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Just got a new EMX1SD and am just AMAZED at what this thing can do.
After unboxing and hooking this up I powered it up and found a fair amount of self-noise coming from the unit. A lot of scratching/crackling when I slightly wiggle the output cable but also same scratchy/crackling when wiggling the power connector at the barrel. As a test I plugged the output cable into a DI box and lifted pin-1; the noise was gone. None of this noise is present when listening through phones. Any thoughts prior to my committing to some warranty service? I don't necessarily want to get into the unit this early in the game but wondered if at the most basic, if reseating the tubes may be something to try.

If your tube gain was set at 0 when you got the noisy signal, then re-seating the tubes won't make any difference.

Sorry man, but I think you need to take it back and get another one.

Firenation,

New, or new to you?

If new, I'd see about swapping out the unit immediately, that kind of noise shouldn't be there in a new piece of gear. That the DI ground lift eliminated the noise is irrelevant, you want it quiet in and of itself.

Used? Well... you may be stuck with it. At least you have the ground lift fix if you need it.

Good luck.


BB

The outputs are really hot on the electribes. I run mine at about 10 o'clock on both the tube gain and main volume which makes the noise level really low. Try playing with your gain settings before doing anything hasty.

The unit is factory new. Outside of the noise (which thankfully the DI does "bandage") it sounds great. Good point regarding the outputs being hot; good to keep in mind. Did a little searching in the forums and did find a few people that reported this same issue around Sept 2011. Looking at things more closely, the fit of the barrel connector is somewhat sloppy as if the diameter of the barrel is not in there tight enough, resulting in the inner + barrel to flex.

Qu'est-ce que c'est, "barrel"? I'm kinda new to this scene so I'm assuming this means you've got a loose output jack? If that's the case and it's causing issues you should get on the phone with someone.

I recommend replacing the tubes too, this should improve the standard signal and will definitely make the TUBE GAIN worthwhile. Just search the forums or check sites like this and decide which jargon sounds most like it would help your sound. Try routing some parts to outputs 3/4 (clean signal bypassing tubes) to see what the noise floor is like coming from those.

This isn't related, but one other gremlin you should keep in mind involves the knob values randomly changing in some models...it ties up the rotary encoder and makes things a huge problem. If you find your 'tribe doing this, open it up and put a sheet of insulating material between the circuit boards inside...parchment paper for baking was suggested in a previous thread.

Yes, sorry; by "barrel" I'm referring to the 12v end of the power adapter cable. The connector in the Electribe appears solid as far as its fit in the chassis. With the adapter plugged in there is what I would consider a fair amount of play if you were to hold the connector and move it around. Of course this movement also results in the scratchy noise I mentioned previously.
Before purchasing I had seen comments about upgrading the tubes so will definitely check into that.
Good call regarding outputs 3/4. Still educating myself on this thing and did not know about those outputs bypassing the tube circuit.

I've never actually used them but I think they bypass effects too. Hope it all turns up well.

I have the same trouble with my ESX1 sd. The older units had a far better quality power conector.
I don't know why they changed it for this cheap socket. It was a tried & proven socket before (Much more solid)....If it isn't broke , don't fix it !

Now we not only have noisy outputs, there's noisy power input too.

I've struggled with the sound quality from my esx ever since i bought it new.
The best answer i have found to remedy it so far is simple.....

....Get something else that sounds clean. For £450 (uk) it's a lot of kit but if it sounded clean too, it would be awesome.....Alas, this is not to be.

I hope that korg create a new electribe with more features ,no tubes & no unwanted noise !
Best of luck to all Electribe users.

Weird....never noticed any sort of strange noise coming from my SD EMX. How did you find out the power supply was causing noise?

thehighesttree wrote:Weird....never noticed any sort of strange noise coming from my SD EMX. How did you find out the power supply was causing noise?

Well, first of all it's audiable & i can see the level meters on my compressors flickering.
After trying a couple of things to detect where the noise is coming from, i wiggled the power in connector.

Problem found. Wiggling the connector varies the ammount of scratchy fuzz.
Add that noise to the hot main output & your'e in a world of fuzz...
...I just can't carry on with this noise. I have put up with it for 2 years & its time to say goodbye Electribe.
I'm past caring now, sold my old emx1 & replaced my esx1 with a different worldly machine.
I'll keep the esx for midi control. I like the Electribe interface but without all the noise.....I may return to Electribes if Korg produce a machine that sounds better.

That's rough...never heard of that being an issue, but it just sounds like it's not fitted right Sorry to hear about your experience.

my esx-sd is hissy too. pisses me off! nothing happens when i wiggle the powerplug though. i have to run the unit at 9 o clock output level (or rather: 25 procent). i m not sure about my plans of doing a lot of resampling now...I got it yesterday and the noise was my little present when i came home. i bought it used but i have the receipt from original store.

The noise is also in the headphones jack, and not in the extra aux.
Some people say new tubes will fix this, but theres mixed opinions about this.
Since i am pretty unimpressed by the added value of the factory valves, i might go and try that route. just hope i dont invest even more for nothing

This is pretty bad actually
damn korg, missed it there...

I think you're right, teknoid, because the alternate outs bypass the tubes. I've had some good luck with Tung Sols and these ones, which someone had locally as military surplus.

Notice when you turn up the tubes how it makes it sounds kinda crappy past ~30% and devolves into a scratchy mess beyond that? It's the stock tubes...they're just not that good. Even if you don't crank the tube gain, the signal goes through to the main outs and the headphone jack, as you've discovered. Better tubes will take much of the noise out of the signal.

The Tung-Sol tubes are normal 12AX7's, and they've made my EMX sound much better. It imparts more of a warm, harmonic fuzz and only really starts to disintegrate when it's cranked past 70%. The JAN-Philips 5751s, on the other hand, are way more subdued. I was really surprised with how little distortion they impart, giving it more of what I'd consider a classic tube pre-amp effect without the excessive grit...I'd say the results are more "compression" than "distortion", and I use this on my ESX, master to the EMX, to thicken up the overall signal.

What can you take from all this? Well, it's hard to know what effect you're buying till you plug them in and play with the tube gain, but I'd highly recommend the $40-$60 on a new set of tubes. Do some quick research on here and on sites that review tubes to find out what kind of sound you want. Get some decent tubes and that hiss will be almost imperceptible, if not completely gone.

thanks for your answer and your advice thehighesttree,
i am allready looking into new tubes, thanks for telling me about yours.

today i removed the tubes, and the hiss was still there...

but, the korg esx sd does have extremely loud outputs

i hooked it up true a groundlift and this did not change anything (it does not sound as a groundloop anyway)

so i guess i will like everybody else with the sd version run it at very low volume settings.

i will replace the valves anyway, wish i could test before buy. in a perfect situation one set would give me hifi dynamics to compression to distortion, but that might be a bit to much to ask from one model.
i did found interesting information about alternatives for 12ax7, wich i think no one on this forum did report to use

usehttp://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index ... 12433.html


cheers