Hello folks,
I need your help! Something happened to the keys of my Digitakt and now the rubbery surface of my keys are stick dirt on them. When I tried to use a cloth its fabric got a bit glue to the keys. I don’t know what exactly caused that (maybe sweat?) but it happened after 3 years of (not so heavy) use.
I’m trying to figure out what kind of thing I should use to clean it up. Any suggestion will be appreciated.
Thank you,
Read this post about removing the key caps:
I’d think soaking them in mild dish soap solution, and maybe scrubbing them lightly with a soft toothbrush if necessary. Then rinse them several times in clean water and let them dry thoroughly before putting them back on.
But before you take my advise wait to see what others might advise. Also ask Elektron support.
Oh man. Thats why I hate that rubberised crap they insist on using. Same thing happened to the mod wheel on my moog. Total gunk fest. I took the wheel off, soaked it in methylated spirits and scrubbed it all off. Yuk.
Theres just no need for that rubberised coating.
Id take the button caps off, clean them. Dry them properly then refit. Pain in the neck, but an easy enough job.
I had the same thing happen to every wheel on my A&H Xone controllers and mixer.
The easiest way to remove it is to use a clean piece of cloth with an an alcohol solution and gently rub it off.
To remove the buttons without any chance of damage:
Thank you all for your help. I will remove the keys as suggested and clean them up carefully. 
It always breaks down eventually into sticky goo, I ended up removing it on my aiaiai TM1 headphones using isopropyl and elbow grease, took about an hour to remove it all.
Oh no! I thought that somehow Elektron had used a rubberised coating that was different to the usual sticky one. Gah!
I tried this with my TMA-1x but it made them worse. I have a pair of TM2s now and they’re starting to get sticky 
I also assumed it was different, I actually hoped it was just texturized hard plastic.
If they’re just starting to get a bit sticky, you can still fix that.
If you use talcum powder(preferably the pure one if you don’t like that fresh baby smell) on a rubberized surface it will create the same sort of texture and keep it good for a while longer.
You apply a lot, rub it in and leave overnight. Dust it of the next day.
You can’t avoid removing the coating forever though, once the process started you can only slow it down a bit.
I have to say I’m dissapointed by the 3 years that is mentioned here, my A&H Xone stuff was 2nd hand and a lot older than that.
My old laptop which is basically covered in that stuff still looks fine after almost 10 years.
You have to keep going until all the rubber is gone, like this:
It definitely spoils the look a bit but no more sticky goo.
Next time something of mine goes sticky I’m going to try rubber roller restorer (sometimes called platenclene) it is used for printers/tape rollers, it might work, not sure but I have used it successfully on tape rollers and the feet on the OP-Z which are also prone to deteriorating.
I just found an old pair of cheap headphones to test this with, before:
After:
Method:
Use isopropyl spray and micro fibre cloth to remove surface gunk, let it dry for a few minutes and remove as much of the iso with the cloth as possible.
Spray rubber roller restorer and with another clean micro fibre cloth rub it in until dry.
It feels like the coating did when new now. I did not spend too long, about five minutes, so could probably get them looking even better, but this was just a quick test.
If doing buttons, encoder caps etc I’d recommend removing them from the gear to clean them.
Nice work. Looks tidy.
But it doesnt address the issue that there is absolutley no need at all for a rubberised coating on knobs and buttons that will get pushed millions of times.
Why Elektron made that choice is beyond me, they already know their knobs melt and go all gooey.
Yeah I agree, the issue is well known and I don’t know why it is still used on anything, seems really short sighted - make a product have a “premium” feel at the expense of durability. Give me normal hardwearing plastic like the MK1s used anyday.
The back end of my Ableton Push 2 went gunky (only the back, not the rest of it) over a year ago, wayyy overdue for a proper cleanup. Feels nasty. Good tips here cheers!
Yeah, looks and feels premium until the gunk starts.
Then it looks and feels awfull.
Is there something that brings on the gunkyness?(finger grease or cleaning products for example), or is it inevitable regardless?.
Thanks for posting this, I was just about to ask the same thing.
I’ve noticed mine are way worse on buttons 6, 7, and 8.
My hypothesis is that it’s caused by my crappy sense of syncopation (AKA rerecording my hat and cymbal parts over and over again before they’re even remotely in time).
I’ve had it happen to a pair of earphones I’d left in a drawer. For some reason they had that coating on the cord. I pulled them out after they’d been sitting in the drawer for around a year and they were a greasy, sticky mess.
I wonder if my Digitone being stored with the plastic lid on it makes the buttons any less likely to decay…
Apparently it is the oils from the rubber leaking to the surface because the matrix breaks down after time, it is thought that finger grease plays some part also, the rubber roller restorer is a “defatting” agent, so the hope is that it will prevent further migration of the oils, although I have no long term experience of using it, so I don’t know if it will be a permanent fix or just a temporary one.
There are 3 things that accelerate the breakdown of rubber pretty bad:
heat, moisture, and uv light.
So, having a studio that’s hot and sweaty all summer, with nice big windows, is pretty much worst case scenario.
A cool air-conditioned space without windows is as good as it gets.
And this is true for all your gear, not just the rubberized stuff.
To keep your gear in good condition you can do a couple things:
