E4 Ultra sampler

[iSiStOy]

Hi all,

I am embarrassed to ask users in here about that but anyway:
My !£}{@* E-Mu E4 Ultra sampler is driving me mad lately...
Let me explain: E-Mu brand has disssapeared for a while now (bought by "creative" software inc...). and they don't support these devices anymore. The thing is that it is the most impressive hw stuff I've been using since I know hw exists. I tried several things stated on emusonacid.co.uk but without any luck:
The sampler is starting, operating nicely for a while (usually several hours) and then bugs (all lights on, no interaction possible)!
After such a bug, I'm switching it off, then on but it keeps bugging.
After a few days being off, I restart it again, and that thing operates fine but for a few hours and then, back to hell.
I changed Power, Screen, Roms, unplugged the RFX board but still, the pb appears.

Any idea that would lead me in some other debugging ways are welcome...

Thanks in advance...

[garyb]

you could get some freeze spray and chill components after it locks up to see if they begin to operate properly. that might help to locate an intermittant part or a short that is making a chip overheat...

[iSiStOy]

"Chip overheat".
I have to find some freezing spray and try that!
I remember being able to use it without any pbs for weeks, after I got a new 65W power supply from Taiwan.
But after a while, it went back to bug state.
PS: I keep my devices on, most of the time (scared that I am of switch-on jolts).

[valis]

Have a look at the internal capactors, check for leaks/bloat. That's the easiest thing to do visually. If it's a component (aside from the caps) then it's possible that there's just some solder needing to be reflowed, especially if the unit was ever used on the road by someone. If it is an IC, you might need another failing unit to pull parts from...

[iSiStOy]

Thanks for your advices. I'll check the caps and chips for heat and visually.
Being able to use a multimeter would certainly help as well but I don't know what signal levels to monitor and there are a lot of signal paths...
Damn electronic thing!

I'll have a first look this evening and post pictures if I find sthg suspicious.

Thanks again

[valis]

I wonder if there are service manuals out there for these (with schematics and probe points etc)...? I've actually located these for some of my older synths and my Soundtracs mixer, which is going to need a recondition relatively soon as well.

[garyb]

yes! service manuals exist...

[valis]

Color me unsurprised (since it was a rhetorical question )

I should pick up an E4 someday, I always wanted one when I first transitioned off of guitar to electronic instruments. I invested in an MPC2k in the mid 90's (which was unfortunately stolen) and as nice as the sequencer and 'hip hop' punch of the sampler DA's I longed for onboard filtering that could be applied before the outputs. I had always intended to get an Emu but things moved into the software realm so quickly I never did. I really like the color of the DA's on them (especially if u 'clip' your drums a tad before output) and the z-plane filters are nice for filtering pads and the 'mid' and low mid portions of basslines (hence the neurofunk in D&b). I think the rfx board is/was a good investment (or find) for using filters and effects sampler in realtime as well.

I see them on some of my other electronic production forums for quite cheap and have even seen them on ebay for $300-400, but I don't imagine there's too many in the city where I live (and thus on craigslist.)

[iSiStOy]

I didn't have the time to check it yet. I'll do that next Friday (hopefully, Xite will be there already).

If you can, get a E4 platinum (all upgrades, including the rfx32 fx board equipped as standard).

what do you mean by service manuals? Through the years, I've gathered a lot of things for this baby but manuals are incomplete : no doc detailing the rfx32 sysex implementation for instance.
Also, known bugs never solved are there, particularly with the last EOS (4.7) which is basically a bêta version.
That one offers FAT format recog for the internal disk (previous version work with a proprietary emu format), filter resonance control through CC being applied during play and a compressor fx plugin.
Know bugs are still not clearly identified when they occur and can be machine dependent : random panning on short sample presets, so drums basically. random loud outburst (not with all devices though). The jog also get buggy after a while (not really a problem when you can use scsi to command and edit presets/samples).

IMHO:
The color of DAs is really, really, really good, particularly with bass/medium sounds.
The filters are quality (can't remember how many diff types of then)
The routing is excellent. You can mix an entire hw setup in it. The effect board is essential for that because it extends the machine with impressive routing capabilities. Fx are very good.
Preset construction can go as far as morphing between layers, each one of them (or groups of them) going out to a specific fx bus, patch cords (modulation matrix) per layer (or groups of them)...

A real shame they abandoned, being so close to finish such an incredible job

[valis]

Blame Creative Labs for the demise of Emu hardware (I know I do)...

[iSiStOy]

I do. I'm not blaming the prod teams at all.

[maky325]

I have had similar problems but not connected with overheating. E64 Ultra. When i press power on, OS is booting and after that all lights on and you can't do anything. I have read ton of suggestion on emusonacid forum but none of them helped.

Then i opened my sampler, i disconnected every cable, clean everything, connect every cable again and even today my sampler is working. No errors anymore. I am not sure what i did in all this but now everything work flawless. I even replaced fan with more silent one hehe..

[iSiStOy]

Interesting:
Do you have the rfx 32?
Would you remember which fan you did install for power supply?
I am still waiting for the rack and Xite to demount and clean everything. I'm getting bored... Hopefully next week.

EDITED: nothing to do with this topic.

[iSiStOy]

Found this on emusonacid
http://www.emusonacid.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=1&t=3132

Doesn't look very positive so far. It could possibly have to do with temperature and the main emu chip on the motherboard

[garyb]

if that's the case, it IS ugly. still, if your ear is to the ground, even that can probably be found, eventually.....

[maky325]

Found this on emusonacid
http://www.emusonacid.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=1&t=3132

Doesn't look very positive so far. It could possibly have to do with temperature and the main emu chip on the motherboard

I've found this thread and i was worried but as i said i cleaned everything, connected again and everything work flawless even today. I don't have rfx but i have 8x additional output. 128mb ram. Latest EOS 4.7 and 80gn HDD formatted in fat32.

I replaced power supply fan with zalman fan.

e-mu sampler is truly wonderful unit with amazing sound. I had EmulatorX,1 and X2, i did 1to1 comparison of same banks, same sound, absolutely same and my hardware sounded always different, (read better) compared to software version. Sometimes with difference far from being just subtle. At the end i sold software version (and leaved x-board 49 controller at home) .

I hope you'll find your solution.

[garyb]

cleaning everything and resoldering the boards(to fix cold or cracked solder joints) is a great place to start before assuming that something has failed, actually.

[Nebukadneser]

I have an Ultra 6400 w/ Rfx 32, and the additional ADAT option and 4 extra inputs option. Mine has been working stable under OS 4.61 since I bought the unit. The only thing that can crash the machine is SCSI activities. Have you checked the SCSI set up? Is it hooked to a computer, and could the SCSI card of your computer cause the lockup by routinely checking which units are present on the SCSI chain? This often causes hangs, and you have to uncheck the option on your computer.

Neb

[iSiStOy]

I had trouble with irq sharing when I got the second pro board, not long ago. So I disconnected scsi card.

I really need to unmount it, check and clean all stuff inside. Why I think temperature is involved is that it works, boots ok then bug and I can't start it for, say during 4-5 hours.

Thanks for all your remarks. It appears we are a few here to love this machine. That's a good thing to know