My PK2 has ceased to make sounds. When I audition, even with headphones, I hear nothing. Since almost all my projects use this, with many tracks, it is a major problem. This first happened after a power surge and I reset it, losing all my user settings, so projects were sometimes playing the wrong sound. After the reset, I set up where I wanted the midi channels to go again, with the 6 audio outs, and reset to multi, and now I have to reset again, but would like to back it up first.
Long ago, with cubase 8 or earlier I, more than once, used system exclusive in a bulk dump to get all the sounds into the midi device manager. I can see that I did more than once as, I see in the list -PK2, PK2- reorg, etc, meaning that I reimported after changing settings.
Now however I don’t know how to proceed to back it up after a reset, and I am again going to lose what changes I recently made. I looked in the manual at bulk dump and it seems to only refer to doing one sound or something. If I look in midi remote manager, E-mu isn’t even there to choose a script. Does anyone know how to proceed?
There was never an official E-mu device named “Proteus PK2.” You are likely referring to the E-mu Proteus/2 (a legendary orchestral sound module from 1990) or the E-mu PK-6 Proteus Keys 61-key keyboard (which uses sounds from the Proteus 2000 era).
This is actually the Proteus 2000. Don’t know where I got PK2 from and P2K would make more sense. It seems like all the channels are there. If I play a sequence the midi mixer lights up on channel 1 in, which is the P2000.
I set up a midi track to record and set the P2K to send user bank one. It looked like it was sending and went through 128 programs and then when I stopped the recording, the track disappeared. I tried multiple times, just trying to record one program and when I stopped the recording, the recording track disappeared, nothing on it.
It seems that the P2K is just not producing sound, either to the mixer and Cubase, nor when I use its audition button with headphones into it.
My proposed method requires, of course, that the midi out of the Proteus is connected to a midi in of the computer.
Furthermore make sure, there is no SysEx filter active for recording in the Preferences (MIDI → MIDI Filter).
I had unchecked the sysex record filter, but now when I looked again, it was checked. I had neglected to scroll down and save. that done, I tried again and was able to record the sysex data, so thanks very much.
I did this for user bank 0, one of the choices, as there was no backup ‘all’. I had thought that years ago, I had done some bulk dump to do this.
I am just wondering, if I factory reset the P2K to see if the sound will come back, if I need to do the same for each bank, and if, as the manual suggests, just playing the sequence back will restore bank one. I don’t think I changed very much.
Not getting anywhere, so did the factory reset. It did not bring back the sound. Then I played back the sysex sequencer, and it made the bank a lot of nonsense. So then I reset again to the factory. And to top it off, to post the picture, connected the phone to the computer and mistakenly put the USB C in the wrong adaptor apparently blowing that port. Just too tired after spending all day on this and getting nowhere.
Have you tried pressing the audition button on the front panel to hear if the unit triggers an internal demo sound? If it produces sound, your problem lies with the MIDI configuration or external routing, not the synth hardware.
Open the unit or check the startup messages to verify that a sound ROM (such as the Composer ROM) is present and correctly seated in the slot; a missing or loose ROM means that no preset data can be loaded or played.
Here’s another interesting article on Gearspace regarding your problem.
After such a horrible day, yesterday, today is starting out as my lucky day. I was looking at a video about fixing blown USB ports and it first suggested updating the computer. When I chose all available updates for Win11, there were a lot, including a big one for Win11 itself that took hours. I finished restarting the computer today and it took almost an hour to reinstall. First thing I checked was the USB port and now my phone showed up again.
Regarding the P2K, I had listened with headphones in it with the audition button having been pressed and no sound. This had happened recently before several times and each other time, turning off and on the machine, brought back the sound.
This last time, though it was intransigent. Turning it off and on multiple times, unplugging, disconnecting USB, restarting the computer, in case that had any relevance - nothing worked. And then I reset it and still no sound. And then playing back the SYSex screwed up the programs with nonsense, so I reset again and got back the factory programs, though still with no sound.
But today, like a miracle, I have sound in the headphones and also to the mixer, though it is at a low volume. Now I just wonder about reassigning the midi channels to the 6 audio outs as I had before, and panning will have to be redone each time this happens, what went wrong with playing back the sysex that appeared to wipe out the user banks.
Playing back a sequence was so faint, I couldn’t hear till I moved the channel slide very high. I shut it off and on again and the sound came back loud.
If your E-MU Proteus 2000 only starts up or produces sound after the power switch is toggled multiple times, this is usually due to worn-out capacitors (electrolytics) in the power supply, an aging power switch, or poor contact within the internal power distribution.
Possible causes and potential solutions
Power supply and capacitors (electrolytic): The P2K series is now over two decades old. Electrolytic capacitors in the internal switching power supply lose capacitance or dry out. Upon initial power-up, the residual voltage is often insufficient for a clean system startup or DSP lock; the system only boots up successfully after several attempts. An electronics technician should inspect and, if necessary, replace the capacitors, or simply replace the power supply unit entirely.
The power switch itself: Over the years, the contacts of the mechanical on/off switch can corrode or wear down, preventing a complete, lossless flow of current upon the initial press.
Internal ROM/Contacts: Check that the sound ROM chips inside are seated firmly. A loose connection can cause the unit to power on, but prevent the samples from loading correctly, resulting in silence.
Unplug the device before opening it; otherwise, there is a risk of fatal electric shock!
After your Windows update marathon, you should perform a system cleanup. This allows you to quickly clear out unnecessary junk files from Windows 11—without needing extra software—using the built-in storage management, the classic Disk Cleanup tool, or the automatic Storage Sense feature.
Use classic Disk Cleanup
Press the key combination Win + R and type cleanmgr. Then confirm by clicking OK.
Select the drive (usually C:).
Click “Clean up system files” to also remove old Windows installation remnants or Windows updates.
Select all file types and then click OK.
If there is a “Windows.old” folder on your C: drive, it will also be deleted.
Thanks for the suggestions. these major problems started about a month ago, when Edison shut of the electric and then back on again, while my systems was on. My Akai Z8 also was affected and had a screen I never had before, instead of the main screen but after some restarts, it got back to normal and has been OK since. P2K seems to have been affected more.
Started off the day booting with this message, but went on after to normal boot.
P2K is OK again today and allowed me to continue working on a score. I had found that the chord track chords no longer matched the song and was going through and changing each and then got a strange message. I closed before it got to 100% and but then it happened again and went to 100%. Had stuck midi note and Cubase lockup and had to restart. Has anyone seen this before.
Interesting to read that others had this problem. I had to look up divided track list to see what they were talking about. Mine wasn’t divided, but happened the same way, clicking to choose a chord in the chord track dialog.
Sound has been coming and going. Yesterday when I turned on and listened to its audition with headphones there was no sound and thus not to the mixer. But as I was later working on a project I noticed tracks that were assigned to it had the sound come back. And then it worked for a while till the sound again stopped. So resetting and losing all settings each time is too much trouble and I need to fix or have fixed. I found this video of replacing some stuff, including power supply. Someone suggested internal battery. Do you see one here? If not, source and cost of power supply known?
Yes, the E-mu Proteus/2 (often referenced alongside the PK/Proteus architecture) contains an internal 3V lithium coin/cylinder backup battery soldered directly to the main circuit board to preserve user presets and RAM data. [1, 2, 3]
Battery Details
Type: 3-volt lithium battery (such as a BR-2/3A with solder pins or equivalent coin/cylinder cell depending on the exact production batch). [1]
Purpose: Retains user-edited patches and RAM data when the unit is powered off. [1, 2]
Maintenance: The original factory battery is typically hard-soldered to the PCB. When it dies (usually after 10+ years), users often replace it by de-soldering the old cell and installing a standard coin cell holder (like a CR2032 holder) to make future swaps easier. [1, 2]
It does not actually lose the programs, they just make no sound at times. When I reset to factory, the sound returns, but then I do lose the few user changes that I’ve made, mainly the routing to the 6 outs and the panning.
