Mighty Motif Max - 15 May 2018 12:10 PM

I’m not sure as to the stability of the AC there. I’ve never heard of there being any problems, and the church actually uses another Motif XF8 there regularly (not my church). I don’t recall having any issues before. This is only the second time using my own Motif there; the other times I would use the church keyboard but add my equipment on to it. That’s not practical this time around.

As I said, an XF is reasonably tolerant of AC voltage swings, since it has a switching type power supply. The YS200 has a linear regulated power supply, which can be more subject to voltage issues if they’re severe enough.

 

Mighty Motif Max -

As far as the radio, I found the coordinates for the transmitter, and went to Google maps and figured out the distance from the antenna to the church. It’s 1.8 miles away from the building. Here is some data on the radio frequency etc if it’s helpful. https://radio-locator.com/info/WELY-FM

RF field strength is related to the inverse square of the distance from the source. WELY-FM apparently has an ERP (Effective Radiated Power) of 6000 Watts - at 1.8 miles, it probably isn’t going to adversely affect things in the manner you described (other than interfering with audio).

Issues concerning AC power or RF interference are just conjecture at this point. Determining the actual cause will be difficult or impossible if you can’t replicate the problem at home. However, that would tend to indicate that your XF8 isn’t failing.

Since Max hasn’t updated this thread in a while, I thought I would. Max has taken the discussion to the Keyboard Corner forum on the musicplayer.com site.

Although no determination was made that there was a problem with either keyboard, there’s this thread on musicplayer:
http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2926868/Need_advice_one_of_two_keyboar

Then the issue of unreliable AC power, which I brought up here on Motifator, seems to be a possible cause of the problems:
http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2928451/Another_UPS_Power_Conditioner

It will be interesting to see where this eventually goes.

5pinDIN - 22 May 2018 09:54 AM

Since Max hasn’t updated this thread in a while, I thought I would. Max has taken the discussion to the Keyboard Corner forum on the musicplayer.com site.

Although no determination was made that there was a problem with either keyboard, there’s this thread on musicplayer:
http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2926868/Need_advice_one_of_two_keyboar

Then the issue of unreliable AC power, which I brought up here on Motifator, seems to be a possible cause of the problems:
http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2928451/Another_UPS_Power_Conditioner

It will be interesting to see where this eventually goes.

I haven’t been able to get the problem to occur again, and I was waiting to update this thread until after I bought a power conditioner and/or brought the Motif over to the rehearsal space again. I didn’t have anything much to add. The thing regarding the bad power strip at the church is interesting, but until I have time to get everything back over there, I don’t know much more than what has already been stated in this thread. It was not my intention to abandon this thread, I just didn’t have a lot to add. However, feel free to read those other threads that 5pinDIN linked above, regarding a UPS and a replacement for either keyboard if it does turn out to be one of them.

-Max

OK, I have an update.

It looks as if the YS200 is the problem, possibly compounded by voltage issues. Last Sunday, in the space of time between the end of rehearsal and the start of the service (1hr), with no one touching it or anything, it spontaneously went from the Transmit Channel settings and Voice No.01 SoftBrass to sequencer edit mode, transposed itself, and changed to another voice, all on its own. The Transmit channel was changed from 2 to 16. So I will need to replace it besides buying a UPS. Luckily it didn’t affect the Motif. I just re-selected the Master program in case the YS200 sent out some form of a program change message.

Do you agree that it would seem likely that the YS200 is at fault for the freezing up a few weeks ago?

I believe there’s a good chance the YS200 sent some random MIDI data to the XF and caused the previous freezing.

However, whether the YS200 is at fault, or there’s a power issue, still hasn’t been determined. I’d suggest getting a decent sine-waveform UPS, and try powering the YS200 via it. If the problem seems to be resolved, then continue to use the YS200 unless the issue returns. Of course, if the problem occurs again while under UPS power, then the YS200 itself needs attention or should be replaced.

5pinDIN - 01 June 2018 03:53 PM

I believe there’s a good chance the YS200 sent some random MIDI data to the XF and caused the previous freezing.

However, whether the YS200 is at fault, or there’s a power issue, still hasn’t been determined. I’d suggest getting a decent sine-waveform UPS, and try powering the YS200 via it. If the problem seems to be resolved, then continue to use the YS200 unless the issue returns. Of course, if the problem occurs again while under UPS power, then the YS200 itself needs attention or should be replaced.

OK, sounds like a plan. Thank you for your help. :-)

Mighty Motif Max - 01 June 2018 04:28 PM

OK, sounds like a plan. Thank you for your help. :-)

You’re welcome. Please keep us posted.

5pinDIN - 01 June 2018 04:33 PM

Mighty Motif Max - 01 June 2018 04:28 PM

OK, sounds like a plan. Thank you for your help. :-)

You’re welcome. Please keep us posted.

Will do. :-)

I was re-reading this thread, when I realized that I forgot to mention something important in my last few posts. The second time that the YS200 locked up (two Sundays ago), it was not in the same location as before. It was at a building 55min away from the original rehearsal space. I was playing with a different band two weeks ago.

Given that the YS200 acted up in a separate location, and we think that it acted up in the first location, what are the odds that a UPS would fix the issue and I would not need to replace the YS200?

Mighty Motif Max - 04 June 2018 12:18 AM

I was re-reading this thread, when I realized that I forgot to mention something important in my last few posts. The second time that the YS200 locked up (two Sundays ago), it was not in the same location as before. It was at a building 55min away from the original rehearsal space. I was playing with a different band two weeks ago.

That information might be important.

 

Mighty Motif Max -

Given that the YS200 acted up in a separate location, and we think that it acted up in the first location, what are the odds that a UPS would fix the issue and I would not need to replace the YS200?

The factor that’s common to the problem needs to be determined. It’s certainly looking like the YS200 is acting up, but we don’t know whether power was reliable during the second occurrence.

Obviously, if the YS200 is failing, a UPS won’t resolve the problem. Have you recently used the YS200 at home? If so, has it malfunctioned there?

If power variations are causing the issue, a different keyboard that’s less sensitive to that could work fine. If the YS200 is indeed malfunctioning, replacing it would be appropriate. So a new keyboard might resolve either situation.

I “love” intermittent problems.

5pinDIN - 04 June 2018 08:11 AM

Mighty Motif Max - 04 June 2018 12:18 AM

I was re-reading this thread, when I realized that I forgot to mention something important in my last few posts. The second time that the YS200 locked up (two Sundays ago), it was not in the same location as before. It was at a building 55min away from the original rehearsal space. I was playing with a different band two weeks ago.

That information might be important.

 

Mighty Motif Max -

Given that the YS200 acted up in a separate location, and we think that it acted up in the first location, what are the odds that a UPS would fix the issue and I would not need to replace the YS200?

The factor that’s common to the problem needs to be determined. It’s certainly looking like the YS200 is acting up, but we don’t know whether power was reliable during the second occurrence.

Obviously, if the YS200 is failing, a UPS won’t resolve the problem. Have you recently used the YS200 at home? If so, has it malfunctioned there?

If power variations are causing the issue, a different keyboard that’s less sensitive to that could work fine. If the YS200 is indeed malfunctioning, replacing it would be appropriate. So a new keyboard might resolve either situation.

I “love” intermittent problems.

I have used it at home, but again it refuses to malfunction. I know that it needs its internal battery replaced, but to my understanding that only affects user patch memory and the tuning on startup. A few buttons aren’t working too well, so it might need a cleaning either way. I doubt that would fix whatever is going on with it though.