Home › Forums › Help/Technical Questions › MicroSynth XO cutting out

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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  • December 16, 2009 at 6:43 am #79535
    autolux
    Participant

    hi there,

    im not really sure how to describe my problem. a few weeks back i tried an original microsynth out at practice, loved it… seemed like i couldnt shut the thing up, it just made crazy awesome sounds constantly. whatever i played thru it sounded sweet.

    since then, bought the xo version but i seem to be having the opposite problem, i’ve tried almost every combination of settings possible with the gate and trigger etc, but its always just cutting the notes off..

    if i play a note, sometimes it’ll sustain for a while but then just abruptly cut off… sometimes it’ll cut the note off almost straight away, just seems completely unuseable on solos no matter the settings, which is hard to believe and the entire point of buying it.. if i chuck an overdrive before it, it’s a little better. the only way i’ve found around it is to slam it with overdrive, and a cranked big muff at the same time so it basically has no choice, but then its obviously unwieldly…..

    i don’t know my way around this pedal exceptionally well, and i assume its a bit dependant on your guitars intonation and sustain (playing fender jazzmaster with mustang bridge, could be intonated better but its okay), but seriously… i don’t remember the original one acting like that, and its hard to get an idea from microsynth videos on youtube.. could there be something wrong with it? it was purchased new.

    December 23, 2009 at 9:11 pm #105629
    tronato
    Member

    Hello!
    I purchased one of these today and seem to have the same problem… it cuts off after a few seconds… could it be the pre-amp gain that needs to be adjusted as indicated in the instructions?
    By the way mine didn’t include the templates mentioned in the instructions…
    Bad start…

    December 24, 2009 at 6:34 am #105640
    diblet
    Member

    might want to try compression infront of the microsynth to see if that helps

    December 25, 2009 at 7:46 pm #105700
    tronato
    Member
    Quote:
    might want to try compression infront of the microsynth to see if that helps

    I don’t have a compressor…
    Do you mean that to make this pedal work I need to buy a compressor pedal?
    Frankly I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if it still cuts out after two or three seconds?

    December 25, 2009 at 8:34 pm #105701
    bill ruppert
    Participant

    There should be a gain trim pot on the inside.
    Find out which one it is and turn it up.
    Your guitar output may be low and causing the gate to close to quickly.
    Not a big deal.
    Its impossible to be set up from the factory for every guitar as the outputs of guitar pickups differ so much.
    The old big box had a hole on the bottom where you could access the trim pot.

    On the other hand if you do get a comp it works great in front of the MicrosSynth to produce ever even Synth bass sounds as well as increasing sustain.
    Bill

    February 8, 2010 at 9:36 am #107244
    autolux
    Participant

    thank you for the replies.

    i finally got around to playing with it again..

    i have quite high gain pickups, a jazzmaster with tele deluxe humbuckers, i’ve played around using a black finger compressor before the microsynth, and it acts the exact same way..

    i’ve opened it up, the gain trim was at about 60-70%, i moved it all the way between there and 100%, pretty much the same response, so i put it back where it was..

    i play a note, and it’ll fiz out no matter what it seems after 1-5 seconds.. the only way i can get it to sustain a note without the gate cutting off is to use an ebow?

    i think im going to have to get my hands on another xo or original one and a/b…

    September 14, 2010 at 2:52 pm #111410
    No Frills
    Member

    Hi there

    I wonder whether you have had a chance to clarify the issue?

    October 2, 2010 at 1:15 pm #111760
    tide_hunter
    Member

    I can confirm this is also a problem with the Bass Microsynth EXO. I tweaked the gain trim for a couple of hours last night and manage to improve 3 seconds of sustain before cut off to about 7 seconds, but it still sounds really unnatural when it happens. I can get better sustain if I increase the gain trim but any more than it’s current position and the wet signal is just too much louder than the bypassed signal to accept the trade off for sustain.

    I think it is lazy and lame for EHX to say this is a known issue and advise us to put a compressor before it, I fail to understand why two pedals are required to make one pedal function correctly. The main bone of contention is the fact that this is not documented very well in the included documentation, presumably if it is a known issue they could have taken the time to mention it there.

    I supposed mine was faulty because to me the cut off is unacceptable, but now it seems I’ll either have to live with it or find a better alternative.

    October 2, 2010 at 6:07 pm #111764
    electro-melx
    Moderator
    Quote:
    I think it is lazy and lame for EHX to say this is a known issue and advise us to put a compressor before it, I fail to understand why two pedals are required to make one pedal function correctly.

    I supposed mine was faulty because to me the cut off is unacceptable, but now it seems I’ll either have to live with it or find a better alternative.

    Where have you got this information?

    EHX told you to buy a compressor?!? have you contacted them?

    If you aren’t happy with it why not take it back to the shop you bought it from and get a refund? How do you know that it isn’t faulty have you had it checked?

    People in this thread are just offering advice while trying to understand the problem you have with your pedal. Just because some people find the microsynth works well with a compressor it shouldn’t be necessary to have one for it to function.

    October 3, 2010 at 5:41 pm #111784
    tide_hunter
    Member
    Quote:
    Where have you got this information?

    EHX told you to buy a compressor?!? have you contacted them?

    See the third reply on this forum

    The poster doesn’t say that EHX recommended buying the compressor, but that’s where I got the information about EHX claiming the signal cut was “normal”

    Quote:
    If you aren’t happy with it why not take it back to the shop you bought it from and get a refund? How do you know that it isn’t faulty have you had it checked?

    Quite difficult to have it checked since I bought it online. I really like the sound that I get out of it but I just think it’s unacceptable for it to cut out at all. I’ve never experienced this kind of behaviour with any other type of pedal before. I’ll contact the seller and ask them to replace it and I hope you’re right and it is a faulty unit.

    October 4, 2010 at 1:17 am #111798
    diblet
    Member
    Quote:
    Quote:
    I really like the sound that I get out of it but I just think it’s unacceptable for it to cut out at all. I’ve never experienced this kind of behaviour with any other type of pedal before.

    but you have to ask yourself, have you ever had an octave shifting pedal with envelope filter that is a 100% analog circuit?

    honestly the microsynth has a bit of a learning curve – almost like an instrument itself – there are inherent limitations and characteristics associated with it… sharply cutting off the notes being one of them.

    that being said, i have learned there are a lot of sounds in the box that i cannot get elsewhere – and have come to love the variation/unpredictability of some of the aspects of the sounds that only comes with an analog device. (namely the organic nature of the breakup, cutting in/out and way it handles chords / non-guitar sounds etc).

    October 4, 2010 at 6:55 pm #111813
    SanquiFlerb
    Member
    Quote:
    Quote:
    Where have you got this information?

    EHX told you to buy a compressor?!? have you contacted them?

    See the third reply on this forum

    The poster doesn’t say that EHX recommended buying the compressor, but that’s where I got the information about EHX claiming the signal cut was “normal”

    Then no, EHX never said that it was mandatory to use a compressor. It’s such a shame that you can’t use it 100% like you wanted, but as most said it’s what happens when you use some analog devices: you can’t predict them.

    October 4, 2010 at 7:28 pm #111814
    tide_hunter
    Member

    Thanks for all the replies. So the consensus would imply that the cut out is normal, I’d be much happier if that had actually been expressed somewhere in the product documentation. Also it wasn’t mentioned in any of the video reviews/guides that I watched prior to purchasing the pedal.

    You’d think that something like this would be worth mentioning, especially since not every buyer will have intimate knowledge of this type of effect, “normal” operation notwithstanding.

    January 16, 2012 at 10:38 pm #116777
    AlexNC
    Participant
    Quote:
    Thanks for all the replies. So the consensus would imply that the cut out is normal, I’d be much happier if that had actually been expressed somewhere in the product documentation. Also it wasn’t mentioned in any of the video reviews/guides that I watched prior to purchasing the pedal.

    You’d think that something like this would be worth mentioning, especially since not every buyer will have intimate knowledge of this type of effect, “normal” operation notwithstanding.

    I am a little late to this thread, but thought I would throw my 2 cents into the discussion. I got a used Microsynth of Craigslist and also had the cut out issues. I too put a compressor in front of it and it helped a lot. I wish I didn’t have to use the compressor, but it is definitively needed.

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