What the heck's wrong with this Kronos-61?

KingJ · Post by **KingJ** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:40 am

I tried out a Kronos-61 (not a Kronos X) at Guitar Center on Tuesday. I was trying to do a comparison recording of the Kronos and the Yamaha Motif XF. The Kronos sounded great, as expected, but this particular one had multiple issues. First, some of the sounds, and many of the combis were completely dead. Next, while I was playing, it buzzed like a gameshow buzzer and automaticly rebooted, and it did this multiple times. I could get it to crash like this by simply playing a progression of 3 5 note chords on an analog brass program. It also did it on other programs and combis. I was really hoping to go more in depth into the Kronos, but I finally got frustrated with it and gave up. I have audio clips of it buzzing and crashing if anyone wants to hear them. I hope to try a Kronos X when they get one in, and hopefully it'll b soon. Any idea what's wrong with the Kronos-61 I tried?

MoonMusic · Post by **MoonMusic** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 6:21 am

When you get a hundred different sets of hands a day pushing buttons and twisting knobs that don't know what they are doing....Things are going to get messed up....It probably needs reinitialized or maybe a complete reinstall by the sounds of it....Lately I've been grabbing the info on the net on how to reset a keyboard to factory spec and saving it on my ipod....That way I can reset it before playing around....Not sure it would be an easy task to quickly do with the Kronos though...Mine came with DVDs for backup so something tells me it would take awhile to reset it....moon

ronnfigg · Post by **ronnfigg** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:00 am

My K-61 did what you said a while back. It made a loud screach/buzz and rebooted. It worked OK after that, but I turned it off and the next day it wouldn't boot up. Took it to service and a new SSD and fan was going to be replaced. After 2 plus weeks of waiting for parts Korg shipped a whole new K-61. I agree with King. A floor model is going to get a lot of abuse. But of course GC isn't going to keep putting fresh units on the floor. Too bad sales staff can't be trained in PM and allowed to reinstall OS/Factory defaults once a while to keep things running smooth. It might helps sales.

AlchemistMusicStudio · Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:25 pm

KingJ wrote:I tried out a Kronos-61 (not a Kronos X) at Guitar Center on Tuesday. I was trying to do a comparison recording of the Kronos and the Yamaha Motif XF. The Kronos sounded great, as expected, but this particular one had multiple issues. First, some of the sounds, and many of the combis were completely dead. Next, while I was playing, it buzzed like a gameshow buzzer and automaticly rebooted, and it did this multiple times. I could get it to crash like this by simply playing a progression of 3 5 note chords on an analog brass program. It also did it on other programs and combis. I was really hoping to go more in depth into the Kronos, but I finally got frustrated with it and gave up. Any idea what's wrong with the Kronos-61 I tried?

Maybe too many people playing on it - changed the global settings, or overwrite prog/combi settings...

KingJ wrote:I have audio clips of it buzzing and crashing if anyone wants to hear them.

Please, send me an email (MP3 files). I'm very curious.

KingJ · Post by **KingJ** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:23 pm

Hi AlchemistMusic. I couldn't get the mailto link to work for some reason, so I just uploaded the MP3 to a friend's server. Here's the direct link to the file.
http://www.davidsonfirealarms.net/joshc ... ioning.mp3
This is an edited MP3 file with several clips of the Kronos malfunctioning. Definitely not my best keyboard playing, but you'll get an idea of what this thing was doing. You can see why I finally just gave up.

ronnfigg · Post by **ronnfigg** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:46 pm

KingJ- if I remember correctly that's exactly what mine sounded like to. But it never did it that many times. you are right though, it kind of sounds like a game show buzzer. it actually made me laugh when I think that you were asked to play a song & when you got it wrong you got buzzed out! if nothing else, you should go to the manager of that Guitar Center and ask them why they don't get that unit of the floor. the they are probably trying to pawn it off on some poor sucker who will have to deal with that in the warranty. it might even be a good idea to let Korg know that the Guitar Center is not representing their products very well.

KingJ · Post by **KingJ** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:57 pm

ronnfigg wrote:KingJ- if I remember correctly that's exactly what mine sounded like to. But it never did it that many times. you are right though, it kind of sounds like a game show buzzer. it actually made me laugh when I think that you were asked to play a song & when you got it wrong you got buzzed out! if nothing else, you should go to the manager of that Guitar Center and ask them why they don't get that unit of the floor. the they are probably trying to pawn it off on some poor sucker who will have to deal with that in the warranty. it might even be a good idea to let Korg know that the Guitar Center is not representing their products very well.

Hi Ron. Those chords I was trying to play on that analog brass program are the intro of John P. Key's "Jesus is Real," which uses almost the exact same sound. I guess that that Kronos didn't like that song.

I was even able to duplicate the crash with that song in front of a GC salesman

I'll probably call GC and talk to the manager about getting that K-61 off the floor.

danatkorg · Post by **danatkorg** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:50 pm

Which Guitar Center was this?

KingJ · Post by **KingJ** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 10:50 pm

danatkorg wrote:Which Guitar Center was this?

It was the one in Louisville, KY on Shelbyville Road.

RichF · Post by **RichF** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:47 pm

Hi KingJ,

Thanks very much for reporting this... I've been in contact with the store. We're going to get it taken care of ASAP.

Best regards,
-Rich

mailman00 · Post by **mailman00** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:09 am

i have ownd a kronos-61 since sept of 2011 and had only 2 freezes due to using too much memory to load ksg files at startup.i too have seen problems with earlier korgs in this forum but the later korgs have been better out of the box.store demos take alot of abuse and would only buy a new in-box keyboard.one thing that not many ppl know unless you have read the manual is that with prior keyboards the kronos cannot be switched off and on instantly,you need to turn it off for 10 secs before turning it back on.i have always done this with mine and never had any problems with it.however,a friend of mine here had a 88key for his church and they would turn theirs off and on instantly...3 weeks later it was being shipped for repairs

KingJ · Post by **KingJ** » Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:14 pm

RichF wrote:Hi KingJ,

Thanks very much for reporting this... I've been in contact with the store. We're going to get it taken care of ASAP.

Best regards,
-Rich

Thanks, Rich. I hope I don't have any trouble with GC because I reported this here. All I was doing was trying to figure out what would cause this buzzing and crashing, and dead sounds and combis. I didn't want to get GC into any trouble.

I really hope you guies at Korg send them a Kronos X soon, because I'd really like to try it. They had one, but they recently sold it.

nitecrawler · Post by **nitecrawler** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:06 pm

Thanks, Rich. I hope I don't have any trouble with GC because I reported this here. All I was doing was trying to figure out what would cause this buzzing and crashing, and dead sounds and combis. I didn't want to get GC into any trouble.

I really hope you guies at Korg send them a Kronos X soon, because I'd really like to try it. They had one, but they recently sold it.[/quote]

I would think the opposite. They should be pleased that they will get their demo board sorted out properly. I can't figure how they would sell a Kronos that acted as you described. Who would want to buy it?

DennyC · Post by **DennyC** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:16 pm

Well, to go into a GC(or most other stores) and find a keyboard not functioning correctly, is not unusual IMO. I've used Korg boards since the 90's and frequented a lot of stores.
Before I purchased my Oasys, I went into our local GC and I was considering an M3. I fooled around with a couple of other boards they had there and then went over to the M3. It had(trying to remember accurately) a missing key and at least one popping up. However, it played and I auditioned the sounds...I did like it the best.
I marveled at how much abuse this board had taken. These kids can be absolutely brutal in a showroom if they are allowed to play or "destroy"
in an unsupervised space. Now our local GC does not handle any of the newer expensive ones, except Yamaha, so I have to go to another store to audition the new offerings. It is a pity.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 5:44 pm

nitecrawler wrote:Thanks, Rich. I hope I don't have any trouble with GC because I reported this here. All I was doing was trying to figure out what would cause this buzzing and crashing, and dead sounds and combis. I didn't want to get GC into any trouble.

I really hope you guies at Korg send them a Kronos X soon, because I'd really like to try it. They had one, but they recently sold it.

[/quote]

You did GC a favor. They are responsible for the condition of demo boards at their store. Don't worry about what they think

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What the heck's wrong with this Kronos-61?

What the heck's wrong with this Kronos-61?

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