Syntakt screen issues

Elektron Gear Syntakt
#1

I purchased a Syntakt at the end of October.
Great machine, love it, but it developed a serious screen issue after a week or so, the screen flipped out and showed nasty black and white horizontal lines, like the horizontal pixels had stopped working in places or just displaying the wrong tones.

Took it back to the shop, and exchanged for a replacement.
However now the new second unit has just done the same thing after a couple of weeks!!!
Very, very frustrating and annoying. Going to have to sort that one out now.
And then wait for the replacement to go again…

I have seen several other posts elsewhere with the same fault. I will be on my third unit soon, what’s going on?
I trusted Electron products, built like a rock, but its being seriously tested now.
I have a Digitakt too and it has performed flawlessley.

Anyone else had this issue?
First unit:

20231108_084714 copy
20231108_084714 copy4032×3024 393 KB

Second Unit:
20231129_143159 copy 2
20231129_143159 copy 24032×3024 431 KB

2 Likes
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#2

You are using the original power supply right? Just checking

#3

What did Elektron say, when you contacted them about this issue?

#4

I am indeed using the original power supply and USB cable. No audio leads just Overbridge.

#5

Im waiting for a reply, didn’t contact them the first time as I thought it was just a rogue unit, but to have two with the same problem, hmmmm!

#6

and does the screen render like this with power alone (and no USB)
it’s striking that an issue like this happens twice to the same user (and tbh, i have seen those other occasional ‘ghost’ lines, which are normal, but never anything so extreme like this for any screen)

Just curious if USB is a factor here

#7

using them with the original power supply that came with the syntakt? not the original one from your digitakt? if i remember correctly, older digitakts came with smaller power supplies, 1A as opposed to 2A, which is what syntakt needs and which i believe is also shipped with digitakts today.

#8

I think they all shipped with 2A power supplies, but the minimum requirement printed on the Chassis was different, the Syntakt needs a bit more than 1A, but only during boot

#9

Sure, I’ve been using it with the Syntakts power supply, not the Digitakts.
I understand that they were different. Thanks for the thoughts, very odd, looks like perhaps a faulty batch of screens to me, maybe.

#10

Yes, thanks, I’m using it with the Syntakts power supply.

#11

Pretty sure that it is the same, with or without USB cable. But I will double check. Thanks.

#12

It’s still usable as a machine, but really not what you want, screen looks awful, also slightly blurry.

#13

Spoke to the shop, they said they have sold hundreds, very few problems reported, some with lcd lights. Very odd to have the same problem twice with me, thought I must be doing something wrong, but heaven knows what. But I have seen pictures of other screens with same problem.

#14

There may be a delay, but they will get back to you.

If you have to send it in, the process is straightforward enough, and relatively quick, although this time of year maybe add extra factors to that.

#15

Thanks, Im sure they will.

#16

If it also looks like this when powered-up at the store, my guess would be that it’s a bad batch of displays that was not caught by QC - or perhaps there’s a trim pot for the display which has not been adjusted correctly.

These types of OLED display do show some kind of “line bleeding” artifacts even when working correctly:

oled-macro
oled-macro800×480 197 KB

But that looks very far from what is normal.

#17

I got mine at the end of october and it has the same issue. So maybe they got a batch of faulty displays?

1 Like
#18

Ya sounds like a bad batch. Best to contact Elektron directly I think, the retailers will just keep replacing it with units from the same batch if my experience with early adoption of Rytm MK2 is any indication.

#19

You mentioned Overbridge, do you power off after a session or does it stay connected and powered on? Have you verified that the screen goes to sleep after the dormant period as it’s supposed to? Is it possible the Syntakt is constantly receiving some data via USB and is not powering the screen down?

The white OLED are supposedly more sensitive to developing screen issues on the Syntakt and MKII units when the screen stays on for long sessions over shorter lifespans than the yellow OLED units. Some people using a direct connection to OB never power them off, which is normally a non-issue, unless the screen doesn’t dim out as it’s intended to.

I wouldn’t dismiss the idea that there was a bad batch, especially since both units came from the same retailer, but I agree that the same customer receiving one with the same problem twice is slim, especially since it manifested itself after a week or so both times.

It seems more likely that even if it is a weak batch of screens, the same conditions could have aggravated it both times. That’s not to say you’re in any way to blame for that, but just proposing the idea that there may be more going on here than a defective OLED.

#20

I don’t know if it would fix an OLED but have you tried a factory reset? Isn’t there also a test you can run, not sure what it covers though.