buttons on your Electribe not very responsive? read on...

Discussion relating to the Korg Electribe products.

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killedaway
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buttons on your Electribe not very responsive? read on...

Post by killedaway »

i've had my EMX-1 since launch, and just within the last year, a handful of buttons were giving me some trouble, especially Mute and Solo. i began having to apply more and more pressure to get them to respond, which is, of course, not a good thing at all. directly beneath the buttons is the fragile PCB, and the last thing you want to do is ham-fist the keys, flexing and wearing the board underneath in the process.

i opened it up but couldn't find the problem. all of the undersides of the buttons looked good, clean, with no carbon residue on the traces beneath them. i cleaned them carefully anyway, put it back together and tried again, with no luck. this has gone on for some time, so to keep things from getting worse, i decided to use the EMX less and less, preserving the buttons until i could find a more permanent solution. about a week ago, the buttons stopped working almost altogether!

i took the EMX apart again and carefully examined the button strips inside. they're very typical: silicone button strips with a conductive carbon backing. pressing the keys down causes the carbon strips to complete the circuits on the PCB beneath them. occasionally, this carbon wears off after hundreds, or thousands of button-presses, and the key stops working. the carbon strips on my EMX looked fine, but indeed were worn out. (if you look carefully in the second picture, you can see a light patch on one of the carbon strips: that's where it had worn almost completely off)

i e-mailed Korg asking about a replacement part and the price, but i thought in the meantime i would investigate my own solution. after a bit of searching i found a few products that were made for this purpose, but most of them involved two chemicals that you mix together -- once they're mixed, the resultant conductive paint is only good for a few hours or days, and then the remainder must be discarded. i thought that was kinda crappy, but couldn't see any other choice. just when i was about to give up and buy some, i found a product called Caikote 44, from a company i recognized, Caig. Caig sells all sorts of cleaning and restorative products for electronics, and i'm already a big fan of their DeOxit cleaner (if you ever open a synth or similar electronics, you should own a can of this!). Caikote 44 comes in a single vial, and lasts up to a year after it's been opened. it includes all the tools you need to prepare, clean, and then repair your buttons. and this stuff works on all kinds of similar electronics, not just your Electribes. you can use it to repair cell phones, TV remotes, just about anything that uses those flexible, carbon-backed buttons. several places online sell it, and i paid 8 bucks.

this stuff works exactly as advertised. i cleaned the buttons, dipped the included swab into the vial, and "painted" a small coat onto the two offending keys. a tiny bit goes a long way too -- i ended up having a lot of product left on the swab, so i painted all the excess on to the other keys, until it ran out (i didn't have to, but i figured, why waste it?). i dipped the swab exactly once, mind you. there is still plenty left to do this on dozens of other items, so i'm pretty pleased at the value of this stuff. anyhow, as instructed, i held a light bulb to the buttons and let it "cure" for 5-7 minutes, and then just let it all sit for an hour, just to be sure everything was bone dry. i put everything back together, plugged it in, and presto! all buttons work again like new.

i don't know the long-term properties of Caikote once it's applied, but it's meant to be somewhat flexible, as well as permanent, so i'm pretty confident it'll last. either way, i am certain that this product costs considerably less than a replacement button strip from Korg, and you can use it on all kinds of things, so that's a big plus as well. hopefully this'll help someone else who runs into the same problem. thanks for reading!

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Dj Pound
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Post by Dj Pound »

Im glad to hear that you fixed it!
When your gear breaks down on you its a truly horrible feeling.
You sound like your really good with electronics as well im glad things worked out.

peace
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killedaway
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Post by killedaway »

thanks! unfortunately, i'm not half as good at understanding or repairing electronics as i'd like to be, but i'm gettin' there. you're right too, there's almost nothing worse than the feeling that comes from gear that stops working, especially when it's something that's a staple in the studio, like my EMX is for me. i'm working on a pattern with it right now. :D
zerospace
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Post by zerospace »

hey mate, I've have had the same problem:

foir paper, glue and scissors helped;]

but it was a kinda hard task, I've spent around 5 hours glueing every button;]
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soundklinik33
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Post by soundklinik33 »

GREAT job Killedaway, glad you could fix it :)
Is it difficult to take the top off? Nobs/pots etc?
Familiarity breeds contempt
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killedaway
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Post by killedaway »

soundklinik33 wrote:GREAT job Killedaway, glad you could fix it :)
Is it difficult to take the top off? Nobs/pots etc?
thanks!

it's not difficult, but you do want to go slow. the knobs are probably the most finicky part. for those i have a small plastic "pry bar" that's made for opening electronics, like cellphones, etc. if you don't have one, i still recommend using something plastic, like a butter knife or similar as you want something smooth that won't scratch the face. slide it under the knob on one side, and apply a little force on the opposite side with your finger while simultaneously pulling up on the knob. you may also put two similarly sized objects under two sides of the knob and pry up. the encoder shaft underneath is plastic and mounted only to the motherboard, so you really don't want to stress it much laterally.

once inside, things are pretty simple when it comes to the rubber pads. one thing to watch out for is the plastic clasp that grips the ribbon cable running to the arp pad. with your fingers, pull on the outer sleeve and this will loosen the connection, so you can (gently) slide out the cable. also, remember to store different sized screws in separate places (small bowls are a good choice) and note their order and where they go.

i wish i had documented all the screw locations when i did this, but i forgot. when i replace my tubes i will take a lot of pictures and post up a how-to sort of thing.
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Post by Tech Star »

Thats a really great tip, Ive only just got my ESX so hopefully this wont happen to me for a while but its really great to know that if it ever does there is a fix.
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