mikeb Posted April 23, 2005 Report Share Posted April 23, 2005 How is the function of a midi fader and pot affected as it wears out (I know pots last longer)? I know from my djing experience that audio faders get dirty, bleed signals, so you clean them and eventually they'll need replacement. And I know from having owned Gemini mixers that the cheaper the fader, the quicker it wears out because it has no "rails" to support the shaft mechanism. I've had faders that were good for one day! On newer mixers with Alps or Penny & Giles faders this isn't much of an issue and certainly no issue with optical faders. How often do you guys have to clean midi faders if ever? What's the telltale sign a midi fader or pot needing cleaning or replacement? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moebius Posted April 24, 2005 Report Share Posted April 24, 2005 Well,I've only seen one (that was "edit" slider in a synth) data slider to go bad. The shaft got loose and it ended up jumping between the value set by the actual position of the slider and (I think) zero. Most annoying. And if you can't mechanically fix the fader, there isn't much to do about it.The other common failure mode for pots/faders are 'em becoming "scratchy", usually clearly heard as noise bursts in audio signals. (I think MIOS captures analog inputs in a full 10bit resolution (midi CC's are only 7bits) and there's also "MIOS_AIN_DeadbandSet" function to deal with the jitter -> ie. changes too small to have any real significance. But I don't think that could help this issue.)I think when fader/pot becomes scratchy in a Midibox environment, it would show up as abrupt, fast and sort of random changes in parameter values, while moving controls.Bye, Moebius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukas412 Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 So does anyone have any good techniques for cleaning scratchy faders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeb Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 I'm speaking from a dj mixer standpoint here, but the best way I found is to open the fader up and wipe out the build up manually with a soft cloth. I know some people will use tuner control spray (for example Caig Lube or Radio Shacks "Tuner Control spray"), but I find this attracts build up quicker. Although, if you have 12 or more faders then you probably don't want to be desoldering and soldering all those faders so the spray is the way to go. Whatever you do just be sure to lube it up so it glides smoother than new and it's' not a bad idea to lube the faders prior to first use when they're new. When it comes to lube, Caig will have you covered hehe... http://caig.com this is recommended http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.183/.f Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven_C Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 out of interest... I pulled a "20k" fader out of a graphic eq the other day, and it measured more like 42kohm. When I held it up to the light, I could see light through the printed resistive tracks on the board! (where it was worn) No wonder it went high in value! (and scratchy) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moebius Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 I don't recommend any "contact sprays" - It's an eBay fix :DWorks for a while and then it's worse than in the beginning. P&G site has some talk about it, using some special "silicon greace" ?!?Mechanical cleaning is the way to go + some nice lubricant.Bye, Moebius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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