emusonacid! legacy

I'm new to this forum and this is my first thread/post so I would like to start off first by saying hi to all of you.

I have an E4XT Ultra as stated in the topic of this thread. These are great samplers and I'm just now really getting into utilizing the powerful facilities this machine offers and I've created some really nice sounding TR808 drum banks. However, I've had problems with this machine ever since I've had it (I bought it second-hand a year ago). First problem I've noticed with the machine is that it started making a very loud clicking noise periodically. It did it once and stopped. Then it started back doing it again. From then on, I've noticed the loud clicking noise everytime during boot-up. Oh, BTW, this E4XT had an internal hard drive. After the clicking started, I've noticed I could no longer access the internal hard drive and the drive no longer showed up in the browser window. As a result I came to the conclusion the internal hard drive failed. It's one of those "Quantum" hard drives. I just took it out a few minutes ago while investigating another problem which I'm going to discuss in a second. When I took out the internal harddisk and switched the unit on, the clicking went away. So it was definitely the hard drive. Thank goodness I chose to save my important soundbanks on zip instead of the internal harddrive!!!!! I'm definitely glad I didn't use it!!!!

Ok, here's the problem I'm having right now. Tonight, I decided I wanted to work on some more soundbanks so I fired up the studio and tried to turn on my E4XT Ultra. I pressed the power button. No go!!!! What??!!!! I tried it again. Press the power button and release and an LED or two on the front panel would flicker for a second but, no go. Everything is dead, no LCD no bootup, no nothing. My first thought was maybe a cable got loose inside or maybe even worse, A DEAD POWER SUPPLY!!!! So, I disconnected everything, audio cables, SCSI, MIDI, etc..... Then I unmounted the unit and took it off of the rack and opened it up.

When I opened it up, and looked at the guts for the first time, my first thought is this is just a computer, motherboard, CPU, RAM, powersupply, peripherals, etc..... so it couldn't be that difficult. Once I took the cover off, the first thing I checked was the cables. I made sure they were all good and tight. Then, I plugged the sampler back in an tried to turn it on. Still, NO GO!!!! So I came to the conclusion that it's not the cables so I went to plan B, uninstalling the hard drive. Since I knew the internal hard drive was shot anyway, I decided to take it out. The thought was that maybe if I take out the hard drive, the power supply would have enough juice to power the sampler. After taking out the hard drive and plugging the unit back in and trying it out again, still NO GO, NOTHING, NOTTA!!!!

So, now I have no hard drive and tight cables so the only thing left is the powersupply. So I looked at it and tried turning it on again and again and I noticed the something strange. When the button is in the on position, the sampler is dead. However, when I mash down on the button, the front panel lights begin to come on for a split second prior to releasing it. So I tried it again, but this time I held the power button down and it came back to life!!!! Lights, LCD, Bootup, Everything!!!!!!! So it's not a dead powersupply after all, thank goodness!!!!! However, the only problem is, I have to hold the powerbutton down in order for the unit to stay on. As soon as I let go of it, the sampler turns off. There's no way of making the sampler stay on without holding the button down, which still renders this sampler unusable!!!!! I took the powersupply cover off to look at the power switch (it's a little green switch that attaches to the push button). Between the pushbutton and the switch, there's a spring. So the problem seems to be between the spring of the mechanical push button and the contactor switch. I wonder if the spring is bad or something. The button was working just the other night then all of a sudden, this!!! By the way, I was gentle with the way I use the button by gently pressing it and releasing it. So, it wasn't being abused. Well, not by me anyway.

So here are my questions:

Have any of you experienced any issues with your power buttons on your EOS samplers?

Do any of you know where I can get a replacement button or how I can fix this button?

Do any of you have any ideas how I can resolve this issue so I can get back to using it again and get on with making some wonderful music with it?

It's a shame E-MU no longer makes hardware or supports these things. I wish I could just take the stupid power button out and replace it with a nice toggle switch. When the Ultra was working, it did wonders for my TR808 drums. I mean the bass really thumps!!!! So all-in-all, the E-MUs are great machines and fun to work with. They're just made with bullsh*t build quality. I've read several threads on here about people having dying units and sticky front panel buttons.

Sorry for blowing off steam but this issue has really got me frustrated right about now. I hate it when I really want to use something but just can't. Well, at least it's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. If the power supply did fail, I would've been screwed for sure!!! From what I hear, they aren't cheap and I'd be better off buying another sampler than replacing it.


Any feedback would be extremely valuable and sincerely appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

Hi I am currently making 1 good Ultra from some redundant kit/ junker on e-bay and have a power switch you can have PM me to sort out where to post it,
Hope this helps
Dave

Thanks, I really appreciate that. I've replied to your PM with the required info. If there's anything you need from me, please let me know. If you have Paypal, I can cover the shipping. Please let me know.

These E-MU samplers are so good that I wouldn't mind having a couple of spares myself so that I could keep mine running forever. The converters in these things are AMAZING!!!!! The samples come out so warm, clean, and polished (especially drums) that they sound as if they was professionally mixed/mastered on high-end analog equipment. The filters are sweet and the low-end is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!, as I've mentioned before. i took the same TR808 drum samples I used in an MPC and put them in the E-MU and the difference is so amazing that you wouldn't think they were the same samples. You'd think the drums were processed then resampled!!!

I see why the E4XT originally fetched over $4000. Based on what I've heard from this machine, I think the money and r&d went into the converters used in the actual hardware!!!

Switch is in the post to you, cost was under $3 so just have a beer for me if it cures the problem.

You`re spot on about the sound of these things, software samplers got no Balls..... just a shame the build quality on the hardware slipped, sad to say but the E6400 that the part came from had a cracked MoBo from the previous owner (an audio rental company) getting rough with the plastic jacks on the main output.

Thanks, Devondave. I'll definitely let you know how everything works out once I receive it.

Wow!!! Cracked motherboard? Yeah. That E6400 was definitely abused. After you mentioned it was a rental unit, I wouldn't be surprised. People tend to abuse rental equipment. And yeah, you're absolutely right. Software doesn't even come close to the sound of these hardware E-MU boxes.


Thanks again.

My switch has arrived in the mail and it was neatly and carefully packed. Thanks Devondave!!!!! I'm going to install it and see how it all works out.

I'll keep you posted.

Got my Fingers croosed for ya