Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

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Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby andre99 » Tue May 19, 2015 10:36 pm

This may seem very like a very stupid question but can a loud burst of sound somehow travel down a synths output lead and damage the synth in some way? (Synth plugged into an Ensemble interface with the loud sound coming from Logic.)

I've had a problem with Logic X stopping suddenly with a very loud crack while recording. I traced the problem to the varispeed function on Logic.

Unfortunately over the three nights of it happening the three synths I've been using have all started exhibiting strange behaviour (and it's all the same). After a few minutes of playing the notes don't trigger properly and then there's a kind of delay and the notes will play a second or two later. It's hit a mono/poly a pro one and a 101 so I'm kind of hoping that this kind of damage is not possible.
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby a.d.a.m. baby » Tue May 19, 2015 11:32 pm

I guess first thoughts are:
Why do you think the sound went INTO a synth OUTPUT?
Are you sure the "crack" wasn't a power surge/brownout?
The delayed note behaviour - is that via a Logic midi out, or happening independent of Logic?
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby andre99 » Thu May 21, 2015 10:58 am

Hi Adam,

I cant be 100% sure it wasn't a brown out but the problem seemed to only happen when recording (not playback) and when I was recording with varispeed at a low speed.

If it was a brown out then I know it could be the cause of some strange functioning.

The note triggering problem is independent of Logic - happens on the synths themselves.

I have no idea if a burst of sound can somehow still travel along a lead and enter a synth - even through an output ( I have no tech/electronics knowledge). Thought I'd just check if anyone had any idea of this was even possible.

Thanks
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby Thirteen » Thu May 21, 2015 7:29 pm

All three synths are doing the same thing?
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby andre99 » Tue May 26, 2015 10:17 pm

Hi Steve, I'm going to test them again this weekend. They seemed to all have the same problem, all developed over two nights of recording and all plugged in while the really loud cracks happened. Been too scared to plug them in - hoping if I rest them they might return to normal.
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby Thirteen » Wed May 27, 2015 8:17 am

It sounds unlikely that the three synths all have similar symptoms because they have all failed together. Test them individually in isolation and take notes.
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby Starxi » Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:13 am

Are you sequencing the synths via midi/cv out of logic?
Sounds like a midi problem.
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby andre99 » Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:28 pm

Hhhmm, thankfully the synths seem to be fine on testing. That will remain a complete mystery I think. Thanks.
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Re: Can a loud burst of sound damage an old synth?

Postby Thirteen » Wed Jun 10, 2015 5:40 pm

Good result!
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