Topic: Why is my R-1 doing this [sound clip included]

[tenesejedd]

Hey Team!

So i have been having this intermittent issue with my R-1 recently. I have attached an .mp3 sound clip so that you can get an idea of what i'm talking about. But first some background. This has been happening on about 80% of my recordings now. This typically happens between the 47-55 minute mark of the recording. If I continue to record long enough, it will do it again.  The music seems to really slow down accompanied by some clicks. This last anywhere from 4 to 10 seconds and then it recovers and continues on. I've had my R-1 since summer of '05 and have used the same Sandisk 4gb card in it. Several months ago i purchased an Transcend 4gb card to have as a back up and thats when this issue started. I thought it was just a bad card so I retired the Transcend to my Ipod mini (which had a dead microdrive). Upon switching back to the Sandisk, I was still getting this from time to time. I always reformat my card in the R-1 before every show. I have a variety of batteries I use (energizer 2500 mah NiMH). I can't seem to make it doe this "on command", meaning I can't replicate it all the time. I just seems to randomly do this. I have always run line in, but i don't think that would matter. I think it may be an internal issue. At first I was inclined to say it was a memory card issue, but its very inconsistent as to when it happens and its happened on two different cards. I had decided to just live with it for a while, but I'm about sick of having these in the middle of a good jam.

Does anyone have a similar experience or could maybe give this a listen and identify it? Upon looking at the waveform in Audacity, there really isn't much difference from the rest of the recording. You can see the clicks that are generated but that about it.

Thanks in advance!

[George2]

I listened to your example. Sounds like your digital clock is not stable. Another thought..... look in the compartment where you mount the CF card and see if any of the little pins are bent, or if your card is properly seated.

[tenesejedd]

Thanks for your input. The pins are in good shape and the card is seated properly.

My initial thought was the same as yours. It seems like the digitization process gets bogged down at some point. I have never tried this while recording 24bit. I will give that a try and see what the result is. My guess would be that it would probably happen more frequently and prior to the 48-52 minute mark.

Any other thoughts would be much appreciated

[Nicola Fankhauser]

hi

if it happens that regularly with different cards, send the sound sample to the support people of Roland/Edirol to listen at. I suspect the CPU is overheating and thus clocking down since you said it always happens after 50min recording. maybe it is also a software problem - do you run the latest firmware (that would be 1.03)?

regards
nicola

[tenesejedd]

I do have the latest firmware on it. As far as overheating, i would be really surprised. I've run the unit for hours on end before and it has generated no heat. The unit always feels cool.

I will send a sound sample in and see what they say. I really like the unit and would like to keep it for a while.

[Nick's Picks]

it shouldn't generate any heat.  nothings moving in there, nor is anything "apogee hot" inside.