Purchased Gemini less than a month ago. Upgraded to 1.32 last night. All good; synth was operating fine.
This morning, I was trying to save an edited performance, when, after pressing and holding the patch button, the patch/perf button did not light up to confirm save. The entire instrument was then not behaving properly; I could not save or load any patches or performances.
I turned off the Gemini, restarted, and now it seems to be bricked. Patch, shift, wave, delay time and both chorus button are lit. Turned synth of and on over 10 times, sometimes while holding patch to initial disk mode. No response from the instrument.
Thank you; I did and submitted a ticket. They wonāt respond as they are at Superbooth. Iām sending it back to the retailer.
This synth has too many issues, many of which are exacerbated by the ludicrous lack of a screen. Back in the 80ās, I had the OB-X, Xa, and 8. None had screens; we didnāt have a choice, THEN, but we would have certainly wanted one. UDO has gone out of its way to go screenless for reasons which are a mystery to me as the lack of a screen provides ZERO benefits, yet numerous moments of frustrationā¦daily. And Iām not the only one who feels this way. After reading through these forums, the majority of us feel this way. Ask any owner if theyād like a screen upgrade to their synth and theyād be climbing over one another to be first.
And now the thing bricks on me after only 3 weeks of use. Iāve owned and used in a professional capacity dozens of synths over the last 50 years. Not a single one just quit like this. And no indication of what might be going on inside the thing becauseā¦what?!?!?ā¦āletās not add a screen because we think musicians need an additional challengeāā¦after spending $4,500. This is neither logical nor pragmatic reasoning. Whatever the ideological or artistically-motivated āreasoningā that influenced this decision, itās blind to the obvious reality of how the majority of musicians PREFER to use synths in the 21st century.
And yes, I knew what I was buying when I bought it. One doesnāt know how deep the clay is until you start digging.
Not sure if 1.32 had anything to do with this. The Gemini worked fine for several hours after the upgrade. And the first week I had the Gemini, it did fail to boot several times. Donāt know if there was a glitchy component that finally failed or something else, but I wouldnāt associate my issue with the firmware update. Seems coincidental. The synth simply will not boot; totally unresponsive.
Regarding the lack of a screen, this instrument - and the others - were conceived sans screens. Thatās UDOās āthingā. I understand that, but subjectively, it makes all of their instruments more difficult to use. Iām not advocating for a quantum/iridium type system. I have the Quantum and yes, I find myself decidedly focused on the screen. I just donāt understand why UDO couldnāt design something simple, similar to some of the Sequential synths. Just a 3 digit display, like the one on the Prophet 5/10, would made this synth much more user friendly. Itās not just an instrument; itās also a computer and we need to know whatās going on inside now and then.
I return shipped my Gemini to the dealer today. Despite my frustrations, rather than a refund, I requested that it be replaced with another Gemini. Like any such instrument, itās not perfect, but it has it where it counts - the sound. It sounds incredible. And I know itās not supposed to matter, but itās bloody beautiful as well, and it seems like itās built to last 100 years.
Yeah, you do have a point. So far for me the only time Iāve wanted a screen so far was just to find out what version firmware I haveā¦
I havenāt hooked up to usb yet, I assume Iād get some info on the device from my computer if I did.
There must be a panic button restart or reset to factory key combo. I hope they respond to you soon. Might be worth DMing their instagram, thereāll be someone on that. (Even during superbooth)
I think the way an instrument looks is very important. I couldnāt use and ugly thing just because it sounds great. I need also my stuff to please me visually. And the build quality is very important too.
Currently, What is frustrating is the lack of response and feature development from U.D.O. I totally get it they are a very small team and George is certainly more than busy all the time, but some part of the instrument are defo not finished, the sequencer for instance, or the midi low res of fader reading, some fader curves, some settings that should be accessible via config file, microtuning. All these stuff were discussed and seemingly flagged as interesting/important by George, but months or even YEARS ago, and that should not take so long to develop/fix these.
And to answer the requests of the dev of the S8/SG editor would be a major plus, tackling a lot of requests/critique gravitating around the lack of screen or feedback on patches settings and fader/knob position.
Iām happy you choose for an exchange and stick to the SG, as it has indeed a lot of qualities :-).
I agree, updates apparently take far too long. I had to deal with the broken Aftertouch > VCF slider for 3 weeks. Most of you had to deal with it for 6 months! This, apparently after the 1.26 upgrade last December.
UDO, why did it take you almost 6 months to fix what you, yourselves broke?
UDO, why do you find it acceptable that your customers - the ones that support your business by paying handsomely for your flagship instrument - were expected to wait months on end to restore function to a dead slider; all other issues notwithstanding???
UDO, why did it cause me - a new user with nearly 5 decades of experience playing and programming synthesizers - having read the manual cover to cover the night prior, nearly 20 minutes of needless frustration to determine how to change the bloody MIDI channel on the instrument?!?!?
You cleverly designed a beautiful car with no windshield, just to see if it could be done. Looks great. Drives great. Congratulations. Personally, Iāll look at the thing and wonder why you went to so much trouble to prove to people that they can drive without seeing the road! What the hell is the point?!?! It does NOT make the car easier or more enjoyable to drive.