Hey guys, I’m quite pissed with Native Instruments at the moment because I’ve had my S4 since release and barely use it, probably a couple of times a week. The channel A volume fader wont go down, physically I can move it down but in the software it will go down to about 80% but as soon as I move the fader down to zero, it flicks back up to 100% in the software making the S4 extremely frustrating to use.
This is a hardware issue not a software issue. I have 2 controllers, a Hercules 4mx and NI S4. The Hercules does not have this problem.
The S4 in question has been tested on 3 computers, 2 pc’s (mine) and a mac (friends). All computers experience the same problem with this S4.
My computers are one desktop and one laptop both running windows7 32bit.
To sum up my post, I’m asking if anyone out there would know how to fix this?
How should I clean the S4’s faders? properly?
I’m going to take it to jaycar tomorrow and get them to spray the channels with a compressed air can but I seriously doubt its going to do anything, this thing is brand new and I always throw a sheet over my gear after I’ve finished mixing so dust build up can be ruled out
EDIT: and yes I’ve recalibrated the faders about ten or fifteen times
Got it (half) working!!! after using 20 cue tips (counted them on my desk) and allot of putting my mouth to the channel and sucking in the dust with my mouth using short sharp breaths it seems to have smoothened it out.
channel A still jumps up and down when its at half volume but atleast it stays put when its at the bottom and at the top, which makes it usable.
This is extremely worrying, I’m thinking about selling my S4 second hand now, I’ll see what I can get for it first before making up my mind but I am not happy owning such an overly sensitive piece of gear.
If the S4 cant even withstand 2 months of light use and light dust (I throw a sheet over my gear) then in my opinion this is not worth the $1000 I dished out.
Out of the thousands of S4’s sold this is only the second maybe third issue with a fader I’ve seen. On the VCI I would pull the it and clean it with alcohol, unfortunately you can’t do that on the S4. Some canned air would probably help the situation out better than just blowing in it. Other than that contact tech support as I’m sure it’s covered under warranty.
I had the exact same problem, tried cleaning it with tooth picks and the rest of it i wouldn’t recommend taking it apart as it voids the warranty in the end i just took it back to where i bought it and there sending me a new one. The guy at the shop told me it was a messed up HID signal, Might not be the same in your case but thats just my experience hope it all works out for you its a pain
I actually think someones spillt some beer on it because it smelt a little beer’e when I cleaned it. I used it for a drink up house party and I wasnt supervising it 24/7.
At the moment I’ve got it running well enough to mix with. If I where to make an image to explain it’d look like this.
That ‘?’ meaning it jumps from down even tho the fader is in the middle and the same in reverse when moving the fader back up.
It was leaking at 100% volume when the fader was at 0% and would only flicker violently when I even touched the fader but now it just seems like theres this blind spot in it.
I’d like to be able to just buy a replacement part as I’m unsure warranty would cover my beer damage. They can easily spot any liquid damage.
I’m guessing that theres more beer residue in the middle that I cant get at with cue tips so I’ll need to take it to get sprayed with condensed air at my local tv/electronics repair store.
Already have, same thing happens in controller manager. I’d prefer not to have to submit a long and tedious log with native instruments. Instead; if we can find out the type of fader used, from there we can figure out which cleaning products can be used to safely clean these sensitive S4 midi faders. Hopefully without having to open it and void the warranty completely.
If it were me and I really didn’t want to send my S4 to NI to get fixed I would get one of those spray bottles from the store that you can fill up with whatever you want. In this case it needs to be isopropyl alcohol. If I could find a bottle that would let me stick one of those little red straws in the nozzle so I could better direct the spray that would be a bonus. After I unplugged my S4 I would spray a little alcohol inside the fader and move it around to spread it inside and clean up the spilled beer. Then a little Caig Deoxit lube inside after I let it sit for a bit so the alcohol could evaporate. WARNING I’ve never looked at these faders inside so they may be something special and this method may fry your S4. That said if it really were me I would send it to NI.
1: Condensed air
2: isopropyl alcohol
3: Caig deoxit lube
I’ll try the isopropyl alcohol because it doesn’t leave any residue which means NI probably wouldn’t be able to detect its use. But as for the deoxit lube, I’d like to give it a try because I do enjoy buttery faders but is it safe for the S4’s type of faders?
The man who invents the first ever water resistant midi controller is going to bank. Imagines playing underwater Hahaha good luck, hope it works out for ya.
This is one of the major downfalls of the S4 that I noticed right off the bat. Non replaceable crossfader/line levels really sets this thing back. Definitely interested in hearing how this pans out for you man.
if so, go in your preferences - recalibrate your faders.
edit:
[quote]Hey guys, I’m quite pissed with Native Instruments at the moment because I’ve had my S4 since release and barely use it, probably a couple of times a week. The channel A volume fader wont go down, physically I can move it down but in the software it will go down to about 80% but as soon as I move the fader down to zero, it flicks back up to 100% in the software making the S4 extremely frustrating to use.
This is a hardware issue not a software issue. I have 2 controllers, a Hercules 4mx and NI S4. The Hercules does not have this problem.[/quote]
actually re-reading this, it IS software related. the other controller (hercules) is midi only, s4 is hid (natively). RECALIBRATE!
I re-read over my thread and I’m surprised I didnt mention it but I have about other threads in other forums about my problem.
Not only was that the first thing I did but its been done atleast 20 times on each computer now, I’m actually quite good at it, can do it without reading the text, just flick the faders and click next. This is a hardware problem.
Looks like neither of those are relevant now, sorry I didn’t mention earlier in this thread that I’d already tried recalibrating but that is pretty much the first thing I tried.