What is the best way to fix a glitchy knob?

Curious Shapes

Hi all,

I have some issues with a glitchy encoder knob and I am hoping that some of you may have encountered similar issues.

I upgraded from Maschine MK1 to MK3 about 7 months ago. Ever since I got the unit one of the knobs (the third one from the left) seems to send erratic information. Sometimes it seems to be a bit 'floaty' and change the values in small increments without me touching it, but sometimes it is totally extreme and doesn't make sense (ex: I turn slightly counter clockwise and the value jumps extremely high in the opposite direction.)

I've included a video of the behavior.

I am inclined to try to repair the unit myself but:

1) I don't want to open it up if this will void a warranty that it still may be under

2) The erratic nature of some of the jumps make me think that simply replacing the encoder will not actually fix the issue

For the last few months this has become more and more of an issue to the point that it is almost unusable. This is extremely frustrating as Maschine is the centerpiece of my workflow and I use it heavily every day. I'm hoping that this is a known issue that I can fix in my own.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

IMG_3352.3gp.zip

ozon

IMO this sounds like a hardware failure and you should open a ticket and try to get a replacement for your defective unit.

DougDo

Hi, did you ever figure out a fix for the glitchy knob issue? I'm waiting on a support ticket I sent in but would love to hear if you've solved this already because I'm currently dealing with the exact same problem (one knob keeps jumping values up and down in small and sometimes big increments).

Curious Shapes

Yeah I ended up opening a ticket with NI and they asked me to send the unit back since it was still under warranty. They sent me a brand new unit.

D-One

I have had this issue with both the Studio and MK3, sporadically.

I have seen people return/exchange their HW over this problem, I did not go that route and still fixed it without replacing knobs, and while I did replace one it was due to other issues.

I tried many things so it's hard to say exactly what fixed it for me but perhaps some context might help you, note I am not an electronic engineer or expert, I am just a curious idiot:

Maschine's knobs unlike most people think are not Encoders, they're endless Potentiometers. Pots have an inherited problem: Histerisis, it's basically a small fluctuation of it's value/electrical signal, software/firmware usually fixes it by using a threshold like a compressor does> only apply the knob change if it's higher than X... But some things like grounding issues in your house or magnetic fields and other mambo-jambo I'm not qualified to explain can increase that fluctuation beyond the expected threshold, resulting in a self-moving knob.

With that in mind try this:

• Plug your computer into different wall sockets in your room/house, and use a different socket for your Audio Monitors/Amp if you have them. If you have a laptop try it without it being connected to the wall at all. Unplug anything unnecessary. - This might rule out a grounding problem.
• Try different USB Cables, and make sure they have ferrites for signal integrity.
• 
  

2) The erratic nature of some of the jumps make me think that simply replacing the encoder will not actually fix the issue

Thats the only reason I wrote all that above, it might solve it and it might not but tbf I never saw anyone who got their unit replaced still complaining about this issue on the 2nd unit.

I am inclined to try to repair the unit myself but:

1) I don't want to open it up if this will void a warranty that it still may be under

It will, there's a void warranty sticker on top of one of the screws.

The responsible advice if your MK3 is under warranty is to go through the RMA process with support and get it exchanged, but if you're the crazy type like me and want to replace the Pot I have details here:

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/20579/mk-3-encoder-replacement