Stec Records Forum

I picked up a Line6 Sonic Port VX stereo mic/audio interface for iOS (Lightning) last summer and thought it worked pretty well. I ended up buying a full copy of Cubasis (free version comes with the device) but not before doing some recording with the free one, only to find out that you cannot transfer recordings between them; the only reason I bought the licensed version was for the export capability.  Doh! If you get the interface, don't bother with the free version of Cubasis.

I haven't done anything extensive with it yet but so far it's been well behaved - it actually records and plays back. It doesn't seem like much to ask but as mr. Waits said "the large print give-ith and the small print take-ith away". And there is a lot of small print these days. These are a few of recordings I made by the beach last summer:

https://www.stecrecords.com/BobSellon/live/CoolThisSummer20170721.mp3
https://www.stecrecords.com/BobSellon/live/ItsOnlyLove20170721.mp3
https://www.stecrecords.com/BobSellon/live/Something20170721.mp3

In addition to the stereo mic, the VX also has a mono mic, a 1/4" guitar input, a mini stereo aux input, a mini stereo headphone output and left and right 1/4" phone outputs. It's worth noting that the interface can only use the stereo mic, the mono mic or the guitar input at a time. No guitar-and-mic at the same time which is a shame. It's also got a connector for a mini USB you can connect to a charger while using it, a mic gain knob and a "Direct monitor" switch avoid app latency when monitoring recordings. It comes with a little desk top stand but uses a standard camera-screw adapter so it can be used with all kinds of existing stands.

Another thing occurred to me as I was re-reading the full post: another possibility is that padding on the plunger for the edit button came off and is stuck on the board causing the button to be permanently pressed.

Thanks Bob.

I got all of that taken apart, made sure none of the soft buttons were permanently pressed or their conductive parts mucked up. Nothing there.

So I ended up shorting the wire grids you speak of. I found that I could actuate every button except for the PROGRAM button.

NOTE: just to be sure it's clear, I started this thread saying that the EDIT button was stuck, but that's not the case. It turns out that I could get into the SYSTEM, STORE, EDIT, and all other buttons except PROGRAM. So the statement "can't get out of EDIT mode" is still mostly true, but only because the PROGRAM button is the faulty one (meaning I can't change patches/programs, so forever in Edit mode).

Also, the KNOB is wonky (this unit took a fall once), so I could use the entire assembly, which is listed as Item 14 on page 8-49 of the service manual. On page 8-51, it's listed as Part #750-11565.

Digikey doesn't seem to have any Lexicon parts (they aren't listed on http://www.digikey.com/en/supplier-centers). The part number doesn't turn up anything.

Should I contact Lexicon through their web site? They seem to want to point me to service centers, which means parts mark-up and labor, perhaps shipping.

I'm not currently employed and this is a plug-in part, so I can do this work myself if the part is affordable enough.

Thanks, Chris

Can someone point out a good path to follow to order the part?

Also, if I can find this part, I might be interested in picking up v1.1 of the system. I'm still on v1.0.

Any contact info is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Bob, delayed reply.

Thanks for the post. I saved it for when I had time, which was last night.

I took it apart, took off the rubber front with the conductive contacts, and was able to switch buttons back and forth using a screw driver (with a rubber handle to be sure) by touching it across the circuit mesh (what the conductive backing part of each button would normally do).

I conclude that all buttons work including the Edit button, but except the Program button (so 7 of the 8 buttons work, some of them such as the left/right arrows only when in the proper sub-menu of course). I can activate all of the other LEDs with the screwdriver except the program button. I can get into the System menu, find the Init, and reset the entire device back to factory settings, but when done, it goes back to the Edit button, or at least, the Edit button is the only way to exit the System menu.

I suspect that the Program button would exit system, and that it is also the method to leave the Edit menu, but I just can't do it.

I even tried removing the main ROM chip (the v1.0 I think would be replaced were I to get the v1.1 chip) and fire it up, then replacing the ROM chip hoping that this would clear the button state, but it didn't.

So I'm at a loss now at how to fix this device. It's a shame to throw it away. Perhaps replacing that one board behind the buttons?

Chris

What are you adding the buffers for? Signal level or tone? If the buffer is going to be affecting the tone, you might want to keep it in front of any reverb and delays though a distorted echo on a clean guitar can be interesting.