Korg Forums

[SeedyLee]

Hi everyone,

I'm the proud owner of a new Kronos 2 73-key, which I just bought to replace an aging Kronos 1 from 2011.

However I've just noticed that there is a clicking noise coming from the unit. At first I thought it was the fan, but it occurs even with the fan turned off, which leads me to think it might be the internal switch mode power supply. It's not loud, but it can be heard over the fan, especially in quiet environments.

Is this normal? Anything I should be concerned about?

Thanks!

Lee
_________________
Current Equipment:
Korg Kronos 2 88, Reface CS, Roland JV-1080, TE OP1, Moog Subsequent 37, Korg ARP Odyssey, Allen & Heath Zed 18, Adam F5, MOTU MIDI Express XT, Lexicon MX200 & MPX1, Yamaha QY700, Yamaha AW16G, Tascam DP008ex, Zoom H6, Organelle, Roland J6 & JU06A

Previous: Triton LE 61/Sampling/64MB/4GB SCSI, MS2000BR, Kronos 1 61, Monotribe, NanoKontrol, NanoKeys, Kaossilator II, Casio HT3000, Roland VP-03, Reface DX, Novation Mininova, MPC One

[average_male]

To answer your quest, no, this isn’t normal and yes there is room for concern, especially for a new unit. Would contact support or the place you purchased this from. This should be covered under warranty.

The PSU model for the K2 doesn’t have a fan, as far as I know.. I would suspect when you “turn off” your fan, there is an override temperature threshold that when exceeded, the fan turns on. I suspect some wire or foreign object is within proximity to the fan and what is clicking? Also, there is just one and only one fan in your Kronos. This is assuming there hasn’t been any custom mods performed on your Kronos, as you stated it was new.

This may also be “coil whine” from your PSU (not likely as this isn’t usually a clicking noise), do you have a video that illustrates the noise you are hearing?

[SeedyLee]

Hi everyone,

I finally had a chance to make a recording of the noise. This was taken on my iPhone with the microphone pressed against the chassis (high quality I know!), and the fan turned off, so it's really not very loud.

Would really appreciate others checking if they can hear the noise on their K2 units with the fan turned off. I really don't want to have it repaired when it's practically brand-new.

Thanks!

http://www.32kb.net/kronos_noise.m4a
_________________
Current Equipment:
Korg Kronos 2 88, Reface CS, Roland JV-1080, TE OP1, Moog Subsequent 37, Korg ARP Odyssey, Allen & Heath Zed 18, Adam F5, MOTU MIDI Express XT, Lexicon MX200 & MPX1, Yamaha QY700, Yamaha AW16G, Tascam DP008ex, Zoom H6, Organelle, Roland J6 & JU06A

Previous: Triton LE 61/Sampling/64MB/4GB SCSI, MS2000BR, Kronos 1 61, Monotribe, NanoKontrol, NanoKeys, Kaossilator II, Casio HT3000, Roland VP-03, Reface DX, Novation Mininova, MPC One

[voip]

The noise level seems to be exceedingly low. Does 30dBa or less, close in, seem reasonable?

It sounds like mechanical vibrations, a possible cause of which might be CPU-demand-induced variations in the magnetic fields created by wiring currents, and/or the power supply, which are of sufficient magnitude to cause wiring or steel parts of the chassis to vibrate. Repositioning, or tie-wrapping, the wiring loom between the power supply and the motherboard, may be sufficient to tame the noise.

Does tilting the Kronos, or lifting one of the corners slightly (to torsion the chassis) change the nature of the noise?

.

[SeedyLee]

Appreciate the reply, voip! I would say it’s between 20-30db @ 1m. Thanks it
It this way: I could hear it with open-back headphones on playing softly. You can hear it over the fan on “slow” mode. However the noise floor of the room I’m using it in is really low.

I have a strong feeling the old k1 did the same thing, but the constant fan noise made it sound like fan bearing noise on that model…

It could be magnetic vibration or some type of EMF noise, but just seem s odd. It also makes me worry about premature component failure (like a delaminating transformer core).
_________________
Current Equipment:
Korg Kronos 2 88, Reface CS, Roland JV-1080, TE OP1, Moog Subsequent 37, Korg ARP Odyssey, Allen & Heath Zed 18, Adam F5, MOTU MIDI Express XT, Lexicon MX200 & MPX1, Yamaha QY700, Yamaha AW16G, Tascam DP008ex, Zoom H6, Organelle, Roland J6 & JU06A

Previous: Triton LE 61/Sampling/64MB/4GB SCSI, MS2000BR, Kronos 1 61, Monotribe, NanoKontrol, NanoKeys, Kaossilator II, Casio HT3000, Roland VP-03, Reface DX, Novation Mininova, MPC One