Korg Forums

Jerry Iverson · Joined: 11 Jan 2013 Posts: 29

Hi, as I was playing yesterday I noticed that the pitch bend just went away. No bend going left or right. Pushing forward still gives vibrato though. I went through the manual but finally found out where to set it. But when I looked at the settings they were already set at 2 both left and right settings. I set them at 12 to see if it would respond but no pitch change. Is it time to do a factory reset? I know this is two questions, but when I went to do a backup onto my flash drive, it said it was write protected. There is no switch to protect it. Could there be a setting on the board that would affect the flash drive? Little confused here. Thanks for your response!
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Jerry Iverson

darrylkorg · Joined: 20 Jul 2013 Posts: 33

Jerry Iverson · Joined: 11 Jan 2013 Posts: 29

No, factory reset didn't work as I tried it twice. After spending hours reading the manual to make sure I was hitting the right settings and reading on the internet I concluded that it must be broken. As my board is only 5 months old, I took it to an authorized repair after talking to Korg on the phone. Today I called and found out they have ordered a new joystick assembly. So, if you try a factory reset after saving your songs, sounds etc. and it doesn't work then you need a repair. Good luck!
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Jerry Iverson

Thoraldus · Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:29 pm Post subject:

FYI: If your keyboard is out of warranty, a replacement joystick can be had for about $25 US from the Korg parts house ...

http://www.guitar-parts.com/catalog/korg-joystick-assem-m3-pa3x-joy0001001

I'm going to order one just to have it as a spare part. Wink

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”It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

Johann Sebastian Bach

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Rick Stirling - Retired Electrical Engineer - Erstwhile Photographer
Korg Kronos2, Casio MZ-X500, PA600, AKAI MPD32, M-Audio Oxygen 25, ZOOM H6, Cakewalk Sonar

Jerry Iverson · Joined: 11 Jan 2013 Posts: 29

Great info Rick, thanks!
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Jerry Iverson

darrylkorg · Joined: 20 Jul 2013 Posts: 33

Thank you Jerry and Thoraldus.. Great Info.. My board is out of warranty and would be using the link you have provided. I just saw that they ship worldwide Smile

Brianepaulson · Joined: 22 Apr 2013 Posts: 11

I am on my second pa600. The joystick has failed on this one also.....in the x position.

Mudi2000 · Joined: 28 May 2013 Posts: 6

I think there is a general issue with the joysticks. Mine also had failed, it has been repaired by Korg (was sent there by the retailer) and since then no issue yet. I also had an issue that the power supply made a high-pitch noise when the unit was powered off, which also was fixed by Korg (PSU swapped).
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Korg PA600

Eduardo_Arg · Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 7:29 pm Post subject:

Hi Friends:

I've the same problem with PA 500.- I think Korg quality control fails always; it's not reasonable that any keyboard element fails after few days or month; when i meet Korg Service in my country, repair costs US 75,00, so i decide not to repair PA500, and use - for ever - my strong and well designed CME UF 70 as marterkeyboard.-
Now i do the same with my PA600, and by any reason i touch, move or "see", the joystick.- No often, KORG still have's one of the best and versatile and crystal clear sound engine, and of course the best OS; perhaps Korg must check chinese job.-
Good Luck

Brianepaulson · Joined: 22 Apr 2013 Posts: 11

I too am having problems with the x position of the joystick . My first Pa 600 was sent back for the problems on the y position. American Musical supply
will send me my third one. Crying or Very sad

Mudi2000 · Joined: 28 May 2013 Posts: 6

Just for the record, the joystick of my PA600 has now also failed a second time. And I don't use it THAT often...
I will bring it in to service, but this really starts to suck now.
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Korg PA600

Thoraldus · Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 4:58 pm Post subject:

I think these failures might be related to poor soldering technique. I've seen a number of electronic devices recently using the "tack solder" method. You tin the connection and the wire then hold them touching each other while applying heat until the solder flows. This method is fast. The problem with this method is you are relying on the solder to maintain the connection and any movement of the wire as the solder is cooling can create a bad solder joint. Solder joints made in this manner are much more likely to fail over time.

When I was involved with production quality control, we insisted that a secure mechanical connection was made first before soldering.

I'd be very curious to learn what the failure mode was on these boards.
_________________
”It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

Johann Sebastian Bach

----------------------------------------------
Rick Stirling - Retired Electrical Engineer - Erstwhile Photographer
Korg Kronos2, Casio MZ-X500, PA600, AKAI MPD32, M-Audio Oxygen 25, ZOOM H6, Cakewalk Sonar

16bars · Joined: 04 Feb 2013 Posts: 6

Karimh · Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 4:59 am Post subject:

Hey guys... not sure if you all fixed this issue or not. I ran into this problem last month and couldn't believe such a great keyboard would fail this soon (joystick).

My warranty was up. I decided to open up the board and see what was going on in there. I found 2 cables disconnected from the joystick. I took a apart the assembly and put it back together (including stripping the small cables with the white jack that hooks onto the assembly). It took me 15 minutes and it's working like a charm.

When I put it back together, I made sure I have enough cable slack in ALL directions so that things are "comfortable" during operation. Be patient, those cables are tiny and insane to work with.

I did not solder anything!

I used this video as a guide to what I was doing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4weTHNvVmA

Best of luck!

sridharar · Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 5:36 am Post subject:

For me, heavily into Indian Music - Joystick is the most heavily used element on the keyboard,

Sadly..

I have already changed the Joystick three times.
Soldering is a minor issue.
The Joystick itself is of poor design and quality.
It is very noisy and not very durable.

I have sort of given up on that and trying to use other options (using Touch Midi with my android handset, writing a custom C# code and Flight Simulator Joystick sending Midi, my Alesis Keytar via midi etc..)

Quite disappointed that Korg would choose to use such a shoddy component in the keyboard.