I think I’m going to send mine in for repair. I inquired about the warranty and got a quick and friendly response telling me I can send it back for service, eventhough I don’t have the original receipt. Probably going to take some time, specially with holiday seasons but it’s fine if they can fix it.
Shame that the encoders are a source of so much trouble to people. Especially because much of the expressiveness of DT as an instrument are the many parameters you can “play” with the knobs. I haven’t had many instruments that have endless encoders so it’s hard to say how the DT compares. Though I had a Novation Circuit for a while which had good feeling to the encoders, but can’t comment on their longevity. Are these types of encoders just generally not as long lasting as for instance simple potentiometers?
I suppose it’s always a compromise if the knobs aren’t dedicated to one purpose. I guess I can live with the encoders in the Digitakt if they will last a reasonable time after the warranty service. It’s such a fun little box after all.
One my of my encoders just started failing too. It actually started happening during my first solo live set with the Digitakt. My luck is the best luck : D
Same as other people, it had seemed a little scratchy for awhile, less easy to turn. Then during my set, it started pulling up the sample select menu (it’s encoder “d”) and LFO destination menus. Today it started actively changing values-- specifically switching samples in the middle of playback.
Not fun, and bad timing now that I’m starting to really perform with this thing.
My encoder d is “jumpy” and exhibits behavior like this. It will open the sample slot menu and lfo destination menu on its own. To confirm I had a “jumpy” encoder I went into test mode to check. With slight nudges of my d knob the values jumps up and down a tiny bit and this can be seen in test mode when I turn the encoder. The little testing marker jitters back and forth.
Boot into test mode check your encoder.
From what I’ve read here on the forums this is a hardware issue and can only be fixed by sending the machine back.
I’m waiting to start a ticket cause I’m in the middle of writing an album but am going to get mine fixed hopefully soon before my warranty is out.
When you see DJ’s doing their set, and you think they’re pretending to do all this dramatic knob twisting, they’re actually just trying to get their Elektron encoders to work properly.
Today it started actively changing values-- specifically switching samples in the middle of playback.
Hehe randomness semi generative pieces of … no sorry
Shouldn’t be like that but a lot of machines can act like that when the encoders have been used a lot. My friends machinedrum has almost every encoder tottaly wobbly because of pushing a lot I think! Lots of synths have knobs that change themselves because of dirtyness or just failing over time (alesis ion for example) I have the big rotary jumping encoder in my MD mk1, but can work with that. My DN has some jumping encoder on a certain page, but that’s just sensitivity not properly adjusted I guess.
The construction and design being such that the pots are simply not properly anchored into the board inside and in use and in time they develop some play. While this usually has no effect on the functionality, it is very irritating. Also as far as I see there are no DIY fixes to this issue. Think you could open the frontplate and retighten the screws of the pots?
Lol, I’m always trying to add more randomness-- this is just what I need : )
Good thought, but it doesn’t feel like the encoder just needs to be tightened. I definitely would feel comfortable cracking it open and checking, but my encoder actually feels stiff, like some pieces inside have developed friction and are malfunctioning because of that.
I did submit a support ticket yesterday, still waiting to hear back. I’ll let you all know what they say about options.
TT303 mk1 had friction also, scraping sometimes crackling pot, turning it fast multiple times resolved it. Push turn the encoder multiple times maybe that will help or some air in a can? Some sort of wd40 into the pot?
Just contact support they will help you out, and for anyone reading who actually uses the boxes to death at partys, clubs, raves yes the new encoders are ten times more durable than lego land Denmark 20 ones on the original boxes.
i think the encoders are normally red hot too , they can only be touched for a fraction of a second.
someone on the sidelines has a clicker to count encoder touches , thats how the big dj’s earn so much. they charge per encoder touch … its not per hour any more.
some charge per cake thrown , but that is mega rich / stupid … depending on your love of edm.
Finally got it back from the warranty repair after about a month. The E knob is better now I guess, but the A knob now has some weird scratchy feeling like it catches on something along the rotation. Also two of the knobs are now super loose, I accidentally removed them when playing around with it. At least they are easy to put back.
But I think I’m just gonna stop worrying about them now, the knobs are what they are. In the end it’s not a big deal. I just hope they last despite feeling a bit sketchy.
A knob now has some weird scratchy feeling like it catches on something along the rotation.
This is normal. Some of the encoders on both of my octatracks produce a scratchy feeling you can hear if you listen closely. As long as the values dont skip or they dont register at all, there are no issues.
Seriously I had problems on encoders on 2 of 3 Elektrons.
I think the holes that each encoder has is a problem.
Dust can go in the inside of the machine…
If it is not that it must be a material problem.
Customers have not to send back their machines.
So please Elektron has on the Model Sample, change encoders for the new machines to come.
I’ve got a question regarding one particular encoder (C to be exact). I bought the Digitakt basically like a week ago and there’s something wrong with it, precisely it feels like its far more sensitive to the touch and makes an audible sound when using it. The rest of the encoders move at a steady pace and make no noise whatsoever.
I’d also like to mention that the inputs on the encoder are working just fine and it works as intended, the only thing worrying me is the sound it makes when rolling it and the fact that it moves much easier than the rest.
Is this a common issue? Have you guys ever experienced this?
It wouldn’t be usual for a new unit, maybe a different feel, but not a significant difference, that would be more likely on an aged encoder where it can happen - maybe less so on the new encoders (used on recent products) than the older ones - you may have warranty options or support may help you to find an encoder if you are out of warranty and skilled in soldering/electronics etc
encoders could feel gritty if they had pet hairs or dust etc trapped in the encoder assembly
you can also use the test mode to monitor the encoder performance
Thanks for your input. The thing is that i ran test mode and it behaves in a right way, registering movements just as it should. It just feels way off because of its ultra low sensitivity.
edit: is this perhaps a manufacturing sort of problem? could i send it back for repairs?
send in a ticket – they’ll replace it for sure.