Korg Forums

[John Hendry]

Serr# start at 001. Going to pick up 00100105 at GC so might be the first to have one.

That's cool.....but better hurry if I want to be first. (In the US)

John^^
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[John Hendry]

Well....looks like United Parcle Service BEAT me to it. Is it really so difficult to handle carefully what is obviously fragile and only weighs 37 lbs? The standard Kronos I just returned worked great dispite the fact the styrofoam packing ends had been broken into pieces because the box was crushed length wise from pushing on it way too hard. Other than the hole in the box the X came in it looked much better and only had one corner crushed but it was enough of an impact at the right angle to disconnect something and cause a buckle in the center of the box it appears. If I opened it up to see what came off I'd void the warranty so GC is sending me another one while still in stock. It worked and turned on but would not boot as if a mem chip was not seated or the SSD disconnected. The old style HD cables never came off in shipping but I suspect this is the 3rd time I've had a serial HD cable come off in shipping.….but it’s my first SSD drive so not sure what the connector is like and glad its a shock resistant SSD.

UPS damaged my Triton Pro too. They paid to repair it (3 inch hole in a crushed box with joy stick broken) but I have never had Fed-X damage or even crush a box like UPS has a habit of doing it seems. I'm sure it happens but not habitually. Local delivery UPS drivers are not to blame in my area. It seems the guys packing the trucks are doing the damage. Sad KORG gets the blame and expense. GC said they can't prove that's what caused it but it seems rather obvious after looking at the condition of the boxes and broken packing materials. Really wish I could say exactly what caused it.

When it comes to shipping the X in a name is important IMO. If I were ordering a keyboard I’d request it be shipped via Fed-X or other private carrier. GC uses UPS and is reluctant to claim damage without proof (contents are visibly damaged) so I can only hope I get a box that has been treated with reasonable care relative to it's contents this time. I’d hardly call opening up the Kronos to reattach a cable or re-seat a mem chip refurbished but this is where they must come from.

Was really tempted to see/know what the issue was and fix it myself if only a lose cable was responsible. One thing is for sure…..I bet Korg can spot a loose cable or a dead cat inside it in less than 2 years.

John^^

BTW.....while not quite up there with news of the KronosX shipping, on July 4 CERN announced they believe they have detected the Higgs Boson that gives particles Mass. The scientists have attained a "5-sigma signal" which sits right at the threshold for what scientists consider a true discovery. CERN’s neutrinos detected at v-c/c=2.48e-5 last Sept (just after the online gamers cracked the DNA code for the AIDS virus in 3 weeks) exposing time dilation affecting all matter was a sigma-6. This was changed later to 2.37 ± 0.32 before announcing a "loose cable" was the cause. Maybe it’s a just a loose ball bearing this time around.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank said: “You're never going to get the Higgs to appear in a laboratory and float. It's very short-lived. What happens in particle physics is that particles decay into other particles, just like with radioactivity. The Higgs does that but in a very, very, very short time scale — so short (JFH^^due to time dilation. Using the precession of the equinox it is easy to calculate and show that relative to the weak force the WF asymmetry gain in time is exactly 3.333333333 seconds each year as we observe a speed of light clock created by Mass in oscillation^^) that you're never going to be able to see the Higgs directly, you're going to see what it turns into. (Smile ) And there are a lot of different ways it can turn into other things. There are a lot of different channels. What we're looking for is different possible channels.”

Now back to the scheduled program after a brief word from our sponsor……
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Think Peace...

[John Hendry]

In 1882 Thomas Edison wired the town of Sunbury Pennsylvania using a shared-common three-wire DC distribution system due to the cost of copper and last Monday I picked up the 2nd KronosX due to what I believe and in my opinion can be prevented. Unless the Japan to US shipper is responsible UPS seems to have someone irresponsible packing their trucks and Korg is getting blamed for 2 issues beyond their control related to what I just mentioned. (I edited this to clarify facts: my feelings are much stronger after 7 trips to Portland because of it.)

The facts show there was just one small hole in the box this time but right in the middle was another compression fold with both ends showing a great deal of force was applied with the Kronos supporting the load, not the shipping box that has a glass figure shown indicating the contents contain glass. I would have to use my feet to apply that much force and remember a claim with UPS and a damaged A80 controller with a foot print showing what may have been a size 20 shoe. Skinny people have big feet too. The A80 was replaced because it was bent. There was no sign of impact this time and the second X is working and appears unharmed. The styrofoam packing did its job and compressed breaking both foam ends as pointed out to the GC salesman who witnessed the box opened in the store. There appeared to be room left to compress further like the other 3 but in my opinion there's no excuse for such high forces being applied consistently to boxes marked "handle with care" containing glass making the box shorter.

Since UPS charges for volume as well as weight maybe they should be measuring boxes at delivery time so I'm writing GC and UPS a friendly letter CCing Fed-X and Korg in hopes UPS will find out why this happened 4 times in a row to GC and fix the problem. I wasn't going to mention it to prevent misunderstandings but this is my 4th Kronos: the first one was delivered with the box in a greater compressed condition and I had to take it back too. I believe DOA's and malfunctioning units from shipping raise prices and if a shipping company is responsible the company is getting away with damaging new keyboards that cost thousands of dollars. KORG cannot send out non-working units with the OS installed. Because GC’s in-store policy required them retuned to order another one I had to make 7 round trips and spent about $175 in gas plus other expenses to return the units to GC in Portland not to mention the loss of time. When reporting issues with the Kronos the condition of the shipping box should always be considered and mentioned if need be.

You need to put cause like effects in the right place and if you look at the Triton’s box (as with all older electronics) and compare it to the Kronos’s box (or M50, etc) you will see something right next to “Made in Japan” unrelated to shipping damages everyone needs to be aware of that shows the needed progress made in designing electronics: the CE specification. Nonlinear loads created by switching power supplies create harmonics and this specification shows a power factor corrected or PFC power supply is in use. If you have your Triton or other non-PFC (I am assuming since it’s not listed on the box) equipment in use with the Kronos you really should read APC’s #38 white paper and learn about the progress made and proposed amendment 14. Leave it to the scientists acting in good faith to improve our World and the politicians to make mistakes.

Coincidently while I was writing this I heard a ‘click’ I have not heard for years (because my property was taken illegally and returned 3 years later) and looked over at my stereo and thought I was hearing things as my Pioneer CD player had not come on which is what happens when the power goes out and comes back on which I didn’t notice. When I listened closely I could hear my kitchen clock ticking but not the KronosX (that is actually much quieter but constant) that was rebooting. I don’t know what happened to cause the brown out but the IT1220 knew and reacted to the following surge and that was the clicking sound that got my attention. The KronosX was not at fault and the disturbance was unnoticeable without the lights on. (If on the same circuit.)

This is my last post related to power quality and re-boots and that’s a big ‘wow’ at the end if you live in the US due to low shipping costs. Prices on BITs have come down over the years but the Furman IT1220 is no longer made and I believe it may be due to patent rights.

“And for the recording engineers here's something everyone should find quite interesting.” http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=494713&sid=20986fad0ba3d3148a0cff129c4514a7

http://www.equitech.com/articles/bpng.html Excellent information on balanced AC and other issues such as the history mentioned above can be found here.

An intermittent reboot on the Kronos is certainly most likely due to a properly designed PFC power supply reacting to an AC related disturbance and not a design flaw! I would never plug my new KronosX or any other electronics I care about directly into an AC socket especially one at a gig with high amp non-PFC equipment being powered. Be sure to read the article from Mix Magazine if you think I’m overstating a problem electric utilities and manufactures have hidden due to liability issues regarding the new technology.

BTW the X came with OS 2.0.1 and its boot time was about 2:14.8. After I updated the OS to 2.0.2. the boot time is was 2:14.3 about half a second faster. With the 4 demo EXs added it takes 3:12 to boot. The OS update took over 3 hours to download on a slow 0.12 Mbps connection but installed as easy as the M50 OS updates do. The new demo EXs worked fine with both OS versions and are exceptional sounding but they fade out after only 10 seconds and that was a surprise. 10 seconds hardly lets you play anything long enough to "demo" the added EXs collections and a 30 second fadeout would seem more practical. The EXs 11 strings will be the first EXs set I'll add as they really are as good as Korg claims and well worth the money IMO. But as it comes there’s enough to keep me busy exploring its potential. KARMA is amazing. The Kronos help button is amazing as well and shows Korg has made real progress making the Kronos technology user friendly. Very impressive.

John^^
Known PFC gear in use: Korg M50 serial# 006032, Korg KronosX serial# 100411
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