Pitch stick broken?..

[danatkorg]

I played some other Korg instruments in store and they felt a whole load better and were much cheaper instruments. This kind of talk and talk of switches failing makes it seem that Korg didn't equip their flagship with correspondingly high quality parts.

I've seen the parts list. They weren't cheap. In some cases, front-panel parts were noticeably more expensive than parts for other instruments (even other multi-thousand-dollar instruments). I can't answer for the issue of durability, but the hardware designers didn't cheap out on the controls.

The joystick should be similar to that of the Triton. Personally, I've always liked the one on mine - smooth and responsive. Curvebender's description of "grinding" makes me suspect that the one on his OASYS was problematic to begin with, and definitely should be looked at for service.

[Akos Janca]

I played some other Korg instruments in store and they felt a whole load better and were much cheaper instruments. This kind of talk and talk of switches failing makes it seem that Korg didn't equip their flagship with correspondingly high quality parts.

I've seen the parts list. They weren't cheap. In some cases, front-panel parts were noticeably more expensive than parts for other instruments (even other multi-thousand-dollar instruments). I can't answer for the issue of durability, but the hardware designers didn't cheap out on the controls.

Dear Dan,

Thank you for the answer. Until your previous post nobody commented our problems here from Korg.

I don't know about price of other parts but the tactile switches are cheap, less then 2 US each - regardless they could be durable and work well. Recently I had to replace some (in my 2-year-old OASYS, bought as brand new, S/N 001647). Unfortunately other switches are going bad these days. I still think my problem might be a rare manufacturing defect.

I'm not an expert in switches but I think I will try to find similar size but better ones (who can guarantee this I don't know) from another manufacturer and replace all of them at once.

Best regards,
Akos

[danatkorg]

I played some other Korg instruments in store and they felt a whole load better and were much cheaper instruments. This kind of talk and talk of switches failing makes it seem that Korg didn't equip their flagship with correspondingly high quality parts.

I've seen the parts list. They weren't cheap. In some cases, front-panel parts were noticeably more expensive than parts for other instruments (even other multi-thousand-dollar instruments). I can't answer for the issue of durability, but the hardware designers didn't cheap out on the controls.

I don't know about price of other parts but the tactile switches are cheap, less then 2 US each - regardless they could be durable and work well.

On the linked-to parts site, these are almost the most expensive switches on the page. Note that according to this site, the Motif uses cheaper parts for most of the buttons, but these more expensive buttons for the switches under the display (which presumably have the highest usage).

Of course, these are being sold in very small quantities to end-users, and some are for long-discontinued products, so the prices are certainly much higher than would have been paid by the manufacturer at the time of production. Due to market factors such as scarcity, the relative prices of replacement may also not be any reflection on the manufacturing cost.

- Dan

[Akos Janca]

I've seen the parts list. They weren't cheap. In some cases, front-panel parts were noticeably more expensive than parts for other instruments (even other multi-thousand-dollar instruments). I can't answer for the issue of durability, but the hardware designers didn't cheap out on the controls.

I don't know about price of other parts but the tactile switches are cheap, less then 2 US each - regardless they could be durable and work well.

On the linked-to parts site, these are almost the most expensive switches on the page. Note that according to this site, the Motif uses cheaper parts for most of the buttons, but these more expensive buttons for the switches under the display (which presumably have the highest usage).

Of course, these are being sold in very small quantities to end-users, and some are for long-discontinued products, so the prices are certainly much higher than would have been paid by the manufacturer at the time of production. Due to market factors such as scarcity, the relative prices of replacement may also not be any reflection on the manufacturing cost.

- Dan

Thank you for the answer.

I think such a great unique instrument like OASYS should be more durable just because it contains more possibilities than others and if users want to know, learn and use them this likely results higher amount of pushes on the buttons (and all controls) eventually. I think simply the best possible switches are needed here that are better than in any other product.

Thinking about the switch problem we also have to consider the age of the OASYS (from manufacturing date) and the storage circumstances and time in the factory and at the distributors, shops.

If everything was OK with my OASYS then I don't know what causes the switch problem. My rehearsal room is quite nice - clean, dust-free, the temperature is 21 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 60%.

[curvebender]

If everything was OK with my OASYS then I don't know what causes the switch problem. My rehearsal room is quite nice - clean, dust-free, the temperature is 21 degrees Celsius and the humidity is 60%.

Same here. I don't know about the humidity, but it's in a dust free environment, and it always sleeps with a dust cover. I'm not a "heavy" player, neither do I "bang" on buttons as some do. All in all, I've taken extreme care of my Oasys, and despite this I have a number of switches that don't work anymore...

Anyway, I just received a replacement joystick from Korg, and I will install it later tonight. Does that mean that I have the only custom built Oasys?!!

[danatkorg]

If everything was OK with my OASYS then I don't know what causes the switch problem.

There may have been a misunderstanding here. I didn't say that everything was OK with your OASYS; I simply objected to the idea that Korg somehow cheaped out on these parts, as had been suggested. I'm very sorry that these buttons are failing on some people's units. Unfortunately I am not a service tech, and so I don't know why this would happen. As I generally suggest, the thing to do is to contact your national Korg distributor's service department; they should be able to help.

Best regards,

Dan

[curvebender]

Exchanging the joystick didn't help..

[Akos Janca]

...I simply objected to the idea that Korg somehow cheaped out on these parts, as had been suggested.

Thank you, Dan. I understand and I never said that. What I think is Korg is proud of OASYS as their top invention. Generally Korg products are high quality and durable. I think the engineers and designers know their jobs and do it very well (after all that's why we buy and love Korgs ). But as a user I say: if OASYS is a sum of 6 different instruments built under a common control interface then this interface should be 6 times more durable. *If* this is true then usual Triton/Motif switches may not be good enough. I don't know if there is a stronger switch somewhere at all. Maybe not, that's why we have these ones - that are good ones normally.

As I generally suggest, the thing to do is to contact your national Korg distributor's service department; they should be able to help.

Yes, they could help. When I first talked with them about the bad switches of my OASYS they were not surprised at all. Replacing switches - in *all* synths - is a common thing for a repair center. (I just don't know if I want the same type switches again. )

Exchanging the joystick didn't help..

Hi, curvebender, this is really bad news. Does the O have the same symptoms now?

[curvebender]

Exchanging the joystick didn't help..

Hi, curvebender, this is really bad news. Does the O have the same symptoms now?

Yes, it has. It's probably a hardware malfunction, but not on the actual joystick. Anyway, I'm finally going to send it to a repair center. As you know, I have problems with some switches, so they might as well fix the joystick and the switches.

Not to happy about leaving it for God knows how long until it's fixed, but that's life I guess. (Plus I don't have a car, so even getting it to the store is a major logistical obstacle for me!)

But I'm confident that it will come back as new, and when it does, I am going to spend three hours pitch bending all the acoustic piano patches, just for the fun of it!

[Akos Janca]

I'm glad you're still in good mood.

Maybe it's a good idea to consider replacing *all* switches - once the O is already there - not just the currently bad ones.

Good luck and please inform us about the progress!

[danatkorg]

But I'm confident that it will come back as new, and when it does, I am going to spend three hours pitch bending all the acoustic piano patches, just for the fun of it!

[guillex]

Hello,

I turned on my Oasys after a month or so of not playing it, and discovered a problem with the pitch stick: It seems that when releasing the pitch stick after doing a bend, the notes won't revert to their original pitch. This happens in combis as well as in programs.
.

AFTER ONE MONTH???? Omg...You pay all that money and how often you use it?

Anyway, hope you enjoy it enough when you have time to play it...

[curvebender]

Hello,

I turned on my Oasys after a month or so of not playing it, and discovered a problem with the pitch stick: It seems that when releasing the pitch stick after doing a bend, the notes won't revert to their original pitch. This happens in combis as well as in programs.
.

AFTER ONE MONTH???? Omg...You pay all that money and how often you use it?

Anyway, hope you enjoy it enough when you have time to play it...

Well, sometimes life prevents you from sitting all day in front of the mighty O.

[curvebender]

Well, the great guys at my music store agreed to come and pick up my Oasys and drive it to the service center. That feels like a big step forward for me! I feel hope..

[peter m. mahr]

You seam to have a nice music store.

peter