even knob resistance

[discombob]

My OB-X8 has a few knobs that are quite a bit looser to turn than the others, and a few that are bordering on impossible to turn.  Just a couple years old... didn't seem to take long.

Can I fine-tune them myself somehow as an end-user if I flip up the panel?  Are there instructions somewhere?

Thanks!

[gus]

Hi Discombob,

No, you can't fine tune the potentiometers under the hood. The parts have damping applied in their own manufacturing process. In short, this means that they'll loosen up a bit over time with use. If any parts are hard to turn (probably the lesser used params), you can turn them back and forth for a bit and they should loosen up. Cheers!

[discombob]

Just reporting back that they haven't changed at all after plenty of use lately working on a bunch of sounds.  Specific knobs are almost completely free and others are very tight and hard to turn with the finger grip available on the stock plastic knobs.

I'm not sure they are getting any worse from here, but just wanted to mention that just turning them more hasn't been a fix for my unit.  Also, the preset select 2 button frequently becomes unresponsive, but pressing it in rapid succession does sort it out, for a few days.

I sure like my X8, but am wondering if some pending maintenance might become an issue if the control hardware is unserviceable.

[eventualinfinity]

Any updates from discombob or Oberheim on this?  I have a similar situation where one of the knobs has pretty much no resistance.

[discombob]

I didn't go any further with support on it, but it sounds like once they are almost completely loose like some of mine have become (I use this synth a lot), they are not adjustable and we just have to live with it.

Wouldn't it be nice if they had a tension screw or really just any way to service them at all?  Queue the vintage crowd saying their old models do the same thing, so it's authentic behavior that I should be mad about 

[strytten]

Resistance is futile…