I’m plagued by this issue on several of my boxes, and going to use my ARmk2 last night drove me to the breaking point. I had to take matters into my own hands.
So - if anyone is curious - here is what happens if you soak the buttons in ISO, scrub off the entire rubber coating, and put them back on.
Yes it’s hard to read the labels, but I have them all memorized anyways, and now they feel awesome. Super smooth and not a chance they are gonna get sticky again. If I get sick of it I can always order new ones when they come back in stock.
To the person claiming it’s not a quality issue, it definitely is. There is a difference between buttons even within a single unit. My guess is they had some button manufacturing batches where the formula wasn’t quite right or something, resulting in buttons that degrade super easily. On this box there were a few buttons where it was almost impossible to get the coating off, while the rest of them came off right away, some in a matter of seconds. If it was consistent quality, why wouldn’t they all degrade the same way within an ‘environment’?
I wish they had not used this kind of coating, as it concerned me the moment I took my first Elektron device out of the box.
I’ve never owned anything with a soft-touch coating that has stood the test of time.
Something to note is that all plastics/rubberized coatings like these will offgas over time - no matter what you do.
But if they are stored in an airtight container, it will have nowhere to go and will be deposited back on the device, which can lead to a sticky/gummy film developing.
I wonder if Decksavers may actually be making the problem worse, rather than helping.
I have a completely spurious theory that could be absolute horsehit.
The worst gunking of knobs for me has been on an Arturia Beatstep Pro and a Microbrute, neither were ever gigged, kept away from strong daylight, I don’t smoke/have pets or anything and I live in a relatively flat enviroment (Scotland - slightly hot in summer, slightly cold in winter but never really extreme) and they were kept in their boxes. Both boxes also had the clear plastic bag that they shipped in folded up in the bottom.
I wonder if the plastic (or even maybe the foam buffers that are in the boxes contribute to making the coating go blegh?
A few of my DT buttons went bad and I melted some of them with iso as per above so I just decided to buy a new set but it was bought 2nd hand so I can’t vouch for how it was treated/stored prior to me.
This was exactly my goal when I soaked the buttons to remove the rubber compound. I would also try using a label maker like DYMO, to add the labels and give a better look.
My decksaver covered Sub-37 pitch bend and mod wheels did turn to gunk overnight. More exactly, I reused it after a long period of time and all was fine, and the day after it was gunk. Like maybe my fingers touching the wheels started the process. I was drunk and my palms/fingers are more oily when I am (maybe excreting some ethanol through the skin) I wonder if it might have been a catalyst.
Anyway this plastic finition is bullshit. Shouldn’t we start some kind of petition to at least get non-rubberised buttons from Elektron? I’d buy them.
to at least get non-rubberised buttons from Elektron? I’d buy them.
I would absolutely buy them for all of my units if they made hard plastic versions. They apparently can do it, since it would be just like the function key after the coating was removed. That’s the best of both worlds - still have a label, but isn’t going to disintegrate into a gooey nightmare.
Too bad they seemingly don’t have anyone working support tickets. Created one 3 weeks ago with no answer. I’d just like a new set of buttons and get this over with so I can enjoy using the product I spent money on
This is not normal, Elektron usually answers in a few days tops. I asked for replacement buttons and they told me they could provide new rubberized ones for 39€ (I think).
Last week, I sent the support another (polite) email stating that I’m currently avoiding a Syntakt purchase because I pledged myself to not ever buy a device with this crap material again. Maybe if people are more vocal they’ll provide non-rubberized replacement buttons (and even stop producing new machines with it, as Ableton did with the Push 3). They didn’t comment yet but it wasn’t really a question to be fair.
I might have stumbled upon one possible solution for the dreaded “sticky buttons” syndrome. I recently bought a used Analog Four mk2 that had a sticky feeling to some of the buttons. I tried to clean them first with a microfiber cloth, then with a very mild household cleaner, then with alcohol, but all that made them just worse. So I disassembled it, removed the button caps, and spray painted them with a matte, clear acrylic coating (three layers).
Now the buttons feel much more solid to the touch and to me even better than new! Although it’s a matte coating, it still has more shine to it than the original uncoated buttons, making it look better than new. And since the coating is clear it lets the backlight through perfectly.
24 h after painting the coating still had a hint of stickiness to it, but now three days later the buttons feel like hard plastic with no softness or stickiness. The surface has a slight roughness to the touch, and is not slippery. To me, this unit now has the best feeling button surface of ANY Elektron instrument I’ve tried (Monomachine, Machinedrum, Analog Four mkI, Digitone, Syntakt and Analog Rytm mk2). I don’t know how durable it is, but now that it has dried properly it looks very promising!
NOTE: Other Elektron users have reported good results with removing the button caps using car upholstery tools and then washing the caps using an old toothbrush and a solution of baking soda and water. This removes only the sticky layer and restores the surface of the button. Others have commented that my acrylic coating is also likely to become sticky too after a while. Next time I will try baking soda before the acrylic coating.
I have the same issue with a DT (just contacted Elektron support, see what they say). I use the original Elektron Decksaver as a cover and I wonder if that is part of the problem. The soft coating of the buttons may contain chemicals which seem to modify or gas out and under the cover the effect might ‘infect’ the rest of the buttons. Strangely the encoder knobs still feel ok. BTW I had the soft coating issue also on a Arturia keystep and they send me new knobs , but these now are hard-plastic. Maybe they learned something.I hope Elektron does too. This soft coating stuff seems to be a big issue as I had steering wheel buttons dissolving the same way in my car.
Hi Kebu, good to see you here, I had the same idea, but the grey buttons are now really dirty looking and it’s too late to coat them. Can you share what lacquer you used ? is it water based? Taking the wrong one here might make the issue much worse.
I have not had this issue yet on my OT/DT, but it’s obviously a matter of time. I’ll be trying the water + baking soda method when that time comes.
That said, it’s a bummer for Elektron, but they should be stopping the use of this coating and providing free non-coated buttons to everyone who wants them.
Ultimately, this is a manufacturer defect and it mars otherwise stellar music machines. This soft touch coating is junk and I’ve never liked it anywhere I’ve encountered it.
‘should’ is a big word - If this issue only affects a fraction of the user base. Considering they provide replacements anyway, is it worth their tiny company spending a massive amount proactively offering free replacements to people and overhauling their entire product line? I’ve had every Elektron box at this point, in most cases several times over, and not one of them has had this issue, but I am in the generally cold UK climate and wash my hands regularly.
You may be on to something here. I haven’t had this problem with my Elektrons but I did have a similar issue with an old portastudio with the same sort of soft coating. It was stored in a polythene bag for several years and when I took it out the surface was stuck to the polythene and going all tacky. I’m not a chemistry expert but I guess there is some kind of reaction going on between the soft surface and any plastics (or oil from your skin). I was going to get some decksavers but it’s probably best to stick with cloth dust covers instead
With what I know now I would first use water and baking soda and try that for cleaning the buttons. But remove them first. The lacquer I used was this one (clear acryl matte coating):
Note: one week after painting there is a hint of stickiness on a few buttons, which could just be due to the fact that it is acrylic paint, or it might be that some of the buttons didn’t get a thick enough coating layer. Still, it is so much better than what it was.
On my Microbrute and an old digital camera and a few other devices, I’ve just used this product we have in the US called Goo Gone. It’s citrus-based. Removes the goo quickly and leaves a nice orangey scent.
It leaves behind just the raw plastic with no grippiness, of course, so these other ideas here about lacquer sounds like a nice option for returning the grippiness.
Really humid summer again here in Japan so I’m a good test subject… I had most of keys go sticky on a Digitone recently, that was kept in a Muji plastic drawer for a few months. Digitakt was out and still good.
(Electron sent me a replacement set of keys really quick)
