The knobs

Elektron Gear Digitone/Digitone Keys
#1

I know this might be a bit of a negative post but does anyone else just hate the knobs on the digitone?

They’re so laggy. You can’t do anything fast on them. You can press and turn but the effect of still crazy delayed. And it always feels like they’re ultra lubricated inside, slipping and sliding past what you want.

Is this some limitation of the sound engine? Like it needs to precalculate a bunch of stuff?

It seems like that can’t be the case because the modulation wheel on my Keys responds immediately.

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#2

Er nope. Quite the opposite. I find the encoders to be super precise. You do the fiddliest of tiny tweaks or the quickest of wide range sweeps. The scaling felt a bit wierd at first, being used to my other analogue gear which uses analogue potentiometers, the feel and response is very different. But Im used to it now.

No problems with the digitone knobs at all.

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#3

They have more precise resolution but the timing is delayed.

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#4

Maybe it’s your unit? Mine is fine. I just have the regular digitone, not the keyboard version.

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#5

Mine feels pretty great. Maybe it’s because I’m coming from a history of Volcas and I have big hands. Little desktop version here.

Have you ever removed yours or anything? Dust getting in around them?

#6

It’s new never left the house.

#7

Digitone Keys owner here…
No knob problems…
But the buttons are a bit fiddly… they wanna double press when i only want to press the one time.
but that a documented thing…

#8

I have never really felt that the knobs were laggy on my DN. Maybe shoot a video to show us, or to send to Elektron Support?

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#9

Do you have it usb plugged into a computer running overbridge? I only notice lag when it is. Sometimes really bad like twiddle a knob and then I can sit and watch the screen slowly jump around values for a couple seconds.

#10

No not in OB mode and no USB connection. It’s not quite that bad, but twiddling filter frequency is behind by no less than a quarter second. The visual seems worse than the audio but the audio is definitely not responding immediately.

#11

No Bluetooth audio involved, right?

#12

Hah, no way. Headphones in headphone jack.

This isn’t a global audio lag. Everything else is latency free. Just the response from the knobs.

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#13

I know what you mean, I think it’s due to the fact that encoders are reading the acceleration of the turn, versus a potentiometer reading the absolute position.

#14

I have intermittently come across this with some parameters. Happened just yesterday in fact. Seems to be a bug that crept in in the last update or two, because it’s not something I used to see.

#15

They use endless potentiometers (not encoders) which operate a so called dual sin-cos read of the absolute position in two ‘positions’ 90 deg out of phase. The latency or noise could be the algorithm filtering out the two resistances, but i hadn’t noticed it be laggy, just fidgety, like the actual encoders on older boxes

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#16

Thank you for the correction, I didn’t know about endless potentiometers!

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#17

I have a bit special question:
Can anyone recommend or is using more hardplastic style knobs for the digitone (or ot 2)?
Is something available?

I can‘t explain exactly, somehow I don‘t like the touch feeling a lot, maybe its my unit. It seems a bit sticky, strange to me. I like other hard plastic knobs more than elektrons but I understand its endless encoders. I like them on a4 mk1 a bit more, also how I can use the back of the hand for example. Somehow ot 2 mk2 feels a bit less sticky( don‘t use it enough unfortunately)
I tried with just scotch tape, not ideal.
Also one encoder ( below left) has more resistance, is scratching more. Don‘t know if that is enough to send to sweden. Probably not, but somehow that bothers me more than the partially faulty screen on a4 mk1.
Sorry for maybe special question, thanks.

#18

same problem with my digitone and its new. Something like a graphical latency. Turn the knob end the symbol turning later. Like an old pc running out of cpu power. I think i have to pull a ticket. That sucks alot

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#19

If it is latency then I would expect the values to change even after you stop turning the knob - i.e. your actions are registered but with a delay.

If you are only getting a delay at the beginning of the turn and then as soon as you stop, the unit registers that and the values are not adjusted anymore then I think you are experiencing some sort of filtering algorithm that there to ignore small initial knob movements.

#20

Knobs on my DN are responsive.
Though they feel quite dry. Rotation is not as smooth as id like it to be.
(probably because i got a demo unit which was the last unit in my country at the time, which i assume was at the storefront since release day)

Anyone lubricated/cleaned Elektron pots/encoders before? What did you use and howd it go?