I should add that the dropout doesn't happen every time I extensively edit for a long period; the issue is a fairly rare event for me but still does pop up once in a while.

I’ll add that I had this happen several times during heavy sessions of preset auditioning, with no saves, and only making changes via footswitch stomps and AX8-Edit preset (EDIT: and scene) selection.

Ahhh interesting...every data point helps (or confuses FAS more lol)...

 

[Suke]

Hi all, I just got my AX8 6 days ago, firmware 10.1 and the exact same thing happened to me (twice). I had it connected via USB for Ax Edit and going into my system via SPDIF. The day before I had created my first 4 presets. The next day I turned on unit and clicked from my preset #1 to #4 (via Ax Edit) and there was no volume (I keep my OUT1 and OUT 2 at 100%) I had my VU page up on the AX8 to keep track of my levels while creating presets. I noticed the OUT 1 knob was still at 100% BUT the screen showed it at 3%. I touched the OUT 1 knob and moved it a tiny bit and the volume snapped back to 100% again. I set up the AX8 to use OUT 1 for FOH and echo on OUT 2 for my personal monitor, I'm really nervous that if this happens live I might not notice the FOH signal going out if I have a wedge cranking next to me from OUT 2.

 

[WhiteSpace]

This problem is usually reported only when the AX8 is connected to AX8 Edit. I’ve been gigging weekly with my AX8 since May 2018 any have never had any kind of live hiccup of ANY sort when in ‘performance modee’. I did have this volume thing happen once but while connected to AX8Edit.....

 

[Suke]

@WhiteSpace Thanks for the input, I saw that mentioned in the previous pages of this thread although it seems as some did have it while not connected to AX Edit. I'll hope for the best and hope it gets fixed someday. I thought I had a faulty unit until I saw this thread

 

[JDSStudios]

This volume drop happens to me with no USB connection.
Usually I have to stomp twice on the same patch button to get my full volume back.
This is not good, my unit was only a few weeks old and updated to 10.1.

 

[chris]

This volume drop happens to me with no USB connection.
Usually I have to stomp twice on the same patch button to get my full volume back.
This is not good, my unit was only a few weeks old and updated to 10.1.

can you please upload the preset where you have the issue? in AX8-Edit, load the preset, click the Preset menu up top, then Export. upload the resulting .syx file here. if it's a commercial preset, please Private Message me.

thanks. we want to solve this but can't find a consistent step to follow.

 

[JDSStudios]

can you please upload the preset where you have the issue? in AX8-Edit, load the preset, click the Preset menu up top, then Export. upload the resulting .syx file here. if it's a commercial preset, please Private Message me.

thanks. we want to solve this but can't find a consistent step to follow.

Hi Chris, it’s good to finally see someone that cares.
There are several clean patches, no distortion, in which this problem occurs. I have this sensation that if I don’t stomp really hard on the button, then the lack of volume occurs.
From the 4 presets that I noticed this bug on, they have mostly Digital Delay, Rev, Parametric Equalizer and Chorus.

I could be wrong, but if by accident I step on two buttons at the same time, or even slightly touch the adjacent button, I think I can make this happen at will.

I hope this info helps.

I will send them when I get to the studio next year (in a couple of days)
John

 

[Rex]

Hi Chris, it’s good to finally see someone that cares.

A scan of the forum shows that lots of people care. But so far, no one has been able to reliably reproduce this, and that really hampers attempts to fix it.

I could be wrong, but if by accident I step on two buttons at the same time, or even slightly touch the adjacent button, I think I can make this happen at will.

If you can make this happen at will, that would be a real breakthrough. If so, please tell us the step-by-step procedure to reproduce the issue.

 

[Bitlogic]

Guys I'm new to Fractal. Had my AX8 a total of 5 days. This problem just happened to me today for the first time and it happened twice. I changed presets and volume was restored. Went back to problem preset and problem gone. If anyone knows what is causing this please give a shout out.

BTW I'm running the latest firmware 10.01. Everything is fresh out of the box.

 

[JDSStudios]

Fractal should take this more seriously.
They should troubleshoot their product, not us.

I mean Fractal, when you go to work at 9 AM, test several units for the full 8 hours a day until you find your mistake. Take a few days if you must, but find the problem. This may be the deal breaker for many of us, plus a bad reputation on Fractal.
If we have to sell or get read of our Fractal AX8 units because of this crap, we simply may never return to Fractal.

We have 100 plus live shows lined up, and now this nightmare in our heads.

 

[Bitlogic]

I don’t think that indicates a knob issue. More likely an issue when loading the preset, that gets corrected when you touch the knob and a value is read from it.

This is the only explanation that makes sense. Now if Fractal can fix the software for the presets that would be great

 

[chris]

Fractal should take this more seriously.
They should troubleshoot their product, not us.

it's being taken seriously. majority of the testers have not ever experienced this ever, and those who have - including customers - cannot reproduce it consistently.

it's hard to fix if it can't be made to happen at will. this is not happening to all customers or all AX8 units. it has been reported that it only happens when connected to AX8-edit, and it's not intended to use that during a gig anyway. so this is a non-issue for live gigs.

if anyone can make this happen consistently, please upload the presets it happens on, your system backup from Fractal Bot, and any description of what to do to make it happen.