MD: Crackle when moving parameters...BUG?

Elektron Gear Machinedrum
#1

It only happens to me?
I hear crackle when moving parameters, or when you apply an LFO.

OS 1.6.2

To test it,

Set a track with a machine
GND-SN

set its values to:
PITCH to 0
DECAY to 127
RAMP to 0
RDEC to 0

go to the LFO PAGE
set the LFO value to:

PARAM to PAN or VOL
SHP1 to Ramp //
UPDTE to FREE
SPEED to 64
DEPTH to 127
SHMIX to 0

Set the Track Volume to the Maximum,.
Set the Master Volume to the Maximum.

Do a manual trig, ( you can ear an low and long sine),

Now if you move the PAN or VOLUME,
or if the LFO run,
i can ear crackle on sound, listen on headphones

I feel like a croak, as if the parameter was devoid of smooth.

Honestly, I never noticed this until I used a sound with a long decay.

I hope my MD has nothing wrong with it.

#2

its a bug. it started about 3 years ago with an os upgrade, documented on elektron-users. i have notified them a long time ago about it but elektron never replied or fixed it. its one reason i sold my mduw in the end. sad… i thought it would be fixed by now… best if you open a support ticket on elektron.se and help to get it fixed. cheers

#3

@analogback: Thx for the info.

So if the problem is the OS, it means that every user has this defect.
All users of the MD do this test and confirm the issue.
I will open a ticket, so I can direct the support to this thread.

#4

i am on mduw+2 month old

my pitch doesnt go to minus 64 but positive 64

tried to follow your instruction, i have a slight pop occasionally but no crackles

will do again with a more detailed more specific tut, would copy your video if you post one…

#5

I have updated the right value,
but there is nothing complicated or strange routing.
Some Recorded sample

This is with the active LFO on PAN and manual tweaked the LFO SPEED

This is with manual tweaked PAN an VOL parameter

#6

After other tests,
any parameter applies a change the volume you have these crackle,
it happens even if you move:
Track Master Level
VOL
PAN
EQ GAIN
DYNAMIC GAIN
DELAY / ECHO Send and LEVEL
but does not happen, for example, on the parameters of the filters.

I’m really confused now,
I hope it is a bug and will be resolved soon by the Elektron,
I have already opened a ticket, but so far no response.

Otherwise, the second hypothesis is that my MD has something strange.

I would appreciate it if you do the test,
because I want to upgrade my MD with +DRIVE,
but if all the MD have this flaw, I do not know if it’s worth it.

#7

gotta say your 2 sound examples sound pretty sweet to me!

make my speakers rumble and its probably the most surprising low end frequency i heared all day :slight_smile: /7pm now here

i really do not know what I am supposed to hear … no pops, no crackles, sound stereo stuff…deep base… i really notice nothing strange from your recordings

#8

Tested. Same results here. :disappointed:

I guess I haven’t been using my sine like that as I’ve never noticed it before now.

#9

yeah sweet if the sound intentionally has that upper frequency distortion…but on these settings it shouldn’t be there.
that’s the issue. all we should be hearing is a nice, deep ,smooth modulated sine.

#10

We expect a change in the level or pan without noise.

It would seem that the transition is not smooth, but carried out in steps.

Suppose a level of a sound in a live, with a powerful sound system,
and as you do, you feel the transition with these crackle, it is impractical.

So I hope that in the days Elektron give some answers about the case.

I also run the update to the vesrsioned OS 1.6.3.
But the problem remains.

#11

I’m fairly certain this is not a bug that creeped into the O/S but has been a feature of the sound engine since conception.

The crackling is due to the low parameter resolution.

Edit:

It will be more noticeable on Low Frequency sounds. As the frequency becomes lower, the LFO (or simulated lfo by manually turning encoder) will be modulating the wave shape itself, rather than just the overall amplitude of the signal. By distorting the wave shape, you introduce artefacts in to the sound, such as clicking.

The octatrack has resolved most of these issues in the updated sound engine.
But you can still hear it, if you use the cross fader, which has a lower resolution (and no parameter value interpolation), from my observations.

#12

If Justin’s theory is correct, then the Static LFO trick can be used to test the theory. I.e., the static LFO trick gives finer control of parameters. So “Static LFOing” the clicking parameters should lead to less clicking.

It’s a bit too late in the evening for me to try this out myself and I am kind of swamped in general but maybe some of you gents/ladies are up for it.

1 Like
#13

no he is wrong sorry JV. i have the old os if u like?

#14

What O/S revision?

Provide link to the elektron-users discussion.

Edit:

Just sitting in front of my MD now. It actually doesn’t sound like an aliasing issue as I alluded to earlier.

Would be great to find out more info.

#15

Can you provide the OS version and file does not have this defect?
So try it and communicate to Elektron to verify,
since I already have an open ticket,
where I hope they’ll give me explanations.

#16

Here you can see the crackle when you move the parameters.

#17

Could not be interpolate the parameters,
as has been done for some parameters of the A4 in the recent update?

#18

i think i have this, i mean i notice it just when lowering the volume. it sounds like low rez/quantized stepping to me, but also like dc offset maybe? i get the same effect on some 12 bit yamaha’s too…hasn’t really bothered me.

it’d be interesting to test if you can make the sound happen when the sound is completely filtered out, if both volumes cause it and if the individual volume levels make a different. it seems to me like it’s less if i turn the track level down, but i’m not sure.

1 Like
#19

I had another close listen today and have to agree.
You’ll notice that if your rotate the LEVEL encoder whilst it is pressed down the distortion occurs. This would be due to the LEVEL parameter jumping between values, in steps of 4, with no apparent interpolation in between.

.

1 Like
#20

hey, well i cant find the discussion after skimming through a few of the eu compiled pdfs its too exhausting. i can provide every os for the md dating back to around 2003 but i would not recommend loading some of the older ones as they are not entirely revertable according to elektrons advice. rest assured it is an issue that appeared in an early revision and was not fixed and is a bug. weather its repairable now, i dont know but if they havn’t fixed it yet there must be a good reason. sorry i can not prove my statement now as i sold my md a few years ago