Muff's Modules & More

pheops

greetings all..this is my first post on this incredible knowledge base, i hope someone can help.

i just picked up a A.Sys RS15 rack, a grip of planB modules, and a doepfer a-190 midi/CV.

i also bought the AD5 5v converter for the a-190, but noisebug tells me its not needed in the RS15.

15 fuses later, still can't get the case to power up with the a190 installed without blowing a fuse. other modues power fine.

so, is it:
-the 5v pin is in a different location on the a.sys power bus?
-the RS15 doesn't have the right fuse installed(i bought the same kind as the first that blew...does anyone know the values and sequence of fuses in the RS15)
-something wrong with the 190 itself?

i'm pretty clear on the 'red stripe up vs down' thing with doepfer vs Asys cases...other modules seem to be powering fine.

please help! i have a rack of silent modules and no way to trigger them!

or...anybody want to trade a RS15 for a doepfer 6Ucase, or a Asys midi module for the 190?

all the best, thanks again for such a great, friendly place to...procrastinate.
d phipps

REwire · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:52 am Post subject:

15 fuses?? I'd assume after the first two you tried reversing the cable on the module to see if that worked. If it was used, the cable may have been reversed connecting on the module. Doepfer modules always are keyed perfectly to plug in to Asys cases; I have on in my RS15 now. The fuse that blows is the middle one of three on each of the left and right power busses and if I remember right, are .5 amp 250v.

pheops · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject:

thanks for the reply!
as far as i can tell from all the literature online, the bigcitymusic RS15 youtube video, etc, ribbon cable is properly orientated.

i think its the 5V power requirement of the a190. i can power other doepfer modules in the RS15 without blowing fuses, its just the a190. or the module itself is faulty. anybody have a a190 installed in a RS15 that works??

my other longshot is advice via shawn@AH, possibly the fuses my studio partner bought weren't "slow blow". both doepfer and Asys cases require 'slow blow' fuses. good to know.

i'm going to try to confirm fuse values of the RS15 via bigcitymusic, if that doesn't shed some light, just get an external midi/cv converter. why waste the space in the case after all, right?

pheops · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

bigcitymusic say NOT to use slow blow fuses in the RS15.
trying that next....

pheops · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:40 pm Post subject:

well, i've got the a-190 powering without blowing fuses, but its non-reponsive as menu buttons don't work. i think its off to germany for that one. even more confusing, its only happy when its plugged into the right side of doepfer sockets in the RS15.

hindsight tells me if i mainly plan on buying modules with doepfer style connectors, i should have gotten a doepfer case or kit. especially since there are no pre-made cables to go from doepfer to the Asys power buses once the doepfer style are full, even though there are cables for Asys to doepfer.

also, red stripe means nothing. its all about tracing voltage, then double and triple checking. lesson learned.

can anyone vouch for or against the external MIDI/cv converter doepfer sells? (MCV4)

REwire · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:06 pm Post subject:

I have three ASys cases with only two or three ASys modules in each. I've been lucky that every Doepfer, Cwejman, ASol, Livewire and Harvestman plugs in fine, keys on the left side, red line up. Plan-B needs some analyzing before attempting as the keys are not always right. To get more modules in I bought Doepfer Buss boards and laid them on the bottom, adding 16 more power sockets to the 8 in the case.

I have my A190 in an Asys case and I think I tried once to push the menu buttons and nothing happened. Maybe that's the one module that does not like Asys cases. It uses the buss for control outs and Asys has none so possibly there's an issue.

But, I only use it to send a Reset pulse to my sequencer and for nothing else. I wouldn't use it for Midi or any other Doepfer stuff; they are made only for 61 note controllers and don't recognize notes below 36 and there may be an upper limit as well. I only use Kenton Pro-Solo II's and 2000's for midi as they have all the best features like LFO's, Clock, Auto Pornamento and fine tuning.

pheops · Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:16 pm Post subject:

thanks for the reply.

i think you're right, the kenton is the way to go. thanks for the advice.

i also think you're right about the RS15 not liking the 190. like you said, maybe it is the CV and gate messages being sent over the bus that the RS15 doesn't like. There's a place printed on the 190 pcb to disable those messages...but at this point i'm over the 190.

thanks again for the replys, i've stayed away from this public internet thing for a while (boy it gets nasty out there!)...great to see a friendly place.