servicing my Maschine MK3

donmaddonald

Does anyone know where, how and how much it would cost me to service my Maschine Mk3?

knobs are very lose know, it often changes parameters by itself, and one of the screens is brighter than the other.

I'd like to give it to someone capable and maybe with the stamp of approval of NI if possible.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/19812/servicing-my-maschine-mk3

Would maybe have been beneficial to know in which part of the world that you are located ?

Anyway , if in the US then you could try asking these guys for a price estimate. If in the UK try asking here !

You could also try asking Native Instruments though I am not sure that it price wise would be worth the repair compared to buying a new unit on a sale or a second-hand of e-Bay or where ever...

D-One

Is it under warranty? If not I'd expect a hefty 150/200$ total price, contact HW tech support and see what they say.

Word of note: If they replace your knobs they will become loose again over time, it's related to the parts they use, it's a known issue of the Studio/Mk3, unless they somehow replace the PCB/Knobs with the part they use for the Maschine+ (doubt that very much) which has better knobs. (in your shoes I'd inquire about this)

I've replaced knobs myself so anyone decent with a soldering iron can do it.

Knobs moving on their own is from my experience electrical interference / ground loop, experiment with using different power outlets for your pc/speakers.

The screens are more complicated, one of backlight Leds probably died for some reason, having this part replaced from an unauthorized repair sounds a bit risky because to access the screens you gotta remove the acrylic glass, afaik.

donmaddonald

ok guys thank you!

adic27

Got an update?

donmaddonald

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/129461#Comment_129461

I did't end up servicing it, as I had other issues that doesn't have nothing to do with NI... I guess I will ether service it in the future.

donmaddonald

hi @D-One I have a question for you.

"Knobs moving on their own is from my experience electrical interference / ground loop, experiment with using different power outlets for your pc/speakers."

can you explain me better this?

as I love to use it while mixing in logic but it keeps changing the values.

D-One

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/162624#Comment_162624

It's called hysteresis, you can read more about it here. I am not an expert but here's what I know:

Basically it is an inherited problem of analog potentiometers, they fluctuate in value a little bit due to "electrical stuff", software/firmware fixes it by using a threshold (kind of like a compressor does), AKA if the value change is smaller than X = ignore it but if it's bigger than allow the value change. When this SW solution breaks it means the fluctuation is higher than expected and going above the threshold.

It might be due to not so good "electrical/grounding stuff" in your house, EMI interference, etc… Try other USB cables, make sure they have a ferrite bead or two, do not coil any cables, dont use long cables, try to plug your devices in separate wall sockets, unplug other electronics that are close to your Maschine/computer, etc….

What makes the most difference for me is having my studio monitors (active speakers) plugged into a different socket than my computer, otherwise, I get a ground-loop so bad I can hear the computer "thinking" thru the speakers - I suspect this was also causing the knob to move a bit by themselves but cant be sure as I tried all of the above solutions until I fixed it.

donmaddonald

@D-One amazing! got it, ok. I will try to do that!