Sticky plastic

[turncoat]

A few months back I thought the sides and knobs on my MiniBrute seemed rather tacky.

It gets infrequent use in my little hobby setup, but yesterday I turned it on to have a play and all the knobs feel terrible.
They are tacky and a couple retained a fingerprint impression after they stuck to my fingers.

The finish on the sides is basically melting and I would swear there is a faint sickly odour.
I'm really not happy about this, I treat all my gear well, and like to maintain it properly but I can't see what I can do about this.
It looks and feels terrible.

I noticed another post after signing up on exactly this topic.
What is the contingency?
I have a Beatstep Pro and recently got a Drumbrute with identical finishes. 

[Koshdukai]

Having all of those products, I also experienced some "stickyness" on the fader caps and knobs of the original MiniBrute.

The knob caps used on the DrumBrute and BeatStep Pro feel better and seem to use a new and different material and still feel great to me, like the 1st day I got them (when released) so I guess those will be fine.

Regarding the MiniBrute, try contacting Arturia support and describe the issue to them.

If more original MB customers reach out Arturia with a similar issue, maybe they'll provide a replacement pack in the Store at a sensible price of compatible but newer knob'n'fader caps (the MiniBrute2 ones feel great, btw).
Maybe even include in that pack the MiniBrute SE's "wooden" side cheeks to replace the rubber coated (?) plastic ones of the original MB. 



PS: I've checked the other thread about this: https://forum.arturia.com/index.php?topic=90212.0
and I can add that I've tried to wash all the MB knob and fader caps, but once dried, the issue kept happening.

[turncoat]

Well
After some back and forth with customer support, I thought I would share the result here and anywhere else the opportunity arises to save you some time.

I explained the parts have a manufacturing issue and are not fit.
45 Euros is the price of replacement parts (this was later reduced by 14.99 as a good will gesture)
Alternatively,
Arturia are happy for me to 'Sell the synth for parts on eBay and buy future products from a different company'.
No other official solution is offered.

I don't have the time or inclination to pursue this. So, only advice for the other people with this issue is to either sell as proposed above, or just put up with the sticky goo.

[Koshdukai]

Well
After some back and forth with customer support, I thought I would share the result here and anywhere else the opportunity arises to save you some time.

I explained the parts have a manufacturing issue and are not fit.
45 Euros is the price of replacement parts (this was later reduced by 14.99 as a good will gesture)
Alternatively,
Arturia are happy for me to 'Sell the synth for parts on eBay and buy future products from a different company'.
No other official solution is offered.

I don't have the time or inclination to pursue this. So, only advice for the other people with this issue is to either sell as proposed above, or just put up with the sticky goo.

Well, for 15 EUR I would totally buy those replacement parts (basically a no-brainier for me), because "things don't last forever" and I'd rather keep *my* MiniBrute usable for such a low price than sell it "for parts".

Thanks for sharing the outcome of your support contact. Now I know, when the time comes, that there's a way to get those replacement parts for a small fee (even 45 EUR is kinda OK'ish, if those are the MB SE "wood" cheeks).

[Rokk]

Same problem here. First the side panels became sticky as hell, now the knobs and the wheels are sticky, too. I'll probably just replace the knobs with some hard plastic ones and make wooden or aluminum side panels. Minibrute is not the only product that suffers from this problem, though. This rubber coating should simply be abandoned.

[Bernhard]

Recognizable, but not always the same amount of stickyness as it seems.

First experiencing it, it made my think of finishes of some older Waldorf products... no idea the same materials, but sure the same impression: "OMG, how is this going to develop..." 

The EU15 deal for replacing all knobs & side-panels sure sounds interesting! Any idea if this was a personal favour, or that anyone could ask for it ? 

[turncoat]

Just to clarify, I must not have been clear.
That is not 14.99.

It was REDUCED BY 14.99. So 30 Euros after discount.

This price is unlikely to extend to others, the discount was only offered after I had expressed my disappointment quite clearly and got a response from a second representative.

Also no reference was made to the plastic wheels, and SE wooden sides would undoubtedly cost more than this.

[Bernhard]

Thanks for pointing out, I misread

[juanneco]

Well
After some back and forth with customer support, I thought I would share the result here and anywhere else the opportunity arises to save you some time.

I explained the parts have a manufacturing issue and are not fit.
45 Euros is the price of replacement parts (this was later reduced by 14.99 as a good will gesture)
Alternatively,
Arturia are happy for me to 'Sell the synth for parts on eBay and buy future products from a different company'.
No other official solution is offered.

I don't have the time or inclination to pursue this. So, only advice for the other people with this issue is to either sell as proposed above, or just put up with the sticky goo.

THat's very disappointing response from Arturia. I have the same issue with the side panels of my minibrute.

[vibes71]

Same happened to my Minibrute. Very sticky sidepanels while kept in a box for 6 months...
Wooden sidepanels and replacement knobs maybe ?

[mm1200]

The side panels of my minibrute are so sticky they can't be touched without getting sticky stuff all over my hands. It's like pine sap. The rubber on the knobs is sort of sticky also. It's been like that since shortly after new, maybe 6 months. In contrast, my Keylab 61 has wooden sides and the rubber on the knobs is not sticky at all.

[Koshdukai]

The side panels of my minibrute are so sticky they can't be touched without getting sticky stuff all over my hands. It's like pine sap. The rubber on the knobs is sort of sticky also. It's been like that since shortly after new, maybe 6 months. In contrast, my Keylab 61 has wooden sides and the rubber on the knobs is not sticky at all.

Have you reported that to Arturia Support?
Even if there's no "official" solution (which IMHO should be one, like a replacement kit in the Shop), at least it'll make Support aware of how many units are having this issue, compared with all sold.
Maybe it's a geographical issue, related with humidity? I don't know.

For the side-panels, my DIY solution was to cover them up with black gaffer tape
...until I find a way to replace them with a wooden version.

[MatteBlackSmoke]

I'm having the same issue with my Minibrute from 2013. I stored it in its original box in a dry closet for about a year, and when I took it out, all the knobs, faders and modwheel/pitchwheel were gummy and sticky.

I soaked the knobs and faders in warm water and scrubbed them with some soap, and that helped a bit, but they are still fairly sticky. The mod and pitch wheels are nearly unusable because they leave so much residue on my hands.

I contacted support and hope they can help me out!

[MajorFubar]

funny how this problem only seems to affect certain instruments/controllers. I wonder what it is about the controls they used on these devices that's different from such as the KeyLab controllers which don't suffer from the problem, and ergo why did they just not use the same part across multiple devices

[rimela]

Good news for Minibrute owners. I finally replaced my sticky side panels for nice wooden panels.
A company called ‘2 many synths’ makes them.

http://2manysynths.nl/

They are very carefully made and look beautiful.