I love Protools I hate Avid.

[fazer]

Had a runaround with Avid.  I had some channels go out on an input card for a Digi 192 I/O.  I want an RA# to send back for replacement / repair.  (There are no Schematics to my knowledge for the card.)   

Avid wants to charge you to talk to customer service even for getting an RA#.      Avid says you can now sign up for an support account on line, through the Avid site.  The Site is a disaster.  15 pages of complaints on the DUC forum about  it.    I sign up for the account and they will send an activation email.  I never get the email but when I go to register it says I'm already in the system.  2 emails to the webmaster and no replies from Avid. 

As an 18 year user of digidesign, this could be the straw. 

 

[sodderboy]

Oh no!  Not another soul lost to Nuendo!

Seriously, talk to the vendor who sold it to you, and get the name of the regional sales person for Avid.  They will be able to help you, and will be interested in your negative experience with the site.

Mike

 

[MikoKensington]

Fazer, I completely agree.  The slow Avid-ization of Pro Tools has been a painful road.  Sad, because I actually love the software and the hardware is good enough.

I agree with sodderboy.  Find your local/regional Avid rep or deal with your local pusher.  It's really the only way to get things done.  If people put half the effort of bitching about their customer support into finding a local channel, they would have a quarter of the things to bitch about.  Not sure if that makes sense.  We have a good sales guy who deals with regional personnel at Avid quite often.  When we have problems, they swoop in leaving us with very little downtime. 

 

[riggler]

I've had 2 192 AD cards go bad. Billed $400 for the first, not going to repair the second. I'll just live with a few less channels. I wanted them to take a look at the 192 itself, but that means downtime and more $$$ spent. Going to get an Aurora I think...

 

[dandeurloo]

it would be almost better to send it to BLA and have them mod it.  i'm sure they know the ins and outs of the box and could probably fix it as well.

Avid sucks but so did digi!

 

[fazer]

I agree with all comments.  It was a bad day yesterday and my rant is just a bitch session with little return for the drama invested.  I'm getting hold of the rep. Thanks for the comments again.

 

[fazer]

Dandeurloo ,  I checked out the BLA site.  That looks like a great direction.  Just need the 4k. but currently working on a project that might help with that if no more input channels go out.

 

[haima]

the aurora is a pretty good option - i'm really happy with the sound of my 16ch unit - it appears just like two 192s in HD, including hardware insert latency compensation etc. and it is only 1RU, no fan.

the ONLY flaw i can find is that on both my HD2 pcie machines the auroras (one 8 ch and one 16) emit a loud tone on random outputs on startup, when you switch on the mac pro AFTER turning on the aurora - the tone goes away as soon as you start tools, or if you turn the aurora on after the mac pro. no biggie... just keep the monitors muted till you launch tools.

 

[mushy]

I was told that Avid canned their whole development team in favor of outsourcing all future software revs to some firm in Turkey. No disrespect to the Turkish but this doesnt bode well.

 

[sodderboy]

I hope that it's just that the team went to Turkey for some hooka downtime, and the story got gossiped into something else. . .
Mike

 

[johnR]

I've had 2 192 AD cards go bad. Billed $400 for the first, not going to repair the second. I'll just live with a few less channels. I wanted them to take a look at the 192 itself, but that means downtime and more $$$ spent. Going to get an Aurora I think...

In what way did they go bad?

 

[fazer]

On my Card, the inputs in a pair  5 and 6 got noisy with blowtorch like noise then got silent and that pair went out.  then 7 and 8 did the exact same thing ( a good year later).  I had a 888/24 and Apogee AD 8000 before this system and never had a problem with it.  In 2006 I traded in Mix system for a HD system and a 192 interface.  The card now has 4 good inputs.  I still use the AD 8000 with ADat optical out into 9 to 16 Adat inputs on the 192 (ch 9-16 in) ,  and the 192 covered analog in 1 to 8.  Its some kind of problem I think with the Analog input circuit  side of the card I don't think its the A/d chips.  However, the fact that it happens in pairs  suggest it might be the A/D. ( uses 4 stereo 192 chips don't remember what, can findout)  You can see burned SMD caps that got hot on the card after a 351 surface mount chip on the other side.  I checked for DC or grounding problems between interface rack and console , but cant find anything wrong with the wiring into the API console I use.  I also have a ground wire bonded back to the console on all Racks that the gear is mounted in.  I have never had hum or measured a voltage between racks or the console.  There use to be a 2" 16 track hooked  where the 192 interface is now.

It would be nice to find Schematics for these input cards.  but these are my guess multi layered PCB cards.  Digi and avid says they service these not service centers.    I'm sure Black Lyon has schematics to do what they have done with the digi gear.  But I'm not sure who would release these to Our DIY group.

 

[riggler]

fazer,

I have the exact problems!! Visible damaged SMD caps and all!!!!!

Note that the problem only happens to my second-slot card. Primary card has never failed.

 

[johnR]

I recently repaired a 192 I/O A-D extension card that had noisy inputs. After being on for a while a rushing noise would start, along with random pops and bangs. It turned out to be the J506 constant current diodes on the other side of the board from the converter chips. There are two sets of these diodes, and it was the set nearest the converters (4 diodes per channel). Those AK5394 converter chips run hot and the heat had damaged the diodes. I strongly suspect this is a common problem with these cards.

Unfortunately the J506 is obsolete. I substituted 1N5301 constant current diodes, which are available from Mouser. They're expensive, but cheaper than repair by Avid. I didn't have a schematic, but I tracked down the noisy diodes with a can of freezer spray. The 1N5301 is in a DO-35 case instead of a 2 pin TO-92, but it fits and it does the job.

Obviously I don't know if this is what's causing the problem with your cards, but it's the first thing I'd check.

 

[riggler]

JohnR THANK YOU!

When I can I will take and post pics, etc with my findings. Someone else had said that these run hot a while ago, but did not nail down an instance of the problem like you did.

Thanks again.

 

[fazer]

Thank JohnR
I'll be checking this as well and have a feeler out for the schematic,big maybe at this point.

Michael

 

[riggler]

I replaced all 16 of the diodes closest to the converters as described. I got one channel back! I think that I am going to have to replace the other set. The channels that are still bad --- the noise dropped significantly in volume but is still there. So we'll see what happens.

 

[fazer]

"I replaced all 16 of the diodes"  quote: Riggler


The other set being 4 per channel so 32 diodes per 8channels?
Riggler if you had burnt parts , did you replace those caps?  That's what burnt on mine.  Noise is the diodes according JohnR.

ALSO Avid part of post.
I got into Avid through the backdoor.  Never got a schematic so I sent it in.  $270 was quote on card repair,  and they have it now.  Have not heard anything other than its received. 

Call Customer support and dial 3 instead of 1.  1 creates token charge workorder.  3 you are checking on an order you have put in.  You get someone to talk to and place a request for RA #.   

 

 

[emrr]

Suggestion to compile this info in a new lab thread, since brewery threads can disappear.  

 

[johnR]

I replaced all 16 of the diodes closest to the converters as described. I got one channel back! I think that I am going to have to replace the other set. The channels that are still bad --- the noise dropped significantly in volume but is still there. So we'll see what happens.

The set I replaced had 4 diodes per channel, so I replaced 32 in total. I'm pretty sure that was the set near the converters. This was on an A-D extension card, not the main one. The card wasn't mine, it belongs to a studio I do occasional tech work for. I'd have taken photos but it was a rush job and I didn't have time.