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Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-21 by Aaron Eppolito

I'm sorry that you're not willing to spend a little time to check a fuse or
spend some money to have it fixed.  Calling E-mu shoddy as a whole is
completely unfair, and quite frankly, very insulting.  We make some of the
most mechanically sound and reliable stuff out there.  We also have some of
the best customer support in the industry.  How many other companies that you
know of have almost all of their engineers, service, sales and marketing
people watching and responding to user groups?  How many other companies
offer a full year warrantee?  Most gear I've ever bought was 90 days.  I'm
sure your local service center won't charge you $60 to check a fuse, unless
you have the attitude presented here on the list.

Again, I'm sorry you have a problem, but I think you should really do
something about it (like spend a couple bucks to fix a product that you've
gotten use out of for 2 years) rather than spewing negative comments about
the company on every list you can find.

-Aaron

Barry Michael wrote:

> The emu stuff blows up completely in the middle of
> your session and they won't supply parts to get your
> units fixed. Trust me, I know.
> BarryM

Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-21 by bruce@sigalarm.com

All I can say is that I have 4 Emu synths right now:

Morpheus
Audity 2000 Ex
Planet Earth
E-Synth Ultra

None of them have ever acted up. I have had the Morpheus for over 7
years.  To give you an idea of my experience with Emu Service.  One of
them contacted me, to let me know that I could upgrade my early Audity
2000 to get some fixes to some of the bugs.  I guess it pays to send
in the reg cards!

Anyhow. My emu gear has never caused me a single problem.  My next
purchase will be Emu (XL-7) - Gotta help keep that US economy chugging!

Did I mention that Emu is an American synth company?

Bruce

Re: [xl7] Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-22 by Oscar Finch

 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: bruce@sigalarm.com
Sent: Saturday, 22 September 2001 5:29
To: xl7@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [xl7] Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000
 
I've got to agree with Aaron and co. here. A blatant slagging of one of the most innovative music technology companies
I have ever seen. People like this do a lot of damage to great manufacturers. So let me just add I've been a proud owner
an Emulator EII+ since 1989 ( as we all know they where manufactured around 83/84). And it is built like a friggin tank.
The unit has not once been in for repairs, my sound library still plays like a charm and I have had years of pleasure out of it. It was my first gear purchase ever and still my fondest bit of kit (besides an Sp808Ex ooops wrong manufacturer).
Keep up the good work EMU some of think your doing a great job.
Peace All and a big :( to dude with the attitude.
 

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Re: [xl7] Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-22 by Barry Michael

AaronE,
Pardon me, but a couple of points.
Firstly, the first thing i did was check the fuse. Emu
tech support told me that it could not possibly be the
fuse and that I probably needed a new main board, 
(which would cost more than a "little money" to
replace, wouldn't it? Like about as much as the unit
in the first place?) when even to a moron like me it
is obviously a PS issue. So tech/customer support is a
failure. I've already spent more than a "little" money
when I bought the unit, and rightfully, I think,
looked forward to at least several years of
uninterrupted use, as a return on my investment. An
investment which, by the way, pays your salary.
Secondly, the years warranty is obviously Not enough,
since my unit lasted less than 2 years. I don't care
what other manufacturers do. I bought Your Product. I
only care what Emu does for Me. That's the nature of
the free market economy.
Thirdly, it's great you guys watch and respond to user
groups. But if what you want from that is "no
negatives", and a constant round of high fives, then
maybe you should just attend more corporate meetings.
Fourthly, maybe your engineers would be rewarded more
by sitting on their laurels less and sticking a P2K on
a test bench for about a thousand hours straight to
see how long it runs before it pukes.
And last but far from least, this is America... You
know, America? The last time I looked, I was entitled
to any attitude and any opinion I want, as well as the
freedom to express it in a public forum.
The fact is, you have my money. I doubt you are
willing to give it back. I have nothing but a
valueless ex-synth, unless I spend even more money on
it to make it work again the way it was supposed to in
the first place. Damn right I have an attitude. Not
only am I out the money for the unit (and it wasn't
cheap), but I may be out a client. I'm not a synth
manufacturer of off the shelf consumer products, so to
me every client counts tremendously, and one or two
more or less can make me or break me. In my business,
you are only as successful as your last completed
project, which is something I don't think you guys
understand. To you I'm just some nameless faceless
disgruntled user, who has the audacity to question the
unchallenged aura of infallibility built up around
your company. I am not amused. Make me an offer I
can't refuse, and fix my unit, which would cost You
next to Nothing. Which is a lot less than  "a little".
BarryM 




--- Aaron Eppolito <aarone+xl7@...> wrote:
> I'm sorry that you're not willing to spend a little
> time to check a fuse or
> spend some money to have it fixed.  Calling E-mu
> shoddy as a whole is
> completely unfair, and quite frankly, very
> insulting.  We make some of the
> most mechanically sound and reliable stuff out
> there.  We also have some of
> the best customer support in the industry.  How many
> other companies that you
> know of have almost all of their engineers, service,
> sales and marketing
> people watching and responding to user groups?  How
> many other companies
> offer a full year warrantee?  Most gear I've ever
> bought was 90 days.  I'm
> sure your local service center won't charge you $60
> to check a fuse, unless
> you have the attitude presented here on the list.
> 
> Again, I'm sorry you have a problem, but I think you
> should really do
> something about it (like spend a couple bucks to fix
> a product that you've
> gotten use out of for 2 years) rather than spewing
> negative comments about
> the company on every list you can find.
> 
> -Aaron
> 
> Barry Michael wrote:
> 
> > The emu stuff blows up completely in the middle of
> > your session and they won't supply parts to get
> your
> > units fixed. Trust me, I know.
> > BarryM
> 
> 


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Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-22 by bruce@sigalarm.com

Barry

I am not sure what part of the US you live in. If you are lucky to be 
in Southern California like myself, many places that service EMu will 
be willing to check it out for little or no money.  My first reaction 
when someone tells me the main board is blown is to get a second 
opinion. (Same goes for the main board in me as well! <g>)

If you are in southern california let me recommend Professional Sound 
and Music in San Diego.

I know you are worked up, important gear taking a dump in the middle 
of an project does that, but its a computer.  They are not that tough 
to fix.  I have not read the message of the original problem (won't 
power on?), but if they don't light up, its usually in the power path. 
 That stuff is composed of the less expensive components on the board 
(5 cent diodes, $2.00 switches) as opposed to the DSP chips or the 
memory or display guts.

Feel free to email me directly if you want to discuss. I am not an EMu 
tech, but I do build lots of synths, and fix many of my oldies 
(Salutes the ProOne).  

Bottom line - your beast can live again

Bruce

Re: [xl7] Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-22 by Barry Michael

Bruce,
Thanks for your reply. It helps. I am slowly getting
over myself on this thing. I did not mean to be so
harsh with Aaron, but I guess he pushed all my
buttons.
I am in Houston, TX. and the closest authorized Emu
service center to me is Audio Electronics in Dallas.
They were pretty up front with me in saying that they
were having a hard time getting Emu replacement parts,
and could not specify a turnaround time because of
that.
They seemed pretty upset with Emu themselves, which
kind of added fuel to the fire.
The situation was, we were working on a segment for a
hour long TV piece, and had a section we needed to
fill with percussion sounds. I had a piece up in Logic
and split it according to notes so that I could use
several of the resulting tracks i.e., their timing,
for the percussion tracks. We had gone out to fifteen
tracks of percussion from the P2K and were happy. We
started to mix the cue. Suddenly the output from the
P2K was gone. The Logic sequence rolled on, the tape
rolled on, the other synths continued to play. I
looked over at the P2K and all the blocks on the LCD
were lit up black. I thought "well it's crashed".
Thinking nothing of it, I stopped the sequencer and
rebooted the Proteus. Nothing. No lights, not even an
intermittent. Nothing on the LCD and no red lights
next to the buttons. I checked the fuse and it seemed
to have continuity, but I replaced it anyway. Still
nothing. So that is my sad tale. My client was in love
with the piece and didn't even want to go on, even
though we had a tight deadline. I ended up renting a
P2K to finish the thing, and he was not happy. I had
to absorb the rental, and I am still not happy.
Problem is that I use the Grail chip as my main piano
a lot of the time, and it looks like I will have to
get another platform for it. I am considering buying a
Planet Earth and installing the grail and the Composer
Rom from the P2K in it. I'll just wait until I cool
off to do something about the Proteus. Open to
suggestions. I recieved a private email from a guy
named Sean at Emu, in which he indicated that if I
would call him, he could/would help me. He was not
specific, but I will call him Monday.
Thanks Again,
BarryM
Tri-Kaya Productions



--- bruce@... wrote:
> Barry
> 
> I am not sure what part of the US you live in. If
> you are lucky to be 
> in Southern California like myself, many places that
> service EMu will 
> be willing to check it out for little or no money. 
> My first reaction 
> when someone tells me the main board is blown is to
> get a second 
> opinion. (Same goes for the main board in me as
> well! <g>)
> 
> If you are in southern california let me recommend
> Professional Sound 
> and Music in San Diego.
> 
> I know you are worked up, important gear taking a
> dump in the middle 
> of an project does that, but its a computer.  They
> are not that tough 
> to fix.  I have not read the message of the original
> problem (won't 
> power on?), but if they don't light up, its usually
> in the power path. 
>  That stuff is composed of the less expensive
> components on the board 
> (5 cent diodes, $2.00 switches) as opposed to the
> DSP chips or the 
> memory or display guts.
> 
> Feel free to email me directly if you want to
> discuss. I am not an EMu 
> tech, but I do build lots of synths, and fix many of
> my oldies 
> (Salutes the ProOne).  
> 
> Bottom line - your beast can live again
> 
> Bruce
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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Re: He's all blowed up & XL-7 or Proteus 2000

2001-09-23 by bruce@sigalarm.com

What you described sure does not sound like a fuse.  It would be tough 
to tell without opening it up (can you tell I like to do that?) and 
seeing what is going on.

Not sure if you know or care about electronics, but for those of you 
curious I will give some info here.

The P2K (all the Emu's really) have an internal power supply that 
provide the electrons to make the whole thing work.  In computer 
systems the most electronically vulnerable parts are in the power 
supply (usually).  The entire guts of the synth (in the case of modern 
Emu's) runs from a +5v power supply, same as a computer.  These things 
are pretty insistant that they get their +5 Volts.

The power supply turns wall juice at 115v or 220v AC and creates nice 
smooth 5 volts.  (Yes there are some other voltages in there, I know).

Last time I saw a synth do what you described was a Roland MKS-50.  
The result was that a component in the power supply burned up, and the 
voltage went crazy, then quit all together.  Most folks who design the 
guts of computers / synths will have ways of protecting the delecate 
(electronicly) computer type parts. This would include the DSP chips, 
memory and the D/A converters from wild swings in voltage. And the 
power supply is usually designed to be the part that blows a 5 cent 
diode when things go wrong.

Now, again, there is no way to tell without opening it up, but the 
damage might not be so drastic.

But of course that is not helping you get your project done.

Sorry to all of you who think this electronic mumbo jumbo is naff!  
Back to making music!

Bruce