X3 Live Parameters Changing by Themselves

[jknott]

My faithful X3 Live has started behaving badly recently. It's as if the larger, silver parameter tweak knobs are moving on their own (but not really, of course) causing changes to the patch I'm using as I'm playing. Evidence of this is that I switch to a patch and start using it, then I notice a change in the sound of the patch. I look at the screen and sure enough, there's an asterisk next to the patch info, indicating a change. I occasionally catch the display itself changing to the parameters page and then flashing back to the home screen. This problem happened four or five times last night in the course of an hour and has been happening pretty much every time I use it lately. 

 

I've been assuming dirty pots (or maybe these are encoders?), so I tried rapidly turning each knob and then setting them to the 12 o'clock position. This sometimes seems to solve the problem, but it's only  temporary and it comes back after a while. I've found no actual fix.

 

Is this a known issue? Any suggestions as to what's going wrong and how to fix?

[silverhead]

Try setting the knobs to either the min or max position rather than 12 o’clock. This makes them less susceptible to jitter, which is the likely cause of your problem. When dirty the knobs can interpret minor vibrations from the floor (jitters) as knob movement. This is, indeed, a common circumstance as the equipment ages. The combination of cleaning the knobs (by rapid rotation and/or with appropriate cleaning fluid) and parking them at min or max generally resolves the problem.

[jknott]

I will try that for sure, thank you! Can these knobs be physically cleaned by removal?