Weird low output/distortion - reboot fixed the problem

jimfist

Fractal Fanatic
At rehearsals tonight, for no apparent reason, the sound coming out of my bass speaker system sounded distorted, like the amp was farting out or something. I checked all of the connections and switched basses, figuring perhaps the battery in my active bass was dying. Nope. The sound was like a real low level distortion, almost like the way a tube amp sounds when you hit the standby switch just before the sound disappears. This wasn't a cable problem.

After I exhausted all external possibilities, I shut down the Axe-Fx for about 30 seconds, and then turned it back on. All was fine after that.

Very odd. Has anyone else experienced this problem?
 
No, but did you by any chance have it hooked up to midi? Maybe it picked up some signal in the chain that kicked up the drive level, or the level on one of the effects or cabs or whatever you're using? That's about the only thing I can think of. Some parameter that got changed accidentally, and that's why it cleared when you turned it off and on. I don't know if you did, but changing patches and then changing back again might have cleared it if something like that was the cause since it would have reverted it back to the saved settings.
 
The possibility of some kind of MIDI corruption did cross my mind. I changed presets and also engaged the Global Bypass when troubleshooting the problem, so I ruled out any weird MIDI data that might have been sent since the problem persisted in Global Bypass. Reboot solved the problem. I also ruled out any other equipment, patch bay, etc. The sound coming from my stage amp was replicated in the direct feed to the PA.

It's just something that I'm now aware of and know how to rectify in case it ever happens again. In the 8 months I've owned my Ultra this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. I'm praying to god that this doesn't happen on a gig.
 
I've been having this problem, and I am hooked up to MIDI coming out of Ableton. Only a reboot seems to fix it, I tried removing all the blocks in layout and just had a line from input to output and actually got NO sound output, whereas with my normal presets, it sounds just like you described - very low output and a little bit of distortion. I have a show tomorrow and am trying to troubleshoot, any ideas?
 
Sounds like the same problem I'm having. It could be a MIDI corruption thing going on after all, as DLM has stated. It has happened a couple more times since the first time, and a reboot solves the problem and things seem to be stable after that....kind of random, though. It hasn't bitten me in the ass yet on a gig, but now I'm starting to wonder. I'm going to pay close attention to my power up sequence, and also perhaps not plug in any of the MIDI connections until both my footcontroller and Ultra are both powered ON.
 
I've been having this problem, and I am hooked up to MIDI coming out of Ableton. Only a reboot seems to fix it, I tried removing all the blocks in layout and just had a line from input to output and actually got NO sound output, whereas with my normal presets, it sounds just like you described - very low output and a little bit of distortion. I have a show tomorrow and am trying to troubleshoot, any ideas?

In the Axe I/O menu (MIDI or CTRL page, can't remember) set Input Volume and Out 1 Volume to "none" and see if the problem stops. If it does then one or both of the CC#s they were set to is probably being sent by Ableton. CC#10 is pan for a lot of MIDI gear and it wouldn't be surprising if that's going out on playback and/or stop.
 
That's a good idea Bakerman, I'll try that. It seems like turning off our lights programming (for a midi to dmx box) fixed it, it was coming out of the AxeFx THRU port and into the DMX box. I didn't expect it to make a difference because the lights programming is only notes and velocities, no midi CC (although I guess Ableton could be sending CC's secretly or something). Hopefully it goes well tomorrow, thanks for the suggestions.
 
Was the light gear on the same channel as Axe-FX? I think it's common for sequencers to send each track's pan & volume CCs upon playback so things sound as intended (when those CCs actually control pan & volume). Then on stop some might restore pans to center (64) and volume to maximum.
 
It wasn't on the same channel actually, I had the AxeFx on Ch. 1 and lights on Ch. 2. What you're saying about the sequencer's midi sync makes sense to me, but I found a place in our set where it was having the problem every time, and the lights midi was definitely the culprit. The part I noticed was a transition between two songs where one midi clip of the lights cut off and another started immediately. I didn't check if consolidating the clip would fix it.

I got through our show without any AxeFx problems and the lights worked great too (about an hour set with all except for about 5 minutes of it playing to a click).
 
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