x0xi0 Full Kit - Install & Troubleshooting

[dnigrin]

Could someone remind me where I can find the x0xi0 circuit diagrams? I thought I remembered seeing them posted somewhere, but can't find them now.

[lord.bix]

Hi dnigrin

you should have them on mail =) from Brian

/Marco

[dnigrin]

you should have them on mail =) from Brian

Right you are! I forgot to look there, thanks again.

[bcbox]

... I'm back from vacation. I'm about 1 week behind on emails etc.. if you're waiting for a reply and haven't got one today I will be getting in touch soon. There's four people that I still owe some missing parts. I have emailed you guys today. If there's anyone else out there I forgot just get in touch.

[dnigrin]

Thanks for the missing parts Brian, I received them several days ago, and late last night finished up! I'm psyched that I've made it this far (starting from scratch with a new x0xb0x build, and being a total newbie at this stuff).

So the good news is that the synth powers up, all LED's seem to be working, and it makes sound! The bad news is that not everything sounds "right." It's hard to describe, and I haven't gone in to do detailed checking of things, but I will definitely be doing some debugging. The stock x0xb0x was fully working before starting to the mods.

Which brings me to my next question - do you have suggestions for how to methodically go about testing/debugging? I used your post about how to set the switches and pots to achieve "normal" x0xb0x sounds - I did that, and I definitely *don't* get normal sounds. The cutoff does not seem to have full range, the resonance doesn't sound quite right, and there's a little click at the beginning of each note and in general the envelope didn't seem quite right. (I haven't yet adjusted TM403 or TM404, I'll do that tonight).

One other small thing, the white LED (LED 406) is really bright compared to the stock red x0xb0x ones, as well as the new x0xi0 ones - I see that R476 (1k) is associated with it. Having no experience with these things, what new value should I try for that resistor instead to make it a bit less bright? 2.2k or something like that?

Thanks in advance...

[dnigrin]

So I adjusted TM403 or TM404, and it didn't really have an impact on some of the things I'm experiencing.

I think the main thing that's not quite right is the VCA envelope. With the Decay at 2 o'clock, and all other settings at Min (which I believe should equate to "stock" x0xb0x, right?), I get a click sound at the beginning of each note. Furthermore, if I slowly turn up the Attack, the click does not go away (in fact there are more clicks). I will try and post some audio demos of what I'm hearing when I get a minute.

Re: the Cutoff, I think the knob behavior is different - for a large portion (say about 50%) of its travel, the filter is quite clamped down; it's only from the 12 o'clock setting and up to its Max that it seems like it starts to open up more normally (and then it covers the same range in a shorter span, making it not quite as "smooth" as I remember it before. Again, I will try make an audio demo (though for this I think it might need to be a video, so you can see the knob position together with the audio).

Finally, there are some settings on the Overdrive that are pretty noisy - not sure if that's how its supposed to be. Again will make some demos.

Overall though, I'm very pleased - considering the amount of wiring, in some tricky spots too, I was not that optimistic that it would be working so well on the first shot! I *am* hoping for that user manual soon though, as there are some things that are not completely intuitive....

[bcbox]

sounds liek you have some problems. I'm working on a step by step guide to testing it once it's built. Many of the mods are independent of each other so it is not too difficult to test. However there are so many new features it's overwhelming at first. Samples always help so whatever you can upload would be good. Most of the issues you noted are abnormal so we should be able to fix them. The other problem that I have seen reoccurring is the clicking. It's been noted in about 5 out of 9 or 10 completed kits, including one of mine. The one way I have found to disntinguish this clicking from normal is to turn the volume all the way down and see if you still hear the clicks.

[dnigrin]

Thanks Brian - I *do* hear the clicks even if I turn the volume all the way down.

I made some audio demos. This first one starts with all settings for "stock" x0xb0x. It's a square wave on VCO 1, and with resonance, env mod, and decay all the way down. Cutoff starts at its max, goes gradually down to its midpoint where I leave it for several seconds, then gradually all the way to its min. Once there, I then also turn the main volume down to min (from max where it started). You may have to turn your listening volume up at the end to hear the clicks, but they're there:

http://soundcloud.com/dnigrin/cutoff-range-and-clicks

The next starts with the same settings. The VCA Attack is then gradually increased - I pause at about the midpoint of its range, then continue to the max setting. As before, you can hear clicks all the way though, but it seems that the behavior is not quite right:

http://soundcloud.com/dnigrin/vca-attack-increase

Thanks,
Dan

[dnigrin]

Unrelated question to my post above - I noticed that the pots installed in my x0xi0 full kit don't have a white indicator line on them, only a little recessed black line. This makes seeing what position the pot is in difficult. I went back and looked at some of the pix you posted of your own initial builds Brian, and noticed that even you have some machines with white indicator lines on the pots, and some that don't - see below:

x0xi0_1st_4-small.jpg (171.34 KiB) Viewed 3226 times

Did you just get two different batches of the pots?

[bcbox]

I read your reply above with the samples. I'm heading to bed and will check again tomorrow and respond. About the lines on the pots they are painted by hand! I wrote a small pdf about how to do it, it takes a lot of patience and is a pain in the ass. You can order those pots with white line but the MOQ is generally 1,000 to 10,000 pieces with very long lead time.

[dnigrin]

Thanks, looking forward to your thoughts on the audio samples.

Re: the white lines - I thought to myself, "maybe he painted them on?", but then I said, "no, they're too perfect looking, he couldn't have!" Kudos to you, they look really great. I would love to get my hands on that pdf if you get a minute to dig it up?

Best,
Dan

[dnigrin]

Have a moment to listen to those samples Brian? Thanks...

[bcbox]

sorry I haven't listened yet. I've been very selfish with my time, not supporting you guys as quickly as I hope. I try not to make excuses but when I upload pics of the remodel of my new studio it'll all make sense
I will take a listen as soon as I can, hopefully tonight.

[dnigrin]

No worries Brian - take my impatience only as an indicator of the excitement that your great mod has generated for me!

[bcbox]

ok I listened to the clips and it sounds like you are getting the same type of clicking that I had on one unit and also two other guys have also had. I will add this symptom "clicking" to the top of my troubleshooting list so I can work on it very soon.
Also, I have already been working on a test procedure for testing the Full x0xi0 x0xb0x. I won't give a date as to the completion of this file but it will be soon. This will help test a newly built x0xi0.
About the white LED try 4.7k or even 10k if you find the supplied value of 1k is too bright. The color will get more yellowish as you move away from its max brightness but should look very good.