M50-88 non-responding keys

[ghill]

I have a recently purchased M50-88 and encountered a strange occurrence that I was hoping someone could shed some light on. I had it packed away in its case, sitting upright on its back, for about 3 weeks. When I put it on the stand and plugged it in, approximately a quarter of the notes produced no sound (regardless of program). These notes were random (some consecutive, some not).

Some keys came to life after playing them a bit but a few would still not sound. I reinitialized the keyboard which did not remedy the problem. I left it on and walked away for a bit while I sat in the corner and sulked. When I came back and tried it again all was well.

I saw a few posts on this forum with a similar experience, all with the 88. When I spoke to someone at Korg, they said this can be a common occurrence due to the design of the keybed. Their suggestion was if a key was not responding, to simultaneously play the 2 keys on either side of the key in question and that should bring it back to life.

Any insight anyone can share on this?

[ghill]

bump, anybody?

[zurkan]

M50-88 owner here. Random non-responding keys has happened to me as well...but not lately. Seems like keeping the synth in my garage (in the winter) in its case in an upright position was the culprit. Bringing it in the house and laying it flat in its case solved the problem. Simply letting the unit warm up and playing all the effected keys repeatedly would fix the problem everytime.

[elbinabey]

KORG m50
Not able to hear some keys. Tried to switch on the keyboard for some days, but not working. How I can get back the tones of my Keys.

Thanks.

[ghill]

elbinabey, follow zurkan's instructions and play the notes repeatedly. Also do not store your keyboard on it's back for long periods if you want to avoid this happening.

[elbinabey]

Thanks Ghill. Thank you for your reply. Now I switched on the Keyboard for some more days. And I am playing the keys repeatedly now. Hope I will get back the tones of the keys. Until now no positve results.

Some points I realized is that, the keyboard was not switched on for some time. And the keyboard was stored in a cold place (15-20 Degrees C.). And it was covered with a cloth.

There are many keys which gives me this problem (around 10 to 15). So I am little bit worried.

You told do not store your keyboard on its back for long periods. What do you really meant by this ?

Is there any other option to solve this ? I mean to give to some Korg specialists ?

Thank you.

[ghill]

elbinabey, what I mean by "own it's back" is having it in a case, handle-up. What worked for me to get the non-responsive keys back (and I was told this by a Korg tech) is to repeatedly play the 2 notes on either side of any non-responding note.

[littledog]

I also stored my keyboard in a hard case for about a year on it's back (the surface with all the jacks facing downwards parallel to the floor). When I next fired it up, a whole bunch of keys in the middle of the keyboard wouldn't make a sound. Clearly it was a mechanical problem, because I could hear those pitches if I transposed the keyboard up or down an octave or two.

I saw the suggestion to strike the adjacent keys to each "dead" key simultaneously and repeatedly... and it works! Every one of my notes came back to life, sometimes after a few strikes, other times after a couple of dozen... be persistent with this technique and don't give up too soon.

Thanks for that suggestion folks! You saved me a time consuming and expensive trip to the repair shop. YAY!

[muzyk]

Hi,
I had a similar problem. I have a Korg M50 73 keys.
My problem was solved by opening the instrument, reconnecting all connections and clean the keyboard. Since then, nothing is happening.
I also spoke with KORG service in Poland, and there they told me that it is possible that the resistor with a programmable keyboard type was broken. to that time nothing was done, but the problem is no longer present after the above activities. Maybe it'll help you too.