Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Ohhhh boy . After finally getting my eleven rack upgraded to 2.0 ( see my last post) it appears to have gone faulty.

First I noticed a couple of times that, while playing, the "save" light had gone red, even though I hadn't altered any parameters.

Then the volume/tone started changing randomly during a song, and one or more of the panel knobs will go from amber to red, indicating a changed parameter, even though I haven't moved the knob.

It doesn't appear to be vibration. I cannot bring it on by tapping the unit and sometime a control will randomly go from one end of its range to another when I'm not playing.

I think that maybe getting a used eleven rack was not the best idea I ever had. Anyone else seen this or have any suggestions?

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Sorry to hear of the troubles. Our new tech is definitely more prevalent to small issues when they do so much. I bought new and never had one issue, so I'm going on a limb here to try to help.

I know with other devices (digital and analogue) I have had, I have had to clean the pots at certain points with Isopropyl alcohol because some dirt was causing the pots to report they'd been moved.

Can you narrow down which pot or pots might be affecting things? The Save will go red if anything has 'moved' so I doubt it's the Save button. What View are you in when you perform? Is the volume block bypassed or on in your patch/es?

Granted there could be issues inside and I know the more experienced people here will be along shortly out of their experience. But if you can research which 'might' be causing an issue on the front, that would be a start. Sorry for the moderately good/bad help on this one.

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Thanks.

Yes, pot noise was one of the first things I thought of. It appears to primarily be pots 2 and 4 (numbering left to right) that go from amber to red without being moved, although sometimes the "save" light will go red without any of the front panel pots registering an adjustment.

It seems more like a general noise problem ? I'm first going to get it out of the rack and away from the other guitar processors, in case it's induced EM or RF interference from another unit.

If that doesn't do it, I'll take it somewhere else and test because I'm unfortunate to live on the same hill as a couple of transmission masts, and the RF can be pretty fierce up here.

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

oh man, that does sound like an abnormal situation. Maybe some more technical guys can help. Keep this thread updated as you figure things out. Sorry to hear.

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Since my last post, the eleven rack has just become worse. Sometimes three of four pot values on the front are spontaneously changing at once.

Before I pitch it in the trash, (And frankly, never touch another Avid product) is there actually any realistic out of warranty service on these things?

Given that they are on sale for $299 nowadays, I fear that a "service center" will just change one or both of the big boards and charge me about as much as a new unit

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Did you ever see this work reliably? How do you know you were not sold a lemon? (is the difference now you have 2.0 firmware you have your the Eleven Rack remote control app connected?).

And do you have the MIDI connected to anything via the MIDI connector or USB attached to a computer... if so try disconnecting all that. In fact disconnect all cables except for the power cable, including the guitar cable. Does the display still jump around?

Check none of the front panel switches are damaged, they all appear to press/click or otherwise operate as normal. Check all switches not just any ones related to what appears to be happening.

Try doing a memory reset. (from the front panel user Options menu). That will delete all your user rigs.

What values are changing on the display? when? The rotary knobs are not "pots" they are rotary encoders, very unlikely to fail, and will not suffer from "pot noise".

Your repair logic is a bit flawed: these devices are worth < $299 used, so you don't pay to have them repaired. if you can't fix it yourself throw it out and buy another used one. Either way you won't buy a guitar processor of this quality for anything close to that price.

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Thanks Darryl I didn't notice the problem until I upgraded to 2.0, but that's not to say that it wasn't before, because it started off being very rare (just one incident of an encoder spontaneously changing during several hours of use) but now it has become much worse (three or four encoders changing at the same time).

It does this "stand alone" out of the rack and not connected to anything, and I've done a memory reset. The switches all feel normal, and all work normally.

I took the top off, and I can't bring the effect on by physical disturbance of the boards. The only thing I did notice was that the encoder movements seemed less prevalent if I pressed down on the 50 pin ribbon connector between the front board and the main board, I cleaned the pins on the sockets, and things seemed to get better for a while, but then the problem came back.

I've order a 50-pin ribbon connector just in case, and will change that when it comes.
MH

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Have you tried changing the Knob Action to LATCH?

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Benoni’s Suggestion of trying Latch mode might help reduce problems but it’s not a fix if you have something broken here.

It sounds like you are far into diagnosing a suspect hardware problem. Remember to always check power supply performance at all the daughter boards. If cleaning the pins made it seem better try to check you are not chasing phantoms like a component overheating and just letting it cool while you cleaned the contacts made a difference. If you really want to play you should be able to trace the circuit from the encoders and do some debugging with a logic probe and starting to see where apparent encoder changes are introduced (I love troubleshooting electronics :-)). Of course it’s just easier to ditch it and buy another used one.

Re: Eleven rack- random control shifts
 

Thanks Darryl. I'm going to take a 'scope to the thing and have a look at the power supplies this weekend (who knows, it might be supply noise) I did try Beroni's idea of latching the controls, but it makes no difference. That indicates to me something fundamental than just noise on the encoders.

I think it may be heading for the parts bin, but I'll work with it a little more. Sweetwater are sending new ones out the door for $299 right now.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...ro-tools-first