My new mixer *almost* works perfectly!

[chriskorff]

sounds like the card just needed to be reseated.

The Magic Bullet.

[netguyjoel]

Awesome...

[chriskorff]

D'oh!!

I spoke to soon, but I'm definitely getting closer...

I just slid the mixer back into position having fannied around with the connections at the back to plumb everything in, and the same old problem started - Solo light in master module permanently on, meter bridge having a spaz, and buzzing at the output.

However, tapping the master output module round the back makes the meter bridge switch between going completly mental, and hovering around 1-2 LEDs, which is a start. I can only think there's something wrong with the ribbon connector between the master module and the output module - it's clearly a duff/flakey connection somewhere, and I'm just gonna keep looking for it (within my safety limits, of course - if I can't get it working again myself, I'll just pass on what I've discovered to an expert).

Cheers!

Chris

[chriskorff]

Hi again,

Just a quick question - I think Tom mentioned earlier that it was more than likely a control path, rather than a signal path, issue. Just from having a butchers, it looks like the signal path is carried on the ribbon cables, and the small pairs of twisted power cable are the control path. Does that seem right?

Cheers!

Chris

[chriskorff]

The running commentary continues...

Having re-seated some of the controller connections, the meter bridge has finally calmed down. Now it's just the buzzing and the permanently on Solo light. I think these are related to each other though.

Cheers!

Chris

[pollux]

I recently cleaned an old soundcraft live 32 ch mixer.
this what I did:
1) compressed air on each fader
2) deoxit faderlube spray 5% on each fader, then thoroughy move it up and down for at least 1min
3) deoxit faderlube drops 100% on each fader, then move it up a couple of times to spread it
4) deoxit spray 5% on each input / ouput (XLR, jack, etc)
5) deoxit gold spray on each input / ouput (XLR, jack, etc)

works like a charm now

I also opened it and with a small vacuum I gathered all the dust inside.

If you're patient enough, you can also do the same with faderlube for each knob

[netguyjoel]

Sound advice...really work the faders to eliminate that static sound at 0...

I was going to suggest contact cleaner, deoxit is one.....

[chriskorff]

Hi again dudes,

Gonna hit the Deoxit and compressed air as soon as possible - they'll probably do them both at Maplins, but they close at 6 so it'll probably have to wait until the weekend.

Quick question in the mean time though - if I were to disconnect one of the ribbon cables in one of the channel strips in the middle of the desk (say, channel , would the signal still pass from channel 7 to channel 9, or would I need to re-connect all the channel strips after channel 8 so that the desk was functioning as a 23 channel desk, instead of 24? I ask because it would be fairly trivial to remove each module one by one to see if one of the strips was shorting somewhere and causing the Solo light problem, but it would be a bit more tedious to do that if I had to re-connect every other channel strip in order to test each one!

Cheers,

Chris

*Edit*

At the moment I'm just taking each strip out in turn, disconnecting the ribbons and looking for anything on the channels' circuit boards that looks iffy. So far nothing, but I might as well be methodical about it!

[garyb]

that's the beauty of a well made console. unlike that Mackie crap, you CAN disconnect one or more faulty cards, service them outside the frame and continue working in the mean time...

[chriskorff]

Hi Gary,

Cheers for the reply, but I probably should have worded myself better there - what I meant was: there's a ribbon cable that goes from channel 1 to channel 24, stopping off at every channel in between. If I were to disconnect a channel, would it matter that there was a disconnection at that point in the ribbon, or is the ribbon cable 'normalled' to pass signal through if something isn't connected at one point or another?

Cheers!

Chris

*Edit*

I just re-read your answer, and that points to a 'yes' - just thought I'd check though, for clarity's sake.

[darkrezin]

Just FYI - I don't think Maplin sells Caig Deoxit. I had to order it from an ebay shop (sadly a high-end hi-fi dealer so the price was probably a bit over the odds but still worth it).

[chriskorff]

Hello mate,

Nice avatar - I think my mum's got that LP somewhere. I always thought it was cool how his 'controls' were keys!!

Anyway, I've got the bleedin' thing working now! I think it's just a case of spit 'n shine to get it up to a reliable state. I've been going through the strips to check for oddities, and I just got half way and thought I'd turn it on, and the Solo light was off and it's not making that hum anymore! This proves that the problems are related, which is nice, and also means I can isolate the issue to the master module - all the more so, because the faint scratchy noise on the output (I'm talking very faint, mind - it sounds like a dusty record) goes away completely when I solo any of the channels, busses or auxes. My money's on the master fader, as Netguyjoel (I think?) said earlier, but I'm gonna clean the whole thing next weekend and I reckon that'll be job done.

Cheers!!!

Chris

[garyb]

yes, you can disconnect a channel or many channels, and the others will still work.