MK1 Encoder behavior

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hi all! I’ve seen some threads describing Octatrack MK1 encoders not working particularly well, but I’m not sure how bad is normal. All of mine act roughly the same in that spinning them quickly is useless, spinning them slowly works mostly as expected with a little jitter, and spinning them while pushed down works okay as long as you don’t move super quickly.

I’ve included a video showing me spinning them quickly, spinning them slowly, and then spinning them while pushing down. It’s the first that I’m mostly concerned with - is it normal for spinning them at that speed to not work at all?

The reason I’m asking is because I don’t want to go through the effort of replacing encoders if this is just how they are on the MK1s. It’s tolerable, just annoying. Thanks all!

Video: Octatrack MK1 encoders - YouTube

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Thoughts on repairing this OT? (SOLVED)
#2

@sezare56 we need the closer to visit this problem with expert advice.

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#3

In my book, if spinning quickly is useless, there’s an issue. I have a lot of experience of dodgy Mk1 units but am not an expert, so take that with a grain of salt.

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#4

If they are all behaving the same way on the device unlikely to be an encoder issue, they fail at different rates. Do you notice any side to side play on them at all or are they firm?

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#5

@shigginpit I won’t thank you to remind me that my OT MKI is getting old (so am I, my 0303 birthday today).
(And I am absolutely not electronic repair expert).

I had more encoder problems with my former DT than with my OT MKI, but it is not perfect. A bit slow.

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#6

You need new encoders. My OTMK1 had the same issue.

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#7

@mrcrappypantson did you change them all ?
I will change caps first, I sanded them playing pushed…

#8

All of them were exhibiting the same behavior. So, yeah… I shipped my unit to the California service center for replacements. It took months and they ended up only charging me for parts in the end. Luckily I had an mk2 to hold me over…

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#9

Well no way for me, too risky to send. I’d prefer to solder by myself.

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#10

happy birthday! which software version are you turning?

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#11

OS 0.48.
I am still on beta versions since I am supposed to be an adult, as a father forced to fit the system criterias.

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#12

Congratulations, hope your new year brings you many good things! The system does not know the aim of the firmware, only the count of the revisions. don’t trust too much in the UI, but write your own pattern chain for one more version!

Beta version is most useful to us, let’s us try the things we want without the prying eyes of the many telling us which bugs need repair

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#13

Well said. Thanks.
Going back to the subject, my priority is MD MKI big encoder repair ! (Tempo very hard to set, can’t see other related problems)
(Received 2 days ago)
Operational OT for now…

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#14

did you use your faceplate? for md

Machinedrum Faceplate vector/specs?
#15

They’re pretty firm. I should mention that I’m not its first owner, and they haven’t changed at all in the time I’ve owned it.

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#16

I replaced all of mine but only Level and A encoders showed the behavior. It was a pain in the butt and took the most time to get them all cut apart and pulled. A good soldering iron helps and an effective solder sucker and some Helping Hands.
I have Hands and a really nice iron but having a crappy sucker really caused the project to drag. Eventually I just resorted to using compressed air to blow the hot solder out.

After that the OT was good as new

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#17

It is a little hard to tell from the video, just two observations. 1. I would be looking for different behaviour between the encoders, see if one is better / more responsive than the other. For example, from the video your A encoder looked to be the worst but hard to tell from a short video and not all encoders being moved. 2. I just tried my encoders on my analog keys, and I can move them fast or slow and they respond accordingly.

You may want to try a test start / test mode to see if there are any issues that the OS detects with the hardware.

I always look for wiggle on my encoders, usually if they are all firm, they should be in good nick but thats not always the case.

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#18

Is there a way of using mk2 encoders? The mk2 knob response feels much better

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#19

No.

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#20

If you are used to DT encoders or similar. Yes the Silver encoder work differently, but not badly.
Silver encoder has a fixed speed.
You need 4 full rotation of the encoder to go from 0 to 127.
You can take a pencil and mark the 0 hour on each encoder, then increase clockwise each encoder for 4 full hours and each hour give you +32.
Works counter clockwise as well.

If each hour does not give you +32 or -32 you have an issue.

If you don’t feel well with replacing encoder. Pay someone to do it. It’s difficult and they are not meant to be replaced 20 time. So replace them all in one shot it’s not costly and it’s better.

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