Korg Forums

Toumal · Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Vienna

Before I get into this, let me get out of the way that I'm an electronics engineer, I've seen my share of botched jobs. I have a Virus TI kb, a Fantom G6, various small bits and pieces like the Korg Kaossilator Pro (love that thing!) and I just got my Kronos - and I'm happy as a clam.

Or maybe not entirely.

You see, my brand new Kronos was DOA. "System Startup Failed".

Encouraged by certain comments in this forum ("My Kronos had its DIMMs fall out during transport" etc.), and because I doubt Korg will reimburse me for a couple hours driving that thing back to the shop and waiting for a week for a new one, I took matters into my own hand.

What I found inside was a SATA cable with two straight connectors. You see, Korg used two straight connectors where only a angled one would fit. The cable was mashed against the outer casing and would bend the SATA connector or, as happened in my case, break off the retaining clip, and half of the connector with it.

This is not transport damage. The guy installing this broke the SATA cable with sheer force.

So after installing a proper cable with a 90-degree connector, which fits without any mechanical strain on any component whatsoever, the Kronos boots and seems to work fine.

But looking around I saw even more botchery: Cables grating on sharp metal edges. Lack of clearance on the power supply. Lack of insulation on the power switch cables. Use of self-tapping screws on the bottom lid (small bits of metal can be loads of fun in there...). Lack of EM shielding. The list goes on...

Your ratio of returned/DOA units must be horrendous. How did you get CE approval for this?

Korg, I know you hear a lot of "expert advice" on forums like this... but do yourselves a favor, put up some heatshrink where it counts, and most important of all, use an angled SATA connector on the end connected to the SSD.

I am certain the amount of units getting sent back to you will decrease considerably.

(BTW this was a regular, new 61-key Kronos, not the X-version)
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Access Virus TI, Roland Fantom G-6, Korg Kronos

clipnotic · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject:

Great post, thank you for informations!
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Sorry my english is not very good, so sometimes I have to edit my posts to delete mistakes!

My current equipment:
Korg Radias - Korg Trinity - Korg EMX - Access Virus B - Yamaha RS7000 - Roland JD990
Core i7 860 - DDR3 8 GB - RME HDSPe AIO - FL Studio 9/10 - Sonar 8 - Melodyne Studio 3 - Omnisphere - Trilan - Stylus RMX - East West PLAY - Sylenth - Vanguard - Synplant - µTonic - z3ta - Surge - Thesys - Flux Recording Pack ...

What I also used but meanwhile sold or only tested:
Kronos 88 (only tested) - Korg N364 - Korg Trinity V3 - AccessVirusA - Kawai K5000S - MC 505 - YomoXBase09 - Cubase 3/4 - Ableton8 - Reaper - Albino 3 - Predator - Rapture - Alchemy

Toumal · Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Vienna

I'm sorry if I came across as too ranty. I do hope they'll do this simple fix in the future and spare the new Kronos owners some headache. Maybe someone can crack open a new X model and tell us if they've fixed it already Wink

As for my Kronos, I gotta say... the sounds are simply amazing, and the whole software side looks very solid, especially the sound generation - something that Access always had problems with in the first couple years of the Virus TI. The sequencer is as anachronistic as I feared, but I still hope for a software update to make this as awesome and full-featured as on the M3. That's really my one major feature wishlist item so far, actually.
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Access Virus TI, Roland Fantom G-6, Korg Kronos

clipnotic · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:35 pm Post subject:

I like the sound and the synthese possibilities of the Kronos very much, too, it's wonderful! But with the hardware and sequencer ... I'm very critically, too ...

But now we can hope! I think the Kronos X is a good step in the right way, if it's not the only step ... who knows? Smile

For some days / weeks some people here thought, there will no new hardware upgrades because the Kronos is not old enough ... well, it seems that people were wrong? Mr. Green

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Sorry my english is not very good, so sometimes I have to edit my posts to delete mistakes!

My current equipment:
Korg Radias - Korg Trinity - Korg EMX - Access Virus B - Yamaha RS7000 - Roland JD990
Core i7 860 - DDR3 8 GB - RME HDSPe AIO - FL Studio 9/10 - Sonar 8 - Melodyne Studio 3 - Omnisphere - Trilan - Stylus RMX - East West PLAY - Sylenth - Vanguard - Synplant - µTonic - z3ta - Surge - Thesys - Flux Recording Pack ...

What I also used but meanwhile sold or only tested:
Kronos 88 (only tested) - Korg N364 - Korg Trinity V3 - AccessVirusA - Kawai K5000S - MC 505 - YomoXBase09 - Cubase 3/4 - Ableton8 - Reaper - Albino 3 - Predator - Rapture - Alchemy

Francois · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:37 pm Post subject:

Well, my story is the exact opposite. When I opened mine to install extra RAM, SD and fan, I thought the layout was very well done, with everything neat and tidy. So yours and mine must have been assembled by two completely different persons.
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Kronoscopie, tout sur le Kronos en français

http://www.kronoscopie.fr

Toumal · Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Vienna

Hmm, that may well be the case. I only had one Kronos to take apart Wink

On the other hand, most cables in mine were also tied down properly. It's just that some of them rub against sharp edges, and the area behind the SSD is small so it's not easy to fit a straight SATA connector.

Do you happen to remember if your power switch cabling was insulated?

There's some other minor stuff with the power supply, but I'm pretty sure Korg buys that from some other manufacturer instead of rolling their own. They did gunk down some of the heavier components, which might not look pretty but it's a good to do.

No shielding at all, which is kinda weird. The Fantom G in comparison is very heavily shielded, every cable is fitted for the least amount of mechanical stress etc.

Another way of doing things is what Access is doing in the Viruses: One PCB with DSPs and connectors, one power supply, some molex connectors for the front panel PCB and the keyboard, that's it.
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Access Virus TI, Roland Fantom G-6, Korg Kronos

jimknopf · Platinum Member Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 3374

Tourmal, maybe they vary.

Mine was okay as well, just a lousy bad fan - fixed only with three screws instead of four - to exchange, and no other trouble. Everything else looked neat and well as far as I can tell.
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Kronos 73 - Moog Voyager RME - Moog LP TE - Behringer Model D - Prophet 6 - Roland Jupiter Xm - Rhodes Stage 73 Mk I - Elektron Analog Rytm MkII - Roland TR-6s - Cubase 12 Pro + Groove Agent 5

Francois · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:23 pm Post subject:

Sharp · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:38 pm Post subject:

Francois · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 8:44 pm Post subject:

I replaced my SSD as opposed to adding one so kept the same cable. However, to keep everything looking as neat, I used zip ties to absorb the extra cable length of my fan replacement onto the same cable run.
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Kronoscopie, tout sur le Kronos en français

http://www.kronoscopie.fr

1jordyzzz · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:47 am Post subject:

is it because that he (toumal) own a kronos 61.. 61 version is so small that maybe engineers try to put everything tightly?
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Love my kronos 88 Very Happy

Love my yamaha psr s910 as well

Korg Kronos 88, Yamaha PSR s910, Korg C720, Yamaha DTX 520, Focusrite Scarlett 18i6, a pair of Yamaha HS80 in (soon not to be) an unproperly treated room..

Toumal · Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 35 Location: Vienna

Neko · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 7:30 am Post subject:

I got a 61 K.
Replaced RAM and everthing was fine inside.

michelkeijzers · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:32 am Post subject:

I also did not notice anything unsafe or noticing any build quality at all.

On the other hand, I didn't look for details. I transported my Kronos about 50 times now without any problem at all.
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Developer of the free PCG file managing application for most Korg workstations: PCG Tools, see https://www.kronoshaven.com/pcgtools/

BasariStudios · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:10 am Post subject:

When i opened mine it was like crap inside, everything fell out of its place
but bare in mind, i was one of the very first few people in USA to have the
Kronos, i was in the first 10 people probably...it was the earliest machines.
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http://www.basaristudios.com
Cubase 8.5 Pro. Windows 7 X64. ASUS SaberTooth X99. Intel I7 5820K. ASUS GTX 960 Strix OC 2GB. 4x8 GB G.SKILL.
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