Take buttons off.
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Button 8 looks nice without the sticky crap, great job! It would be nice if Elektron stopped using that rubber coating… Did you remove button 8 from the top or bottom?
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Yeah prefer the look, and it feels much better.
I just popped the button cap off from the top with a penknife. Couldnt be bothered opening it up to do it from the inside.
I still haven’t finished all the buttons. It laborious work…
And be warned, some came up better than others, the coloured buttons went weird. Doesnt bother me personally.
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Washing hands before using these instruments helps.
Sticky fingers = sticky buttons.
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I guess the main problem are sweaty fingers/hands.
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Definitely.
Using a protective lid also helps when the instrument is not in use, mainly due to dust, cat hair, smoke, etc.
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Yeah, most of the dust in ppls homes is dead skin. That combined with sweat and grease is a guaranteed disaster with any soft/rubbery surfaces.
Regardless of how clean you keep your hands when using devices there’s always a chance that a rubberised surface will become sticky over time. Also there’s probably a number of environmental factors aside from chemical contact.
The only good long term solution to the problem is for manufacturers to stop using this stuff in the first place. I’m ok with it on certain things like encoder knobs where that extra grip is nice for easy turns with one finger, but buttons should ideally be made out of hard textured plastic. Doubleshot PBT is pretty much the gold standard that is used for computer keyboards and I really hope Elektron goes with that for future products.
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So if Elektron just eliminated the stupid rubber coating process while manufacturing these parts, they’d save money and everyone would be happy.
Instead, they don’t.
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I doubt Elektron manufacture the buttons, I suspect they just buy them of the shelf.
I dunno, the labels are quite specific.
It’s probably one of the cheaper ways to get shine-through labels on buttons. The other method you see very commonly on keyboard keycaps is UV coating, which is basically the same kind of thing as this but with a thin semi-glossy plastic coating instead of rubber. That’s crap too, they wear quickly leaving big clear patches where the letters used to be.
In general for keys and buttons there’s really nothing better than doubleshots -
For backlit sets you’d use a clear/translucent plastic for the lettering. It would probably have a higher manufacturing cost but they basically last forever, for such premium devices it’s something I would like to see. Elektron have the benefit of only having like three different button sizes for all the metal cased devices which might make the process more economical, dunno.
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They should just make them out of hard translucent, matte plastic. I can live without numbering on the buttons, but they can imprint them onto the translucent plastic too if they want.
I’m thinking of a material like this:
It’s not a hygiene problem, it’s an issue with the coating.
I always wash and dry my hands before using the boxes. No moisturizing soaps either.
The second row here is a brand new set of buttons straight from Elektron.
Note how they’re a different shade from the originals and 12/15 in particular have picked up a lot of lint after wiping the device with a cloth.
And another set, which is better, but still not on-par with the original buttons.
Note the lighter tone and how certain buttons like 12 and T4 have picked up lint again - because the coating is already tacky.
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Having sweaty fingers has got nothing to to with lack of hygene. Everybody sweats, some more, some less, and the chemical composition can vary, from mild to aggressiv.
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So is the solution to not have sweaty fingers/hands or design buttons that account for fingers/hands that inevitably sweat?
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Are you all telling me that you don’t wear nitrile gloves when you play the Digitone?
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Well, I guess that would solve a lot of problems… 
No. I haven’t finished yet!
Got like a job and life and stuff to do.
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