There must be other factors, I had a brand new set of AIAIAI headphones which were put in a drawer in their box after trying them once, about a year later the rubber coating started feeling slightly sticky, within a further 6 months they had gone gunky. Never got hotter than about 25C never exposed to sun.
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Yeah this stupid coating is on so many products. It’s been an issue for well over a decade, I don’t know why anyone uses it.
That and keyboards that turn yellow for no apparent reason are both annoying.
But…
It is the British sun, mind.
Edit: Oh ok turns out the answer was easier to find than I thought - and actually correlates with my very minimal exposure to this issue! As it’s been on devices I’ve pulled from the back of a drawyer after a couple years.
You folks just aren’t making enough music.
Some rubber and plastics products become sticky after not being used for sometime, particularly when stored in warm conditions. This happens because additives like oils, or plasticisers leach out with time.
So I’m reconning Warmth + Time + Human grease
It might be to do with skin ph, batch inconsistencies, humidity or some other factors.
Or maybe its just your after shave 
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And to be fair these compounds will break down, that’s inevitable, but I think what we’re really talking about is premature failure, which is a bit different.
Elektron should start including a pair of white magicians gloves with their boxes I’d be down for that.
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High temperature and lack of air ( if they have been stored in a box for some time)
I had to replace 2 buttons of my Rytm after we had that week with very high temperature in UK (38 degrees - temperature in my flat)
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Has Elektron (or any company) officially confirmed the problem?
Hard to make those solid buttons backlit though.
This reminds me a lot of when the PlayStation 4 came out, there were loads of reports of the analog sticks crumbling/deteriorating very quickly but it only happened to some people. After a while the speculation started to veer more towards there being a large element of ‘individual skin pH’ involved. I’m sure it’s not the only factor (that they revised the controller and the problem mostly faded away suggests it can be worked around without changing the tactile feel too much) but it does seem to account for some having a lot of problems and other lucky ones having none at all.
I’ve been fortunate so far but fingers crossed this doesn’t happen on my Pro 2 as the wheels look the same as the Pro 3 as far as I can tell. The Pro 2 is also one of those with a keyboard prone to fast yellowing (I think it’s the same or similar keybed to the one in the Bass Station 2, which I used to have) so it might end up not aging super well in general…
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Well i don’t think they have to
They deteriorate only if the unit is stored in a place with no air flow and high temperature
Yes, manufacturers should stop using whatever that caused the eeky yuuky material whether the deterioration takes place soon after release or much later. I may have bought a Push 2 otherwise. Anyway, my Digitone had the same issue, so I checked-in with Elektron support. It’s gonna cost: “A whole kit is 47USD. Single button caps are 2USD each” excluding shipping so you’d know.
OP needs finger condoms (like they use in the restaurant biz).
Is there a possibility to buy new set of buttons for DT,DN,OT for replacement? Buttons on my DT/DN start to be a bit sticky (
Elektron and all manufacturers need to stop using this coating. Doubleshot PBT buttons would be wonderful.
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Yes ! Send a ticket to the support and they will let you order some. (Did it already and got a full set)
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Just curious, what is the cost for the button replacement from Elektron?
Hopefully when Elektron discontinue this horrible style of button, they or someone else can at least 3d print non-rubber coated versions so we can read the numbers in perpetuity
Someone enterprising enough could feasibly create or commission some tooling for the buttons and get a keycap manufacturer to make a batch that we could purchase in a group buy, as is common in the mechanical keyboard community. 3D printing is another option too yeah.
Really though it would be nice if Elektron would switch over to better materials and give us the option of buying the upgraded caps for existing products.
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I would be down to jump in on this if anyone else ever is. Specifically for digi/syntakt and Rytm buttons in my case.
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The second worst part of going out in public again is that even N95 masks can’t block patchouli.
Like, does everything they touch dissolve from volatile oils?
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