Armen,
I just thought I'd join in here.
Recently, I powered up my 100M and had to debug and test it - it wasn't making any noise, either. I sympathize with you.
1) Your VCF is working. That's why you get the "lazer sound" with the maximum resonance.
2) I think your VCA and envelope (ADSR) are working.
Here are some ideas (actually, a general method to debug a sound):
1) Switch the waveforms on the oscillator. The sound should change ("flute", "bright", "hollow", "buzzy", etc.) . Switch the octave control; the pitch should change.
2) Try changing the frequency of the filter. If you move it down, the sound should get duller, and, if the envelope control of the filter is working, the change in the sound should be more obvious. If you move it to maximum, you should hear the oscillator without any change in timbre.
3) Try connecting the VCO to different inputs on the filter, and move the input slider up and down. Check that you hear the oscillator.
4) Connect the VCO output directly to the VCA. This bypasses the VCF, if it isn't working, and checks the output of the VCO directly.
5) Move the slider for the envelope control of the filter. At maximum, you should hear the change in timbre. If the slider is bad, you might not hear a change in sound below maximum.
6) Jiggle the jacks in the sockets - especially to and from the ADSR generators. Check for any bad connections.
7) Change patch cables, one at a time. I have some bad patch cables that complete stop any sound; when I replaced them, everything worked.
8) In general, if I don't get any sound from the VCA, I turn the VCA "Initial Gain" to maximum. If the ADSR control of the VCA isn't working, this "opens" the VCA to let the sound go through it.
9) Check that the keyboard isn't the problem. With the VCA "Initial Gain" at maximum, tune the VCO to a "middle" pitch. Press the red button on each ADSR you are using. You should hear timbre or volume changes when you press each button. Play the keyboard. You should hear the pitch change (CV is working) and volume/timbre change (Gate is working).
10) If nothing else works, in general, try adjusting each control on each module, one at a time. Also, try all possible signal and control inputs and outputs.
Sorry, that was a lot. I guess that you have a slightly bad connection or a bad cable (easy to fix) - maybe the VCO-VCF connection is bad or the ADSR-VCF connection is bad. On my system, I do have a bad VCO (difficult to fix). The 100M is a fantastic synth, and reliable, but it is old - like an old sports car that you love. You might have some initial little problems, but it will be great fun.
Welcome to modular synthesis!
Regards,
Peter
On Jan 22, 2008, at 2:46 PM, aziomatic wrote:
Greetings System 100massive,
I read through "Re: [RolandSystem100m] Silly newbie question, please help!!" which was
uber-helpful. After following the patching steps contained in the referenced post, I'm only
getting a noise sound. Sometimes, two to three seconds into the noise, I hear a gurgle. I
can control the envelope of the noise, but I can't change the timbre of the oscillator. The
only other sound I can get, if I set the resonance to the top, is a very high pitched lazer
sound.
I'm trying to figure out if my VCOs are broken.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Gratsi,
armen
