Re: OT -- oberheim matrix 1000 vs. matrix 6 ???

[Catilyne <catilyne@icicle.net>]

At 02:29 PM 10/7/2003 -0400, Fsksync@aol.com wrote:
>Is there any truth to the rumor that the 1000 sometimes suffers from 60 
>hz 
>hum in the output (possibly from the power supply being jammed in much 
>closer in the single-space rack box?).

Personally, I've never had a problem with 60 cycle hum.  I have heard some 
anecdotal reporting of this, though.  Many of the very worst offenders, 
however, were found to actually be broken (cracked circuit board in at 
least one case) once they were taken into the shop.  I've also heard that 
the later white-face units aren't as susceptible to interference, but I 
don't believe there were as many white-face produced as black-faced.  
Thus, 
statistics say you wouldn't see as many of those units coming into a shop 
in the first place.

What you *do* want to watch out for is interference and 
grounding.  Unfortunately, the shielding on these guys wasn't what it 
should be.  If you set it right next to your computer monitor, you're 
going 
to pick up interference hum, just the same as if you held a guitar pickup 
close to the monitor.  Make sure you use insulating washers to mount it 
with, and pay some mind to where in your rack you position it (if it's 
right next to a particularly noisy unit, you might get some bleed).

Like I said, I've never had any issues with this, but perhaps I'm one of 
the luckier ones.  It's worth it to pay an extra bit of attention to power 
and grounding issues anyway, just to make certain you've got the cleanest 
possible sound.

And as an aside: for those of you into MIDI guitar, these little guys kick 
*ss.  They work in MIDI Mode 4 (guitar mode) just fine, and they sound 
great.

         -c-

_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
                                                 -recoil