Power Button Blinking Orange

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bob

No, not yet.

I’m letting Sweetwater facilitate the repair for me. I bit the bullet and bought a replacement from them right away.

Avid gave us an estimate of ~$1100, which needed to be paid before an RMA was issued.

Paid it, RMA received by Sweetwater, and the unit has been sent to the “factory” per the RMA.

The estimated repair lead time is 4 to 8 weeks, but supply chain issues could stretch that some, I was told.

My gut is telling me they are just going to replace a board, hence the estimate without actual diagnostics. I’ve asked for a detailed description of the repair and components replaced. More for my edification than anything. We’ll see if I get it.

I’ll let y’all know how it turns out.

That is pretty rough for a device that is *at most* four years old.

[Cowboy Bob]

Originally Posted by LDS

That is pretty rough for a device that is *at most* four years old.

Yes, I was an early adopter, so yeah about 4 years old.

I can’t disagree that does seem to be a bit rough, but I feel I need to get it repaired. It’s 1/4 the MSRP of a new one, 1/3 the price of a Carbon Pre.

I can keep it, use it in “Pre” mode (I love the mic pres in this) and get rid of my other mic pres. I would have (hopefully) a backup Carbon if needed again. Or sell it once it is repaired.

Thinking I’ll keep it and sell other pres and interface.

[Cowboy Bob]

Ok 3 months and $853 (plus tax and shipping) later, my original Carbon is on its way home.

I have asked for a detailed explanation of repair but haven’t gotten one and frankly am not likely to I imagine.

I feature that there probably wasn’t much done in the way of diagnostics, rather a cursory look and a circuit board-ectomy and transplant. Admittedly most efficient, but am still curious what failed and why.

So, it should be back home by Friday, and I’ll rack it up and use it in “Pre” mode.

[dominicperry]

Well, that's a lot of money for a pretty poor service.
I think we can be sure that Avid doesn't see Carbon as a tool for a working studio if that's the best they can manage.

I'm now looking at the problem that a new M3 Mac only runs on Sonoma or later, and Carbon still doesn't (based on Avid's own testing) work properly with Sonoma. Sequoia will be out in a couple of months and I guess no one has any idea if that will work with Avid's proprietary AVB either. It's a bit of a mess, which is a pity, because I really like a lot of the useability and sound of the Carbon. But it feels like a bit of a dead end - it's not getting much attention any more.

Fingers crossed it all works when you get it back!

Dominic

[Cowboy Bob]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Well, that's a lot of money for a pretty poor service.
I think we can be sure that Avid doesn't see Carbon as a tool for a working studio if that's the best they can manage.

Agreed. Fortunately my little project studio could afford to replace the Carbon right away. I'll use the original in PRE mode and sell off some of my Focusrite stuff to help offset. BTW I knew the cost going into the repair, but the lead-time did expand quite a bit. Sweetwater helped to facilitate the repair, and they kept me informed weekly.

Originally Posted by dominicperry

I'm now looking at the problem that a new M3 Mac only runs on Sonoma or later, and Carbon still doesn't (based on Avid's own testing) work properly with Sonoma. Sequoia will be out in a couple of months and I guess no one has any idea if that will work with Avid's proprietary AVB either. It's a bit of a mess, which is a pity, because I really like a lot of the useability and sound of the Carbon. But it feels like a bit of a dead end - it's not getting much attention any more.

It does appear that it has slowed substantially, yes. FWIW, I have not had any issues with 14.4.1 But of course YMMV.

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Fingers crossed it all works when you get it back!

Dominic

[eightamrock]

Would be nice to hear from Avid on this. Are you ramping down support for the carbon? I just expanded my system with another carbon pre, now worried that I should trade in for an HDX card and an antelope audio interface....

[MCorbin]

Hey all

Sorry I haven't been here much recently.

RE Sonoma... as I'd mentioned in some other threads, the issue was an Apple AVB issue that had the potential to cause drop outs while recording, and I did not feel comfortable qualifying it with that performance. As Dominic said though, it can be run and may not hit any noticeable issues what so ever. More details here:

https://avidtech.my.salesforce-sites...a-Known-Issues

RE Sequoia... we are actively testing and giving feedback to Apple. My hope is to be able to qualify it, but I can't make any promises till all the cards are down.

RE Support/Repair... Not ramping down any support for the Carbon family, but 90 days is too long and I would like to look into it. For what it is worth, with any hardware RMA you should have a choice to repair or replace. Repairs cost a bit less but take longer while replacements cost a bit more but are shipped much quicker.

I hope this is helpful...

m

[basslik]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Yes please, it would be good to know what goes wrong and how much it costs to fix.

Dominic

For how much the Carbon cost, man they need to fix it at no charge. Unless a surge or something created the issue. My 003 never had any issues like the 002 harness.

[trackone]

Originally Posted by MCorbin

Hey all

RE Sonoma... as I'd mentioned in some other threads, the issue was an Apple AVB issue that had the potential to cause drop outs while recording, and I did not feel comfortable qualifying it with that performance. As Dominic said though, it can be run and may not hit any noticeable issues what so ever. More details here:

RE Sequoia... we are actively testing and giving feedback to Apple. My hope is to be able to qualify it, but I can't make any promises till all the cards are down.


m

I'm really interested in getting a Carbon interface with an additional Carbon Pre. I do not want to go full HDX and it really fits the bill for what I need right now. However, there have been quite a few posts in this forum about the way AVB is implemented, etc. as well as slowness with updates for Carbon.

Connectivity with AVB doesn't really bother me, but what does concern me is that there appears to be an Apple issue, and with it not be being ready for Sonoma, I am somewhat concerned. Are you saying it may be or probably won't be for Sonoma? The Sequoia quote makes me think it may be just skipped over for Sonoma to Sequoia?

I just don't want to put money into a system that may not be viable for me going forward. I just want to make sure I can count on future support and upgradeability. Also, any chance you could comment about possible integration with Eucon and the Dock for monitor control? I don't think that is available right now, but it would be nice.

Barry

[Cowboy Bob]

Thanks for chiming in Mark.

As I’ve stated I was able to replace the broken Carbon right away. Sweetwater was awesome and got it to me in 3 days. I actually bought it literally hours after the original Carbon failed. I was able to keep a session that was scheduled for the weekend. They also facilitated the repair of the broken Carbon.

I had opened a case with Avid support, but by the time someone finally replied to me, I had sent the unit to Sweetwater for them coordinate the repair for me. So, I canceled the case.

Again, I knew the price of the repair going into it, which was much less than the replacement, but also less than a Pre. With the initial cost of the Carbon, I couldn’t justify scrapping it either. The lead time for the repair was a bit excessive. I was told that Avid quoted 4 weeks, which does seem excessive, especially since I’m fairly confident the repair was merely a circuit board swap, and 90 days later…well I’ll just say I’m glad I had another interface to use in all that time.

I’m still a huge fan of the unit, but am kind of concerned that we’ll have another 11R on our hands. FWIW, I still use my 11R, but with the dsp of the Carbon, I tend to use the Eleven MKll plug-in more often.

Also, FWIW, I have not experienced the drop out in any of my work flow, but I also realize the potential is there.