Software Glitches in Hardware Keyboards

[BbAltered]

So the other day, I took my Nord Electro 4 to rehearsal like I do every week we have rehearsal. In the middle of the rehearsal, the display stopped updating the drawbar positions of the last seven drawbars while using a B3 patch (program, preset, etc., whatever you want to call it on a Nord). The keyboard continued to sound and play, and drawbars continued to function, just the display would not change to reflect a new position of the drawbars. The display for the first two drawbars continued to show changes in positions as usual. Weird. The display seemed to function normally if I changed to a different patch. I power-cycled the keyboard, but the anomalous behavior of the display continued. Yesterday, in the quiet of my own studio, I powered up the Nord to see the problem remained. I was able to make the problem go away when I reloaded the B3 patch into the Live memory location.

 

Back in March, I bought a new Roland RD-2000. I've so far only used it in my studio as I work to program it for live use. Twice I have noticed some sort of glitch arising when using the metronome/rhythm function. One time, when the metronome/rhythm function was on and playing, the lowest octave of the keyboard stopped sounding. Power-cycling the keyboard restored the functionality of the lowest octave. On another occasion after playing with the metronome/rhythm function, the clavinet sound I was using took on a strong tremolo effeect, even tho' I had all the on-board effect devices turned off. Once again, power-cycling the keyboard brought the clavinet sound back to the expected non-tremolous normal.

 

So I have learned that: 1) software problems can effect the behavior of hardware keyboards; 2) If I don't panic and simply power-cycle the unit, this can fix some of the problems; 3) I should pay attention to the manufacturers' websites for updates to the keyboard OS; 4) I am going to have to start backinp up my software set-ups in my keyboards to avoid a more time-consuming difficulty.

 

Anyone else have tricks or tips for dealing with software glitches in hardware keyboards?

[johnchop]

As an IT person: Log support tickets.

 

I realize some companies' support queues are like black holes, but for those that aren't, you'll either get a workaround or a bug filed with the dev team.

 

This assumes you've already upgraded to the latest firmware and can reproduce the issue consistently.

[allan_evett]

Back up your work. Save to flash drive and/or computer memory, then to the cloud. That alone just saved hours of reprogramming on my YC88.

 

One of the bands I play for tunes down a half step for everything, so I utilize global transpose on their gigs; sometimes I have forgotten to zero-out that function before powering down. Last week the YC powered back up playing a half-step lower (as is also typical with my Stage 3 and Prologue), but the display showed transpose at 0. So to play with my other band in 'normal' tuning I had to adjust the transpose setting to +1. After talking to tech support at Sweetwater and Yamaha, I did a hard factory reset on the keyboard. Problem solved, and all of my saved worked loaded back in just fine.

[PianoMan51]

OMG! My hardware keyboard has nasty software inside!

 

The most astounding customer relationship I"ve ever had was with the developers of the VAX77. I found a poly AT issue and they resolved it that same day. Holy Moly!

 

Contact your mfg first. Get a response. Expect a quick fix.

 

Then announce it to the world.

[Rod S]

Intermittent software issues *could* be cause by power issues.

[Docbop]

Intermittent software issues *could* be cause by power issues.

 

Yes, sounds like power sags or drops, Sags can be a bigger problem that spikes. Especially if happening on two different board I check you power.

[Canoehead]

When I got my Prophet Rev 2 oscillator two was misbehaving. I assumed something needed to be replaced however a firmware update fixed it up nicely.

[CowboyNQ]

Back when I owned a Kurzweil SP4-7 it didn"t like it when I downloaded certain patches via the free Kurzweil website downloads. Would do all kinds of weird things in relation to the display, sound quality, etc.

 

Only way I could ever fix it was to exorcise the offending patches from the keyboard.

[BbAltered]

Intermittent software issues *could* be cause by power issues.

 

I live in a very rural location where on average I can expect about one electric outage per month. So it seems to me this is a very real possibility in my studio. In the past, I've seen some minor electrical appliances stop working after an outage.

 

Imagining how the electric delivery in my area might effect my digital keyboards is a scary thought.

[Synthaholic]

I'm experiencing weird glitches in my PC4-7. I made some three-way splits and the top split will disappear. After a reboot it's back. Could very well be user error, but since the PC4-7 has Entry/Exit volume settings on their Multis, and all MIDI channels/Zones are set to 127, I can't figure out what is going on.

[Al Coda]

I'm experiencing weird glitches in my PC4-7. I made some three-way splits and the top split will disappear. After a reboot it's back. Could very well be user error, but since the PC4-7 has Entry/Exit volume settings on their Multis, and all MIDI channels/Zones are set to 127, I can't figure out what is going on.

 

Kurzweil "exit" volume levels should be always set to "NONE",- otherwise they clash w/ the follow up "entry" volume level.

It´s especially important when you change any sequential order of patches/multis in a setlist.

That rules for most other controllers (Midi CCs) too !

The "reset" or parameter-change should always come from next patch or performance/ multi you recall.

 

I doubt Kurz PC4-7 deletes splitpoints or "zone"-parameters out of the blue once stored.

 

A.C.

[marczellm]

Programming the Kurz SP6 via the PC editor made me find a whole host of bugs, freezes etc. in both.

The NS2 has a funny glitch if you turn Arpeggiator and Hold on, start the arp, and then turn off the synth section for a minute or more. When you turn it back on, all the arp notes that were stuck in the queue in the meantime come out real fast

JUNO-G controls itself via MIDI, so if you reassign the channel for a part, you are either unable to control its volume, cutoff etc. or only able to control it via selecting another part that has that channel assigned.

[Al Coda]

Programming the Kurz SP6 via the PC editor made me find a whole host of bugs, freezes etc. in both.

 

1st rule for Kurzweil buyers:

 

Never ever use the Soundtower editor software for a Kurzweil keyboard instrument, regardless which model !!!

 

Most of the glitches, if not all, don´t come from the hardware instrument when learning VAST programming and doin´ it right.

Lots of user error possible w/ the complexity of VAST and KURZ´ advanced Midi implementation.

 

I only had mechanical issues w/ Kurzweil,- PB-wheel and Mod-wheel related.

 

A.C.

[JB Sherry]

You need a UPS ( uninterruptible power supply ). Back in the mid-oughts, when I was doing IT in Manhattan, I could see from my UPS monitoring software that the incoming voltage was sometimes down at 106 during the summer. The UPS automatically compensated for this, outputting a steady voltage, for both over and under-voltages. (Turns out this is part of what the power company does to avoid a black-out). Your coffee maker may be fine with low voltage - your electronics may not be.

 

A unit like this does NOT protect from voltage sags: APC BackUPS

A unit like this DOES: More expensive BackUPS

 

the smartUPS line has this feature throughout, and comes rack-mountable, but you pay a premium for the network capability. This one appears to be on sale: Cheap SmartUPS

 

In a more rural area, you may have a chronic, rather than seasonal, power problem. One of these could help.

[mojkarma]

Programming the Kurz SP6 via the PC editor made me find a whole host of bugs, freezes etc. in both.

 

1st rule for Kurzweil buyers:

 

Never ever use the Soundtower editor software for a Kurzweil keyboard instrument, regardless which model !!!

 

This might be true, but Kurzweil is here clearly to blame because they promote the editor, yet there is some very very strange relationship between them and Soundtower and the customers are the one who suffer from this. I had some very nasty artifacts on my Artis with the soundtower editor which destroyed all my user programs after using it. Kurzweil doesn't use touch displays, so using a computer editor is the only way to do some heavy editing without stressing to much the buttons on the keyboard which tend to fail after some time. And it is a sad situation that this very editor is not recommended to be used.

[The Real MC]

If I played "Jump" on my Alesis Andromeda, the firmware would crash.

[Al Coda]

This might be true, but Kurzweil is here clearly to blame because they promote the editor, yet there is some very very strange relationship between them and Soundtower and the customers are the one who suffer from this. I had some very nasty artifacts on my Artis with the soundtower editor which destroyed all my user programs after using it.

 

It all has to do w/ Kurz´ Midi sysex implementation.

There are a s##tload of parameters and it might not be complete or not documented completely because of lack of manpower in the RD department.

IMO it will not change "soon",- it didn´t since the release of the PC3 series of keyboards which was 2009 (?) or earlier (?) ...

So, don´t use the editor for nothing more than overview over your patches and some simple things,- but never for DSP related tasks,- or it will destroy your work,- period.

Best is not usng it at all !

 

 

Kurzweil doesn't use touch displays, so using a computer editor is the only way to do some heavy editing without stressing to much the buttons on the keyboard which tend to fail after some time. And it is a sad situation that this very editor is not recommended to be used.

 

I bought my PC361 march 2011 and edit everything in depth incl. programming from scratch using the frontpanel and display.

All buttons still work !!!

A very few lost their label,- the switch button I use often also when playing did,- and some numbers are gone,- but that´s 2nd row because I know which buttons are related to which numbers.

 

A.C.

[jarrell]

It all has to do w/ Kurz´ Midi sysex implementation.

There are a s##tload of parameters and it might not be complete or not documented completely because of lack of manpower in the RD department.

IMO it will not change "soon",- it didn´t since the release of the PC3 series of keyboards which was 2009 (?) or earlier (?) ...

So, don´t use the editor for nothing more than overview over your patches and some simple things,- but never for DSP related tasks,- or it will destroy your work,- period.

Best is not usng it at all !

 

To be fair to both Kurzweil and SoundTower, without examining the Sysex documentation, SoundTower Editor code and Kurzweil Firmware, we don't know where the problems are coming from. We could form a conjecture if we knew how reliable other SoundTower editors are for other synths. As far as manpower is concerned, SoundTower might not have more people working on the PC4 editor than Kurzweil has on the PC4 firmware; neither company has the resources Yamaha or Roland does.

 

Regardless, the main point here is, be careful using these editors on Kurzweils. I had bad experiences with their PC3 editor years ago scrambling my PC3's patches, and so have never used the PC4 editor, not even to just view patches and multis. You'd have to be sure the editor doesn't send any data to the synth, even if you don't tell it to save a patch - for example, it might send the contents of the edit buffer. Maybe if a version 1.1 editor comes out, but don't hold your breath...

[marczellm]

You can"t do deep editing onboard the SP6, so you need the editor, period. When it zero"d out the combi I was working on, I remembered not to do those exact steps again and carried on. But the instrument itself is also buggy otherwise it wouldn"t allow the editor or any sysex source to put it in some weirdly inconsistent states.

[Al Coda]

You can"t do deep editing onboard the SP6, so you need the editor, period.

 

Why did you buy ?

I´d never buy anything hardware I´m unable to edit in depth from front panel.

When you ever followed the posts in any of the dedicated Kurzweil forums like "Mastering VAST" etc., you should have known of all the Soundtower Editors hate over there.

 

And I say even I like Kurzweil products.

That´s why I´m highly interested in the K2700,- but won´t buy early ´cause I know they always need some updates and I don´t even read their remote editor soiftware promises any more.

I don´t even care if the software is for free or not since I know it will never ever work reliable, at least for me.

And I´d hate I´d need a smartphone, tablet or laptop/ desktop computer for everything hardware I´d buy.

 

A.C.

[hardware]

Even my K4 has software issues but thankfully only during programming.

I replaced the entire knob/button/fader board and still slider 8 and 9 tend to switch back and forth so I have to keep moving the slider slowly while changing MIDI CC or whatever controller I assign. It"s random but must be watched lest you screw your FX or mixer channel in live mode.

Two handed editing is the work around. I even bought a second unit for rehearsals and after a few months it replicated the same issue.

[marczellm]

You can"t do deep editing onboard the SP6, so you need the editor, period.

 

Why did you buy ?

I didn"t, but my church did, on my recommendation. I still think it came at a spectacular price/value ratio and is perfect for our needs. Suffering through the editor was worth it for me to get the sounds I wanted.