Korg Forums

[MarPabl]

My Kronos 88, serial 1127 and RH3 from Japan has at last developed almost every single issue reported here

1. When I got it, I had the clicking noise on several keys, mainly A-C on third and fourth octaves. I was able to solve that by applying Maphill's solution, which is all about loosing the big headed bolts and then slightly move the keybed by using the spacers. However, when I have to move the Kronos 88, the problem may develop again.
2. I have the cutoff notes problem mainly on E2 and while I'm able to control it in order to avoid happening, the fact is that the problem is there and I must concentrate on playing "correctly" instead of enjoying my playing with Kronos. As for now, this problem isn't solved except for returning the Kronos. Because I considered I could "live with the problem" I just bought the RH-3 service guide found on eBay hoping I would be able to get information to solve this, but guess what happened yesterday...
3. Yesterday, I've got the "Startup System Failure" message. Of course I have no USB device plugged and I always use a voltage regulator. I even unplugged the half-damper pedal and the TS cables of the Main Outputs, but to no avail. I can't turn it on again... I'm thinking this Kronos is bricked.

The fine point here is: I feel just dissapointed about Kronos It's a real shame that a workstation with such potential has such big big flaws which just fully screw the product. And those problems are "just" hardware related, let aside the software bugs detected by many guys here... I was hoping the 1.5 OS realease could possibily fix some issues, but by now I have no chance with this and I'm also uncertain about the realease date, which was on October, now it's on November and who knows what will happen then.

For me, playing the Kronos is not anymore a joy, but a concern. And better for me I don't gig because just imagine the trouble every time I turn it on hoping the Kronos won't come on with that "System Failure" screen, not to trigger cutoff notes, not to face some of the SST bug (sustained notes) and so on...

And every single issue I'm describing has happened here to many other guys. We've about 20 guys wich have the keybed issue detected and there are even several videos on YouTube regarding this. So I'm adding myself to the list because I think it's important for other members to know about the existing problems, that those are not inventions and that are not irrelevant at all because those have the real potential to ruin your performance.

At least, I have a service center near me. I don't really know if I want this Kronos to be "repared", if I want a replacement or if I prefer full refund. While I hope that for me this can be easily done (I'll post progress), what about those guys who don't live at USA and have to wait months without any solution...

I don't think this is a build quality issue, as you can find on other threads. This sounds to me like there are several design flaws:
- This is the first keyboard needing spacer cards made of cardboard to move it from one place to another. So the design flaw is that the big headed bolts found below don't have adequate tolerances, maybe are not that well adjusted resulting on movement for the RH3 keybed.
- The RH3 keybed has clear issues with the hammers double bouncing, not only with Kronos, but also on SV-1. Before the Kronos, I had a M3 which was one of the earliest (still not "factory expanded") and had the RH3 (no sticker on C8 ) I never had any problem with it. Considering the cases with the issue, I think this is a design flaw which can be presented depending on the playing dynamics of the guys and also by those tolerances found on the keybed...
- Nobody here knows what's the reason of the "System Failure Startup" screen to show. On this one, I only can suppose this is related with the SSD because AFAIK the factory PCG and the OS get loaded from there. So maybe we're facing another design flaw with the way the OS handles possibly inconsistent states of the data on the SSD which will turn the Kronos a brick. And also, Kronos is the first workstation I've come to know where you need to wait 10-15 seconds before turning it off... this is the reason I think that the design flaw is on the SSD...
- The dial falling off wasn't well designed as EXer has noted here (one of the last posts on the page). With this one, Korg has made efforts to solve this early issue and I haven't heard about it for a while. It's a shame the keybed problems have not been handled that same way.

There are many exciting and groundbreaking features on Kronos. I think the R&D team should have spent way more time making sure the new technology could work right and stand against many different operating scenarios so we could have a solid (stable) product. I hope the important delays with the OS updates are here because Korg is properly making sure everything will work as supposed.

By now, I'm not aware of the service I'll get from Korg regarding the Kronos. I'll post back here in order for you to know the options you can have at least on USA...
_________________
Current gear: Access Virus TI2 Whiteout Keyboard (111/150), Access Virus TI2 Polar DarkStar Special Edition, Gibson Custom Lite 2013, Roland MV-8800

[aron]

> Kronos is the first workstation I've come to know where you need to wait 10-15 seconds before turning it off

This is after a save right?

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I went through a similar ordeal with another brand. I know exactly how you feel.

In my case, it happened right as the gig started and it was an important one to me.
_________________
Korg Kronos, RD-88, Yamaha VL1, Deep Mind 6, Korg Kross, author of unrealBook for iPad.

[Sharp]

Keep this to one thread.....
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=65292