Octatrack MK2 Crashing

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#1

Hello,

Last night my Octatrack crashed, I was making some music and suddenly everything went black except for the SRC LEDs, arranger LED, page LEDs and the Card Status LED, all of which were orange. I shut it off and unplugged it and left it alone for about 10 min. Powered back on and everything looked ok, but after a few minutes it crashes again.

The test mode says everything is OK.

Attaching pics of what it looks like (sorry for the purple light in my room)

Super worried, has anyone dealt with this? Any tips? It’s quite hot in my studio but I doubt it’s TOO hot.

IMG_20210607_195748294
IMG_20210607_1957482944608Ă—3456 1.7 MB

Test:

IMG_20210607_195857485
IMG_20210607_1958574854608Ă—3456 2.89 MB

Octatrack just died - any tips?
Octatrack mk2 crashing
#2

Have you got other gear connected over midi? The problem happened to another user:

3 Likes
#3

Oh interesting, I searched a bit but didn’t stumble on that thread. Glad to see I’m not the first one with this problem.

Yes, there is a lot of MIDI, I’m using all 3 ports. However I still have the same problem even when all my other gear is off. Is it possible that some loopback is happening even if everything else is off?

Either way, I’ll try unplugging all the MIDI and trying again and update here…the strange thing is that nothing has changed in my setup for quite some time (MIDI connection wise), so it’s weird that it would suddenly start acting funny…

2 Likes
#4

Well that was quick… unplugged all the MIDI cables and turned it on- it crashed within 5 min. Anything else I can try? Really don’t want to have to send this guy in for repair :frowning:

I guess my next best bet is trying a different PSU? Does anyone know off the top of their head- is the Machinedrum Mk2 power supply or the Analog Rytm mk2 power supply compatible with OT mk2?

Edit: looks like ARmk2 PSU is the same so I’m giving that a go. Is it possible that the outlet that I’ve been using on my power strip crapped out? If all I had to do was buy a new PSU or new power strip that would be a very painless outcome to this extremely unfortunate situation. Fingers crossed…

Edit: Different PSU didn’t work. I guess I will have to send this in for repair… :confounded: :fearful:

1 Like
#5

Remove the card / can you replicate in a new Project? / can you use another card ?

5 Likes
#6

After trying out @Rusty’s advice, I would get in touch with support. They might be able to give you some other things to try. Sending in for repair is a last resort. Hope you get it fixed :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#7
  • without the CF card it still crashes
  • in a different project it still crashes
  • currently digging for a spare CF card to try instead but not entirely sure if I have one, will update

Here’s a clue as to what it may be? I’ve noticed that when I make changes in the project (in the 5-10 minutes before it crashes), and the OT crashes, it doesn’t cache the changes that I’ve made as it normally would. Not sure if that’s indicative of where the problem is coming from?

I’m just now starting to get back to playing shows and have one coming up in July so to look at the bright side, I’d rather deal with this now, than in the days leading up to my first post-covid performance. With that being said I need this to be as stress free and stable as possible, so I’ve made a support ticket and hoping for a speedy turnaround on this. I’ll keep updating here with what I learn from support and how the repairs go.

#8

Hard to tell by looking at the pic but it looks like you have the USB cable connected.
Take it out and see what happens.
Happened to me a few times till I found out there are (still) some issues there. Only have it plugged in while transferring files, then take it out again.

1 Like
#9

is it connected to your computer by USB? i vaguely remember mine (when i had one) misbehaving a bit like this and it was to do with the USB connection being left in

#10

This is a well known problem!
OT is not fond of USB, you better unplug the USB cable once you’ve done your transfers.
There are chances your OT is not a lemon, but a perfectly normal OT that is just a bit reluctant to stay plugged to a computer.

2 Likes
#11

Apparently with Mac. Never read about problems with other computers.

@SonicRevolutions, @garfield, @christianlukegates also with Mac?

1 Like
#12

yeh im Mac

2 Likes
#13

Same here.

2 Likes
#14

Same

2 Likes
#15

For what it’s worth, I’ve had mine continuously plugged into my Win 10 PC via USB for the last year with zero issues (other than a weird button combo press causing the screen to flash, but that’s a known issue I posted about in the Bug Thread along with the response from Elektron support).

At any rate, I’m definitely interested in seeing what Elektron has to say about this particular issue.

1 Like
Octatrack MK2 blackout & yellow leds
#16

No- haven’t been using the USB at all… I plugged it in a few days ago to back up (I’m a windows user) but since then it’s been unplugged. I contacted support waiting to hear back but if there are any other suggestions I’d love to try.

1 Like
#17

Ah, no luck, could have been an easy fix.
If you tried nothing plugged, no card, other PSU, sounds bad. You can also try Empty Reset function maybe…
Good luck.

#18

I had this problem. After contacting Elektron and doing some tests already mentioned in this thread I had to send the device…

They changed the CPU… twice! Yes, they returned it and happend again after a couple weeks.

Anyway, Elektron support was very nice and fast, and they sent me a protective lid the second time! :slight_smile:

#19

Ah damn super bummed I’ll have to send it in but at least I’ll have the peace of mind it was repaired by the people who know the device the best.

Did they tell you why it happened again in such a short time? Did they misdiagnose it the first time and not fix it properly?

May I ask, are you US based and what repair facility you send it to? How long did it take for the repair and shipping? Sorry for so many questions! Stressed out

#20

They didn’t tell me why it happened again, but after reading the pdf they sent, with pretty much the same description as the first time, I just assumed they had a bad batch of boards, because they changed the whole thing and there were other threads in this forum about it.

I’m in Yucatan, MX I had to ship it to California. They were very quick, as soon as they got the device they changed the CPU and returned the same day I think. So the only reason it took a few days was the distance and different country. Probably 3 weeks but I don’t recall exactly.

Edit: I checked the receipts and the first one says “Spare Part: CPU PCB (OT MKII)”. The second time it says “Replaced CPU C200”. :thinking:

2 Likes