Hello,
What is the correct process for cleaning and relubricating encoders for Elektron devices? My Digitakt has a jumpy encoder that causes the sample select window to appear randomly. Is there a special kind of Deoxit I can use to try to clean it?
Thank you
Itās not actually an encoder, itās an endless potentiometer, a so-called sin-cos potentiometer.
So just be careful about verifying the information you receive that you then follow, itās so easy to spoil an encoder, but perhaps with these being closer to pots the viable options will be broader
Best ask Elektron or do some googling with the part ID which is shared a few times in the forum
I would strongly recommend opening a support ticket with Elektron, and ask them what they think. In my experience their support is excellent, and it doesnāt matter if your device is still under warranty.
Yes, agreed that the problem may not be ādirtā and you may end up damaging your device more by injecting (at best unnecessary, but potentially harmful if not properly composed) liquids in.
I used to get this on my Elektrons but deoxit d5 solved the issue. Used on both my 19 year old MachineDrum and Analog 4 MK1 to great effect. It wonāt ruin them or any electrical component in your kit. Just pull the cap off and squirt it around the the encoders shaft and rotate it a bit (feel free to add your double entendre to that)
Its best to remove the top panel and just spray Deoxit D5 on the encoder though for better coverage. Doing stopped me having to change the encoders on my MD & now do occasional top ups with it
This works only it there is dirt
If It is due to usage, using D5 wonāt do anything but instead get things worse
I think itās from dust or dirt to be honest. I might try to use some compressed air on it first. Thanks for the information everybody!
No itā doesnāt & no it wonāt make it worse.
Itās an electrical component cleaner and deoxidizer. It might not resolve the issue due to possible software or hardware defects, but cleaning it with D5 will do no harm at all, fixes most things like this & if it doesnāt you can rule out a bit of no consequence maintenance before looking into other options.
I read that this (what you are describing) may show up as an error in part of the self diagnostic. You may want to load into diagnostic mode as described in your user manual and run through all the knobs (diagnostic calls them encoders but if avantronica says they are endless potentiometers you can bet money that he is correct).
Also, deoxit is expensive, and there are multiple formulas and āpercentagesā so you need to know which one you want first. You can get a comparable product like crc electronic cleaner or a general contact cleaner for like 8 bucks, it may not be as āgoodā but it will still have the same affect and is made to evaporate without leaving residue.
To add another āalsoā, I know people say ājust spray this or that in your sealed box of electrical components and see what happensā but I also donāt like that approach. You can at least remove the parts from the box before you spray it because it is honestly pretty easy to do, and if you arenāt comfortable doing that, as someone else said open a support ticket.
That is just how I feel, do what you can live with.
and an edit: be careful with compressed air if you arenāt comfortable opening the case because little bits of crud that may have gotten inside from the space around the buttons, just dust or lint or whatever, they have a way of getting up under your screen and nothing is more visually distracting than having flakes of something unpleasant stuck under your screen.
I have a similar issue on my Digitone encoder D. Iāve used it so much during live performance that the āLFO Destinationā screen pops up by itself pretty frequently. I donāt think itās due to any dirt, itās just become ālooserā over time and more sensitive.
I think this is OPās issue, anyone know the fix for this? Iāve heard you have to send it to Elektron for them to replace the encoders. Shipping is a B from the US though.
Compressed air (harmless) and an Elektron support ticket is the best option here. If it fucks up because of Elektron advice (which I doubt it would), at least you have some leeway for official repair if required later on.
Does this apply to the data knob of AH MK2 too? This is the only rotary on my electron boxes that has āstopsā between values. Detent stability points itās the description I believe. This one has issues from day one.
I had something really strange happen in this area: my Digitone had jumpy encoders (or technically potentiometers, I guess) mostly on the LFO pages. I was on a pretty old firmware version, and then jumped like 3-4 versions to the latest and havenāt experienced any jumping (!?) Does this make any sense?
Iām starting to think thereās a large grey area between software and hardware when it comes to the knob functionally. Or is this my imagination? 
I couldnāt say - the AH is certainly new generation (i.e. post DT) but obviously there are exceptions - all devices have regular pots for volume ā¦ so the snapping data knob may be a different product from the rest of that devices āencodersā
maybe see if there are any photos of the guts with details on the interwebs etc or ask elektron
in terms of those encoders, I hate the feel of mine from new, it seems to almost slip into place, but doesnāt, it has detents but theyāre not feeling quite right, then again a few parameters have sensitivity issues, either too fast or too slow
with those twin track pots they have a bit of āanalogā electrical noise to filter so they arenāt too jumpy, so thereās scope that this can be tweaked I guess, but each device may be slightly different
Iād like to think they are finessing the feel within menus over time, there are (or were) certainly a few I found way too twitchy - so I guess a firmware update could readily address this issue - and with them being analog components, I guess they can age, maybe for the better
it would possibly say in the release notes if there were tweaks to this kind of list selection āfeelā
Yes, it seems like if the encoders were just a bit less sensitive this would be a non-issue!
Thereās a California repair center, you donāt need to ship straight to Sweden.
My digitone keys needed a new board, itās possible that because of a batch from fabrication they erred on the more sluggish side to improve the experience and make it less twitchy.
Regardless, Iām really happy it got resolved. Iām actually using it much more againā¦ I think the twitching really fucked with my flow. I even got an Opsix to cover FM territory during that time. But man, I missed the DN ā itās unique for sure.
I would still be curious to know if Elektron divulges a proper way to clean the encoders/pots, and if itās considered a safe operation to do ourselves.