LFO noise/harmonic. Extremely irritating.

[ricvdb]

I want to say first that this is my FOURTH minibrute.  The previous three had different faults, and It seems like every time I have it replaced, there is a new issue that wasn't present on the previous unit.  From aesthetic problems (uneven feet, not sitting on a table without wobbling left/right everytime a key is played, weights falling off the keys in transit and damaging the unit) to hardware issues (dysfunctional pitch wheel behaviour), the quality of this product has been so inconsistent. 

On this unit, when the LFO is engaged it seems to generate it's own separate tone - it doesn't change with the oscillator when I play a different note, it's just a harmonic or a noisey high pitched 'whirr' that stays the same when using the lfo.  Most obviously noticeable when I have the amp at either -/+ extreme.  It totally interferes with the sound everytime I wish to use the LFO, as it adds an unwanted harmonic.  This feature wasn't present in any of the other 3 minibrutes I've had, so why is it present here?

I have to say I love this product when it works, but my experience so far has been a total nightmare in terms of the volume of issues I've experienced

[ricvdb]

Extra points I've noticed:

- Only happens with LFO's sine, saw & triangle wave

- Is audible with all waveforms at '0' on the oscillator mixer section

- Isn't audible when the Phones volume is turned to '0' (I'm using headphones) - gets louder accordingly when I adjust volume

[Bruno@arturia]

Sorry about the bad user experience you got,
Can you provide me with an audio sample of this LFO noise?
Thanks

[TobyDog]

Did you work with your vendor or with Arturia to replace the defective units?
Thanks!

[metadb]

I'm having this same problem. Very frustrating! No keys are being played, all levels are at zero in the mixer section, the frequency cutoff and resonance are all the way down, and all envelope sliders are down, YET a tone is produced once the lfo is applied to the amp. It is worst when the amp mod knob is at either extreme, but it is still audible at any setting other than zero. Sweeping the LFO rate changes the pulse of the sound. The strange things is that with the whole mixer section at zero, this tone changes if I sweep the filter cutoff or increase the resonance or the brute factor. Here's is where it gets simply unusable: still no pressing down any keys or connected to and midi source and then turning up anything in the mixer section while the Amp Mod is up and that oscillator will pulse on and off at the lfo rate. At this point the envelope faders are all still down yet pressing keys at this point will select the frequency of the constantly pulsing tone. This makes it impossible to utilize the amp mod, because sound will always be on whether or not I'm playing a key. With any fader up in the mixer section the LFO mod of the amp just sustains whatever the last note was regardless of the envelope setting. Do I return this to the vendor I purchased it from and risk another one. I really love the synth other than this problem. 

[sihaz]

@ricvdb is this not the same thing as here:

http://www.arturia.com/evolution/smf/index.php?topic=12856.0

i believe that this is normal behaviour for the MB...

[dexfx69]

I want to say first that this is my FOURTH minibrute. the quality of this product has been so inconsistent. 
I have to say I love this product when it works, but my experience so far has been a total nightmare in terms of the volume of issues I've experienced

Sorry to hear of your troubles - I hate to say it, but you'll find through the history of great analogs created by smaller companies (ie not Korg/Yamaha/Roland), that usually these kinds of problems are part of the company's learning process. Good things don't come easy it seems. My brute has troubled me as well but these issues usually are solveable. Some are not. It's still a miracle to have a synth with these features and sound quality available in 2013 - I've learned to love mine, quirks and all - as long as the issues don't prevent me from using the instrument expressively and freely. There is a price to pay for using VCO analog synths it seems.

Many of Dave Smith's synths have a myriad of issues - including incomplete/faulty firmware upon release and for several months (even years or forever!), faulty pots, etc. Just know that you have a brilliant VCO mono synth for under $500 - which is a miracle if you think about it.

This is Arturias first foray into analog synths - and they're learning from their experiences with the MiniBrute. Hopefully you find one that works to your satisfaction though.

[squil]

+1

[Chi]

I get a crackly scratchy noise whenever I adjust the LFO AMP knob. Sounds like static or paper being scrunched and not popping or clicking like a fast envelope.

It happens whilst rotating the knob around the "+" and "-" points of the dial even if no oscillators are being used.

Is this normal?

[Chi]

As of today I too am having exactly the same issues described by the original poster and subsequent others.

It is only a few weeks old and my MB SE has gone from making a crackly sound when moving the lfo amp knob to making a constant whiney high pitch when nothing but the lfo amp is on.

High pitch coming from the lfo!? No other osc's or modulation and this noise! :C

The pitch of the tone does not change on any action but as other have said the filter does have some effect but it is always there unless turning off the lfo amp.

So annoying...