Digidesign Control 24 Problem

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <oonPe.2360$eQ.851@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com>,
"folgertemp" <folgertemp@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Pardon me if this is in the wrong newsgroup.
>
> Has anyone had problems with a Digidesign Control 24 meter bridge? There's
> local studio that has one acting up on them. I've isolated it to the
> "External Sources In" connector.
>
> When first powered up, the first 8 channels of VU levels remain at full
> until I hold the cable up. After that the meters are going crazy and
> certainly not in sync with the audio coming through unless I play with the
> connection on the back.
>
> By holding the cabling up (and summarily duct taping it to the underside of
> the shelf) I can keep it steady enough to make it through a session. The
> whole appearance seems to be maybe solder connection related, but it would
> seem rather daunting to pull it all apart and not find the beast.
>
> Looking for a possible direction. Contacts have all been cleaned on the
> external connectors, cables have all been checked thoroughly, and when the
> cable isn't plugged in, it still does the same thing until I manually flex
> some of the panels close to it.

Disclaimer mode on> I'm not a Digidesign tech, but I've recently been
inside one of these, and can make a few semi-educated guesses.
<Disclaimer mode off

The meters are not driven by audio in the conventional sense. They are
driven by software and show the levels of the currently selected 24
tracks of audio in the Protools session. They get that info thru the
ethernet connection to the computer. I know the faders are controlled by
3 seperate boards (one each for 8 channels), and possibly the meters are
the same...which would provide a clue as to where the problem actually
lies.

I suspect that the board that decodes the data and drives those meters
is located at the back of the Control 24 in the neighborhood of the
"External Sources In connector", and when you stress or flex that panel,
it's torquing a connector or pc board, "fixing" the problem.

Assuming the unit is out of warrantee, it's easy enough to get inside
and look around...

Disconnect everything, and flip the unit over, remove the 28 or so
screws from the bottom panel, and remove. It's pretty spacious inside so
you should easily be able to see what's in the vicinity of the
"External" connector, and poke it, looking for an intermittant
connector. The ribbon cables are probably glued into place, but there
might be something loose, or there might be a bad solder joint on a PC
board...

If the warrantee is still in effect, call Digi and have them issue an
RMA.

Good luck.

Jeff C.

--
Anti-Spam email address in effect.
My real email should be pretty obvious to an actual human being.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Just to let everyone know what was found...

One of the ribbon header connectors that jumped between the CH1-8 and CH9-16
VU display boards was partially out of its socket...and glued there.
Evidently in the assembly process it got yanked but then glued in that
position. Only a matter of time after that. Cleaned out the glue, cleaned
the contacts on both, reassembled, and reglued.

Working as good as new...wait....it was a factory flaw......better than new.

Thank you!
Jim Richards
Owner
Richards Music & Electronics
Joliet, IL 60436

"Jeff Chestek" <jchestekYouKnowWhatToRemove@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:jchestekYouKnowWhatToRemove-2067E4.02332328082005@news.verizon.net...
> In article <oonPe.2360$eQ.851@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com>,
> "folgertemp" <folgertemp@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > Pardon me if this is in the wrong newsgroup.
> >
> > Has anyone had problems with a Digidesign Control 24 meter bridge?
There's
> > local studio that has one acting up on them. I've isolated it to the
> > "External Sources In" connector.
> >
> > When first powered up, the first 8 channels of VU levels remain at full
> > until I hold the cable up. After that the meters are going crazy and
> > certainly not in sync with the audio coming through unless I play with
the
> > connection on the back.
> >
> > By holding the cabling up (and summarily duct taping it to the underside
of
> > the shelf) I can keep it steady enough to make it through a session.
The
> > whole appearance seems to be maybe solder connection related, but it
would
> > seem rather daunting to pull it all apart and not find the beast.
> >
> > Looking for a possible direction. Contacts have all been cleaned on the
> > external connectors, cables have all been checked thoroughly, and when
the
> > cable isn't plugged in, it still does the same thing until I manually
flex
> > some of the panels close to it.
>
> Disclaimer mode on> I'm not a Digidesign tech, but I've recently been
> inside one of these, and can make a few semi-educated guesses.
> <Disclaimer mode off
>
> The meters are not driven by audio in the conventional sense. They are
> driven by software and show the levels of the currently selected 24
> tracks of audio in the Protools session. They get that info thru the
> ethernet connection to the computer. I know the faders are controlled by
> 3 seperate boards (one each for 8 channels), and possibly the meters are
> the same...which would provide a clue as to where the problem actually
> lies.
>
> I suspect that the board that decodes the data and drives those meters
> is located at the back of the Control 24 in the neighborhood of the
> "External Sources In connector", and when you stress or flex that panel,
> it's torquing a connector or pc board, "fixing" the problem.
>
> Assuming the unit is out of warrantee, it's easy enough to get inside
> and look around...
>
> Disconnect everything, and flip the unit over, remove the 28 or so
> screws from the bottom panel, and remove. It's pretty spacious inside so
> you should easily be able to see what's in the vicinity of the
> "External" connector, and poke it, looking for an intermittant
> connector. The ribbon cables are probably glued into place, but there
> might be something loose, or there might be a bad solder joint on a PC
> board...
>
> If the warrantee is still in effect, call Digi and have them issue an
> RMA.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Jeff C.
>
> --
> Anti-Spam email address in effect.
> My real email should be pretty obvious to an actual human being.