Re: echoplex weirdness

[The Man Himself <altruist@shoko.CALARTS.EDU>]

On Sat, 11 Jan 1997, James Reynolds wrote:

> furthermore, the noise i was talking about is kind of a buzzy digital
> overtone that occurs on an input signal is present, probably due to the
> inherent dynamic range of digital audio.

I noticed this problem about three months ago, when I thought that my
Echoplex had been damaged due to its rack falling off a chair.  I was
noticing a great deal of extra noise (or "aliasing") and I also noticed
that signals would drop out if they fell below a certain input level. 
After much panic and a near nervous breakdown, I was informed via this
list that the noise problem was due to the input level being too low, and
the dropouts were attributable to an internal noise gate which is used in
conjunctions with the UNDO feature. 

The input level is a bit sensitive, and it can be tricky to find an ideal
single setting that feeds the input sufficient level without crossing over
into occasional clipping.  Kim posted a hardware mod detailing how to
upgrade the input circuit; I think it's in the Echoplex FAQ on the web
site. 

--Andre