OLED or "oh no" LED?

Elektron Gear Digitakt
#1

Over the years you pick up tidbits of hearsay and rumour regarding all kinds of things and (for me at least) OLED is one of those things.

Unfortunately, the decrepit file storage system in my brain, refuses to serve up any pertinent details - but there is an orphaned tidbit floating around in there - and it associates Ultraviolet light with the degradation of OLED displays. Actually I seem to remember someone telling me that OLED displays are essentially, continually (albeit pretty slowly) decaying. Well I suppose entropy gets us all (it’s certainly getting my memory banks) but I’d just like to know if there’s anything I can do (or refrain from doing) that will extend the life of the OLED display in my krispy fresh Digitakt?

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#2

Keep it in all original packaging and never turn it on except for yearly diagnostic checks. Nah but seriously I wouldn’t worry about it, by the time that happens there will surely be several other boxes out you’re more interested in. all technology is slowly breaking, literally everything is in the long run. There’s no fun in trying to make something last forever, look after it and it will last long enough

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#3

My OP-1 didn’t last long enough :sob: but on balance, you’re probably right.

#4

The O stands for Organic, and yes OLED screens degrade over time (and become less bright). They’re a lot better than they used to be in that regard though, and certain colours last better than others - I think blue is the worst and green the best.

In very rough terms, LCD screens last maybe 50% longer than OLED but it very much depends on the type and quality.

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#5

That’s a shame man, what went wrong on it?

#6

@finalform eyy that sounds about right - I’m not gonna worry about it.

@jb Well after pulling the small logic board out, I discovered that the power switch was faulty and after failing to find a replacement I… Improvised. That actually fixed the power problem but once it sprang back to life, it only did so in mono. I’m looking to replace the output jack socket, but even if I can source one (struggling to get one in the UK) I’m really not getting my hopes up. Such a shame that TE won’t supply replacement boards anymore - they’re extremely failure prone, with both issues I’ve listed being common as well as mic failure (on the same i/o board)

#7

Rumour has it that TE can’t source some part for OP-1s so that’s what’s holding up production this year, meaning basically OP-1s are out of production so that would explain them not being able to provide boards anymore, I always read about them being cool for replacement parts in the past. That is just from internet forums though so I don’t know how much water the explanation holds. Would explain a lot though

#8

It kills me, the OP-1 was my favourite device, truly inspirational with nothing else like it. I’d really found my flow with that thing and I swore it was the one muso device I’d never be without. Knowing what I do about the reliability of the i/o board however, I really can’t bring myself to buy another one. Honestly I’ve been less heartbroken over girls.

EDIT: Funilly enough, the OLED screen on the OP-1 is still going strong :rofl:

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#9

Ha, That one made me laugh. If you love it it’s worth getting another one, I reckon it might be best to find a new love interest though, I feel like elektron might have a new synth round the corner. You likely won’t find anything like an OP-1 except an OP-1 though

#10

I recently bought an op1. It is such an incredible thing, I avoided it for so long because of its limitations but it really is so inspiring to use.

I am also worried about parts etc in the future though :persevere:

#11

I’m sure you’ll love it, any limitations you find will quickly become vectors that inform creative decisions - but you’re probably familiar with the concept that unmitigated freedom of creativity can quickly become a barrier to production.

You may well get lucky with the reliability issues; my Operator was an early model, so I may have just paid the unreasonable (but expected) price for early adoption.

Actually I’m starting to get that feeling about the Digitakt, because button [ 3 ] recently started sticking far worse than it did initially - despite reports that sticking keys eventually ease up. There seems to be a serious design flaw in that regard; less than a week in and I’m contemplating opening the thing up and modifying it - NOT GOOD ELEKTRON!

#12

On the topic of oled, following the OT update - Looking at my DT’s oled, it’s a bit dimmer than the DN and Heat MKII, which are both around a year newer additions in my setup. Anyone has similar observations?

#13

Dimmer or different colors? I got my DT and DN in the same month and the shades of yellow are not quite the same.

#14

I wonder if the digitakt and digitone will get similar screen saver updates like the OT and Analog Four mk 2 etc

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#15

The dt already has a screen saver but it’s only a dimmer, the screen doesn’t turn itself off afair.

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