Can we talk about modular synths?

[mr. sound boy king]

I recently took delivery of an old-ass Doepfer rack-mount 6u 84 hp case.

Neat, right?

Well, when I plug in my trusty Sewastopol II the whole thing goes wonky! The Sewastopol won't power up, nothing will power up with the Sewastopol plugged in.

My guess is that I have exceeded the power limits of the case but also this is just a guess?

Sewastopol works just fine in my Mantis case.

Any thoughts?

[eatyourguitar]

There is another number beside max current draw. Power supplies also have a max capacitive load spec. They also have over current protection. Some people hit the capacitive limit of the power supply before they hit the power limit of the power supply. Are you patching anything to the sewastapol II or does it happen when. There are no patch cables? Also, very important, your mantis has a floating 0v. You doepfer 0v connects to one of the live wires in your house. In america, the mains earth is bonded to one of the mains AC wires. The safety earth is super dangerous or at least problematic if your case or your house is not wired properly.

You did not say how much current your modules draw per rail and how much current your power supply is rated for. Asking us if you are over your limit is like asking how long is a rope.

[mr. sound boy king]

There is another number beside max current draw. Power supplies also have a max capacitive load spec. They also have over current protection. Some people hit the capacitive limit of the power supply before they hit the power limit of the power supply. Are you patching anything to the sewastapol II or does it happen when. There are no patch cables? Also, very important, your mantis has a floating 0v. You doepfer 0v connects to one of the live wires in your house. In america, the mains earth is bonded to one of the mains AC wires. The safety earth is super dangerous or at least problematic if your case or your house is not wired properly.

You did not say how much current your modules draw per rail and how much current your power supply is rated for. Asking us if you are over your limit is like asking how long is a rope.

A rope is four long.

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

[coldbrightsunlight]

over on an another forum I announced that I would give a %30 off discount for people in Europe + Australia so that you end up paying the same amount as the americans after you pay the import fees. I wanted to give everyone a chance to buy a matrix mixer from me. I realize $240 USD + UK taxes would price it out of range for most people so I fixed it. you pay $168 US.

Very intriguing indeed!

[eatyourguitar]

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

it is definitely the power supply. you don't need to exceed your rating to have power supply problems always. things can break or maybe it was modified by the previous owner. what is the probability that two modules don't work when installed in the doepfer rack? but then they work fine when you move them back to the mantis? did you test this? you should check the voltages at the bus board or check near the power entry on the module. should be +12v and -12v. you may have +11.5 and -11.5v ok. anything less is indicating some problem. there are trimmers on the doepfer psu to calibrate those voltages exactly. when you have +12v on the +12v rail and 0v on the -12v rail, that would mean half your power supply is dead so only some of the modules will show blinking lights. if you have LED's on the bus board or the power supply they should be lit up to indicate each rail is working.

[coldbrightsunlight]

so my shields could not repel discounts of that magnitude. Looking forward to matrix mixing.

[mr. sound boy king]

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

it is definitely the power supply. you don't need to exceed your rating to have power supply problems always. things can break or maybe it was modified by the previous owner. what is the probability that two modules don't work when installed in the doepfer rack? but then they work fine when you move them back to the mantis? did you test this? you should check the voltages at the bus board or check near the power entry on the module. should be +12v and -12v. you may have +11.5 and -11.5v ok. anything less is indicating some problem. there are trimmers on the doepfer psu to calibrate those voltages exactly. when you have +12v on the +12v rail and 0v on the -12v rail, that would mean half your power supply is dead so only some of the modules will show blinking lights. if you have LED's on the bus board or the power supply they should be lit up to indicate each rail is working.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. I don't currently have the means to test the bus board voltages but something is highly fucky. ~4 modules work OK but plugging in a 5th takes everything off line. Very bad. I asked the seller what's up with the power, etc. but no response.

[MrNovember]

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

it is definitely the power supply. you don't need to exceed your rating to have power supply problems always. things can break or maybe it was modified by the previous owner. what is the probability that two modules don't work when installed in the doepfer rack? but then they work fine when you move them back to the mantis? did you test this? you should check the voltages at the bus board or check near the power entry on the module. should be +12v and -12v. you may have +11.5 and -11.5v ok. anything less is indicating some problem. there are trimmers on the doepfer psu to calibrate those voltages exactly. when you have +12v on the +12v rail and 0v on the -12v rail, that would mean half your power supply is dead so only some of the modules will show blinking lights. if you have LED's on the bus board or the power supply they should be lit up to indicate each rail is working.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. I don't currently have the means to test the bus board voltages but something is highly fucky. ~4 modules work OK but plugging in a 5th takes everything off line. Very bad. I asked the seller what's up with the power, etc. but no response.

What is the power supply? Note, the amps on the PSU cable might not be what your power supply can actually supply.

[mr. sound boy king]

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

it is definitely the power supply. you don't need to exceed your rating to have power supply problems always. things can break or maybe it was modified by the previous owner. what is the probability that two modules don't work when installed in the doepfer rack? but then they work fine when you move them back to the mantis? did you test this? you should check the voltages at the bus board or check near the power entry on the module. should be +12v and -12v. you may have +11.5 and -11.5v ok. anything less is indicating some problem. there are trimmers on the doepfer psu to calibrate those voltages exactly. when you have +12v on the +12v rail and 0v on the -12v rail, that would mean half your power supply is dead so only some of the modules will show blinking lights. if you have LED's on the bus board or the power supply they should be lit up to indicate each rail is working.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. I don't currently have the means to test the bus board voltages but something is highly fucky. ~4 modules work OK but plugging in a 5th takes everything off line. Very bad. I asked the seller what's up with the power, etc. but no response.

What is the power supply? Note, the amps on the PSU cable might not be what your power supply can actually supply.

Interesting. The power supply is (almost definitely) a Doepfer A-100PSU2. Do you mean the cable that goes from the case to the wall?

[MrNovember]

Ah well that power supply is indeed rated at 1200mA. And yeah I meant the adapter cable that goes to the wall, which needs to provide at least the same amount that the power supply is rated to provide. I ran into an issue with the Tiptop uZeus that is rated for 2000mA at +12V, 500mA at -12V, 170mA at +5V, but only when you buy the more expensive 3000mA adapter. If you use the 1000mA adapter, it can't provide nearly the same amount of power.

It doesn't look like the Doepfer power supply has a 5v rail, do any of your modules need 5v?

[mr. sound boy king]

The power cord to the wall says: 10A 125V 1250W - it also is large which means even more electric can pass through (hehe).

According to moduargrid nothing I have in there requires 5v.

+ and - 12v LEDs light on both busboards when the case has power.

Yet it is still fucking me over.

Thanks for thinking through this with me, fellows.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I don't think it's the power anymore. The PSU thing says Output voltages/currents: +12V DC/1200mA, -12V DC/1200mA but I'm nowhere near 1200mA on either + or -.

Also my v. excellent Analogue Solutions Comb Filter would not function in this rack. Weird shit, man.

it is definitely the power supply. you don't need to exceed your rating to have power supply problems always. things can break or maybe it was modified by the previous owner. what is the probability that two modules don't work when installed in the doepfer rack? but then they work fine when you move them back to the mantis? did you test this? you should check the voltages at the bus board or check near the power entry on the module. should be +12v and -12v. you may have +11.5 and -11.5v ok. anything less is indicating some problem. there are trimmers on the doepfer psu to calibrate those voltages exactly. when you have +12v on the +12v rail and 0v on the -12v rail, that would mean half your power supply is dead so only some of the modules will show blinking lights. if you have LED's on the bus board or the power supply they should be lit up to indicate each rail is working.

Thanks for taking the time to write this out. I don't currently have the means to test the bus board voltages but something is highly fucky. ~4 modules work OK but plugging in a 5th takes everything off line. Very bad. I asked the seller what's up with the power, etc. but no response.

Does it matter which 4 modules are plugged in? Have you tried different combinations, cross checked power draw from modulargrid/manuals? Might be that it doesn't like just one of your modules, or it could be consistently you're just overloading it in some way.

I'm also having mysterious power supply issues at the moment so I feel your pain! hard to diagnose.

[behndy]

welllllll shit. i sent back the Argon8 to return it unopened when i got the HydraSynth in, annnnnx the Argon just got Returned To Shipper'd to my home.

do i.... do i keep it? do i need 2 wavetable synths? i wasssss curious about it's effects section.

FALSE ALARM. SOMETHING ELSE WAS IN THE BOX. IGNORE ME.

[behndy]

redid my yarea. super comfy right now. trying to sort the ES-9 as the only interface and sending clock to Pam's. get mah Proooooks in tomorrow. i have a pre-order for an ER-M Multiclock, but dunno when that will ship. i hear great things about using it as the master clock.

i'm confused now though. the empty row in the synth stands wasssss for a Resonant Garden on order, but i could fit it in front of the 6u rack if i find something i want in that spot.

OPTIONS.

[behndy]

also, holy butts the Os Human does a LOT of work into his Expert Sleepers loot. over the last week or so he's redone the firmware for the ES-9 a few times, it looks like i might be able to run the MixFace straight into the ES-9, he added standalone and hosted flashes, and for both you can adjust the internal mixer over MIDI.

annnnd there's mad busses and mixers so you can do a bunch of loops internally. NEAT.