Broken pitch wheel on R3?

groovatious · Post by **groovatious** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:56 pm

Hey guys

I recently purchased a Korg R3 and was playing it today when I noticed a strange thing happens with the pitch bend wheel.

When at the bottom of the wheel's travel when bending down, if I pull down a little firmer on the wheel once it's come to a stop it travels a bit more with a CLUNK feel/sound - probably about 2-3mm. The pitch doesn't change between the initial and actual endpoints, but it feels a bit dodgy construction wise.

I just wanted to check if other R3 owners are experiencing this, or if my unit is possibly damaged, so I should put it in for warranty repair before/if it gets worse.

Cheers!

groovatious · Post by **groovatious** » Sun May 25, 2008 6:28 am

So I took the R3 in and got a replacement.

Well guess what.......after a week of VERY gentle playing (probably a total of 30 mins of use) the pitch wheel started doing EXACTLY the same thing.

Pitch bend down to the bottom of the range and crunch, the wheel goes an extra few mm before stopping.

NOT HAPPY.

So I take the new (second) R3 back and am told that it would have to go in for warranty repair.

While in store I played the X50 they had in there (same wheels) and its pitch wheel did the exact same thing.

Strangely enough the much abused store R3's wheels were fine...

I think KORG may need to address a problem here...

Stilo · Post by **Stilo** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:43 pm

Mine did that too, during the short time I tested it. Seems to be a design issue. But I don't expect a 500€ synth to be built like a tank anyway...

groovatious · Post by **groovatious** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:11 pm

Stilo wrote:Mine did that too, during the short time I tested it. Seems to be a design issue. But I don't expect a 500€ synth to be built like a tank anyway...

But you don't expect a brand new synth to be 'BROKEN' either.

shabudua · Post by **shabudua** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:59 am

Those mini-wheels on the Korg synths (x50, r3, microkorg etc) seem just plain cheap. After one test in the store, I knew I never wanted to buy a synth that had them.

For that matter, you rarely see quality pitch bend/modulation controllers on synths anymore. Good ones are now the exception rather than the rule.

Stilo · Post by **Stilo** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:18 pm

groovatious wrote:
Stilo wrote:Mine did that too, during the short time I tested it. Seems to be a design issue. But I don't expect a 500€ synth to be built like a tank anyway...
But you don't expect a brand new synth to be 'BROKEN' either.

You said yourself, it doesn't affect the function. I wonder however why they couldn't just build it like the mod wheel with a spring in it

groovatious · Post by **groovatious** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:14 pm

Stilo wrote:
groovatious wrote:
Stilo wrote:Mine did that too, during the short time I tested it. Seems to be a design issue. But I don't expect a 500€ synth to be built like a tank anyway...
But you don't expect a brand new synth to be 'BROKEN' either.
You said yourself, it doesn't affect the function. I wonder however why they couldn't just build it like the mod wheel with a spring in it

It DOES affect the function. The pitch may not change between the 2 endpoints, but it's hard to do a smooth bend down and up when you have a clunky broken pitch wheel halfway through the travel.