Also, and im not totally proficient here but from what i remember about the potentiometers is that the bottom 2 pins are for the clicking or pushing down on the encoder and the top three are for the left and right turning of the pot.
From your description of the jumping about, the problem is coming from the top 3 pins. The page up and down and the tempo drifting is peculiar and im wondering if that happens on all the machines.
Thanks again for the assistance. The tech has swapped 2 of the Uarts to rule them out, the encoders have all been tested or swapped on the broken line.
When anything on row 5 is to be grounded it hits an issue with grounding out, which could be :
1: A top pcb trace damaged ( most likely )
2: The pic pulldown resistor has blown
3: The groundplane has ruptured somewhere on the board with the heat of removing the encoder claws.
If anything on row five is read in an interaction button / encoder, it doesnāt ground out giving a square wave on the scope. It give a very distinct downward saw, so the serial bus interprets it as constant interaction. Causing the tempo drop, the 7/8 encoder readouts on screen to dance and every LED to attempt to join in like they are lighting a dancefloor at a 90ās scottish airfield Rave 
Iām sure youāre not there yet. but I do wonder how much longer you can pay for a tech to diagnose this machine before buying another becomes more feasibleā¦ 
I do hope Elektron come through with some helpful info for you. I believe schematics are unlikely, but maybe a conversation or two between your tech and one of theirs. even if you have to pay for that.
and I dread the day the rest of us start to reach this stage with these machines.
Me too, itās brutal.
when i was replacing encoders i put pieces of orange polyimide tape under encs support legs
Technician finally found the trace. Repair was 3x original quote.
I got a response from Elektron, but to be honest their approach on support for the older devices is a bit depressing. If they donāt like supporting them stop showing them in all the events! Also what does it really mean going forward for repairability. Roland / korg et alā¦ you can get service manuals and service support for older devices, I have first hand experience of that.
Anyway, thanks for everyoneās help. Iām not sure if I will keep it now, the shine has been well and truly knocked off the joy of ownership!
Epic! Happy you could fix it. That screen is gorgeous.
Glad you have managed to sort it out eventually.
I am SO glad your tech managed to repair this beast of a machine, the screen looks beautiful too. Itās back in beautiful shape. Maybe soon Iāll cave and get you to install that blue screen on mine after allā¦
Not sure after all the feedback you reported from the tech how he could charge triple for a damaged trace he couldnāt find first time aroundā¦.
Maybe Iām being a bit obtuse here.
screen looks fantastic! glad you got it up and running.
I share your fear with Elektronās support for these older machines. it is strange that they apparently never shared service manuals for these devices. surely they have internal documentation for this. and they had/have repair partners throughout the world who mustāve needed it. why not share this information?
The initial quote was on the basis of my verbal description. In the end he did so many hours, reverse tracing the top board, that even at half rate it was this much more.
People, rightly so, need paid for their time or they wonāt do things like this.
agree, and sorry if iām fuelling the anti shine. it must be tough being a tech going in cold on a mental device you have no prior knowledge of.
but we did feel, based on your description, a damaged trace was most likely culprit.
anyhow, please donāt give up on the MD, it can do wonderful things to ears.
Yeah, Jamie the tech was saying itās almost incredible. The only thing on the top panel that is it not just an off the shelf part is the firmware on PIC. Asking to know the layout to diagnose an exact fault Vs reverse tracing all 8x8 Uart lines over both sides of the board, is nothing that impinges on any Intellectual property. Iām not behringer or a direct level competitor who has the facilities to replicate 1:1 or engineer out all the parts that are difficult to find.
There is schematics and service manuals, as a tonne of mk1ās have gone back to HQ for repairs.
I fear Elektron have started a mantra of paranoia Vs common sense in regards to this. They cannot be making a lot of money from repairs, but diluting the generations of units more and more or limiting firmware with outright lies about midi abilities etc, seem a common approach now.
Resting on the silver boxes as design icons etc is getting a bit far fetched. Troburg is away, Ess, the original team awayā¦ they are now more a marketing outfit hoping they can develop something new whilst trying to protect. Also taking a firm anti repair policy as this doesnāt align with the target market who care about longetivity, environmental awareness and a more community led approach.
Anyway rant over. Hopefully they learn from the mistakes and sort of reset a littleā¦ but that requires drive for creative design Vs profit returning, which wonāt.
they still repair mk2 MD / MNM, am I right? itās just the mk1ās they retired innit?
agreed! and at the very least, release the docs for instruments that they themselves wonāt even repair.
ehā¦ the first time they actually clone a machine thatās digital and DSP driven Iād agree. from my understanding, even their basic firmwares still have issues. imagine parameter locks or Control Allā¦ 
Iām currently looking at a $250 clone of a $5000 boutique guitar on ebay and it isnāt even really proportioned correctly and even IāM tempted by the price. Itās all a matter of perspective, if behringer released a buggy-ass āmechanical-percussionā machinedrum clone, a bunch of broke niche market windowshoppers would go apeshit. If that happened, it would open a can of worms that we probably donāt want opened.
That said, yes, it would probably suck.
maybe. and I donāt discount the idea that cover your ass/better safe than sorry isnāt a bad approach for them with such leeches out there. but they need to think of their users as well. there has to be a better balance.
Itās kind of a delicate subject when the company is like, a major company, but in reality theyāre one step above a cottage industry type operation. Yes, they do manufacture on a corporate level, but compared to their competition the biggest draw is their quality and their exclusivity. They arenāt winning any wars of affordable pricing or widespread hardware support. I have nothing really bad to say about elektron, if I had the money Iād own like 3 machinedrums and equally as many monomachines, Iād buy it all. As a consumer though, I canāt afford that stuff and thatās part of the allure of wanting it, is I donāt have it and I canāt afford it. As much as weād like to say nothing would change for elektron, something would change for elektron the moment someone figures out how to make the coca cola and bottle it for themselves to sell at costco for half the price.
I do feel that itās a little shady not to continue staffing support people for that older generation of technology though if they donāt intend to release support materials, thatās something I definitely agree with. They should train their techs on that older gear with equal fervor.
