Er101 Reset Issues

[Phil Schneiders]

Hey Brian,

I think I found something odd while trying to reset the Er101 and the Er301 Sample Looper.

When I sent both units the same reset, they don´t reset at the same time because the ER101 drops the first note in a randomly weird fashion.

I coud not find a repeatable pattern but when I use the reset button it retriggers very accurately. When using the external reset input with a gate, it is not working as expected.

I have the Er102 connected.....

Maybe you can help me out with an idea what could be wrong.

Take care

Phil

[Brian@O|D]

Hi Phil

I'm taking a look into this but first could you please tell me the firmware versions for both the ER-101 and ER-102?  Also, what is the source of the clock signal that you are feeding to the ER-301 and ER-101?

Kind regards

Brian

[VCOADSR]

Hi Brian,

I'm noticing some reset issues too - full setup described below but in short I'm finding that every 4th or 5th reset I send to my two ER101/102s causes one of them to go out of sync and then the next reset knocks the out-of-sync back into sync, then a couple of resets later the same one goes out of sync again. But the other Er101/102 stays perfectly in sync all the time when it receives the same reset gate (and clock).

Both ER101s are using firmware F2.06
Both ER102s are using firmware F2.12

The ER101/102 that is periodically going out of sync when it receives a reset has serial number F-130
The other ER101/102 that always stays in sync when it receives the same reset (and clock) has serial number G-272

Setup:

Master clock is the new 'Pamela's New workout' by ALM (will use PNW for short below).

PNW is sending a x24 clock signal to both ER101s
Also sending /4 gate signal from PNW to both ER101s to reset it - as described above the F-130 ER101 goes out of sync every 4th or 5th reset signal it receives the G-272 does not (I know this because when I was analysing what was going on to write this I compared a x1 gate output from PNW and compared against the two equivalent x1 from the two ER101s).

The sequences in the ER101 are 4 steps each with a duration of 16 and gate of 1 (note: the multiplier/division for both tracks in both ER101s is set to 2/3 so that the x24 (DIN) incoming clock can be used in a more conventional music gridding).

I'm going to be away from my modular for the next three weeks so I won't be able to run further tests but I'll still be able to reply to any further questions you have in case the above is not clear enough.

Thanks for the support as always - best Eurorack sequencer :-)

[Brian@O|D]

Hello and thank you for the great write-up on this issue.  

Some questions that came up in my mind as I read your description:

1.  Are there any asymmetries (differences) in the way you have the 2 ER-101's patched up?  

2.  How are you distributing the clock?

3.  Does the same behavior happen if you disconnect the ER-102 and just use the ER-101 in standalone mode?  

4.  Check to make sure the expansion cable connecting the F-130 ER-101/102 together is not damaged in any way.  This could cause dropped packets between the ER-101 and ER-102 and if one of those packets contained the reset event...

5.  How consistent is the dropped reset?  If it is very consistent then that is a huge clue.  

[VCOADSR]

Hi, here are some answers to your questions.

1.  Are there any asymmetries (differences) in the way you have the 2 ER-101's patched up?  

No, nothing different whatsoever.

2.  How are you distributing the clock?

Both ER 101s are receiving the same clock signal from a buffered mult and reset signal from a passive mult (stackable cable)

3.  Does the same behavior happen if you disconnect the ER-102 and just use the ER-101 in standalone mode?  

- can't test until I return from my travels in 3 weeks, maybe Phil can test in the meantime.

4.  Check to make sure the expansion cable connecting the F-130 ER-101/102 together is not damaged in any way.  This could cause dropped packets between the ER-101 and ER-102 and if one of those packets contained the reset event...

- again will check when I get back from my travels

5.  How consistent is the dropped reset?  If it is very consistent then that is a huge clue.  

- it's consistent that you don't have to wait very long for it to happen in terms of the number of resets I.e. Approx every 4th of 5th reset knocks the sync out. But still unpredictable within that range.

[Brian@O|D]

I think its hard to go any further with this diagnostic until you can get back to your studio.  It sounds like a hardware issue but we will still need to isolate the source before moving to the repair stage.  I especially would like to know if the problem moves with the ER-101 or the ER-102 (for example, by physically swapping the modules in your case and in the patch).

[VCOADSR]

Sure, I'll update this post when I get back to my studio with the various tests you've outlined earlier.

Thanks, Phil