Has anyone had to get their inputs repaired on their digitone ?
Mine are not functioning properly as they are hard clipping/distorting regardless of the output level of the external synth and input level of the Digitone.
Other behaviours are:
Yes I’ve checked master distortion 
Hey, if it’s actually a hardware issue you’ll probably need to make a tech appointment, either with elektron or if you have someone in mind locally. I assume we’re talking about a digitone 1 so it’s probably out of warranty, but if it happens to have warranty coverage remaining, I would probably start a dialogue with elektron support immediately. Even if it doesn’t have warranty remaining, I might get them involved in troubleshooting.
First thing I would try is isolating the left and right inputs and see if one of them is worse than the other in regard to your specific issue. Try different cables. Try audio over USB from another device and push the USB to main level a little in the menu to see if there is any kind of similar result or if it’s strictly the physical inputs causing the issue.
Try a different external sound source and make sure the problem is not caused by the other synth.
Try enabling the input with nothing plugged into it and see if pushing the input level increases self noise or impacts the internal sound engines. If it does have an impact with nothing plugged into it, I would say the problem is probably a hardware issue with the digitone and needs professional diagnosis.
If something failed upstream and is impacting both inputs, it could be something like a DAC or an opamp, I really couldn’t say.
Not sure what else to suggest, I’ll think about it but it doesn’t sound firmware related. You can always reload firmware or if you aren’t on the current firmware, update to current and check for results. If you’ve used your DN like this in the past and had no problems, then it sounds like a hardware failure. If you’ve never done this before and / or you’ve just purchased the device, it’s possible it had a preexisting issue.
Never rule out user error, but if nothing seems amiss, then all you can really do is pursue further diagnosis or repair.
Good luck, welcome to the forum!
External input works fine here, plenty of headroom before clipping. Might be a faulty device.
What is your compressor doing? what tracks are sent in, especially the external input? I noticed the default setting has the mix on ‘dry’, but the gain on a whopping +12db!) And besides the compressor, the Internal mixer in the DN2 will start pushing the quietest tracks away when overall levels get too high and headroom is compromised. So setting all channels quite low to start with can help to get proper gain staging.
Not positive which generation OP is using because it’s not clarified in the opening post, but DN1 does not have a compressor.
its a DN 1 no compressor.
I tried both L and R and similar issues happening……
wrote to service I’m sure it’s a H/W thing it sure sounds like it.
Just hope it’s not too $$ to fix 
K. Can you try USB audio to confirm that the problem is only with the physical inputs? I can help you get it set up in the menu if you’ve never done it before, it’s pretty straightforward. Anyways, unless your other device has a severe grounding issue which is impacting the DN, then I would suspect either something in the physical input is shorting, or that something upstream is going out. I actually think a grounding issue in the other device would have a persistent buzz, but you never know.
Like I said before, you can try a firmware reload/update, but I wouldn’t expect it to help.
I’d get quotes from a couple of like, TV repair or electronics repair places. Look on Yelp or some other local reviews site for who is well regarded, and make sure when you communicate with them, ask if they’ll be able to troubleshoot an audio path issue. Some people are fine with changing parts but wouldn’t be able to troubleshoot audio.
If you want to make sure the job is done right, Elektron will definitely get you taken care of and the rates wouldn’t be too terrible, but shipping and waiting is the biggest issue so depends on how big a priority this is to get it back and going.
I’d do some troubleshooting with tech support and see if they can confirm the problem is hardware
related.
One thing you can try if you’re ok with opening up the machine, is you could try unplugging and reseating the cables inside which connect the upper and lower PCBs.
Aside from that, I think this probably needs to escalate to the next tier of support, be that elektron or a repair guy. Hope it works out for you though.
ok so audio over USB works totally fine. Guess that means its the physical inputs.
May try reseating might as well
thanks for the help !!
No problem. You should try another physical audio source if you haven’t already. Even if it’s just your phone or something hooked up with a trs cable. Also, just to be safe, save whatever you have open and create a brand new project then do any further testing from there, just to clear the slate and make sure that it’s absolutely not some weird software glitch or weird unseen settings issue. I don’t see why it would be, but ruling it out is helpful.
I will try but surely theres something wrong with the DAC or something impacting inputs and master out now too.
•master outs have a digital grinding distortion, on internal synth sounds, headphone out works fine
•when I increase gain on external ins even unplugged at around 29% it sorta pops and theres a surge of noise then it cuts out the internal synth
seems like something is dying on the DAC side lol
yay fun repairs !!
Yeah, that’s a raw deal. Doesn’t sound good.
So, what is your digitone master audio output plugged into? Anything you hear in the outputs, should likely be heard in the headphones. Same audio path I believe.
Can you run down your signal chain real quick?
You are hearing the input distortion from the headphone output though, is that correct?
The way you describe it almost sounds like a DC offset coming from the ADC. Like if you boost up the DC it is just shifting the internal synths to either positive or negative only. Definitely sounds like a hardware failure.
master outs are going into my interface, gain staging is all good so its not clipping
yeah it must related to ADC, inputs are distorted and clipping out and master outs are distorted, headphones are fine.
Guess I should prolly send to elektron or maybe a local synth tech.
So do the inputs sound fine in your digitone headphones out or do they clip there? We can’t really rule out the interface just yet.
Digitone itself is an audio interface so we can test it standalone over USB, that means a synth routed into the dn physical inputs can either get it’s own track stem through usb audio via overbridge into the daw (or standalone overbridge audio capture), or just be summed together into the stereo mix when used strictly as a class compliant interface.
if digitone straight into your computer via USB doesn’t clip the inputs or the master, we need to look at what’s going on with your interface as well.
If the physical inputs clip in the headphone out, and also when audio is sent over usb, then hardware failure is the most likely outcome.
But if the physical inputs don’t clip in the headphones, and not over USB either, then the problem is likely external.
Basically, any wired connection to another audio interface is redundant so unless its going through something like a hardware fx or mastering chain before the other interface, then it’s unnecessary and only complicating the troubleshooting of the digitone.
Let’s eleminate that link in the chain for now.
As far as gain staging, most elektron gear will output line level when the volume pot is at max volume, the volume pot is an attenuator up to that point, so if you were going out into a mixer normally you’d want digitone’s volume all the way up and then start with the mixer or external channel at 0 volume and increase slowly until your level on the other side is optimized.
Gain staging the inputs can be a little trickier but I don’t usually have too much issue dialing it in.
so the inputs clip and ‘short out’ in the headphone out as well but USB audio in, and the synth engine sounds fine in the headphone out (unless I increase the external input gain) so to me whatever is going on is isolated to the physical inputs and outputs and its somehow tied into the external input gain function as well.
Yeah, if the input clips the digitone headphone out regardless of the mixer level then I just don’t see any way around a hardware issue. Sucks, but at least you got some more info and you’re prepared.
Try to update the thread after you talk to elektron support so that we know what happened.
will do man thanks for the help !!
Yep no worries. At least you didn’t take it to a gig or something and then have it crap out on you there!