Elektron Analog Keys disassembly

A few weeks ago I had a mishap, I dropped my Spectralis onto my Analog Keys. Thankfully nothing appeared damaged on the AK (although my Spectralis obtained a small scar). The distance was not far, maybe an inch or two, but anyway - come back a few days ago and I noticed the Level encoder was not seated well and moved around like a loose tooth. I realized this must have been what broke the fall. The encoder still worked, so I assumed a solder joint was loose - but either way, I needed to go down the rabbit hole of opening the Analog Keysā€¦ So here are my photos (since I have not seen them elsewhere). Also, this should go without say, but: PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK!

First, unscrew ALL of the T10 torx screws on the back (Iā€™m not sharing a photo cuz you can flip your own unit over and see them all. There are a bunch on the outside and like 8-10 holding the keyboard in place. In another topic, someone did NOT mention removing the keybed. By disconnecting the keybed as well, you will save yourself some of the trouble that I had (an extremely difficult connector to disconnect).

When you first lift up the bottom, be extremely cautious for one thing. With the keys facing you, the I/O board that is attached to the base of the unit (that you have unscrewed and the keys are no longer attached to), there is a PCB that can get caught on the screw eyelets. See the red circles in the following photo. After you slightly pull up the unit, you will want to slide the base leftward to allow this PCB to clear this section.

Now, because I left the keybed attached to the base, I had to also remove the grey cable from the keys and the cable coming off the side, but if you follow my steps, you can leave that plugged in for now. In the following image, youā€™ll see highlighted the 3 cables you must disconnect from the base before you can remove it.

I feel like a pretty big idiot at this point as I realize I NEVER took photos of the base board PCB after removal, which contains all the I/O pieces. Iā€™m really sorry about that! Itā€™s the part that contains the power supply section as well. This is what happens when you do things without thinking about your intentions :sad:

Next - remove all the screws from the top-mounted PCB, shown below. You will also want to pull away the keybed most likely at this point, so pull the grey cable off and the side cable as well. Thereā€™s a connector in the lower left hand corner that needs to be disconnected as well. Note that I unscrewed all the screws attached to the smaller PCB below the main PCB (which contains the joystick).

The reason I disconnect the bottom board as well is that it was easiest for me to pull both boards out due to their connector shown below.

It was not difficult for them to come out together. I simply pulled them up slowly and out of the unit, taking care not to hit the metal supports for the screws.

Below - see the top board in all its glory. Note that the ā€˜issueā€™ I had was that the Level encoder had somehow decoupled from the claws that hang down over it. I just had to reseat these and it is held back down just fine, thankfully.

I hope this is helpful, despite missing the I/O and power boards :frowning: Again, sorry about that. At least this guide should provide you with the courage to open your AK and make whatever repairs you need to make. Also - Iā€™m just sharing my experience - donā€™t take what Iā€™m suggesting as an alternative to experienced help. Iā€™m just an idiot that pulls apart gear hoping nothing goes wrong. If you donā€™t know what youā€™re doing, take your gear to professionals who will do it right.

I will say it again: PERFORM AT YOUR OWN RISK!

16 Likes

But did you spot any Space Invaders?!?

:space_invader:

2 Likes

Or Elvis!?

1 Like

Hi,

Did you take any pictures of the internal power supply?

Would it be easy to swap the power supply, is it easy to get to?

Thanks,
Charlie.

Although thereā€™s no picture it looks like there is easy access to the power supply. It being attached to the base means you donā€™t need to disassemble the main board or keybed parts, all you need to do is remove the base.

If you do this Bcharlie perhaps you can fill in the missing piece in this thread, i for one would be interested. Also the output spec for the power supply would be of interest. I wonder if it just one DC voltage ? If so modifying the AK to run off of a battery would be easier to do.

Thanks to acemonvw for posting the original teardown detail. Very helpful !

Hey, no problem. Iā€™m still pretty annoyed with myself that I forgot to take all those extra photos. Iā€™d like to swap out the screen for the nicer OLED screenā€¦ but the seller on Reverb never responded to any of my multiple emails so I didnā€™t buy from him ĀÆ_(惄)_/ĀÆ

If I do buy it and tear down again, you better believe that Iā€™m taking 50 photos of every step, lol.

1 Like

Just to be clear, do you mean the alternate ā€œLCDā€ displays that some people have installed in their MKI A4/A4K/AR? Or are you referring to an actual ā€œOLEDā€ display replacement?

1 Like

Iā€™m referring to this one:

It says it is an LED display. The seller is ā€˜on vacationā€™ I guess. Not that they bothered to respond to my 5 emails in the last year and a half anyway.

Ah. Apologies for spouting pedantic semantics but, that one is technically an LCD display, backlit by LED, same concept as the original Elektron displays. (Apparently the same one installed by this ā€˜naut: Analog Keys - New LCD Screen)

An ā€œLED Dot Matrixā€ display would be an array of tiny LEDs, not a backlit LCD.

Iā€™ve just noticed many of that sellerā€™s products are described as ā€œLED Dot Matrixā€ when they are actually backlit LCDs.

(But, no slight to them, just semantics. They offer an impressive array of all sorts of display types for upgrading synths, and folks seem very happy with them. That one in particular is a definite upgrade from the original. Iā€™m considering getting one myself!)

1 Like

Well - donā€™t bother reaching out to the sellerā€¦ youā€™ll never hear from them. And given theyā€™re away, I doubt theyā€™ll send you anything! Actually, it looks like theyā€™re no longer away, but stillā€¦ Iā€™m frustrated that they would never respond to my FIVE messages.

And no worries being pedantic. I only stated what they said - I had no idea, lol. Appreciate the clarifications.

2 Likes

I opened up my Analog Keys. Here is the power supply. I think one of my connectors was loose. As i had no sound and error 1234. Fixed now.

3 Likes

Been there, when I had to adjust the contrast of the screen - had to assemble and dis-assemble three times to get it right, painful.