The physical sound of MK2 buttons

Interesting.
Care to make a video about it?

funny complaint considering your name :stuck_out_tongue:

p.s. i like the newer buttons, the mk1 buttons aren’t any quieter btw…

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I noticed the pad noise, kind of sounds like a ‘ringing’ sound but quickly I’ve learned to associate with the device and got over it…

I prefer the Mk1 buttons (and the noise they make). They feel much sturdier and more satisfying to press. But from a usability viewpoint the Mk2 buttons are better in low light conditions.

Actually “noise” is something different than “resonance”…if the button should be wiggling on random (white, pink, whatever noise) I would be actually a bit worried :grin:

Mechanical switches, such as the Kaihua switches in our machines - or for example the widely popular Cherry MX switch found in gaming, enthusiast keyboards, do make a sound when pressed. This is due to the construction of the switch and the fact that the button does travel, eventually bottoming out causing a ‘click’. However, the switches we use are in fact of the lighter type and generates less noise than many others.

This, in my opinion, is a fair trade off for the great feel of a proper switch. We don’t want to use switches that don’t feel good to press (especially considering just how much you interact with the sequencer on our instruments), and the best option is mechanical keyboard switches.

You can in fact dampen them, many mechanical keyboard enthusiasts dampen their keyboards using o-rings. They are placed on the stem of the keycap and will dampen the sound a bit. The stem on our keycaps is rectangular, but an o-ring might work anyway - haven’t tried myself.

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The Sound of Silence, by Simon. :wink:


https://youtu.be/4zLfCnGVeL4

A friend of mine told me that kind of button annoyed his family. I told him to dump his family. Well, that’s what I did anyway, no more noise problem. These buttons feel great btw.

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IMG_2554.m4v (2.8 MB)
IMG_2556.m4v (3.3 MB)


It’s not the mechanical aspect about the buttons, I can life with that. The resonating of the buttons is really annoying. The 2 video’s and the soundtrack are saying more.

Not obvious with my smartphone but I understand now. Check @LyingDalai and @Ess solutions, I think it’s possible to stop the buttons movements.
Otherwise headphones or don’t play bass frequencies. :slight_smile:

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Oh, the springs in the switches are actually resonating due to the loud bass. Never heard of this issue before. Perhaps set the machine down on a different material that is denser.

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Old DJ trick is to use thick towels under turntables. Like proper thick. Maybe it would help also MK2 machines?

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Man i love the sound of the buttons. I’m pretty sure that professional clicky Cherry MX sound was part of the draw before I pulled the trigger on mine. It’s the little things.

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I have been thinking about this…
Elektron Music Machines is the name of the company, they engineer wonderful instruments to make music and deep sound design, but operating the machine creates a very unmusical noise.
My wife says “Are you going to use the calculator again?” and I agree with her, sounds like I am using a mechanical calculator. It distracts me from the music and sound design (I mostly use monitors rather than headphones).
Would be nice to hear Elektron evolving from the “noisy operation” to a more silent solution…
It doesn’t annoy me to the point of wanting to give up the instrument or loosing my mind, but I think it is a weird design choice…
I wonder, am I the only one who feels annoyed by the noisy buttons?

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I like it for some reason, but yes, sometimes i feel like the sequencer buttons are pretty noisy!

Was it better before the Mk2/Digi era?

nope, MD is noisy… i now even have squeaky springs on some of the trigs. my OT (mk1) needs some bashing as some trigs seem to be a bit tired

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I like the buttons myself. I prefer their solid “clack” to rubberiness.

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rubber buttons tend to be dust magnets… :thinking:

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I’ve thought about this from time to time too. My position: I think it adds to the OTB experience. It sort of reinforces the idea that I’m away from the computer and I like that.

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