Good evening. I have a story to tell about my mk1 MachineDrum.
I have been the proud owner of this machine, that is almost as old as me, for 6 years.
I bought it secondhand as my first hardware synthesizer.
It was cheap because the encoders were buggy and changed values quite randomly when turned (Not to mention the embarrassingly botched homemade power brick, more about that later).
I loved the machine regardless, and it loved me back for many years.
After getting some experience with soldering i took the task to finally replace the encoders about 2 years ago.
Success! The new encoders were smooth as butter and i had breathed new life into the mk1.
About a year ago the first shutdown happened.
I couldnât turn it onâŚ
I left the studio, and when i came back about 20 mins later it had turned on again, and i started working. Then i came home and tried to turn it on, and again, it couldnât.
I was gonna open it up to find the issue, but the new encoder shafts were so tightly inside the knobs, that i could not even pry the off, to open the machine.
Skip to a year later. I had left it under my bed in an old leaky house with a broken heater and the cold weather had made the plastic shafts shrink, so i was able to finally pry off the knobs and open the machine up.
I quickly found the blown fuse, replaced it, put it back together and turned it on ecstatically.
It finally worked, but not for long. Later that night i turned it back on, heard a loud sound in my headphones and it went black againâŚ
I changed another fuse, rinse and repeat (I also cleaned the inside from dust and metal grains from the faceplate screws and my diy soldering, with compressed air and a ESD-safe brush)
Now it works, but i wonât turn it on again until i have found a new power brick.
The transformer in the brick delivers 7.5V AC to the MD instead of 6V AC.
Iâm going to ask Elektron support about this, but first i will ask you guys. Can you measure your MD power brickâs output voltage for me, and confirm that it is indeed not 7.5V?
Another question: Has anyone encountered anything similar to this?
If not the power brick, it could obviously be a failure on the power supply PCB thatâs drawing too much current. I donât have much troubleshooting experience though, so do you have any recommendations as to what i should measure for with my multimeter?
This machine has a special place in my heart, and i die a little inside everytime that fuse blows
This has faired me well for over 5 years now, but it does get uncomfortably hot even when just plugged in and md is off. Maybe just a consequence of AC.
Sadly I couldnât find it available anymore. There is this one that seems solid.
No MachineDrum here so I canât take any measurements for you. Have you tried measuring the voltage when the unit is powered up and working? Itâs not uncommon (especially with switched mode power supplies) for the voltage to âsagâ a little when theyâve got some load on them and that might bring it down closer to 6v. It might also show up a fault with the power supply if it drops too far. If it is running at 7.5v Iâd be very surprised if the extra 1.5v is the cause of the fuse blowingâŚthose 20mm glass fuses are usually rated for 250v. Itâs more likely youâve got a cap or regulator thatâs failing and drawing too much current.
Update: As it turns out itâs turning on more consistently now, without blowing fuses.
Last night i stayed up late and disassembled the whole unit, including IO board, processor board and all that. Used a combination of compressed air and my brush to dust off the PCBs and case.
It was quite a vulnerable experience for me (even though i took proper ESD safety precautions).
I also poked around with my multimeter taking some measurements various diodes, and the PSU.
After reassembling, it doesnât seem to have anymore issues.
Turns out someone else had already been inside the processor board already, and placed 3 thin yellow wires between some pins.
I didnât touch them, because theyâve been working since i got the machine.
All i really did was clean it from dust, and re-attach the molex connectors, which i suspect might have caused the power inconsistency in the circuit.
I shouldâve taken some more pictures during the process, but now i know exactly how to disassemble and reassemble the mk1, and iâm suddenly even more in love with this machine<3
Thanks for replying! I checked the transformer output while the mk1 was turned on, and yes youâre right: The voltage drops to about 6.8V, which would likely not be the cause of my troubles!
Thanks, i have also been checking out that website. Definitely considering that for an upgrade of my power brick!! As it turns out, my supply outputs 6.8V when the mk1 is turned on, and it has been turning on without problems for years. So i suspect it was the molex connectors between PCBs that was causing problems, or some dust i guess??
If you havenât yet, reflow the solder on the cable that goes from the (top) ui pcb to the bottom cpu pcb. This md is almost 20 years old and the solder they used back in the day cracks over time.
Sad update: came back from vacation and turned on the MD only to have the fuse blow AGAINâŚ
I will try to look for a repair shop. Any recommendations for an Elektron approved (or just good) repair place for my MD?
I m a machinedrum mk1 owner and even i had got some malfunctions year ago.
I found that the power supply ( i got a 2 second hand machinedrum) was not good. Like waftlord i bought a (pricey) mascot power supply and, like Orion said above, i clean the cable from the 2 pcd.
From that day i had not any more issue.
I hope that even your MK1 will be better
Sometimes it never turned on , sometimes all the leds were blinking all togheter, sometimes my screen was full of strange character, sometimes it was freezed on start.
Everytime in the âpre-bootâ control ( TEST MODE) there was no issue.
the last attempt i tried was change the power supply . from then my machinedrum never miss a trig
I have opened up MD several times, looking inside for some âtracesâ of fault ( something blown up) - I donât know electronics and there is no service shop around here where i live.
Every time i plugged / unplugged the cable from the 2 pcd , my MD returned alive for some time and then died some time after.
So i contact elektron and they said that it MAY be the power supply. So i decide to change it according to the one that elektron customer service reported to me
