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i think my machine doesnt work.

inside_left
just got delivery of the mk 2 yesterday and its having severe problems from the get go. i connected it to my cirklon and its just not playing properly at all. when i press play it just plays a repeating note over and over and feeds back into itself and doesnt play notes or indeed stop. in my system monitor the 'draw', 'irq' and 'in' sections are scrolling random numbers and are stuck in a loop. usb drives are not being recognised and there was something loose inside the casing when the machine arrived. it feels very much like i have wasted my money. over a thousand pounds i dont really have and am so so gutted.
Petajaja
Sounds like a midi loop to me, I understand your disappointment if something is wrong but Kodamo would work with you on putting things right I'm sure.

I also thought something was loose inside my unit when I first got it but I realised it was just that the keys rattle.

Could be something to do with your USB drive? maybe the formatting is wrong as I've seen a few other people have similar issues.
inside_left
im just so despairingly gutted. i dont know what to do other than send it back to thomann and get my money back. it was going to be the core synth i built songs around and now i just want to, even at my big age and life experience, cry my eyes out lol
inside_left
oh aye forgot to mention, ive tried the usb drive formatted in FAT32, EXFAT and NTFS and none are recognised.
Soarer
I'd write directly to Kodamo to find out what's wrong. Then you may have to send it back but that should be free for you. Then you'll get another one, so maybe it's a hassle but it can be solved. I'd say it's worth it - this is a marvellous synth :)
KODAMO
Hello,
Please describe your problem more precisely:
- How did you connect the EssenceFM to the Cirklon ?
- To check that your USB drives are working, did you tried to go into Global > Storage > Import > Open file ? What message is displayed ?

The seemingly random numbers in System are normal, and they're more for us for testing purposes.
KODAMO
I also thought something was loose inside my unit when I first got it but I realised it was just that the keys rattle

Can you explain more precisely so we can help? If your unit has a problem we can take it back to fix it or ship a new one.
Petajaja
I have no issue with mine, I was just saying that in response to the original poster in that they may be mistaking the slight rattle of the keys as something being loose within the unit.

My unit is working perfectly and I can tell that you've put a lot of attention to detail into the design and assembly of the unit, the packaging was really top notch too!
inside_left
ok, so i've managed to sort out the midi looping but the reason it took me so long to work out how was because its behaving so bizarrely, im connected to the cirklon via midi din and i can get messages to the e-fm but every time a trig is hit, it moves the e-fm onto the next midi channel. so it is cycling thru all 16 channels while trying to play a single track (midi 1 - channel 1) and i have no cc control either per-channel or at all. ive been able to jerry rig a temporary solution by putting every track in perf mode to the patch i want to use so it just cycles thru the same sound but that means im limited to a single voice and cant automate anything within the patch. this is not ideal. i really really really love this machine in concept and the sound banks and general synthesis are everything i could imagine they'd be. i really could use this for at least the first couple of voices of virtually any tune, if it just did what it says on the screen. ie. voice 'A' being controlled by midi channel 1 and going to audio 4 etc. rather than being stuck on a single voice and single audio channel, cycling through the midi on a mad loop.
ive now spent £25 on two usb sticks, a sandisk cruzer 16gb and a kingston data traveller 16gb and neither work in either fat 32 or EXFAT formats. it just says 'cannot find any drive'. i am about to spend another £10 getting the exact sandisk stick a user recommended in the firmware thread and hopefully it'll work but i have to assume it wont otherwise i will be disappointed again.
inside_left
oh yeah, im not sure whats loose inside, its definitely a single component and it slides around if i hold the machine and, like, turn it over in my hands.
KODAMO
i can get messages to the e-fm but every time a trig is hit, it moves the e-fm onto the next midi channel

There's definitely something going on with your Cirklon config, the EssenceFM cannot change channels or instruments by itself. It looks like your Cirklon is in some MPE mode that spreads notes on different channels ?


ive now spent £25 on two usb sticks, a sandisk cruzer 16gb and a kingston data traveller 16gb and neither work in either fat 32 or EXFAT formats. it just says 'cannot find any drive'. i am about to spend another £10 getting the exact sandisk stick a user recommended in the firmware thread and hopefully it'll work but i have to assume it wont otherwise i will be disappointed again.

EssenceFM MKII should work with all USB sticks that have the right format, compatibility issues only affected the very first MK1 units we made the last year. Which tool/computer do you use to format your drives ?

Here is a screen capture of parameters used to format a drive that works on the EssenceFM, on Windows 10 (in French but English version should be close enough)

KODAMO
If there is something sliding inside you can unscrew the side panel (4 screws) to get it out. That's definitely not normal, but maybe something got loose during transport although all screws are glued from factory to prevent that.
inside_left
yeah that's exactly how i formatted the usb drives and they're neither of them being recognised by the machine. i dont know what else to say, they just will not be recognised by the E-FM. i had the cirklon set to 16 note polyphonic spread, which i have now turned off and its now working across the different channels! I really dont understand MPE at all it seems lol. i will look in the casing tomorrow now, as i have to get to work. the only real problem left (besides whatever's loose) is the usb port. thank you so much for both making this incredible machine and helping me be able to use it. im basically moving exclusively out the box after 20+ years solely in the computer and am trying to do it as efficiently and painlessly as possible and with only a handful of very very specific equipment that i want the most and im so glad the E-FM is going to be able to play a big part.
KODAMO
If you have a MIDI keyboard powered via USB (like an Arturia Keystep for example) you can plug it in to check if the front USB is working. You need to plug the USB keyboard when the EssenceFM is off. Then power it on, the keyboard should be powered.
You can also plug your phone at any time to see if it starts charging.

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