Korg Forums

Cool.. How did you do that?

Yeah, that's cool. And besides, the color highlighting - makes life easier at concerts.

Hi there,

I always thought that those tiny white LEDs, even though small, are kind of blinding me as too strong depending on lighting. Also, as media-igor mentions, colored buttons can help in live situations.

I also personally wanted to color code buttons and several functions to easily see what is going on or what I'm doing. For example, what is related to disk is red, bright colors are for temporary functions like sequencer pause, compare, solo, etc. I also like to do entirely reversible mods, just in case, but I really like the result so I doubt I will undo it.

So what you need basically is a set of color acetates for camera lighting. I chose a set of 20 colors online at only 20$ and selected the 10 best out of the kit. You don't need big gel sheets as the area to cover is quite small and those small LEDs don't generate much heat, so it's safe. But one needs lots of patience to disassemble lots of things in order to reach those two main PCBs. Took me about 10 hours to do the whole thing.

The LEDs are now very smooth and relax to look at and the color code I chose is helpful for me as a guide.

As a side note, I noticed that in my recent K2 the CPU heatsink is much more massive compared to pics I've seen of earlier models. There is also a wide metal plate on which the PS is attached, etc. These new features probably explain why the newer K2s stay quieter (fan) as they improve efficiency to dissipate heat.

Very cool!

Image not found or removed... Reading the replies, I'm now really curious what it looks like.

It must have been a Photoshopped Image

kbrkr wrote:It must have been a Photoshopped Image

Did you even take the time to read my above procedure? I don't like misinformation regardless if it's in the news or online so I certainly would not write about imaginary facts. Nor I appreciate comments that imply that I'm writing false information.

The reason why the pics are gone is simply that my thread didn't seem to draw much interest, so I decided to set their lifetime at 7 days, which mean the PS pic will also disappear today. If anyone is interested, I might repost pics or a video in the future.

If someone went through the trouble to modify their Kronos with cool LED's, they would write up the procedure and show photos on how it was done and share it with the collective. The fact that you only posted teaser pics, makes me skeptical.

kbrkr wrote:If someone went through the trouble to modify their Kronos with cool LED's, they would write up the procedure and show photos on how it was done and share it with the collective. The fact that you only posted teaser pics, makes me skeptical.

Pics were here for everyone to see for a week and a procedure summary is written above. You are entitled to your own opinion (even though you base it on conjecture), but others here and Mr Stephen Kay liked what they saw.

To reach the two control PCBs is risky and complex, especially on a recent K2 (with the new wide PS metal plate). I do not recommend trying such a mod unless one has lots of patience, excellent technical skills and at least a basic knowledge on how to handle electronic circuits. Otherwise you will damage your unit.

KK wrote:

kbrkr wrote:If someone went through the trouble to modify their Kronos with cool LED's, they would write up the procedure and show photos on how it was done and share it with the collective. The fact that you only posted teaser pics, makes me skeptical.

Pics were here for everyone to see for a week and a procedure summary is written above. You are entitled to your own opinion (even though you base it on conjecture), but others here and Mr Stephen Kay liked what they saw.

To reach the two control PCBs is risky and complex, especially on a recent K2 (with the new wide PS metal plate). I do not recommend trying such a mod unless one has lots of patience, excellent technical skills and at least a basic knowledge on how to handle electronic circuits. Otherwise you will damage your unit.

It's true I liked it. Kudos. However, deleting the pictures (or setting them to expire) is a bit odd. Leave them up or just attach them to this thread (I'm not sure that's possible here...) but in any case, you should keep them up somehow. Part of the value of forums like this is that people search the messages and find stuff from years ago that is still perfectly valid. And reading this thread without the pictures is kind of meaningless. It doesn't show you how absolutely cool it looked!

I'm not sure what kind of reaction you were expecting, but people were looking at it. In fact, I'm sure some people would have liked more information (in depth, like how to disassemble to that point) about how you did it. Just my two cents.

I have no plans to copy your mod but your images were excellent and the mod captured my imagination as to what is possible.

Please put them back on and leave them there, it will inspire people.

Nothing bad only good things can come from it.

You may get asked to do it for someone else like Rick Wakeman etc etc

Thanks StephenKay and RichardE. Since my little mod seems interesting to you and possibly a few more lurkers, I replaced some pics.

To access the two control PCBs in order to color the numerous tiny LEDs with camera lighting acetate material, you need to remove quite a few things. First the wooden panel, then the joystick side, then the front bumper/fender, then the whole action (after ungluing the metal and plastic sheets attached to it), then almost everything screwed on the back, then the PS and lovely wide metal plate on which it is attached (in the case of most recent K2s), several connectors, etc.

Below is an example showing delicate ribbons (circled in red) that need to be removed and can be damaged if one doesn't know how to undo them, etc.

Tell us more!


NICE, NICE!!