Analog Keys Velocity issue

Elektron Gear Analog Keys/Four
#1

Hi, I have a question about velocity on my AK. First I had a WTF moment when I completely lost velocity response (the keyboard sent it out allright, I monitored this externally) but sounds didn’t react at all and the velocity indicator in the velocity mod set-up page didn’t react. I ended up power-cycling, and stuff was back to normal (Note to Self: WFT moments are often solved this way so don’t spend two hours on it, power cycle ASAP)

But then I noticed another weirdness EDIT: Noob error! Sorry!

#2

I am a noob as well and have the same issue, how did you fix it?

#3

I answered your PM but for the record: I didn’t catch it yet but I will post a follow-up if I find out something

#4

Ok, I updated this thread because this problem keeps occurring and I can’t seem to find out what the issue is. I already submitted a support ticket but got no reply, so maybe somebody here can help me out?

Basically, what keeps happening is that after some random time the sounds stop responding to velocity, no matter if using the keybed or an external controller. In the Velocity Mod menu the velocity seems to be fixed at 48. The keys themselves output velocity onto the MIDI out, so I don’t think it’s a mechanical failure. Even stranger is that some sounds on some patterns still respond normally to velocity. I am on the newest stable firmware 1.35b

Does anybody else here have a similar issue or can check that this doesn’t happen with their machine? I haven’t been able to find anybody having this problem aside from OP, so at this point I would have to assume my unit is defective.

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#5

Ok apologies for taking this topic to the top again, but I still haven’t received anything from Elektron (apart from a short message asking me whether I can reproduce this error).

Meanwhile, this issue is now coming up basically any time I play around with the Analog Keys for more than 5 minutes. I tried formatting the +Drive, doing a factory reset, doing a startup test and installing the newest 1.36 beta firmware, but so far no luck :frowning: It is such a shame because I love my AK otherwise, but it seems that I would have to either only use sounds which have no velocity mods enabled or just move on to a new synth.

Since I haven’t seen anybody else other than OP having this problem, I guess my unit is defective? It is so frustrating to not know what the issue here is. If anybody could help here that would be much appreciated.

#6

presumably you are testing with nothing connected externally, just to be sure

if you were playing a pattern and over time this issue developed with no obvious interventions on your part then it would seem highly irregular

you should therefore be able to test from a new project and assign a simple velo mod easy to audition and let support know if it’s repeatable

#7

I’ve not yet spent any time on this but I didn’t forget the issue and will report back if I find something. I added some new stuff in my setup (latest addition: a Squarp Pyramid) and there are so many WTF moments that add up midi wise that I am a bit overwhelmed with technical issues and just reboot the whole system when something goes wrong, eliminating problems one by one. (Latest one tonight: AK inverted note-on and note-off messages! Needed a complete system reboot: no clue where that came from, but very often it’s an insidious midi loop than can happen with all these devices using autochannels, “directconnect” and other midi-echo features …)

#8

Hey, thanks for the reply. Yes, I am just using the Analog Keys and nothing else connected. I will try to be a bit more precise here: the sounds stop reacting to velocity from the internal keyboard, not from the velocity assigned to note trigs of the sequencer. This can happen in a completely new project when doing various stuff such as just playing the keys and switching to a different track, rehearsing sounds from the +drive or changing patterns. Using the internal keyboard or an external MIDI controller does not make any difference. The internal keyboard also spits out velocity information normally.

So, to address your reply, the issue sort of requires me to “intervene”, namely just play the AK as a live instrument. Hence also why it is so hard for me to figure out what could cause it.

BTW: I’ve found out that, when, let’s say the sound of Track 1 on Pattern A01 stops responding to velocity, then switching to Step Record mode and creating a note trig by using the keyboard suddenly causes the sound to react to velocity again, at least for a while. It does seem like some weird firmware bug to me, but since I am apparently one of the only ones with this issue I think my unit might actually be defective.

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#9

Speaking to support, as you have been, seems the best course to follow, it does sound strange indeed

#10

No, I don’t think your unit is defective. You describe EXACTLY the same symptoms as I have experienced. I’m 100% positive. I’m enclined to think it’s a bug, that reveals itself under a particular circumstance, or following a particular sequence of events/key presses. That’s very hard to debug, but I remember that the Elektron team was able to figure out a particular sequence of events on the Digitone that lead to some sort of loop were the function+play remained stuck in copy/paste mode and only a few customers had actually reported it, I was one of them, I was able to catch it on video and so was another guy here. When one of us encounters the situation again, we should try to catch it on video to be able to show the dev team what’s happening. That can put them on the right track.

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#11

On two separate occasions I noticed the precise moment when this bug happened: first I was using the jog wheel to preview sounds from the +drive and the second time I switched to a different pattern (from the same bank) while playing. As of now I don’t really see any specific action that is triggering this behavior. How often does it happen when you use the AK?

Also, if you haven’t done so maybe you could also create a support ticket with Elektron? I have been waiting for more than two weeks for a reply to mine, so if more people bother them maybe they will feel incentivized to actually look at the issue.

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#12

Had this issue again today. I am investigating the fact that the AK keyboard doesn’t play the sounds at all like an external keyboard playing the same sounds. Velocity is not correctly transcribed by the AK’s own keyboard. All this is very annoying, finally.

#13

Hey, so I still haven’t gotten any meaningful reply from Elektron, but I will test my AK with the new firmware to see if something finally changes. Out of interest: when you encountered this issue, did you try switching into step record mode and modifying the velocity of one of the trigs? Bc this (temporarily) resolves the issue for me. Would be interesting if we have the identical problem with two different units.