cutoff sharpness craziness and only one channel on thru

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homesnake
Posts:5
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:52 am
cutoff sharpness craziness and only one channel on thru

Post by homesnake » Fri Jun 11, 2010 11:05 pm

firstly here is my setup:

technics 1200 TT
cambridge azur 640p phono pre
metric halo 2882 firewire audio interface
i7 intel imac/snow leopard 10.6.3
maxi-patch UB

A couple biggish problems:

1. If I adjust the cutoff sharpness below 2 (ie the recommended "1"), the audio file immediately starts to play at about 10 times it's normal speed, (think alvin and the chipmunks). This is with the transport button in "play" mode. If I put the needle on the control record it will play back normally in vinyl control mode. My basic connections seem solid, as a test I played a regular record to test the audio signal, which played fine except for one major problem, which is..

2. the audio through only plays one channel in the maxi patch DAW crossfader section (left). The metric halo software interface shows two channels going in, and two coming out, which I can hear through the headphones if I monitor at the analog outputs, but for some reason I can only monitor the left channel of the maxipatch DAW - very weird. What makes it even weirder is that I can see both left and right stereo metering in the maxi patch vinyl/CD control tab. What could be the issue here?

I thought that corrupt preferences or something like that could have been causing both issues, so I trashed the app and support files and did a fresh install (even tried switching between the AO version and the full video version, same results with both issues.)

I've read the manual checked my connections many times, but I'm stumped. Any help is greatly appreciated!

:(

EDIT: the error metric is crazy high, in the 2.000's and 3.000's - though I can't hear ANY noise (buzz/hum/static) coming through the audio interface on any channel. what kind of signal could pinky be getting if I can't hear it?

EDIT 2: I'm starting from scratch and am rebuilding the system from the ground up. Built a new set of RCA cables and have disassembled both 1200's and will resolder the leads later this week. Will then try out a different cartridge, (have the usual shure m44-7's on right now).

Can anyone verify that maxi patch is running OK on Snow Leopard?
homesnake
Posts:5
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:52 am

Post by homesnake » Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:07 am

OK after resoldering the RCA cables I built the error metric is way down on one TT/preamp , hopefully this is the case with the other TT/preamp (haven't set it up yet)

I re-read the "some important technical info" document and I'm still trying to understand how the "cutoff sharpness" and "Signal Power Threshold" work together.

For now I have Signal Power Threshold at -16 and Cutoff Sharpness at 2. Do these seem like reasonable values? As before, if I drop the cutoff sharpness below 2, the vinyl velocity goes into crazy warp speed mode :shock:
dlpinkstah
Site Admin
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Post by dlpinkstah » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:31 am

The new version of Maxi-Patch (3.7.4) fixes the problem with there only being one channel heard when using the "audio thru" pass-thru setting.

As far as your other problems are concerned, it really sounds to me like you've got signal quality issues to resolve. Is it possible that somehow you're mixing the LEFT + RIGHT channels from the turntable together before they reach the software input? Please be sure that the signals from your turntable are maintained as PURE STEREO all the way from the decks to the software inputs. Any mixing of LEFT + RIGHT will ruin the ability of the software to decode position stamps.

Another thing to check is whether you're over-driving the inputs of your audio card. If the signals are clipped, it will also make it very difficult to decode position stamps.
homesnake
Posts:5
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:52 am

Post by homesnake » Thu Jun 17, 2010 11:01 pm

Thanks for your advice!

I'm sure you are right and there is something in the signal chain that is going wrong before it gets to maxipatch. The Metric Halo 2882 is definitely not a "plug n' play" interface, and I must admit the software (while excellent) can be a challenge to set up, gainstaging especially.

great news that the new version resolves the thru issue!

I'll go through everything again, hardware and software, and see what I can find.
homesnake
Posts:5
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:52 am

Post by homesnake » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:53 am

OK I finally got around to this, moved the entire ms pinky setup to a different computer (my hackintosh media center) and.. no more problems with the error metric OR the file playing at warp speed with no vinyl control signal present.

I have been looking into what this interference noise could be and after applying an update (which eliminated some actual audible noise from the computer - but didn't eliminate whatever maxi patch is picking up) I have narrowed it down to possibly the PSU or the video card. I am going to swap out the PSU tomorrow and report back if there is progress.

:o
homesnake
Posts:5
Joined:Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:52 am

Post by homesnake » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:49 pm

UPDATE:

It was the video card... I swapped out the video card (ECS 9400 GT Silent) for the card that was in my home theatre system (Gigabyte 9500GT) and the problems are gone.

Luckily this didn't cost me anything, as the card that interferes with ms pinky will be in the HTPC from now on. It's just a video playback machine, no critical audio apps for it to mess with.



So, for those building an audio rig that might incorporate ms. pinky, you might want to stay away from his card:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 6814134092


Of course YMMV, this is just what I have found with my system.

Thanks DJ Pinkstah for putting me on the right track

:D
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