Twitchy Faders

[Ged]

Anyone know what causes the faders to twitch very slightly up and down? It's not going crazy, but when looking at Ableton's on-screen faders, I can see the on-screen faders moving and the values changing and the midi input 'LED' on screen is flashing receiving midi signals from the d8b, it's just a bit off putting really. If all faders are down on the d8b it stops, or if the fader is all the way up, it stops. My console has the power supply built-in and I remember reading on here somewhere about the 5 volt supply having to be a really steady 5v or it causes problems? It does this with d8bridge and ProBox, so it's definitely the d8b console and not the ProBox (I'm using ProBox all the time now! Love it! ) I have read about the Rail Caps issues, but it's only the faders, no problems with Vpots or switches. I seems that the faders are too sensitive or Ableton is too sensitive to the midi values being sent to the PC from the d8b. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[munkustrap]

Hi
It seems so that either you have problems with the rail caps, or
Your reference voltage on the ad converter on the brainboard is not stable.
In this case you will also see problems on the vpots .
They will change slightly their values. You will see that on the daw.
Can you Post a video of your fader problem?

[Ged]

Hi Ralph, I thought Rail Caps too, but the Vpots are really steady, no changes at all, pans etc stay where they are set, it's just the faders, very slight twitching up and down a few .db's i.e. -6.0 to -6.2 on Ableton screen faders and I get the d8b faders fighting my movements too! But I think this is because of this issue. I will make a video tonight and upload it. I don't know if this is the place to ask, but is there a button to turn off the fader motors with ProBox? Only reason I am asking is, if I turn off the motors and play an automated mix in Ableton, it does not affect my automated data. At the moment automation is switched off in Ableton automatically, because the 'twitching' faders tell Ableton I'm adjusting the fader, which of course I am not! Thanks for your replies, it's really appreciated.

[Ged]

Ok, here is the video of the twitchy faders! I hope this works, here goes....

[munkustrap]

Yes, i can do that For the next Version, that you can switch off
The motor faders. I have not done this as the most dass have a button
On the mcu For that.

[Ged]

That would be great, at least if I can't fix my twitchy faders, I will switch them off during automation playback!

[munkustrap]

Hi Ged

thanks for the Video. Thats a good possibility to show your effect.
really very strange. I haven't seen that on my Setup.

one question. at the end of the Video there is the PC Screen with the faders that are dancing a Little up/down.
It Looks to me that the AD converter doesn't convert right (jumps between values due to instable reference voltage or disturbances from digital due to defect rail caps)

maybe you find somebody that changes your rail caps on the brainboard

[Ged]

Hi Ralph, I will try to find a good electronic repair center close to me and ask them if they will do it. I have looked at the brain board diagrams and have seen the 'rail caps' capacitors you mention. I will ask them to replace them. The faders are only twitching very slightly, but it does get annoying when the fader fights back! I think your solution to turn off the motors will stop the twitching affecting my automation, as with motors off and faders down the faders 'on screen' in Ableton stop twitching and I can live with that. I want to stress on here, that this is NOT a ProBox problem! This is my d8b that is causing this, as it did the same thing with D8bridge, but when I turned the motors off I could work around the problem. Thanks again Ralph for your support.

[munkustrap]

Hi Ged

ist ok when you post your problems here. It helps others to solve their problems if they have the same.
please let us know the outcome of your rail cap changes.
You have your Problem on ALL Faders ? or only on a block of 8 (faderboard 1,2,3) ?
because if it is the second Problem, then your issue are not the rail caps.

best regards
Ralph

[Ged]

Hi Ralph, yes the problem is on all faders. The more faders I have up, the more it affects the signals going into Ableton, if say only 2 or 3 faders are 'open' or up, then it's not too bad, but if more faders are up, it seems even more erratic. But it is only twitching the faders, they are not going full travel up and down uncontrollably. I have been online to look locally for an electronic repair shop, I have one near me, so will give them a call soon. When I was using D8bridge (it came with the console ) I turned the fader motors off with the 'Fader Motors off' switch on the d8b and I could work with the faders down during automation playback and my mix was unaffected.