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Blofeld Blofeld  >  Q: How to reset the Blofeld to the factory settings?
 >  Q: Where to find the Blofeld manual?
 >  Q: My Blofeld is not booting anymore, what to do?
 >  Q: Why is my Blofeld noisy when USB is connected?
 >  Q: Where to find the Waldorf FTP server content now?
Q: How to reset the Blofeld to the factory settings?

A: Like on all Waldorf synths, there is no reset function. All you have to do is loading the factory sounds.

 http://www.waldorfmusic.de/assets/files/products/blofeld/sounds/blofeld_fact_080103.zip     ^ 
Q: Where to find the Blofeld manual?

A: Have a look at the link below.

 http://www.waldorfmusic.de/en/archive?relPath=/blofeld/docs     ^ 
Q: My Blofeld is not booting anymore, what to do?

A: Here is the read-me of the rescue system:

*** clip ***

Blofeld Rescue System V 1.0
----------------------------------------------------------
BlofeldRescue.mid
Emergency System only recovery from severe crashes
----------------------------------------------------------

We think you will never have to use this system.
However, if for some yet unforseen error or a power failure
during transmission of a firmware update Blofeld loses
memory, we included a minimal system that allows recovery
from such a rare incident.

This minimal system displays "send data!" on the LCD,
surrounded by random pixels. If that happens, this
BlofeldRescue.mid is the only help: Hook up MIDI, *not*
USB, from PC to Blofeld and play the Midifile to the
unconscious Blofeld - it will lighten up only to tell you
to dump the firmware now. Proceed as instructed and all
memory is restored.

If you feel Blofeld is confused, or it refuses to accept
new firmware or you are simply curious to check it out,
the minimal system can be activated by holding both
<Utility> and <Global> buttons depressed during power up.

Your Waldorf Team

(C) 2007 Waldorf Music GmbH. All Rights Reserved.

*** clip end ***

The needed file is available at the link below.

 http://www.waldorfmusic.de/assets/files/products/blofeld/emergency/blofeld_rescue.mid     ^ 
Q: Why is my Blofeld noisy when USB is connected?

A: Due to the direct-coupled nature of USB and most PC soundcards it is exceptionally easy to create a ground loop when the Blofeld is connected to the PC via USB. The common symptom of that loop is digital noise in the audio, which often modulates with unrelated activity on the PC, like mouse movements. Only the following configuration does work securely:

PC w/ isolation transformer (or laptop :-) connected via USB to Blofeld, which in turn connects to a mixer. No other audio gear can be connected to the PC via USB or any soundcard interface without isolation.

Any configuration more complicated than that (and that includes almost all practical scenarios) will have a latent ground loop. You should not create a ground loop in the first place (instead of trying to troubleshoot it's symptoms) and there are several options to do so:

1) Insert a DI box w/ ground lift between Blofeld and the mixer/amp input. This is the recommended solution. If you simultaneously use a soundcard on your PC with further outboard audio gear, its inputs and outputs may have to be isolated as well.

2) Use an isolated input on your mixer or DAW. This is most likely a microphone input and you must ensure that phantom power is switched off on this input before you connect the Blofeld. If you have such an input, but no DI box and you are sure to remember that the phantom power must never be on, then use this solution.

3) Isolate the USB via a hub that has galvanic isolation between upstream and downstream side. These are much more expensive than DI boxes, so it won't be cost-effective. Most USB "extender cables" do not have galvanic isolation and are useless for this purpose. Also note that you can connect only one audio interface to the hub as connecting a second unit creates a ground loop again (this time through the two devices you connected after the hub). Not recommended unless for some unfathomable reason a galvanically isolated USB hub or optical USB extender falls into your lap.

4) Isolate all inputs and outputs on the PC including USB. Not only need they be isolated from the PC itself, they also need to be isolated from each other. This is completely impractical and I'm not suggesting you should even try, but it is a solution to the problem.

It is often suggested that "balanced cables" would help. They don't, in fact there is no such thing as a "balanced cable" - there are only balanced connection and they need a balanced output and a balanced input. If both ends of a balanced connection are direct coupled, there is still a ground connection, but the symptoms of any ground loop would be less noticeable - the noise could probably be damped by 20dB-80dB depending on circumstances and frequency range.

Since the audio outputs of the Blofeld are in fact unbalanced, you also can't "lift ground" on the audio cable (this is a bad solution to this problem even on fully balanced connections). Doing so would either exacerbate the problem (if you would just disconnect the shield) or stop the audio out from functioning. You can also not "lift ground" on the USB cable for the same reason (and then some). The ground connection is a necessary ingredient of the USB physical layer (see the documentation), even if there are two signal lines carrying a (pseudo-)differential signal. In dry words: no ground connection, no USB connection. You may even damage the USB interface as disconnecting the ground would render the input protection scheme of most USB IC useless - the USB plugs and jacks have been carefully designed so that the ground connection is made first and breaks last, an assumption that would be invalid with lifted ground.


USB Documentaion:  http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/     ^ 
Q: Where to find the Waldorf FTP server content now?

A: Much of the original Waldorf FTP server content can be found here:
 http://waldorfmusic.de/de/downloads     ^ 
[ Home ] 07.09.2010 20:32:18 Waldorf Time