Polar Nightmare

[Anonymous]

So the Ti Polar arrived on Friday and the nightmare began...

I got it out of the box: "Hmmm, is this a new unit?" There are a couple of small scratches on the front panel that have been rather inexpertly painted over, a couple of chips in the left hand edge of the panel and the paint has flaked off round the screws on the back panel and base plate.

Plug in headphones and power it up. The display lights up, some of the LEDs come on and it just sits there. Hit the Transpose/OnOff buttons and some of the LEDs go out; at this point it's totally unresponsive. Pull the plug and try again: this time it starts up OK. Power it on and off a couple of times: about one time in three it hangs during startup.

Find the software is version 1.0Beta; download 1.08 from the Access site. Try to install it: it gets past the point where it askes for the VST directory then says "There is a problem with this windows installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor". Search the web for possible causes: no, it's not a corrupt "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath" key because that doesn't exist on my machine (I'm using Sonar 3.1.1, I do have a \Program Files\VSTPlugins directory and the VSTs run fine) and I get the same behaviour if I create that key.

Download 1.07 and try that: exactly the same problem.

Request support from Access via the web site. I've not yet had any response; hardly surprising since this was done around 4pm on Friday.

Leave the installation stopped part way so I can see what's been installed before it goes into reverse and deletes everything: I've got the firmware update and drivers. Copy them and install them manually. Update the hardware to 1.08 successfully but still get the power on problem. Try using the USB MIDI: no sound from the hardware and after about two minutes the PC BSODs.

Give up on the software and try driving it over normal MIDI: it runs OK. Try multi mode while flipping through the programs and tweaking some of them: everything is OK for perhaps 10 minutes then there's an almighty screech that just about takes the top of my head off. Throw the headphones half way across the room in a panic trying to get them off before my eardrums rupture. Can't stop the ghastly noise because the hardware is completely unresponsive; pull the power lead to shut it up. Try the same sequence again, very cautiously: it runs OK.

Play with it some more, routing the outputs through an old minidisk player with an auto volume limiting system that limits the maximum volume. The crashing seems in some way associated with patches that use the arpeggiator, but it's completely unpredictable.

So:

I've got what looks like a reconditioned unit.
It's unreliable to the point where I wouldn't dare use it live.
It's going to be no fun to work with if it keeps crashing with those painfully loud screeches.
The fact I can't get the software to install limits things rather severely.

Since I ordered it from Turnkey through their web site I have the option of getting a refund if I return it within a week, and I'm seriously wondering if that's the best option....

Questions:

Has anyone got the software to install on a Windows 2000 SP4 system? (The installer does list this as a valid OS.)

Has anyone got the plugins working in any version of Sonar?

Just how bad is the DSP crashing issue? I've had it a couple of times now and it seems it may be tied to the arpeggiator: if I avoid using this will I still be risking my ears?

Other Polar owners: has your keyboard lost paint round the casing screws?

[MonkeyMan]

Welcome Alan to the inbred, six fingered, dark strange world that is to be a Virus TI owner!

I currently own a TI 61 note synth and I am running OS 1.07. Although the OS is far from being perfect, I have not given in to the temptation of updating to 1.08 due to the many problems some users have had in doing so - as they have had to revert back to 1.07. I am waiting for the big "OS 1.1" which will hopefully improve things in leaps and bounds.

In relation to your crashing issue - mine has occasionally done this. (a digital explosion at fantastic volume through my headphones was my last near deaf experience.) What I have noticed is that if I want to just play in standalone mode, I will unplug the USB cable before powering the unit on - and so far I have had no further crashes.

When I want to use it within Logic on my Mac, I plug the USB cable into my TI, power up the Mac first and then power on my TI before opening Logic. This ritual also seems to of helped stop my previous regular crashing. (note that I also do this holding a lucky rabbits foot and a copy of the bible thinking only pure thoughts, just for that extra stability)

It might be a bit empty at the Access office at the moment - as they are all on the piss at the NAMM show for the next few days. But hopefully they will get back to you - they may supply you with a decent work-around to get your TI working smoothly in your set up.

I would say that if you have purchased your unit as from new - I would take it straight back to Turnkey and exhange it for another one if you have found marks and scratches on it. (write down the serial number on the back/bottom of your TI - so they don't feed you the same one back.) If they quote you a 3-4 week wait, grab your refund and buy it from someone else, although Turnkey are the UK's only authorised TI dealer they are certainly not the only option - grab one from www.Thomann.de - Even if you may have to wait a week or two to get another one - at least OS 1.1 will be out by then and you can hit the ground running.

Good luck.

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Originally Posted by AlanC

So the Ti Polar arrived on Friday and the nightmare began...

I got it out of the box: "Hmmm, is this a new unit?" There are a couple of small scratches on the front panel that have been rather inexpertly painted over, a couple of chips in the left hand edge of the panel and the paint has flaked off round the screws on the back panel and base plate.

Plug in headphones and power it up. The display lights up, some of the LEDs come on and it just sits there. Hit the Transpose/OnOff buttons and some of the LEDs go out; at this point it's totally unresponsive. Pull the plug and try again: this time it starts up OK. Power it on and off a couple of times: about one time in three it hangs during startup.

Find the software is version 1.0Beta; download 1.08 from the Access site. Try to install it: it gets past the point where it askes for the VST directory then says "There is a problem with this windows installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor". Search the web for possible causes: no, it's not a corrupt "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VST\VSTPluginsPath" key because that doesn't exist on my machine (I'm using Sonar 3.1.1, I do have a \Program Files\VSTPlugins directory and the VSTs run fine) and I get the same behaviour if I create that key.

Download 1.07 and try that: exactly the same problem.

Request support from Access via the web site. I've not yet had any response; hardly surprising since this was done around 4pm on Friday.

Leave the installation stopped part way so I can see what's been installed before it goes into reverse and deletes everything: I've got the firmware update and drivers. Copy them and install them manually. Update the hardware to 1.08 successfully but still get the power on problem. Try using the USB MIDI: no sound from the hardware and after about two minutes the PC BSODs.

Give up on the software and try driving it over normal MIDI: it runs OK. Try multi mode while flipping through the programs and tweaking some of them: everything is OK for perhaps 10 minutes then there's an almighty screech that just about takes the top of my head off. Throw the headphones half way across the room in a panic trying to get them off before my eardrums rupture. Can't stop the ghastly noise because the hardware is completely unresponsive; pull the power lead to shut it up. Try the same sequence again, very cautiously: it runs OK.

Play with it some more, routing the outputs through an old minidisk player with an auto volume limiting system that limits the maximum volume. The crashing seems in some way associated with patches that use the arpeggiator, but it's completely unpredictable.

So:

I've got what looks like a reconditioned unit.
It's unreliable to the point where I wouldn't dare use it live.
It's going to be no fun to work with if it keeps crashing with those painfully loud screeches.
The fact I can't get the software to install limits things rather severely.

Since I ordered it from Turnkey through their web site I have the option of getting a refund if I return it within a week, and I'm seriously wondering if that's the best option....

Questions:

Has anyone got the software to install on a Windows 2000 SP4 system? (The installer does list this as a valid OS.)

Has anyone got the plugins working in any version of Sonar?

Just how bad is the DSP crashing issue? I've had it a couple of times now and it seems it may be tied to the arpeggiator: if I avoid using this will I still be risking my ears?

Other Polar owners: has your keyboard lost paint round the casing screws?

Hello and welcome...

I read this post and just before i got to the bit about where you bought it from.....and you know what....I guessed correctly that you'd probably bought it from Tunrkey. How strange....how coincidental.

After Id chomped my way through 5 apparently new Virus KC's....I gave up. I even contacted Marc at Access to inform him they might have a worker in the factory deliberately defacing/abusing/marking/damaging the synths.

I suspect what you have is a 'customer return' and not a new Polar. Secondly, I believe you should ask for a refund now....but beware. You are likely to be greeted by Turnkey's contractual small print (as I was). Turnkey will only give you a refund once 'all attempts have been made' in order to remedy the situation. What does this mean? Well.....it means that Tunrkey are likely to keep insisting they send you a new unit....and if that one is fucked......again....they will insist you receive a new unit. This is why i got through 5 KC's. Do you think I wanted another one from them by the time the 3rd one had fucked up?

Try and get the refund now m8 - be firm with Daphne.....she's amarican....and she only understands hard ball.

Goodluck

DS

[Khazul]

On the other side of the coin, I had nothing but excellent service from Turnkey, no issues with getting refunds, asking them to change orders, sending stuff back and getting something else, getting them to match other prices etc, even *after* placing an order at the orginal price. No charges or arguments for multi-shipping either becase one item is out of stock when I need the rest in a hurry.

I guess I have bought alot of gear from them over time - dunno if that makes a difference to the kind of service you get - on the scale of the business they do - I wouldnt have thought so TBH - the likes of us must be small-fry.

Maybe you just chatted up the wrong girl there?

Try Beverly - she was nice

[Drammy]

Turnkey are not the only UK dealer, not anymore anyway.

DigitalVillage is where I got mine from. I ordered on 4th Jan and it arrived on the 6th!

Apart from buggy OS I am pleased with it - I know Access will resolve the issues eventually - sounds like they may have solved them with OS 1.1...

[Khazul]

Turnkey are the primary UK distributor - there are alot of other Access dealers, but they of course have to order stock through turnkey (unless that changed very recently).

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick replies.

MM, the crashing issue is the killer for me. OK, it has only happened a couple of times despite the fact I've deliberately tried to recreate it by hitting the synth with 10+ parts and lots of polyphony, but it's left me feeling I just can't trust it. Looking round this forum and the TI Forum it seems to be quite common... shame I didn't find these forums a bit earlier.

DS, I'm more than a bit worried by your comment about having gone through 5 KC's before you got a good one. The packaging of the Polar looked OK aside from the fact that a set of staples had obviously been put in the box then removed, and a second smaller set had been used to close the box again. The synth itself was inside a heat sealed polythene bag and had a transparent film with the serial number on it covering the display and this showed no signs of having been removed at any point. The scratches on the panel are small and have obviously been spray-painted out - you can see the texture of the paint over them looks different - all of which combined made me think "reconditioned unit" or one that had the panel damaged during assembly.

Based on what's been said I'm going to try and hit Turnkey with the clause that says "If you ordered by phone or internet and have not visited the store to discuss your purchase, you can request to cancel your purchase up to seven working days" on the grounds that I can't get it to work with my existing setup and the fact that it's got known problems with no solution at the moment. Let's hope they'll treat me decently: I haven't bought from them for a while, but they looked after me pretty well when I had problems with my last purchase, an EMU RFX-32 card.

And it looks like I'd better avoid synths with white control panels in the future. Years back I had an even worse nightmare with an Oberheim OB-Mx - well, actually four OB-Mx's in succession because I never did get a working one....

[The girl next door]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMan

grab one from www.Thomann.de - Even if you may have to wait a week or two to get another one

Mine took 3 days to get to me from Thomann,Ok i do live in Germany...I also ordered an MD3 from them 2 weeks ago and it got here within 2 days...Shit it takes me longer than that to sober up these days...Bloody German beer

http://www.thomann.de/iw_smb_suche.h...us+ti&x=9&y=12

[Khazul]

Originally Posted by AlanC

The packaging of the Polar looked OK aside from the fact that a set of staples had obviously been put in the box then removed, and a second smaller set had been used to close the box again. The synth itself was inside a heat sealed polythene bag and had a transparent film with the serial number on it covering the display and this showed no signs of having been removed at any point. The scratches on the panel are small and have obviously been spray-painted out - you can see the texture of the paint over them looks different - all of which combined made me think "reconditioned unit" or one that had the panel damaged during assembly.

I would agree with your assessment. You paid for a new unit, you are entited to one.

[Tomer=Trance]

return it,
ask for a new one.

no question about it...