Hi I’m new here. I have owned the Digitakt since it was released. Recently I found out the 6 screws on the front panel began to rust. Have you guys encountered this before? Should I replace the screws? If so, where could I find these screws?
Thanks for your help in advance!
Haven’t noticed this on mine, and I live in a damp country!
There may be a humidity problem in your studio. I had same on old Roland synth
I had rusty screws on a couple of Dj mixers – but that only happened on the screws my hands would rest on by the xfader (probably sweat from my hands, I guess). If all of the screws are affected I’d say it’s probably humidity as @buzz says. Maybe ask Elektron support, they’ll know what screws are needed.
Go to elektron.se, file a ticket and ask support/advise. Please also share the outcome of that with us later. The scews in my unit seem to have heat treated coating that is the industry standard against corrosion. You may have faulty patch or something. I’m just guessing so better ask elektron support, they are good. Also please share a photo, if possible.
or just go to a boat screw shop and buy screws of a decent alloy like V2A or better V4A, they cannot rust at all.
if you have such high humidity in your room, you should consider putting some silica bags in to your devices or even better get a dehumidifier for that room.
I have filed a ticket to Elektron support. Hope to hear from them soon. I don’t really have a studio so I store my gears all in a wardrobe at home. I will upload a photo here when I got home and let you guys know how Elektron support would respond. Thanks for all the input!
How do you guys treat humidity issues anyway? Not sure if boxes like these would help
https://goo.gl/images/AtVuc8
You have an issue with relative humidity in your wardrobe or the room in which you are using the gear.
90% sure it will be your wardrobe. Those moisture catchers will help, but they are very short and temporary fix. You need to identify and isolate what it is in your wardrobe that is causing the rise in humidity. Could be clothing, could be damp in the wood itself.
If I were you i would buy some of those large plastic boxes that have a rubber gasket round the lid that lets it be sealed air and water tight. If you store your digitakt in there with one of those moisture traps it should alleviate any residual moisture in your digitakt in a few days. Remember to keep the moisture trap shielded with something as they fill with water and you want to avoid spillage.
Good luck
Try something like this. I use one similar(cant remember brand) but it works well as I sometimes dry clothes inside so I set it in same room as clothes . Stopped mold issues.
I had rusty screws beneath the wooden sidepanels of my Novation Peak. I reported that to Novation and they mailed me in return for my rusty screwed Peak a brandnew Peak. I could imagine, that Elektron would do similar, if you file a support ticket…
Let they keep you the old one?
Of course not, but they payed for shipping. Excellent customerservice by Novation.
One can dream at last. I also totally trust Novation, my old RemoteSL never let me down. And I often mistreated that old lady for sure.
I have to say that Novation has some of the very best customer service of any synth company and any company I’ve ever encountered.
I once bought a USED KS-Rack from a guy on Craigslist and it was missing some knobs and I wrote to Novation asking to purchase some, and they sent me the knobs I needed, and a few extra and stickers etc… all for FREE.
Since then I bought more of their gear!
Thanks everyone for their response! Will definitely take a look at my wardrobe! Here are some photos which I’m gonna send to Elektron support also. Haven’t received their feedback yet.
The bottom screws and the one by the power supply are markedly worse than the rest. Could be caused by moisture on your hands
Oh yes I got sweaty hands actually.
But how could I prevent this from happening? It was mentioned from a couple replies ago that the screw should have “heat treated coating” which I think should prevent sweat from corroding the screws as well?
I have an Octatrack coming my way and I definitely don’t want to get into the same situation…
if I would make a guess I would say its the combination of sweat, electrical current and maybe not so well made coating on the scews. I would ask Elektron to replace the screws. If I would want to change the screws by myself, I would go for stainless steel screws as suggested by @Augenadler
