A Note From Dave Concerning Possible Encoder Issues
June 5, 2009—As you probably know, DSI is a tiny company. We strive to produce instruments with unique personality that the big companies are not making; we believe that our instruments speak for themselves. We also pride ourselves with unmatched customer service; when there is a problem, we respond immediately and resolve the issue.
There has been an issue lately with some of the encoders we use; it appears that we received some bad parts from our supplier that were mixed in our shipments for a short period of time. These encoders in question have a shorter lifetime than their specification, causing problems with some our synths in the field. Please note that this does not affect all units; in the last few years we have shipped over 300,000 encoders on our products. Most of those work just fine. And, the encoders on the Evolver desktop, Poly Evolver Rack, and Mopho are from a different supplier, and have been very reliable with almost no failures in 6 ½ years of use.
Once discovered, we fixed the problem as quickly as possible with our supplier, so the number of instruments affected was minimized. For instruments in the field we are happy to fix any problems on a case-by-case basis. For most problem encoders, we have found that the addition of a contact cleaner/lubricant is all that is required. We send this product (Deoxit) free of charge on request.
Some encoders may not respond well enough to Deoxit, in which case we will replace the bad encoders with new ones. In extreme cases, we may just replace an entire circuit board with all new encoders. Again, depends on the individual situation. The bottom line is we support our products, and will not leave our customers in a bind.
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