Top 4 Pads shorting out and now not working...board or senso

So i am infuriated They were working like one out of every ten times i hit them now not at all.....because it is all four at the top I suspect it is a PCB problem and not the sensors.....what do you guys think?

I did that.... and reseat the senors. Im thinking its the pcb....but I know the pads go out on them sometimes.

mike at mpcstuff.com says its prolly the ribbon cable....they have an option of ordering newly manufactured sensors for 70$ or buying old used ones for 30$....i'm thinking about saving for the new ones just for longevity...what do you think?

mpc pads are a membrane like most keyboards are my mpc top row went tried to clean them but still didn't work, try cleaning connector end or else the membrane is fubar.

I will eventually make a pad matrix with some piezo transducers pad things shouldn't be to difficult most modern drum machines use piezo transducers to control velocity.

I had a whole row of pads go out on me a few years ago. Forat replaced the pad sensor and fixed the problem.
The pads went dead during a soundcheck at an out of town gig....good thing I was strapped with a backup MP.