Problems with knobs...

[JacksonP]

I seriously begin to question the build quality of the Origin...?

Here's my story:
I got my unit about a month ago and now I am afraid that those knobs start to break up. First, one of them started to send values without touching it and then it didn't get anymore maximum values. Fortunately I could show it to authorized repairer (near me) which told me that the knob has manufacturing flaw. Unfortunately he had to make an order to get replacement component. He also deactivated the broken knob to make it NOT send any unwanted values. I got my unit back and now I'm waiting for this part - hopefully not too long.

Few days after that second knob started to do exactly the same behavior. So my next move is of course report this and tell those guys to order some more replacement parts. But I begin to wonder, when does it end or is this just a beginning? Are all those knobs this very bad (probably Chinese) quality? Can I trust my Origin to last for years? I would expect more from over 2000 euros product. As a professional gigging professional I need instruments that I can trust on stage.

Does anybody have an idea what's happening here or have any similar experiences? For sure I have treated my 1 month old unit with care. First thing I did was to buy a hard wooden case (soft inside) for it to carry etc.

And finally, I love the Origin sound and the software running in it (still developing though). I am worried about its build quality and Arturias technical support. It seems to me (reading these forums) that Arturia has a LOT of technical problems, which is of course bad thing for their business.

 

[Philippe]

I got my unit about a month ago and now I am afraid that those knobs start to break up. First, one of them started to send values without touching it and then it didn't get anymore maximum values. Fortunately I could show it to authorized repairer (near me) which told me that the knob has manufacturing flaw. Unfortunately he had to make an order to get replacement component. He also deactivated the broken knob to make it NOT send any unwanted values. I got my unit back and now I'm waiting for this part - hopefully not too long.

If I understand well, someone - an "authorized" repairer - in your country did something to the broken knob. Could you tell me more about what he did? How did he "deactivated" this broken knob?

I'm quite surprised by that because an intervention on this part of the electronics have to be done following a detailed procedure and using placement tools of the board and plate where all encoders and potentiometers are soldered and screwed. And this intervention should not be undertaken outside the factory because it's very easy to deteriorate potentiometers if this board is misplaced.

So please give me the details.

The procedure is to bring your machine to your distributor, then the distributor should asks us what he can do. Given the symptom our answers would have been "return the machine to us" so we can do the proper reparation with the needed tools. In any case your local repairer should definitely not undertake the replacement of the broken potentiometer(s).

For the moment we don't have in stock all the spare parts but AFAIK it should be OK beginning of January 2011.

[JacksonP]

I'm sorry but I cannot tell you precisely what he did. When first knob started to have symptoms I contacted to my dealer and then scandinavian distributor (Into-Luthman). Anyway I was lucky to live quite near to the repairer which this company (Into-Luthman) had used.

Anyway he took out the broken knob; checked it and told me it has some manufacturing law or is damaged. He did not try to repair it; he just took it out (and could make it NOT to send any values). At that moment I got the unit back and I was hoping to be able to use it and same time wait for replacement knob. And when second knob started to have similar symptoms, this guy advised me to send it to Into-Luthman, Sweden. Today I could return this unit to my local music shop and they'll send it to Sweden.

That's all I know about it. Two things I hope: reasonable time in this repair process and finaly knobs that I can trust.

[Philippe]

Oh, one more precision...

When dealing with a potentiometer it is normal to get sometimes "spurious" messages. You may have set the position of the potentiometer so that the analog tension at its output (which is a continuous value) is in between 2 numeric values. Due to the noise which is inherent to any analog process the ADC may "see" a value which is + or - 1 less significant bit around the continuous analog value. This can be seen - rarely - on continuous parameters (eg the osc tune or the filter cutoff). You should'nt get these "spurious" messages on the osc frequency knob because the analog value is quantized to semi-tones (which represents a lot of bit at the ADC output).

And finally there's a possibility to get "spurious" messages from a potentiometer attached to a quantized parameter - such as the osc frequency - if its  position is just above or under the quantized value. Then due to the noise it can generate a spurious message. The workaround then is just to slightly turn the potentiometer so that it is in the middle of the 2 consecutive quantized values.