Ratcheting Attempt with VCO1 and VCO2 Fails

[corum_beasley]

I have been trying to sync up VCO1 and VCO2 both set to Lo. With VCO2 driving the sequencer Trig Next and Envelope Generator1.

I have the driver set to Octave and the Driver frequency at 2 Octaves and K1 selected.

I have VCO3 set up for the tone and S1 selected. The step light does not move indicating the Sequencer is not getting a pulse and stepping forwards.

I hear tone pulses that speed up and slow down when i turn VCO2 but no sequencer movement.

When i try to Trig Next the Sequencer with one of the LFOs the Sequencer steps forward. What is the difference between the pulses that the VCOs and the LFOs generate?

Now aside from these issues i have raised a technical support issue with the sequencer presets where when i move through the presets and back again the sequence is gone and  has left a clicking behind almost like the envelopes are closed fully or the PWM is set to zero. They have not resolved this yet, though i don't know if i have not made myself clear enough? Anyway the reason why i mention it here is that i wonder if there is something wrong with my version or my computer, which is a Asus sabertooth 990fx r2 AMD 8350 4.12 with 16GB or RAM an Nvidia 750Ti and a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 USB sound module running on Windows 7 64bit, or if is a bug in the Modular V?

As i wonder whether my attempts at following this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F3Om7tPuYc

or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAuGbKOLU2Q

Are doomed to fail anyway. I hope someone can offer some advice here. As when you get a modular you have to temper your expectations, with your hope it can do NEARLY anything lol.

All the best. 

[LBH]

It's not your system.

You can't do racheting in Modular V as it is.  It's not a bug, it just can't. But racheting has been a feature requested for a long time, done in one way or another. You can find more info in this forum and in the old Modular V forum about this.

The "Next" parameter just tell what the next sequencer step that shall play.


About your preset issues:
I have experienced issues like this when stepping backwards. But i think it may be fixed. Do you have the latest update?
Else please give a specific example if you can. And please provide info about if it's in standalone, and what DAW you use if not.

[corum_beasley]

Hi thanks for the reply.

At the moment i am just experimenting with the standalone but my DAW is Ableton. Most of my rhythmic ideas are with experiments with the sequencer. My favourite preset is Der Raum by Klaus Schulze and this is the one i have the most problems with when i switch between presets and back again.

It is a strange issue where all i hear is clicking instead of the notes and no amount of knob twiddling brings it back. But the strange thing is that when you press a keyboard key on the MiniLab or the Modular V keyboard the notes come back. The question is what is so different about the sequencer start button to the keyboard key and what is causing the problem and what resolves it?

I have put in a request for the full compliment of the 960 series sequencer modules in another thread, here's hoping.

I have become obsessed with ratcheting as it permits fluidity in the beats per step and different rhythms. The problem with this obsession is i have neglected my experiments with the rest of the synth. The reason why i mentioned the faults and the presets issue, is that it undermines my faith in the stability of the synth on my setup, as often after these experiments with the sequencer, the oscillators develop glitches and don't seem to work properly anymore.

I have a Yamaha CS-5, which is very basic but i understand that if i mess up the envelopes or the PWM or Filter position i wont hear anything.

This is my first Modular i love the sounds it can make, i want to be twiddling and having fun, not worrying there is a bug or my system is messed up somehow.

I have some latency issues for real time audio and have spent months twiddling to get it as low as possible using LatencyMon and my concern is that is what is causing these problems. This maybe a bug but could also be my system needed very low latency? I wonder if Arturia have system recommendations and Latency recommendations? The only things stopping me buying the rest of the collection are these issues, at the moment i have the Modular V and the Analog labs 2 everything else is fully up to date.

Anyway take it easy..oh if you don't mind me asking whats your setup?

[LBH]

HI,

The question is what is so different about the sequencer start button to the keyboard key and what is causing the problem and what resolves it?

That depend on the trigger you use.
If your sequencer start use  "Keyboard trigger on", and the stop ""Keyboard trigger off" like Der Raum by Klaus Schulze do, then it's controlled from you controller keyboard.

To make your sequencer control, then you need to set the triggers to "External sequencer start" and "External sequencer stop".

Recorded midi notes in your Daw also activate. That preset is set up to do that.

I have some latency issues for real time audio and have spent months twiddling to get it as low as possible using LatencyMon and my concern is that is what is causing these problems. This maybe a bug but could also be my system needed very low latency? I wonder if Arturia have system recommendations and Latency recommendations? The only things stopping me buying the rest of the collection are these issues, at the moment i have the Modular V and the Analog labs 2 everything else is fully up to date.

Anyway take it easy..oh if you don't mind me asking whats your setup?

It's better if you give me your specs and settings for both your computer and your soundcard. Then perhaps i can see if there is something to look out for and to do.
Be sure you have optimized your Computer to high performance and audio performance.
And be sure you use the correct drivers for your soundcard - also in your DAW.
Also tell when you get latency issues.
I use PC.


EDIT; Also you can take a look at a video in the link i have posted here;
http://forum.arturia.com/index.php?topic=86398.0

[corum_beasley]

HI, Thanks for the very good video link i have watched it a couple of times and he gives solid and professional advice.

When i mentioned the sequencer i was referring to the Modular V 960 sequencer not an external one, though i have the Korg Sq-1 but have yet to use this with the Modular V.

At the moment i am trying to see what i can do with the 960 and the synth as a whole before i bring Ableton or the Korg SQ-1 into the setup.

My external soundcard is the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 (fully up to date) and it is set at 128 samples 44.1Khz and has a 2ms USB buffer, i have experimented with different settings but these work ok for midi latency.

I followed the advice in the video you recommended but as yet i have not got it consistently under 1000us and it can shoot up to 16,000 or higher at times, which is quite alarming really when the DPC meter maxed out all red! Strange business? From what LatencyMon reports is that it could be a problem with the video card.

I experimented earlier with different trigger settings on the 960 sequencer triggers and the problem where the sound goes and is replaced by clicks remains.

Cant thank you enough for your help at least i feel in a loop and i might well get somewhere and also be part of the Arturia community and how this feedback into product changes, never come across anything like this before. I have attached a screenshot of my system specs.

[LBH]

Regarding sequencer:
"External sequencer" refer to your DAW - your host for Modular.
See the attached image. The trigger you select in the popup menu controls the sequncer. The "Externals ..." refere in your question to you DAW/ Host.

Regarding latency.
First i'm not a technician. I can't evaluate all the specs in your attachment. I assume your system is balanced, and the part match eachother so there are no bottlenecks.
In Audio Production a high CPU clockrate is still important as many applications only use a single core for a task. Many things don't use multicore. But you do have a quite high clockrate at 4.0 GHz. I don't know about AMD. I use Intel I7.
16 GB RAM is very good.
You have many disks, and i don't know what you use for what and if the WD disks on the SATA 3 (6GB) connections are SSD's or not. I only use SSD's on my main PC. If you use HDs then be sure it's at least 7200 RPM. 5400 RPM are very slow. I prefere SSDs. A slow harddisk can cause latency.
I'm a bit concerned about all the different speeds/ rates i see. But only because i don't im they are used.
Check your computer performance in Windows Ressource manager. Both CPU, memory and disk when you exsperience latency.

About soundcard/ latency (I also have a Komplete Audio 6): Be sure you use Komplete Audio 6 ASIO driver.
The latest drivers and firmware can be downloaded here:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/drivers-other-files/
Older drivers here if you login on your account and search your product:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/updates/
Also if need to you can contact NI support.
Also see this article to check and optimize your system and your soundcard settings:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/knowledge-base/show/3671/windows-tuning-tips-for-audio-processing/
Perhaps try and use the LatencyMon you also can read about and find a link for in the article.

I would say, that you for most part should be able to run your soundcard at the settings you have.
Sometimes 48000 Samplerate work better than 44100 HZ. That you can try out.
Also the buffer might need 192 samples if you do very demanding things that stress a single CPU core.
The USB buffer shall match the latency. You should be able to run the 2 ms you have, but it also depend on how your computer system perform. If you have USB underruns you need to raise the USB buffer.

Also be sure you use the correct USB cable, and it's not defect. That can cause issues. Be sure the dimension (Thickness) is correct.
Have a look at this:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/knowledge-base/show/2085/choosing-the-correct-usb-cable-for-your-ni-hardware-device/

EDIT:
About your DAW.
Be sure it is set to use more than one of your CPU cores. In m DAW i have to select the cores my DAW shall use. I let it use all my CPU cores.
EDIT end.

That's what i can do to help about this. The rest is about if your hardware work okay or not. That would need a technician to find out i guess.

I hope this is enough for you to get this working tiptop.