Alesis Wedge and Glitches

[Paul Stamler]

Hi folks:

The dance group I work with uses an Alesis Wedge for delaying signals to
down-hall speakers. It works nicely, and sounds very good (in other words, I
don't hear it doing anything nasty). A few times, though, we've had
unfortunate problems with line disturbances. Last Sunday, we were in our
regular hall with the air conditioners running. Whenever an AC unit would
switch on the lights would dim momentarily; on one of those dips, the Wedge
freaked out, went into bypass mode and simultaneously had its preset levels
go haywire. Something like this happened previously, at a gig out in the
country; on that occasion it also went into bypass.

Anyway, it seems pretty likely that dips (not surges -- we have a surge
protector) in the AC line are causing the Wedge to go bazookas. So what
should we use to fix the problem? Would a small consumer-type UPS be
appropriate? Incidentally, nothing else in the system goes nuts, but then
nothing else we use has digital logic in it.

Peace,
Paul

[Mike Rivers]

Paul Stamler wrote:

> Whenever an AC unit would
> switch on the lights would dim momentarily; on one of those dips, the Wedge
> freaked out, went into bypass mode and simultaneously had its preset levels
> go haywire. Something like this happened previously, at a gig out in the
> country; on that occasion it also went into bypass.

> Would a small consumer-type UPS be appropriate?

That's what I'd try. The Wedge probalby doesn't draw much current so
one of those $35 ones that look like a fat outlet strip would probably
be OK. Just don't let someone plug a coffee maker into it. Tape up all
the open outlets. <g>

[Scott Dorsey]

Paul Stamler > wrote:
>
>Anyway, it seems pretty likely that dips (not surges -- we have a surge
>protector) in the AC line are causing the Wedge to go bazookas. So what
>should we use to fix the problem? Would a small consumer-type UPS be
>appropriate? Incidentally, nothing else in the system goes nuts, but then
>nothing else we use has digital logic in it.

Doesn't the Wedge use a wall-wart?

I'd consider first throwing lots of additional capacitance on the supply
rails, then maybe use a better transformer. The Talema toroids have hardly
any response above 250 Hz or so, and they reject noise much better than
typical EI core transformers.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Sean Conolly]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Paul Stamler > wrote:
>>
>>Anyway, it seems pretty likely that dips (not surges -- we have a surge
>>protector) in the AC line are causing the Wedge to go bazookas. So what
>>should we use to fix the problem? Would a small consumer-type UPS be
>>appropriate? Incidentally, nothing else in the system goes nuts, but then
>>nothing else we use has digital logic in it.
>
> Doesn't the Wedge use a wall-wart?
>
> I'd consider first throwing lots of additional capacitance on the supply
> rails, then maybe use a better transformer. The Talema toroids have
> hardly
> any response above 250 Hz or so, and they reject noise much better than
> typical EI core transformers.

It's a 9V AC supply, like a lot of other Alesis products, so you're not
going to cap the DC rails without getting into the unit. I had a D4 edrum
unit that did the same thing everytime someone switched the stage lights,
FWIW.

I agree that a little UPS strip would probably do the trick.

Sean