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Since a week I play my new Korg Prologue 8 now.

It's a really fine synth with a basic sound well suited for contemporary music, while delivering the vividenss of analog gear.

It has a major flaw though: those reocurring tuning problems, mainly with certain notes (E / F, sometimes F# as well) and/or voice boards, whatever causes this. As far as I can see, this concerns most or all owners of a Korg Prologue I know or heard of.

An official statement from Korg adressing this issue is urgently needed and seems to be missing. I know of a few users who already sold their new Prologue again, because the 1.2 update didn't remove the problem, and Korg does not adress this heavy issue officially, while acknowlediging it in some direct user contacts with users who provided concrete, undisputable proof of the existing problem.

So far I am lucky to have the problem only in limited, though ultimately unacceptable form. On my Prologue 8 mainly E and F are concerned, and in part I can play around the issue, making it appear slightly less drastic and obvious (NOT: vanish), by manual tuning now and then after warm-up. But that's just an effort of dealing with it and no lasting solution.

So Korg has to become aware there's only two options left:
- either they drop their new analog poly synth by ignoring the heavy issue, thus probably crashing the selling rates within weeks into nothingsness, making the Prologue a synth with a basic unresolved issue, resold at lowest prices and not bougth by new users any more
- or adress the heavy issue by
a) communicationg about the situation and about serious efforts to solve the problem
b) puttingh all their available resureces into solving the issue fast and either provide a software fix by updating the OS, or offer exchanging voice cards causing the heavy tuning drift - whatever may help.

One way or the other: it's time for Korg feedback - or for leaving a new synth project, which caught a lot of positive attention worldwide, and damaging Korg's reputation heavily for years to come.

This is really serious from my view, with Korg's whole reputation at stake!
I wish them all the best, because I really like this synth a lot! But I guess I will give it back within two weeks or so, as long as I can, if I see no solution feedback from Korg.

+1

Some research has led me to the conclusion, that in context of company behavior, Korg probably won't give any official statement, before they actually resoved the issue (IF they are able to do so).

But nobody knows, IF and WHEN they might be able to fix the problem. And I ask myself in the first place: How in the world could such a heavy flaw get through Korg quality control unnoticed??? I personally see no choice than come to two conclusions:

a) return my unit for a complete refund now
b) warn everybody to wait with a buy until this fundamental issue is resolved (and not buy at all as long as Korg gives no comment and it is not resolved).

It is still possible to buy a well working unit later.
But is hard to use an instrument with such a basic, constantly occuring flaw.

Update:
My Prologue went back (full refund) yesterday. You can't seriously record the device with the unfixed tuning issues on notes e/f/f#, and even playing it live can be really embarrassing.

I'm ready to buy a new one, as soon as I can be sure that the problem does no longer occur. Or I will buy new ones every some weeks, to check if they also have the problem, and send them back, as long as the problems persist, until I finally get a flawless one.

Just read about a reaction to the issue (Gearslutz forum)

This is what Korg are saying (officially) as of today about the tuning issue...
Quote:
We have seen some reports of a slight detuning on an isolated range of keys, which Korg Inc.'s engineers are now investigating.
Korg stands behind our products, and if there is any sort of issue, we will work to make it right.

I´ll get my 8 voice next days, let´s see if it might be one of the exeptions.

Regards,
Herbert

Where did you find that Korg statement? It is really important for Prologue buyers! I would buy a Prologue anytime again, as soon as the issue is examined and fixed.

"We have seen some reports" is a very cautious way to put it.
I have not been able to test a unit without these issues so far (that means several units I tried had it, without a single exception), and from user feedback it rather seems widespread than rare.

But that entry does not show any source either.
I didn't find that quote by googling.
If it is just part of a personal email, that's more than nothing, but still less than I expect from Korg, to clarify the present status for all buyers and possible buyers once and for all.

At the moment, half a dozen people I know refrain from ordering a Prologue, despite strong interest, because a public official clarification from Korg is still missing.

jimknopf wrote:Where did you find that Korg statement? It is really important for Prologue buyers! I would buy a Prologue anytime again, as soon as the issue is examined and fixed.

"We have seen some reports" is a very cautious way to put it.
I have not been able to test a unit without these issues so far (that means several units I tried had it, without a single exception), and from user feedback it rather seems widespread than rare.

I posted that, it's from Korg's official email support. Sorry for not stating the source.

Thanks for the update, Grokaknock!

Korg really need to adress that in public to give us all a clue.
At the moment I (like others I know) don't dare to order another Prologue, because the risk of doing so is completely out of any solid reasoning.

Was tempted to buy one, since the King Korg is a great product. Reminds me somehow of the 2011 Kronos keybed problems. Maybe in a few years the product is ready?

I haven't seen (or heard) this issue on my Prologue 16.

Glad to hear you have one without issues!
Where did you buy yours, and which serial number does it have?

I'm getting more news about faulty Prologues day by day, and especially the news about a user having gotten a second faulty one with his second buying effort (after having had to return the first one) do not really encourage me to try the same, and order yet again.

So I'm wondering, why Korg still doesn't feel the need to clarify matters on their news page, while more faulty Prologues are hitting unsuspecting buyers all the time. If Korg won't show a public reaction anytime soon, this might seriously hurt their reputation for years to come. And they have had quite a good reputation, for good reasons, so far! Not reacting, after severe Prologue issues are widely known long enough meanwhile, that's an example of weakness and missing responsibility towards their user base, among them many faithful longtime Korg buyers.

Puukka wrote:I´ll get my 8 voice next days, let´s see if it might be one of the exeptions.

I´m sorry to say, it was no exemption, #950 to 1000.
Every keystroke a new tuning and sound (at triangle and square) between E and F#. You don´t need a tuner, it´s very audible, useless for my recordings.
Sent back, I mailed to Korg´s German support to give it another try when there is a solution.
Otherwise very nice synth, I like it´s sturdiness, the digital oscillator and the filter is much better than Minilogue´s, which was sucking bass when adding resonance.
With Minilogue I´ve edited lots of sweet sounds but no real fat or deep sounds.
Regards,
Herbert

German support wrote today, that the are awaiting results of the inspection by Korg Japan. Well, much better than nothing, I´ll be patient.

Regards,
Herbert