Clicks instead of sounds

S2400 Bug Reports
1

Here is a severe sound bug that I ran into. Please help, because it’s getting kind of desperate.

The issue: S2400 stopped playing sounds. Instead of sounds, it plays two audible clicks: one at the beginning of the sound, the other at the end. The sounds are still sequenced, but now they are just two clicks each. Some sounds are bursts of digital-like noise.

Affected areas:
— old and new projects
— sequenced and pad-triggered sounds
— sounds that have just been sampled into the machine
— internal sounds and ones stored on the SD card
— headphones, mix out, individual outs
— both the hifi and the vintage sound engines
— firmwares S2400_20220224_082026.upd, S2400_20211122.upd, S2400_20210208_065928.upd and even S2400_20201210_142252.upd

Additionally: as I try to sample a sound source, I hear the monitoring just fine, but once I record anything, I get a message reading ‘sample clipped’, although the levels were fine and monitoring was far from clipped.

Unaffected:
— sound previews while loading from internal memory or USB. For example, I can preview the sounds perfectly fine, and as I preview them while a sequence plays, I also hear previews being sequenced. But once I load the sound, it becomes clicks.
— when a sound is loaded onto a pad, the menu reads its correct length and bitrate
— the metronome plays perfectly fine
— monitoring the inputs works fine
— the clicks SEEM to respond to filters, pitches and envelopes (as far as I can hear). Pitching a sound up or down SEEMS to affect the character of the click, although it’s hard to tell
— previously created projects load fine, the sequencer works, no errors are thrown

Prior to this bug the machine stayed locked in the hardcase for several months.

Theory:
It seems like an issue of audio playback or audio sample management BEFORE the sample data is processed by either of the audio engines. What’s weird though is that sound previews work fine, disk reading is OK, metadata is OK.

I assume that the following happens:

  1. When I preview a sound in the sounds browser (or run the metronome), it gets sent to some sort of dedicated bus where it bypasses audio engines and filters. As a result, these sounds play out fine.

  2. But once the sound gets assigned into the main audio pipeline, something happens. It seems that the DAC is unable to convert the digital data into audio. This might be a hardware issue, but I need to make sure before I go to a technician to get it tested.

Already tried (and failed):
— updating to latest and earliest available firmwares (both regular and forced updates)
— wiping all settings
— changing SD cards, booting up without an SD card

Here is a video of the issue: Clicks instead of sounds in Isla Instruments S2400 - YouTube

2

Just go to waveform of these samples and check if start and end point are in the right way. I don’t use fader lock all the time and I experienced similar things.

3

Thanks. Looks like the waveforms are corrupt too, since they only register one sample value across the entire timeline. Looks like a DAC/ADC problem to me.

4

Well you video is well described and I do have the same issue with my unit…is it resolved ??

5

I took the unit to a repairs shop in Russia. The technician reported that the contacts in a vast area of the unit was rotten or corroded and needs to be restored. Currently a work in progress, but looks like the unit will be trashed.

6

That is really wild, any idea how that happened? When did you initially receive your unit?

7

Something doesn’t sound right…water damage during shipping maybe?

8

Share pictures of the boards if you can :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

More likely — condensation or high humidity inside a watertight case, lack of ventilation.

1 Like
10

That sucks…no help from Brad or anyone else from the team at Isla? :cry:

11

Given how everyone is treating Russia right now, I very much doubt that Brad and the team would be able to help much even if they really wanted to. Shipping/receiving anything is like playing with fire.

12

I’m very sorry about your unit mate. That just sucks. I remember receiving electric guitar from the US during winter 11 years ago. 2kg of water got absorbed into the gig bag. I was terrified.

Although, in your case, we don’t know for sure whether it was a transportation issue or something else entirely. I’m sure people would be very quick to blame carriers.

Can you point me to your repair person in DMs? I’d be curious to see what else they do

1 Like
13

I’ll keep everyone posted once the unit is out of repairs.

Shipping outside Russia is currently not an option, so I’ll have to sort this out with local specialists.

1 Like
14

This sounds a lot like what happened to my Kordbot: condensation/rust on contacts when I never put it near water.

15

You guys got me wanting to put a little silica packet in my hard case now :grimacing:

3 Likes
16

Your electronic devices are always near water. It’s in the air all around us and is measured as humidity. Ever notice the little desiccant packets in shipping boxes? Those prevent corrosion while the device is stored and shipped in the sealed box.

Imagine you store your s2400 in a sealed storage case. You open up the case in a high humidity environment, put your device into the case, and close it up tight. The water trapped in your case has nowhere to go so it starts eating the metal contacts.

17

Talked to the repairs people. Most components on the audio board are damaged beyond repair. Most likely cause — air humidity in a watertight case over a long time.

One option would be to find similar or compatible parts, another would be to replace the entire board. I contacted Isla Instruments for a quote on the boards. If this doesn’t work out, the unit will become a donor to other units in Russia.

The moral: have some silica gel in your flight case at all times. Or better yet, do not store your unit in a sealed container for prolonged periods of time. I wish I had known that earlier.

3 Likes
18

About how long do you think you stored it inside the case without opening?

19

Did you submit a ticket to ISLA so they could at least weigh in?

20

The unit sat in the case for at least 3 months.

I initially thought this was the place for bugs and tickets. But once I discovered liquid damage to the board, it was clear Isla could do little to help (other than selling new boards)

2 Likes