Strange tuning problem with my GEM Promega 3

[rayrat]

Hi,

Lately, there is a strange problem with my GEM Promega 3 in that it will go out of tune after playing for a while at church. I'm not sure if there's a problem with the synth, or voltage in the church when the rest of the band is plugged in. It doesn't occur all the time. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Ray

[delaware dave]

I own the GEM Equinox 88 and 76 models. About 4 times over the course of 10 years the Equinox would exhibit some strange behavior. In each case a reloading of the operating system solved the issue. Not sure what caused the corruptions but sometimes the operating system might have an area in storage that gets corrupted. Not sure if the promega 3 allows for an operating system reload; if it does I would simply try a reload of it. It should do the trick. Remember that reloading the operating system will blow away any custom programs you may have so you should save those programs offline somewhere before reloading the operating system

 

Also, i am a former owner of ensoniq products. They were susceptible to voltage fluctuations and would cause the keyboard to detune. I purchased a power conditioner and it immediately solved the issue on the Ensoniqs. I still use the power conditioner to this day. It is designed to keep the output close to 117V under most conditions. Here is the one I have:

 

http://www.google.com/products/catal...=1024&bih=673#

 

You should be able to purchase one for under $100. I purchased mine back in the early 90's and am still using it. To me it was worth the investment. Just a thought .....

[WDMcM]

When you say 'going out of tune' I will assume you mean the entire instrument drops or raises in pitch equally, is that correct? If so, the next time it occurs, try flicking the pitch bend wheel and let it spring return it to center and see if that brings things back in pitch.

 

Do you know what operating system version your Promega 3 is running under? If not, do the following:

To determine the operating system version in your Promega:

press and hold the SPLIT.P button within the Edit & Controls section and then press the [+]

button above the Tuning to the right of the green LCD. The first press will display the O/S

version and consecutive presses will show the names of the files that are loaded in the

system. (DON'T screw with any of the other screens, just press through them until you are retuto playoplay paly mode)

 

If the O/S version is anything less than 1.06, contact me via e-mail and I'll help you in updating the the latest version which is v1.07. No real big deal between 1.06 and 1.07 so if you already have 1.06 your good. My time is pretty limited these days so while I'm happy to help, if it is not needed, cool.

 

Another thing you could try is mentioned in the post above, re-load the operating system. Thankfully this is very easy to do:

Forced Reset (turn on main power while holding Standby) Wipes out the existing O/S residing in Flash Memory and

decompresses and installs a back-up copy of the O/S, Physical Models and Sample Base. NOTE- this does not compromise your custom user programs so no worries of losing that data.

 

If for some reason you ever do want to clear the user memory, do this:

Clearing User Presets (turn on main power while holding the STORE button)

 

OK, so let me know how it goes.

 

Best Regards,

 

Dave

[WDMcM]

delaware dave, I just received a notice that you posted a question but for some reason the post isn't showing up here. '?' Anyway to answer your question, no there is not a forced reset on the Equinox. You need to re-install the O/S from floppy or a SCSI drive if so equipped.

 

Best Regards,

 

Dave

[WDMcM]

Ray,

 

Just checking to see if you have sorted out the problem with your Promega 3. Please let me know if I can be of any help or at least a confirmation that you stopped back to read responses to your inquiry.

 

Best Regards,

 

Dave

[Higgins56]

Hi Dave,

I am new in here at Harmony Central with my Promega 3 - which is made 2005.

I bought it 2008 and since recently it has performed well.

Now the problem is that when switched on everything is normal but after ca. 4 minutes the section youb are playing gets a strange low frequency vibrato - it is impoissible to play. Another section may be Ok but after some minutes all sections are "corrupted" with this vibrato.

To get out tempirarily of this is to shut off and start the machine again.

I wonder if this is electrical or software problem and what could be done to get rid of it completetly.

Thanks !