So, I got my hands on my old MiniBrute again, and its condition is worse than ever. I don’t blame Arturia for this because, while it stayed in its box, the weather condition here are special, but the problems remains: the plastic knobs and sliders are sticky/gluey/softened and touching it doesn’t feel nice… The side panels used to be like this, but it seems it absorbed as much dust and filth as it could and now it’s “ok”.
I know there was reports about it elsewhere, so do Arturia people still not care about their creations (live throughout the years)? Any solution/tips for sanitizing this cool synth?
Also, I kinda give up on this, because I just resample it anyway, but the tuning is out of whack, I can stay in tune for two octaves, but after that it’s disastrous (I followed along that YouTube tutorial for retuning the instrument, but I couldn’t get to a satisfying result).
HI @djerzinski
Regarding the sticky knobs etc, if your unit is still under warranty you should contact the retailer you purchased it from.
If not, then it’s possible to remove the stickiness with Isopropyl Alcohol, a microfibre cloth and some effort.
I have a midi controller, a Nektar P6 actually, that suffered from the same issue, i got fed up cleaning the knobs/faders etc and left them in a polythene ziplok bag on a windowsill for a few weeks, they must have been subject to some heat from the sun as when i looked at them some weeks later the sticky mess was really easy to wipe off with some Isopropyl alcohol and a microfibre cloth. I think being in the sun must have sped up the degradation somewhat.
It’s down to ‘soft touch’ paint that was all the rage a few years back, it affects A LOT of companies, even Maserati sports cars!!!
The tuning issue could be down to a component starting to fail, as you said, the weather in your country is ‘special’ and most companies do publish upper and lower temperature ranges for safer operation and storage of their product.
It might be worth you contacting Support for replacement parts or a service center in your part of The World.
Hi Mat! Thanks a lot for your reply.
That’s interesting. I was wondering if it was the coating or the whole knob material that was problematic. I tried soaking them in hot soap water during the night, it helped remove a layer of filth, but I’m giving it another round. If it doesn’t work I’ll try your alcohol solution (last option would be to replace them entirely… or just paint them).
Regarding the faulty tuning, I’m OK with it for now, but maybe some day I’ll fix it. I don’t know what range we’re talking about, but I don’t think it exceeded exposure to 30ish °C for a few weeks.
HI @djerzinski
Yes you’ll struggle with soap and water, it does need a stronger solvent.
I’m considering painting the knobs and faders from the P6 too, they look ok as they are, but i saw another user had colour coded theirs for quick recognition, looked rather cool too!