Yeah i live in a humid climate and it happens to basically everything. A lot of these products are developed in cold climates, or at least places that dont experience extended periods of warm high humidity weather. I do think thats why some places continue to use them cause on a certain level they dont see the problem.
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one thing could be that some of their replacement buttons are not newer than the ones you replaced
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in the original box for some time and it happened anyway
Okay so what you’re saying is all you have to do to get rid of the sticky buttons is…
- Upload your buttons into your deck using the Transfer app
- Load them into a project
- Switch their play mode to REV
- Play the buttons backwards until the stickiness disappears
Make sure you don’t select REV LOOP or the buttons will get sticky again periodically.
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Finally someone who can read.
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Just gotta Benjamin your Buttons
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Reading everyone’s experiences got me thinking about my own use of the Digitakt—mostly outside and in my car, constantly under the sun. Honestly, I don’t think the push buttons’ plastic is treated to handle UV. The screen and chassis seem fine, but the buttons definitely take a hit over time.
The button caps are coated in a rubbery substance for that soft touch. The coating will break down over time (often within a few years or even faster). Normal use is already enough, the coating will break down and become gooey.
The enclosure is metal on Elekton boxes, but other plastic will also degrade over time (for example yellowing of the keys on Analog Keys and Digitone Keys). The button caps that aren’t “soft-touch” coated will last a lot longer, but they can also degrade (edit, decades and not just a couple of years).
Some say it’s sunlight, others say it’s the air or absence of fresh air or it’s the oils on our skin - aka it’s the things that come in contact with that coating during normal use.
I had two flaslights in a drawer, the coating became goo. I had an umbrella that I used maybe twice in a year. Coating became goo.
The coating on one of my bycicle lights that I used daily during fall/winter also became goo.
Digitone buttons, not really exposed to sunlight (blinds down most of the time), also became goo.
From my experience, it really doesn’t matter if you use it, touch it, not touch it or put it in a drawer.
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Cold climate here. Still a problem.
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I hope the solution will keep the look.
I live in a cold country and I can confirm that our apartments are often warmer than your air-conditioned houses during a heatwave.
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Thanks for sharing this. I pulled my OTmk2 out today, after having it stored for a couple of years. Buttons were sticky.
I refuse to send crazy money to Elektron to get a new set of buttons that will eventually also go sticky so I tried the method you described to get that rubber coating off.
It took me about 2h and was a little annoying but it worked 
Can recommend!
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Please be so kind to share the picture - how does it look like? ))
Here’s how my Digitone buttons look after rubbing the coating off with a towel. In the photo only Syn1 is cleaned completely, but you can probably imagine how a full set looks like.
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When newer manufactured devices ship, do they use the new caps. To ensure existing shipped boxes continues to selll, will Elektron include the new caps in the package as option to customers? If not, can customers choose the variant?
from a elektron support message
Gotcha. Its their call.
They should include a set of the alternatives in case ppl want to swap for whatever reason. Surely the marginal cost could not be more than a few dollars?
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Of course! Some buttons look better than others (the page buttons is probably the worst) but they all feel smooth, aren’t sticky and still legible
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Thank you very much, sir!
I printed a few buttons today. First I tried PETG with a 0.4 nozzle. Unfortunately, I only have a roughened print bed for this. My smooth print bed isn’t suitable for PETG.
The feel is great, but unfortunately it doesn’t look so good.
Then I printed some PLA with a 0.2 nozzle on a smooth print bed. The result is fantastic! I don’t think the difference between a 0.4 and 0.2 nozzle is that big, since most of the surface is smoothed by the print bed.
0.4 is definitely good enough.
It’s definitely worth printing a few buttons yourself! With Tonverk, I can’t locate the 5, 9, and 13 quickly enough in fog and strobe light.
I prefer the 2x8 rows to the 1x16.
I’ll print some in red and translucent white when I’ve got a smooth print bed for PETG.
Hey @LaVernWinston, awesome job and thanks for sharing the design!
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