Pad sensitivity solution

that would be great, but not sure how trivial replacing the pads on the AR is (never opened my unit)

ā€¦want to see it open! for real. might be interesting

Akai NEVER admitted their manufacturing mistakeā€¦ But the aftermarket figured out how to fix it.

Dunno if anyone has an elektron repairman connect they could ask about the underside of the pads?

They kinda did, as in all their latest MPD models (as well as the MPC touch) having fat pads

Trueā€¦ Although the people who bought the original units were SOL and I wouldnā€™t expect Elektron to release a RYTM MkII anytime soon. :confused:

I just bought it todayā€¦ for 1599,- Eur - this cant be real!
and I have the same Problemā€¦ found any one a solution?
or I need to send it back and get a different one?

thanks

Its not an Mpcā€¦
For what it does, the pads are amazing
Especially the perf and sceneā€¦

But it may not be what you expected

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sometimes if I want to select with track button for example the Pad CB12 and I press it it will select a different one. which is closeā€¦ or sometimes the pad on the out side donā€™t work rightā€¦ from 10 pushesā€¦ only 8 will play the sound. I will try to use a Hammer, maybe that will workā€¦ lol

I never have these problems
maybe somethingā€™s wrong?

yesā€¦ could beā€¦ I will give it a try till mondayā€¦ maybe they just need to ā€œwarm upā€ā€¦ I like the ARā€¦ hopefully this is just temporaryā€¦ thanks :slight_smile:

After giving the Rytm a try for a long time now, the pad sensitivity (or lack thereof) is really infuriating me.

Itā€™s night and day going from a great interface like the Maschine Studio pads where you can finger-drum a really subtle funky part with ghost notes from light hits and stuff. You have to hit the Rytm pads SO HARD for anything to happen, that I consider finger drumming on it impossible.

Itā€™s more doable when doing 1 drum at a time but thatā€™s a really bad way to get a nice feel going.

I find it really surprising that they got this so wrong when itā€™s clearly a solved issue as evidenced by many other pad products.

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Yepā€¦ same here sometimes.
I never used the AR since I bought it.
Yes, only some presets after powering it up and hoping the display is still working.
Then I press TRACK and hit the pads to see their response.
Indeed with my AR itā€™s pad 8 that lights up sometimes when I hit another pad.
Was always there but after a few minutes itā€™s getting better.
But itā€™s not normal and itā€™s distracting me from working with this unit in a musical way.

Had my RYTM apart yesterday to explore the possibility of improving the sensitivity of the pads. After looking at the carbon coated plastic pads with magnification they appeared to have some inconsistancues on the surfaces.

Gave a good blast of Caig Deoxit Faderlube and left to dry. Making sure no foreign objects or dust etc before reassembling. Conclusion, so far sensitivity seems to be slightly improved. (do not try this if you donā€™t know what you are doing)

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Jut got my second Analog Rytm (Sold my first one) and this one has the same pad issue. The first one had an issue with 2 pads CY and HT. The second is only HT. Its like one of those issues you can workaround if your not using it live and muting tracks but dam, its never a good experience when you have to send something you use everyday out for servicing.
THEN, analog rytm mk2, like son of a bitch! if they announced it maybe 3 days earlier, I would have waited. Now im a month in with this weird pad. I just program live with the step keys and all is good, but select the HT track is a pain in the ass, well, more like a pain in the cheek, not that bad but stillā€¦

If those pads are significantly better than my MK1, imma throw a furious fit.

yeah. no more Elektrons for me.

You could use the Velocity Mods and map Velocity to Volume

Hereā€™s how I got mine working better. This may void your warranty, and only undertake this if youā€™re comfortable with electronics.

So I recently bought a used Rytm. I already have a Tempest, which has some of the best pad action, so I had a good baseline to compare to. Unfortunately the Rytm definitely had some issues with the pads. In my case, some were triggering better than others, and different velocities.

I decided to do some investigating. First, I removed the top panel, by removing the hex screws from the front plate. Next, I carefully swung up the panel, and disconnected the two ribbon cables to free the front panel (noting the correct position of the ā€œred stripeā€ on the cable. Next, I removed the silver screws from the circuitboard on the top panel that I had removed. All of the screws have to be removed and there are literally dozens of them - the majority in an area that is obviously the triggerpad area. In my case, this is where I noticed the first problem: some of the screws has gone loose, and were far too easy to unscrew. Others were clearly seated properly and gave good resistance as I removed them. I could tell that some of the pads werenā€™t making good connection at these loose areas. After removing all of the screws, you can now remove the circuitboard and note the pad assembly: a block of elasomeric rubber (the pad surface) that makes contact with a a carbon-impregnated sheet. This sheet is what makes contact with the sensors on the circuitboard and triggers the sounds. Carefully note the orientation (dull side up) of the carbon sheet.
Gently remove it and clean any debris with a soft microfibre cloth from the sheet. Next turn your attention to the circuit board. In my case there was years of dust and crud there - small, but enough to inhibit the contact with the carbon sheet. Using Isopropyl alcohol, and lint-free cloth, I gently polished the contacts on the circuit board to ensure they were clean and clear. Finally I gave it all a blast with canned air, for good measure. Next, reassemble in reverse order. Be sure align the carbon contact sheet in the correct manner. Be sure to tighten but not over-tighten the screws that surround the pad areas, working from the center parts of the pads to the outer, to ensure the circuit board bolts back on perfectly aligned.

In my case, it made a substantial difference in the way the pads played.

That said, it is clear there is still some software cross-talk filtering that still makes the pads less sensitive than they should be. Even after fully cleaned and working perfectly, the pads are not as accurate as the Tempest.

Hope my experiments are useful to someone else. Iā€™d rate the complexity of this fix/cleaning about a 3 out of 10.

Cheers!

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hahaha the end comment made my day

I did the same trick with the disassembling and the cleaning. Gave me the same behaviour on all pads but the general sensitivity is not very well. I guess Elektron will not add a ā€œsensitiveā€ setting in the system settings. Otherwise maybe open the OS would help people to add sucha feature otherwise the Pads are not very good for playing. If I use the sequencer buttons for playing the behaviour is exactly what I expect from the Rytm but the sequencer buttons donā€™t offer velocity. If I play normal like on other machines like Push, MPD, Nord Drum or NI Maschine I donā€™t get any sound out of the Rytm. The only way I get sound if I really hardly hit the pads which makes me afraid to destroy something. But in general the pads seems to be sensitive enough - technically because in mute or performance modes they react very good. Just the triggering of an instrument is really bad.

I disassembled the Rytm again to play with the contacts of the Pads on the circuit board to figure out whats going on there. If I only use the carbon layer without the rubber pads the response is the same bad behaviour. If I close the contacts on the circuits for each pad with a screwdriver they react with full velocity so I think itā€™s a software Issue which I can not fix because the EEPROM with the OS is proprietary and Elektron donā€™t share the code. A good chance could be to try another / new carbon layer per pad to get much better results.

I tried the carbon layer from my NI Maschine Mikro MKII and this layer works like crazy. I get the full velocity as expected with smooth hits on the pads. So I think I will try to order a new carbon layer from Elektron to see if a new one works better. By the way the carbon layer from my Mikro Maschine MKII is older than the Carbon Layer from the Rytm.

To make things clear: Itā€™s not a software issue and also a sensitive setting is not necessary. The definitive issue here is the carbon layer. See here: https://youtu.be/IZjTUrA4GF8

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