Has anyone had an issue where the stereo outs of the A4 not being even. I don’t remember this being an issue until this morning. I swapped out cables and tried different inputs on my soundcard and could not fix it. I did a calibration and no fix there either.
For sanity I have a second A4 which I was selling but pulled it out of the box and plugged that in and both channels were even. So I definitely think something happened with this specific unit.
I contacted support but wondered if anyone also experienced this and maybe you were able to fix it somehow. Thanks in advance.
Update: In reviewing this issue further I noticed some crackling coming from the channel with the lesser volume. Sounds like a hardware issue to me. Support has already responded to my ticket.
Based on your description it’s most likely the main analog volume pot which is failing.
You can try using something like deoxit fader lube which has a cleaner and lubricant and then turn the pot repeatedly up and down, working the cleaner/lube into it but it may be impossible to fix without replacement.
Be advised, contact cleaner will ruin the pot, or more specifically it will remove all of the insulating grease which lines the shaft and protects the pot shaft from the bushing which will in turn ruin the pot feel and eventually ruin the pot itself. The fader lube will also make the pot feel looser than you may prefer however it won’t ruin the pot, and it may help.
If the volume pot is bad, the only real solution is to replace it by way of soldering on the PCB, so if you don’t have a local tech or the skills yourself, pursuing the support ticket is the best option here. If it’s under warranty they should replace it without cost.
To be more direct, a stereo potentiometer has two parts, or two pots in one and it’s called a dual gang potentiometer, one “side” is failing and the other seems to be ok which is why you get crackling on one side and the impact is limited to one stereo channel.
Get a professional diagnosis or a second opinion before you make any moves based on this information, but this is almost certain to be the case.
Yep; it is the most likely point of failure if it repels on a new project with nothing much changed.
Yeah, it is good to research the pot type and the cleaner you are using. There are obviously faderlube style options that could clean and not flush all the necessary grease, but it’s particular to what you’re fixing up.
I just got a used grey box and after inspection found similar problem. If I crank up volume my right output is noisier than left one, and at full volume meters register constant dB out of it. And when I move volume knob I do hear cracking so what @shigginpit was describing sounds about right.
I have emailed support from the elektron.se account. Wondering how fast they usually reply.
For now I just move main volume all the way down, use TRS to XLR cables and crank up preamps on interface and all is fine.
Update: Elektron contacted me immediately about the problem and asked me for proof. I sent them a photo from Ableton showing the volume differences between the channels which is about 6db of difference and they’ve just ghosted me now for more than 2 weeks. Its a brick to me if I can’t get this fixed and its within warranty.
What is the date on the sticker underneath your machine? It should be in the format of year / week.
Let’s figure out how close you are to the end of the warranty.
Certainly not making any excuses for elektron, but it’s a very busy time with superbooth and the european holidays so last year around this time people were experiencing similar issues.
Again, it’s not an excuse, I think it’s BS that they dropped out of contact, but at the same time I’m probably not surprised so let’s figure out how close you are to it being a brick or if it’s just a matter of something which can hopefully be resolved as soon as things calm down over there.
At any rate you’ve now documented the issue with them, so I would hope that any matters of warranty extension could be addressed simply by having put your name in before the end of the warranty period was a concern.
Agreed, if you registered a ticket with them within the warranty period it shouldn’t matter if it takes them beyond that timeframe to fix something. YOU were in time. Even so, I would expect some leniency regarding the warranty duration. I once called for a dryer that was out of warranty for about a year. Part alone costed 300 euro. Told them that a 3 year life expectancy was NOT what I’d assume normal for such a product, in the end I only paid call-out charges and 10 euro for the part.
Oh ok, yeah trying to be patient but even my Rytm is in for repair (out of warranty) and it was supposed to be 3-4 weeks and its now been 7 weeks with no word yet of its return date so I expect when they do receive the A4 its still going to be months before its even back in my hands. Time to start looking at other options.
I can’t lie, I’d probably be heated if one of my shits was already in the shop and now the other one needed repair but honestly, best thing you can do is be patient.
You have a lot of time left on your warranty. I would need to count the exact days (as the actual time elapsed would go from week 2 of 2024) but a rough estimate is the second week of january in 2027 so I think that’s pretty chill as far as the expectation that you won’t get any push back on a warranty claim.
Anyways, sucks man. Good luck though. If you have any other questions I might be able to help with lmk.
