Physical damage on lower notes?

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:25 am

Today I had a gig and before I dropped my case with my Kronos 61 (first version). The keys were not hit directly (since the keys do not stick out), but maybe the 'force' was enough.

Now on the lowest octave there is one key that stays down, a few keys that 'take' the next key with it (kind of 'glued') and a few keys that do not come back to their normal position (so never stop making sound unless I pull them up manually).

Has anybody experience with this problem?
Can it be fixed easily (and how)?

I'm a bit afraid to have to bring it to the importer because I cannot miss my Kronos more than a week.

Kind regards,

Michel

KK · Post by KK » Sun Mar 17, 2019 3:51 am

Hi Michel and sorry to read about your mishap.

Sounds like a minor physical damage. Hopefully everything else works fine, including the screen, controls, outputs, etc. I would start by inspecting the "front bumper" to see if keys are actually rubbing against it. One easy trick you could try to confirm this is to hold your Kronos on its back panel (the one with all the connections/jacks) on a couple of pillows with one hand while loosening the bigger screws in the center of the bottom panel under the keyboard just about 1,5 turns each (without removing them) with your other hand. Those screws hold the action in place and this little trick pushes the action as far as possible from the bumper so to minimize chances they touch it (unless it was damaged during the drop - this you can visually inspect it). Then tight them back on while maintaining this position and then check if anything improves for the faulty keys.

Otherwise the next step to see and fix what is happening is to open the unit - this time with the Kronos upside down and removing the whole bottom panel with and inspecting the defective keys. Could be a mix of unglued felts, loose/broken/slightly bent part, etc. Again, it could have been much worse. A few keys to fix is way less difficult/expensive compared to, for example, a broken TouchView screen. Keep us posted about what you find.

psionic311 · Post by **psionic311** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 4:18 am

KK wrote: Otherwise the next step to see and fix what is happening is to open the unit - this time with the Kronos upside down and removing the whole bottom wooden panel with and inspecting the defective keys. Could be a mix of unglued felts, loose/broken/slightly bent part, etc.

Yes, Michel, I think you will have to open your Kronos. I am optimistic though that your fix is probably pretty easy. You just want to straighten out the key assembly so that it aligns properly. The one key affecting the others sounds to me like an alignment problem which is fixable.

My first generation Kronos 61 has a metal bottom. I've opened it to add max RAM and an extra SSD. I had to re-open it again when I didn't line up the key assembly correctly and the keys all were "stuck". Just keep track of your screws and watch the ribbon connectors, it's really not too difficult. Hopefully you have a simple fix.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:37 pm

Thanks for your answers.

Luckily only some keys were broken at the end, very small parts of plastic at the end of they key; sadly those are needed to keep the keys in place, so I have to buy 6 new black keys (cost like 70 euro here in the Netherlands). I hope I can place them myself, otherwise it's even more.

Another problem I have is with the joystick; today I checked it better, and it is really thin'ish plastic, I don't think anything is really broken, but couldn't fix it anyway; guess I leave it like this.

First time Korg let me down, seeing two quite cheap production decisions in this 'high end workstation'.

KK · Post by KK » Mon Mar 18, 2019 12:07 am

Hi Michel,

Whoops... Removed my instructions as you don't have a RH3. Sorry about that.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:58 am

@KK: Thanks for your descriptions, however I have a Kronos 1, 61 keys, which do not have RH3 keys (at least I think the RH3 are only used on 73/88 weighted action keybeds).

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:59 am

@KK: Thanks for your descriptions, however I have a Kronos 1, 61 keys, which do not have RH3 keys (at least I think the RH3 are only used on 73/88 weighted action keybeds).

totallykenny · Post by **totallykenny** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 4:08 am

michelkeijzers wrote:Thanks for your answers.

Luckily only some keys were broken at the end, very small parts of plastic at the end of they key; sadly those are needed to keep the keys in place, so I have to buy 6 new black keys (cost like 70 euro here in the Netherlands). I hope I can place them myself, otherwise it's even more.

Another problem I have is with the joystick; today I checked it better, and it is really thin'ish plastic, I don't think anything is really broken, but couldn't fix it anyway; guess I leave it like this.

First time Korg let me down, seeing two quite cheap production decisions in this 'high end workstation'.

Hi Mike sorry to hear that , I have fixed these in the past. If you were in my neck of the woods, a super person like you, I would gladly do it for you , FREE . I hope you get it fixed, and it works out for you . Regards, TotallyKenny