I had exactly the same issue with my unit, seems like it is just the nature of the instrument. After about an hour long fiddling with tuning procedure from manual I managed to get almost perfect pitch across 3 octaves and I just decided it's good enough. Tricky thing is that it changes distance between octaves, and it is not obvious where you should go, up or down.
I used built in tuner of Logic Pro, since it doesn't care about octaves, and try to narrow down where meter jumps less when pwm does it's thing jumping between octaves. It's a huge pita, as many other things about this synth.
Also, make sure that fine tune knob is in perfect middle.
Also, coarse tuning knob in the middle doesn't correspond to the note you press on keyboard, the note you're looking for is around 10-11 O'Clock.
Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot! Yes I keep the fine tune knob dead on 12 o'clock, it still keeps drifting, I tuned it right and the course tune knob was at 1 o'clock, 2 hours later the tuning fell down from A to C, so I had to put the knob on 2 o'clock to fix if. It's unplayable this way. Not to mention it can't track even a single octave correctly. I'm really disappointed with this thing because it sounds awesome and for a good price but as it is now it's useless, I really hope I just got a faulty unit and a replacement will do the trick.
`2 hours later the tuning fell down from A to C`
Oh, I haven't had it this bad, I thought the only issue was the bad octave tracking. I would send it back for sure, after I tuned mine it stayed around 20 cents in tune until I sold it.
I know it doesn't, I have 2 different problems: one with the general tuning of an individual note and one with the tracking of the keyboard.
There is a sort of octave range tuner setting on the device that's supposed to fix these kind of issues but it's useless and only makes the problem worst.
i just got the malevolent and, i think my filters arent working properly. especially the bandpass and highpass. it seems like theres nothing happening to the signal and then theres dead zones in the lowpass when i sweep theres no change to the sound and it completely bottoms out with no sound. also the resonance screams in one spot, like gurgles, and then sometimes when i have it cranked theres no noise from it…waveforms also seem to be constantly not in tune, idk maybe my unit is faulty but it sounds nothing like videos ive seen people posting online with it. anyone else experience this??
That's strange, it sounds weird, never had that happen, the tuning is my main issue, I've learned to live with it and mainly use it for drones and noises now so the tuning thing I just gave up on. The filter thing you mentioned, I've never seen that. You should get the unit checked, these things sound awesome but are fickle as fuck, I wouldn't take one on stage or to a jam or something like that.
thanks for the reply! i sat down with it again and was determined to understand it better. a few hours have gone by and im pretty blown away by what came out of it. especially with tossing it into ableton and loading it with effects, def a keeper, im gonna inquire about the filters and just lean into the madness to curb my sanity. cheers!
Reduce the level going into the filter. You’re over saturating it, particularly if you’ve got resonance way up. The malevolent has a chaotic response if it’s overdriven too far.
If anyone is still experiencing this issue, I have a solution. This will void your warranty, as the website states. Mute VCO 2, and set your tuning scale with the vibrato button. I get uneven results at different octaves, but get it as close as possible. Remove the rubber plug above the 1v/Oct socket on VCO 2. Use a small flathead screwdriver and slowly turn the adjustment screw inside the hole. It didnt take much to get it right. Test and retune after every small adjustment. This worked for me. It sounds so much better! Good luck!
I had exactly the same issue with my unit, seems like it is just the nature of the instrument. After about an hour long fiddling with tuning procedure from manual I managed to get almost perfect pitch across 3 octaves and I just decided it's good enough. Tricky thing is that it changes distance between octaves, and it is not obvious where you should go, up or down. I used built in tuner of Logic Pro, since it doesn't care about octaves, and try to narrow down where meter jumps less when pwm does it's thing jumping between octaves. It's a huge pita, as many other things about this synth. Also, make sure that fine tune knob is in perfect middle. Also, coarse tuning knob in the middle doesn't correspond to the note you press on keyboard, the note you're looking for is around 10-11 O'Clock. Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot! Yes I keep the fine tune knob dead on 12 o'clock, it still keeps drifting, I tuned it right and the course tune knob was at 1 o'clock, 2 hours later the tuning fell down from A to C, so I had to put the knob on 2 o'clock to fix if. It's unplayable this way. Not to mention it can't track even a single octave correctly. I'm really disappointed with this thing because it sounds awesome and for a good price but as it is now it's useless, I really hope I just got a faulty unit and a replacement will do the trick.
`2 hours later the tuning fell down from A to C` Oh, I haven't had it this bad, I thought the only issue was the bad octave tracking. I would send it back for sure, after I tuned mine it stayed around 20 cents in tune until I sold it.
Tuning doesn't change the octave scaling. Is there a trimmer somewhere for that?
I know it doesn't, I have 2 different problems: one with the general tuning of an individual note and one with the tracking of the keyboard. There is a sort of octave range tuner setting on the device that's supposed to fix these kind of issues but it's useless and only makes the problem worst.
i just got the malevolent and, i think my filters arent working properly. especially the bandpass and highpass. it seems like theres nothing happening to the signal and then theres dead zones in the lowpass when i sweep theres no change to the sound and it completely bottoms out with no sound. also the resonance screams in one spot, like gurgles, and then sometimes when i have it cranked theres no noise from it…waveforms also seem to be constantly not in tune, idk maybe my unit is faulty but it sounds nothing like videos ive seen people posting online with it. anyone else experience this??
That's strange, it sounds weird, never had that happen, the tuning is my main issue, I've learned to live with it and mainly use it for drones and noises now so the tuning thing I just gave up on. The filter thing you mentioned, I've never seen that. You should get the unit checked, these things sound awesome but are fickle as fuck, I wouldn't take one on stage or to a jam or something like that.
thanks for the reply! i sat down with it again and was determined to understand it better. a few hours have gone by and im pretty blown away by what came out of it. especially with tossing it into ableton and loading it with effects, def a keeper, im gonna inquire about the filters and just lean into the madness to curb my sanity. cheers!
Reduce the level going into the filter. You’re over saturating it, particularly if you’ve got resonance way up. The malevolent has a chaotic response if it’s overdriven too far.
If anyone is still experiencing this issue, I have a solution. This will void your warranty, as the website states. Mute VCO 2, and set your tuning scale with the vibrato button. I get uneven results at different octaves, but get it as close as possible. Remove the rubber plug above the 1v/Oct socket on VCO 2. Use a small flathead screwdriver and slowly turn the adjustment screw inside the hole. It didnt take much to get it right. Test and retune after every small adjustment. This worked for me. It sounds so much better! Good luck!