Elektron Musical Instruments

< Has anyone put on rubber coated knobs, or a new dial with ridges on 
the side? If so, can you tell me where you got them, or what size I'd 
need? >

I always have trouble finding cool knobs, so if you find out about where 
to get some please let us know. You can find some at http://digikey.com/ 
and http://mouser.com/ for starters. There are standard sizes and types. 
Some are "D" shaped, some are "*" shaped, etc. It's pretty easy to 
determine what size they are -- just take a ruler to them, and be sure 
pay attention to the length of the shaft since you don't want knobs that 
will rub against the surface of the chassis. Also, keep in mind the 
width of the knob at its base and make sure you have enough room for 
your fingers. Ideally, I'd like to find some nice knobs like the Virus 
machines have, without the white pointer line, but that hasn't happened 
yet..


< encoders going the opposite direction is an indicator that they are 
faulty and need to be replaced. >

Did they say this specifically? Just wondering cause if so then what I 
have to say be irrelevant, but, I think they're not necessarily faulty. 
It could have to do with the rate at which their position is sampled (if 
they are being polled). It's like a car wheel or fan blades - sometimes 
the illusion is they are spinning backwards at certain speeds. The way 
(most) encoders work is that they emit what amounts to an offset pair of 
square waves, and depending on which of the pair is high, low, or both 
are are one or the other, the system makes a decision about what has 
happened to the encoder since the last time it checked. Dunno if that's 
how the Elektron gear handles encoders, but it's a common way and a 
common problem when they are spun too fast. Beyond the sound, there's 
something to be said for analog interfaces in music gear -- but, pros 
and cons, no endless poti's, no instant parameter recall etc etc..


< the encoders Elektron uses are custom-made and I don't know if the 
stems on them are standard or not >

I can't imagine why they would need to have custom-made ones. Are you 
certain? A good encoder is around $2~$5, and custom ones wouldn't make 
sense from an profit/engineering standpoint. (Then, again, I have no 
idea how cheap custom encoders are, but I'm imagining.) I'm just curious 
because I tend to pay attention to what choices electronics mfgs make 
with regard to parts and stuff esp where the interface is concerned..


Mark