I have owned many Elektron devices over the years (2x A4 x 1, 2 x Digitakt , DN, OT, Rytm, various accessories)
after a number of years most of my Elektron devices develop some kind of intermittent crackle on the main output knob. I don’t live in a humid environment.
I don’t get this with devices from other manufacturers (Roland, novation)
I am just really frustrated because I am a musician not an electrical engineer. I shouldn’t have to learn soldering to enjoy my equipment.
is Elektron using substandard encoders?
Can they use non oxidising ones? …or sealed ones not exposed to the outside world, or at least use some kind of modular socket so they can easily be popped out and replaced?
it seems to be the weakest link in the whole hardware platform
I love their devices and I want them to last and sound good
How can I prevent this from happening over the years?
It’s just an analog volume pot, one wouldn’t think that they would have such a short shelf life on a high-end instrument. If you’re already using a dust cover of some kind and you aren’t blowing smoke at it, you’re probably already doing everything you can.
When you get a new instrument, you might be able to apply additional fader grease around the top of the bushing where it meets to shaft to try and potentially keep additional dust out, but it’s mostly placebo, hard to say whether or not the extra barrier would truly keep microscopic detritus from entering.
It will ultimately come down to how much inconvenience you’re willing to endure to prevent, or temporarily treat the issue. Without soldering, it will all be temporary fixes. Also, contact cleaner will clear the static but it will also destroy the pot if you don’t find a way to re-grease the moving parts. Fundamentally, it’s frustrating to deal with on many levels, especially seeing it in so many devices.
Do we know if they have changed their manufacturing strategy for recent models?
Is this issue becoming less common amongst users? I’m genuinely keen to hear other peoples experiences on this.
The good news is, you don’t have to. Crackly faders are almost always a very easy fix that requires no soldering whatsoever.
No, they use industry standard encoders.
Sounds like it would end up costing a whole lot more for an Elektron if they went the bespoke route, and it would likely bankrupt the company.
We all do, and I feel your pain. A little maintenance on an instrument is common. Guitarists regularly find their volume pots get scratchy, it’s a simple and common issue with a similarly simple solution.
you have to spray it down the bushing/shaft entrance, but this creates 2 problems, first even the deoxit spray with lube will loosen the feel of the pot, no more of the resistance you’re accustomed to. Second, anything it’s cleaning off the carbon strip (causing the crackle but also regulating the volume), will still be trapped in the pot along with anything too thick to pass through the cracks in the bottom.
Ideally when cleaning any potentiometer, you’d pry open the claws and separate the body from the face so you could clean it out plus apply more grease to the shaft, but this would require desoldering, at that point you may as well replace the pot. And the alpha brand pots which are used, are pretty standard. I wouldn’t call them high end, however standard is an appropriate word.
One thing that was actually a very good suggestion I once heard (which sometimes I forget about) is that the crackle usually develops in an area close to where you most frequently set the volume, so if you turn the volume all the way down when you’re done using a device, it’s more likely to develop a crackle down low (if it does at all) which is less likely to affect the user. I can’t say if this is definitely the case, but it sounded good and made some sense.
I certainly wouldn’t want this, however the cost of introducing a modular/replaceable solution would need to be weighed against support tickets and warranty replacements. the platform could be rolled out on their entire product range etc
I own dt/dn/ahMK2 all bought within a timespan from 2019 on. Heat has developed crackle on the main and jumpy encoder. dT has crackle on main pot and DN has 2 jumpy encoders. I can live with it although it’s annoying. My behringer 89,- euro TD-3 works flawless. So i get your point. If i ever want to sell my elektron boxes i first need some replacement non sticky buttons and some replacement pots/encoders. I love the electron boxes but i won’t rate them as professional equipment.
I’ve sold many Elektron boxes and didn’t have to repair any of them, they worked flawlessly. The only ones which didn’t work flawlessly were replaced or serviced, or were bought damaged so I could repair them.
What would you rate as professional equipment, DJ mixers? They’re about as robust as it gets and they all break down over time. Some are busted the moment they arrive. Some degrade quicker than others. It’s the nature of mechanical parts put together by human beings and sold to people all over the world in different countries with varying levels of humidities and standards.
Not crazy at all. I bought a brand new OTmk2 and from the get go it had a crackling main out encoder and it also skips and jumps +/-(2) values on other encoders.
I’ve thought about getting into the main volume encoder to clean it but I am not using it live so I couldn’t really care less. I am a bit worried about the encoders that jump values though. All my other Elektron gear works perfectly.
Equipment that’s pricier than competition due to the choice of selecting durable materials and components. True, that isn’t granting no one a top notch product over all sells, but it does increase the odds significantly. Perhaps i have bad luck with Elektron gear and biased by hanging out on this forum and not other brands. But from my experience over the last 32 years with a lot of different brands and equipment i never experienced it with 3 pieces of gear in a row. And I didn’t move to another place so all my equipment and experience is in the same environment and humidity/temp changes. If i use the DT/DN regular i would not be suprised the yes button would die on me, just because that’s used a lot. But the main output pot isn’t something i use that often. But again, perhaps bad luck. I certainly hope so in sake of others.
