[sdiy] Nice elektron like encoders

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

There's nothing wrong with buying parts from Elektron, but there might be a short cut. If you or a friend have an Elektron and can look at the encoders, you might be able to see the manufacturer name on the part. If you're lucky, the part number will be on the part, too. If not, the manufacturer web site should have a catalog where you can search for a matching part.

If someone here has ordered parts from Elektron and hasn't installed them yet, that might be the easiest way to look for a manufacturer name. That approach would save you from taking apart the case and hoping that the manufacturer name isn't obscured as a side effect of the way the part is installed.

I just started a design with an encoder, and I'm noticing there is too much "click" in the encoder. It's probably fine in terms of feel, but there is a lot of "bounce" in the contacts. I'm having to revise the circuit to add more filtering on the encoder switch lines to remove the bounce. The chip I'm using has digital filtering for debounce, but that actually seems to make things worse, so I'm looking at more analog filtering. Anyway, my point is that a smoother feeling encoder might have the added advantage of having less bounce on the switch contacts. Of course, optical encoders should have no bounce at all, but optical encoders require active parts. The advantage of switch contacts is that they can be totally passive and the whole encoder is self-contained.

I hope people share their experiences here so we can all make better encoders! Another option - if it proves difficult to source the Elektron part - is to start trying out various brands to see which work better. That would potentially be a lot of research, but if we share the effort then it might be manageable. If you've read this far, you're probably getting the idea that this is a topic in which I'm quite interested.

Brian


On Apr 7, 2017, at 3:13 PM, Nathan Trites <nathan at idmclassics.net> wrote:
> Hi Bruno,
> 
> From my last support ticket with Elektron:
> 
> 7 x Spare part: MD MM OT Encoder
> Price per unit: 3.00 USD, total: 21.00 USD
> 
> That was part of a repair bill about a year ago. Not sure if the prices are different straight up buying them.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Nathan
> 
> On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 4:37 PM, Bruno Afonso <bafonso at gmail.com> wrote:
>> That's an idea. I need 6, I wonder much they want for a pack...
>> 
>> On Fri, Apr 7, 2017, 13:07 Mattias Rickardsson <mr at analogue.org> wrote:
>>> I don't know how many you need, but if you just need five or ten of them, you could actually buy them as spare parts from Elektron.
>>> 
>>> /mr
>>> 
>>> Den 7 apr. 2017 4:32 em skrev "Bruno Afonso" <bafonso at gmail.com>:
>>>> I like that they're not very "loose", they have some nice "inertia" to them. I got some that I use now that are too light and then others that are just too stiff. So I'm wondering what the magical values are for a nice "resistance". 
>>>> 
>>>> I know elektrons make their own to their specs but I was just wondering if someone here was also found of the feel on those encoders. 
>>>> 
>>>> Maybe I can look up the ones I currently use to share the specs on those.
>>>> 
>>>> cheers
>>>> b
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 5:15 AM Michael Zacherl <sdiy-mz01 at blauwurf.info> wrote:
>>>>> On 6.Apr 2017, at 21:56 , Bruno Afonso <bafonso at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> > Can I get some recommendations for encoders with or without button that have a similar feel to elektron stuff?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don’t know the Elektron machines, what do you like about their encoders?