first, yes you will still need the transparent strip (in the video it’s not clear if it shall be left out, but yes, it has to go back in)
second and most importantly, it’s NOT sufficient to use just “ANY” tape: you need a certain THICKNESS to make it work perfectly, in my case it was somewhere between 0,4-0,5mm, i.e. a rather heavy duct tape. I used grey T-REX duct tape for my “stickers” which is 0,43mm thick (please measure with digital callipers). If you use too thin tape, the sensitivity still won’t be as good. If you use too thick tape, the pads don’t work at all anymore, so you can try different ones until you found the best tape. I applied the tape, then only fixed 7 or 8 of the screws (around the first pad and near power/audio plugs) and so I could test it before fixing all 9000 screws.
third: cut your “stickers” beforehand, not on the machine. they need to be square 15x15mm with a ~5mm hole in the middle, that’s all. Can be done by a kindergarden child. But be careful to leave no burrs on the edges. It’s almost satirical that Elektron already delivers a sheet of nice graphic stickers with this machine, they could’ve simply included those six pad “stickers” as well
forth: as said before, do not overtighten. Use just a T10 torx bit and a bit holder (from your drill), not a real screwdriver-bitholder, so your hand torque can’t go too high, then gently find the thread start (reverse screw until it drops down a bit), then screw down until it bottoms out, then stop applying torque.
My M:S pad sensitivity is really nice now, a gentle tap with a finger is sufficient to trigger the pads, and I can even do drum rolls etc. with two fingers, which would’ve been impossible before.
So ridiculous we have to re-engineer things with bits of tape!
Wonder if those stick-on rings for reinforcing notebook paper holes would work. Of course paper would wear out over time.
Somebody should sell a kit.
New to the forum. A few days ago I got my first Elektron device - a used Model:Samples.
Unfortunately the T1-T6 pads were almost unplayable. I do finger drumming, so I’m used to good pads but also have built up some strength in the fingers. Still getting the pads to even start triggering was really taking hard knocks.
I followed this tutorial with surprisingly good results. Now the pads are good enough to do finger drumming on them, even though velocity range is probably still not very good. BUT the force to initially trigger the pad is way less and that makes all the difference to me (from unusable to usable).
Some observations and tips: I used electrical tape. I taped a whole square onto it and then used a scalpel to cut the hole for the LEDs. That worked quite well and was quick. This is subjective, for my unit: For T1-T3 I had to use 2 layers of tape, for T4-6 only one. I tried 2 layers on T6, but then it stopped working and I had to reduce to 1 layer. So don’t overdo it.
I recently purchased a Model:Samples with the idea of using it to play simple sample loops in a live setup.
I’m seriously regretting my decision!
I had read that the sensitivity on the pads were bad for playing, which doesn’t matter to me, but ALL of the buttons (and pads) are so stiff and annoying to push for everything.
Playing it feels tiring and like a chore compared to the effortless clicky buttons of the digitakt.
Simple things like muting tracks, I’m not confident they will mute unless I hit the pads very hard.
I’m basically just surprised how bad all of the buttons and pads are, how annoying it is to play, and that I hadn’t read anything like this prior to purchasing it.
Second hand but in “as new” condition, looks likes like it’s never been touched.
I get the feeling it is just how the buttons are on it.
I’m being a bit dramatic in my initial post. Guess I’ve been spoilt by how nice the digitakt is to navigate and play.
However I’ve played an Analog Rytm MKII before and while the pads sucked for drumming, they were actually really nice and sensitive for muting/unmuting and selecting tracks. I guess I thought it would be more like that.
I got a korg nanopad2 that I use with digitakt occasionally. It’s very inexpensive so it makes a nice companion but it requires a host device (I use a little standalone usb host box) and you might have a similar option with M:S. It sucks but if you want to keep using it, you might be stuck with searching for options or just wait a bit for your fingers to get used to the feel of the device before you decide that you hate it.
A lot of people say they like the everything upfront encoder format, but the digitakt style of working just makes sense to me. I’ve been using an MPC a lot lately as well and it certainly illustrates the difference between velocity pad devices and tactile buttons.
Anyways, not sure it’s going to be something that you can change if it’s a brand new-ish device, the bad membrane condition results in hard presses and nonresponsive behavior - from what I’ve read at least, so perhaps your issue is just with the pad feel itself.
I have read about people doing a modification where they put foam or something behind the pads for better response, but i’ve also read about that borking the device if you put it back together too tight or something. You’ll have to search a bit if you want information on unsupported mods, but it’s here somewhere.
