After a faulty led when I bought my AR MKII half a year ago, I am now encountering a new problem.
Encoder D seems to be moving values and click on its own. That’s especially annoying when you are in the sample menu, because the sample list keeps popping up. But also in other menus it sometimes switches to values and back, even changing the values sometimes. Is this a known problem? And can I solve it myself without voiding warranty?
Would be really annoying to send it back to Sweden again for the second time in 6 months.
I included a link to a recording of this behaviour.
Cheers!
I have this exact same issue with my Digitone. I even got Elektron to replace it (cost me shipping). Still does it. Don’t know why and thankfully it only happens once in awhile but before I accepted it as a silly quirk, it would kinda drive me nuts.
Now I just pretend it’s the ghost of some dead electronic musician changing my lfo destination. Some times he’s really on to something…
Yeah D5 like @plastic_pizza said…always good to keep a bottle handy. Everytime I’ve thought “shit, I’ll probably have to tear this apart or send it in for repair”, Deoxit has done the job perfectly…
Have this with from the start with the AH heat encoder. I’ll still accept it because I don’t want to send back and forth but it still kinda sucks for a new product.
I once read a article about some brands/types encoders are self cleaning. Hope Elektron used these. Gonna put my batteryscrewdriver on the shaft and let it spin gently for a minute.
Does that mean keep the encoder pressed in and meanwhile turn it around for two minutes while it’s pressed? Just want to clarify before i try it on my “track level” encoder that has a mind if its own the odd time
Tried it but My Track Level encoder still moves by itself. After moving it it will continue to move (so the sound pool will pop up when holding down trigs!). Posting here before contacting support just in case someone has a fix! Hoping not to risk shipping it off and having to wait
In Test Mode where I touch the encoder once and them leave it:
You can also see it exaggerated when I have the encoder pressed as I try to keep it still:
I think that this problem is more common on endless resistors (as used in more recent Elektrons) it is caused by debris/lubricant build up on the resistive tracks inside. Actual encoders as used on earlier Elektrons and other gear tend to skip values rather than fluctuations as seen here.
Anyway, something that I intend to try is to use a small motor to spin the shaft rapidly to dislodge/disperse the debris. A small rotary tool with a suitable attachment to fit the shaft should work - to be clear I’m not suggesting everyone try this, but I will when I get this problem.
I see, thanks! I’d love to fix it myself but I’ve never used a small rotary tool. I’ll check a hardware shop, but I’m struggling to find a tool online so I can show what I’m looking for, is something like this what you mean? I haven’t seen anything that would seem to have an attachement that would clamp on to the encoder, though
Understood, another question please, for the other endless encoders is it normal that you move it and stop touching it and then a split second after the parameter value moves up or down one notch/value? It’s minor but I notice that on the other ones, so I wonder if that is just how new encoders are or if it means that they could need fixing too
Not really, once not moving the value should settle. The rotary tool you linked to has too high RPM so I’d avoid that type. If you don’t want to risk it just turning the knob fast for some minutes should achieve the same result but it might take a while.
