Effect Gizmo - hang / hard lock appearance

D

darcym

Member
I have an effect gizmo bought new, I can't get the exact date, but it was the first limited edition black model before the midi socket was added to the front. The instruction manual is v1.0 2009

It's been in a rack for many years now and worked great with a CAE RS-10. I've not used the rack for approx 8 months as it's only used for big events, however I bought a RJM Mastermind controller allowing me to use it more at home, so thought I'd swap a pedal or two out, hook up the mastermind and get some home use out of it (RS-10 is for gigs only due to size).

I got the rack out, powered it on, all looked great. Plugged in the Mastermind rather than the RS-10 and followed a nice instructional video from RJM on youtube, all looked too easy using the mastermind software to help configure. Trying to switch patches the effects gizmo was not responding, I suspected user error setting up the mastermind GT, so pressed some of the patch buttons on the effects gizmo to activate a loop, the loop light didn't come on, I tried the other loops, they didn't come on. I powered off the effects gizmo and powered it back on holding loops 1 to check the midi channel, the unit just powers back on, the lights don't flash and the loop buttons still don't work, I tried a hard reset with loops 1+4 pressed on power on, again no flash no reset and none of the loop buttons seem to activate anything.

The power light is on by the write button, however it's as if the unit is hung. I've put a call into the RJM support system (truthfully I'm not sure it's actually logged though as I got no confirmation email or anything like that) no idea what's going on here and very open to suggestions as this has been a great unit for me, so I need to understand why it's just in this locked/hung position and won't respond to anything.

Any debugging or troubleshooting would be most appreciated.
 
I tried to respond over the weekend, but the mail bounced for some reason. Here's what I had said:

It's hard to say what's happening but it sounds like one of the processors needs to be replaced. It could be the front panel or the main CPU. If you're sending it valid MIDI commands and you don't hear any relays clicking, then it's probably the main CPU. (Assuming that your MIDI commands are being sent on whichever channel the Effect Gizmo is on). It would be best to figure out which processor is at fault. Do you by any chance have a MIDI interface for your computer which you could use to send some commands to the Effect Gizmo? Sending a Sysex message or two would be the most reliable way to see if anything's alive in there
 
great advice. I believe I'm sending it valid midi commands (and even no midi commands, just pressing the loop buttons on the front of the pannel - so just actually using the hard switches) also the lack of reset capability eg: powering on with the loop 1+4 buttons physical pressed, that to me says it's a level up from midi (although I don't know what happens behind the curtain when you press a loop button). Happy to debug however you suggest, got a Mac with a USB to midi cable, so I can plug into the midi in on the back with no problem.

Does feel like this is going to be a new unit though, as the cost of sending the unit back to the USA fro the UK and then back from the USA to the UK after the cost of the repair feels like it will be expensive.

Open to all options on debugging.
 
tried sending some random sysx stuff - is there something specific I should send to get better output. No change / response from unit.
 
Ok, set up a monitor so you can see what's coming out of the Effect Gizmo, then send this:

f0 00 01 5b 03 f7

It should echo those same bytes out the output, with more data after that.
 
You'll probably need a new CPU. If you can have a look at the main processor chip in there (it's the longest one, near the MIDI jacks), see if the chip is installed in a socket, or if it's soldered directly to the board. If it's the former, we can send you a replacement chip and odds are pretty good that it'll fix the problem.
 
best I can do is take a photo so you can see for yourself, looks like it's on the board.
IMG_2368.jpg
 
Yeah, soldered straight to the board unfortunately. Do you know any qualified electronics techs in your area?
 
yeah, know some pretty serious professional electronics engineers who maintain gear for some established names, so still an option to swap out the CPU
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top