Analog Rytm MK 2 Freezes [Earlier/Resolved]

Buy it. If you are unlucky and get a faulty one, you can always have it replaced or ask for a refund.

Thanks. I would love to know the stats on returns but the internet is a cruel mistress for misinformation.

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Well, I started a pure analog kit (no samples whatsoever) and it froze again out of nowhere while tweaking the engines. This time def. not connected with samples/+drive.

Besides all issues it is a great sounding device and a great tool. But for life performances - I don’t know, you will have to sample many loops and have a fail-safe backup if your rytm freezes. I am very afraid to use it in a live performance since it freezes “regularly randomly”.

As for the freezes and other bugs:
I don’t think there are any devices without bugs. People use them in different ways. Some only use it for the sound quality and don’t give much about any other features and use them less. Also if you are just producing with it, the freezes are not that much of an issue.

I am also happily producing with my (second by now) mk2, but it is bugging me that I can’t use it live, which I would need soon.

You have to see it this way:
Of course it is corporate interest to propagate that your device is perfect and the best. That is what they spread (see Thom Yorke) to make you want and buy it. (If he goes on stage I am sure he can have many mk1s with identical projects as a backup.)
We on the other hand in this forum are like journalists in a healthy democracy, investigating stuff they don’t want you to know about to give you a full picture :smiley:

For my side I am putting out this issues firstly to SOLVE them and secondly - if they can’t be solved - to warn others about it, since many bugs I faced I did never read about at all.

And I am still thinking to go back to the mk1…

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Same here.

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The title of this topic should be changed and the MK1 freeze topic combined with it. The MK1s freeze too!

Mods?

Yeah, but it is rather stable in my experience at least so far.

I really want to let the bugs go but I face new ones all the time and they knock me off of the production trip regularly. And I got the mk2 only for some weeks now. In my whole years of using our mk1 that happened only very rarely.

So not sure if anything improved. I was just like heck, it can only be better to get the mk2. Same thing just more features, let’s get it. Now I am not so sure anymore…

If my Rytm mk2 was freezing regularly, I would send it back to support as long as it’s not fixed. Maybe ask for another switch with a new machine.
I just can’t bear an instrument not reliable enough to be used live.
I really feel your concern.

My AR never freezes, neither did my mk1 before, and Yorke’s mk1 didn’t seem to have a backup on stage, for what I could tell. And I don’t think it’s corporate interest to let defective units in the wild, really. Btw I don’t have corporate interests in Elektron, I just love and trust their machines (and, ahem, got and use them all, so I know them pretty well, I’d say).

My opinion is that there are defective ones, apparently more than for any other Elektron machines. But that can’t be generalized I guess.
I still have to find the time to test the protocol that was given a while above… but lately I used it for very long sessions (like, 6 hours) and it never died, not once.

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Has anyone had the ARmk2 freeze on them during a live gig?. Or any Mk2 Elektron. I know people have an understandable fear of this happening but it would help to know real world situations. The occasional freeze back home in a studio isnt the same as all electronic equipment has the propensity to freeze up on you no matter what the price.

IIRC @George_Michael (Glo Phase) mentioned a live freeze. I think he uses a AR MK1 though…

I am going to swap the unit and hope it can get better than this. Thanks for all supporting words.

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hm… why does he use an mk1 and not the mk2? Maybe he does not have the money for the “same but better features” device? :wink:

It was on Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes tour, mk2 wasn’t existing at that time :smile:

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Well, that’s a reason :slight_smile: still wonder if he does use the mk2 by now…

Stumbled upon this thread because I had 2 freezes happen to me recently on AR MK2. One was with MIDI cable connected and one without. Both times it was just a few patterns running, nothing heavy and it froze during some basic parameter editing. AR was running for about 2-3 hours before that. The machine kept playing but the UI was unresponsive so I had to reboot. I’m running OS version 1.45B.

Is there any update to this issue? Should I send my unit back? It’s fairly new and came with 1.45B already installed.

I hear Elektron is on it.

But yes, do report your issue, which indeed is the same as many in this thread are experiencing.

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@AsdfAsdf If it’s not too much of a hassle, I suggest you do return it. The more Elektron have access to units that have the problem that they can put on their test bench, the better.

Following the thread over the years, it looks like the kind of problem that might emerge under a combination of factors (including, potentially, intermittent breaching of tolerances in the manufacturing process - e.g. automated soldering issues). That’s going to be very tough to track down via just online bug reports so physical examples are very valuable.

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This Discussion is now 1,5 years old. I´ve not read anything from Elektron on this Issue. I was planning on buying a Mk2 but now I´m concerned. If Elektron doesn´t care for 1,5 years, why would they in the next 1,5 years? Is there any official Statement on this? I mean it´s their most expensive Unit.

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You have a valid point here. I’m also thinking of getting a MK2 and reading on this forum makes you think once or twice about how the state of, quality, of both hardware and firmware.

On the other hand, people who have issues tend to talk about them more then people who don’t have any complaints, so it get’s a bit biased.

But perhaps more importantly, this isn’t really a support forum. So Elektron aren’t here helping people out in that extent, they have their support ticket system for that. Not sure if I’ve ever seen Elektron communicate about what issues that has been fixed on this forum, it’s done primarily in the firmware release notes for each firmware update.

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While you‘re right that this isn‘t an official support forum, the guys from elektron are quite active in other discussions. Of course this whole forum is also used for marketing and promoting new features. So it‘s a little bitter in taste, that some problems just recieve silence.
People have valid points here, and this is the most expensive drum machine one could buy. And people also got valid points by critisizing them for releasing new stuff every half year and don‘t take ressources to get overbridge done in time (which fortunately is now out)

Saying that, I bought a rytm mk2 yesterday. You can‘t really expect to have a machine that complex to be absolutly 100 percent free of bugs(ask microsoft) but it shouldnt crash constantly or slowdown while browsing. So if this happends I hope they change the unit for a better one. Which is fine with me then.

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Yeah, the problem is, they dont admit it like “Yeah, sorry, swap it”.

But it takes ages and long videos, discussions with support and forum posts, shares until you realize: No, that is really not normal, its just my device. Often the 30 days point of no return is passed.

Support always works with minimal effort: no complain or ticket, no problem. So they will always try to get rid of you as easy and quick as possible.

I had to be very persistent to get mine swapped. And that was rather my retailer than Elektron being rational at the end about this.

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