Aging Octatrack MK1 Issues

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

I’ve had my beloved MK1 for 6-7 years, used it to death, but always in studio, no gigging with it.

Over the past year, I’ve been using it less, and when I switched it on again the other day, I noticed several keys were sporadically registering, some encoders were even jankier than they had been before.

Decided to blow out the right arrow with an air duster, as it was barely registering much of the time, and after doing so, the tracks within the pattern I was working on were switched around, loaded sounds completely different, was barely able to salvage what I had done. I know, it sounds very strange, and I had to thoroughly check to make sure I hadn’t touched anything else while cleaning it out, but I honestly can’t figure out what I would’ve had to have pressed to make it so track 4 moved to track 7 and all of the sounds switched.

The air duster didn’t help, arrow key still barely working, and now I’m unsure of what to do next. Do these issues sound familiar to anyone? Is it a matter of a good cleaning, corrupted firmware maybe, or could something else be going wrong?

I could bring it to an audio hardware repair place that has worked on some of my gear in the past, but I wanted to see if anyone here had any advice as to what could be happening.

#2

start with replacing the coin battery…

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#3

Anywhere I could look for instructions on how to get to it? My gear repair knowledge is very limited, but I do have more competent friends with tools who can help.

#4

Open it up.
Very simple.

You have to undo some ribbon cables before you can seperate the two halves. You’ll see the battery compartment, its obvious.

Make sure ribbon cables are seated correctly when re assembling. Ten minute job tops.

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#5

Thank you! And just to be sure, opening up looks like it’ll involve pulling off all the encoders and the crossfader, unscrewing, and lifting the face off. Anything to watch out for, or is that it?

#6

Incorrect.
Just undo the the allen screws on top.
Lift up panel a bit, slide fingers in (ooh matron) disconnect ribbon cables and you’re good.

OT is in two halves, you only need to take off all knobs if you want to access the UI board. Which in this case, you dont.

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#7

Alright, ran out and got a battery and replaced it.

Doesn’t seem to have helped the right arrow button much. It seems if I press normally, it works fine for a bit, then gets “stuck.” If I bang on it, it’ll register every time. Seems like a mechanical issue, right?

Same with the encoders, some of them register sluggishly or jump between values up and down.

Any further steps to be taken?

#8

Yep.
Double check ribbon connectors are seated nice and tight.

Run test mode.

Contact elektron (raise a ticket)

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#9

Maybe open up again to blow air closer to the button switch. And replace encoders (or let someone do it for you). I did replace encoders and it feels like new.

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#10

Test mode shows everything is fine. Think I’ll raise a ticket before I go prying into it anymore, see what they say. Thanks for the prompt assistance everyone!

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#11

yeah my guess is also just dust in there, especially if it’s been sitting for a while (Decksavers are great to help with this) and was working fine before. likely solved by disassembly and cleaning. I get it if you’re not comfortable doing that though.

I should actually say… hopefully it’s that simple! good luck, and let us know how it goes! :crossed_fingers:

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#12

I’m thinking the same. I had a decksaver on it for years, but then I 3D printed some ears to keep it up at an angle, and the decksaver didn’t sit right, so I left it off, but now I’m kicking myself for that. The ears make it so much more comfortable to use, but now the unreliability is biting me back.

#13

not sure if that gonna help you at all but in bit patterns the numbers
4 == 00000100 and
7 == 00000111
might give you a clue what went wrong.

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#14

When I first got my OT Mk1 it was already 8 years old. The “Yes” button and a couple of others were intermittent. It was clearly just dirt/dust in there, because after actively using the machine for a while they started working fine. If you just press those buttons a lot they may be ok.

On the other hand if buttons feel “gritty” when you press them, they may need replacing. My second-hand Rytm Mk1 arrived with gritty buttons that would get stuck down sometimes. I think some beer had been spilled on the machine. I got replacement buttons cheap from Elekton, and they were easy to replace (just 2 solder points).

Always a good idea to create a support ticket, in my experience Elektron support is great.

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#15

hola
I also have a MK1 second hand, not sure how many years it was used before me, but at this point, the encoders are getting really annoying. I’ve had no success trying to find someone for replacing the knobs and general maintenance (berlin).

has anyone have some advice about how to properly clean the encoders?

#16

I see you created a topic asking this question before. really surprising you haven’t found someone in Berlin (or nearby in Germany) to repair it…

Tubbutec have a decent list of techs they recommend in Germany. might be worth contacting some of those to see if they can do the repair (any decent synth tech should be able to).

failing that… have you contacted Elektron? you created the topic looking for a tech six months ago so you’ve been dealing with it for a while. might be worth just shipping it back to the mothership!

#17

true that, but I had to use my OT and i couldn’t afford not having it with me.
I didn’t know about Tubbutec, it seems it is what I need, thanks a lot <3

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#19

is this why companies (like Elektron) sell Decksavers then, because they want our machines to break so they have more warranty work to do? or did they design the Decksavers perfectly enough to have the machine break juuuuuust outside warranty period?

OK, I’m being snarky… and you do make a solid point. I’m wondering how true it is though, other than just theoretically. does a towel-covered machine have its parts wear out faster (during non-use) than a DS-covered machine? :thinking: