Korg Trinity opinions on issues

[luckyluca]

Hi, I recently received a Korg Trinity Pro and it plays and sounds amazing BUT:

Do you happen to have a Trinity and mind if I ask you a few questions?

I wanted to ascertain whether it’s my expectations set too high for a vintage instrument:

The display is a bit faint and touchscreen not responsive sometimes.

The touchscreen doesn’t always register touch, sometimes I just need to touch lightly 3mm below the spot, other times it takes several harder presses.

Is this common? I’d love to replace the screen + touch, any idea what would I need exactly?

Also the seq button sometimes needs to be pressed with a hair more strength.
Sometimes and sometimes it works with normal pressure.

And the value slider skips numbers when sliding, especially at both ends.
Normal from what you recall?

Keys, joystick, ribbon, sounds, floppy otherwise work perfectly.

Thanks for looking!

[samriccijr]

Hi luckyluca!

I owned two Trinity keyboards and two TR-Racks, they are my favorite legacy Korg!

The Trinity is over 25 years old. Be prepared to take it apart, recondition and re-solder connections. Consider it fragile, keep it in the studio, don't gig with it....

The touch screen visually looks good. The fading is normal for the age. Try Global Triangle Calibrate touchscreen. Or backup your programs and enter test mode (Enter-3 Power on iirc) and test the screen.

If necessary, update the OS to V2 or V3, the screen response is improved.

The touch screens are not made any more. You might replace it with a screen from a Triton. Or a replacement glass may improve the response.

If there are lines or fades, first try to remove the entire display and clean the gap between the bezel and the touch surface. Debris can press the touch screen and make lines or render it unusable. After you clean, Global triangle re-calibrate the touch screen. Don't forget to clean the contrast knob contacts...

I think the Trinity switches have four leads. It is easy solder work to install new ones.

The encoder and data slider may be worn or dirty, it is best to replace them. Measure the size and count the pins before you order a replacement.

Hope this helps!
Sam in NJ USA

[luckyluca]

Hi Samriccijr,

Thanks for the encouragement, diagnostics shows everything is well.

Touchscreen:
It’s better now, recalibrating in a specific way has helped.

Buttons:
All working now except one button needs to be pressed a fraction harder than the rest.

[Timo]

Everyone is probably so used to smartphone/ipad touchscreens now they perhaps forget what older touch LCDs used to be like!

The banding can be reduced by the small contrast knob on the back of the Trinity. The contrast sometimes needs to be tweaked depending on whatever ambient light you're currently using the synth under, either at night with halogen bulbs, or during the day, etc.

The LCD of the Trinity is significantly less responsive than a smartphone/iPad. The Trinity was released in 1995, so the CPU and LCD screen rate are naturally slower. Modern smartphones/ipads actually cheat by invisibly enlargening the 'hitboxes' for buttons it thinks or predicts you are going to touch next, without you knowing, to attempt to reduce sloppy mis-clicks. The Trinity LCD obviously doesn't do this, so you have to be deadly accurate with your touches, it's an acquired skill as your finger effectively obscures what you're pressing. I did notice on your video when you were attempting to touch the screen your finger was too low. You were pressing below where you needed to be. You need to literally obscure the thing you want to press, and also have a little patience. As I say it just takes a slight change in your usage, compared to an iPad.

I often use the safety-pin feature of the Trinity if I want a 'pop-up' to remain open without having to repeat opening them, like when selecting waveforms.

Regards the hardware buttons (Combi, Prog, Disk etc.) the switch contacts could possibly be suffering from oxidation, sometimes you need to press them a little harder rather than a quick soft tap. I haven't replaced my buttons so unsure how you could rectify the issue without desoldering and replacing the switch contacts, or whether a spray of DeOxit could be used. Same with the slider. I rarely if ever use the slider though!

Unsure about the random freezes, though.

[luckyluca]

All resolved:

lcd touch felt better 20 years ago from memory. Surely it's my memory. It works well as long as aim correctly. Also fingers got fatter with age

Everything else works perfectly now. I disassembled the button boards and using contact cleaner did wonders.

Everything is working top notch.

Today when I turned on my Trinity I got a blank screen, just before the logo appeared. And it got stuck there.

Turning it off and on again solved it.
I run diagnostic and everything is ok.

It only happened once, and only when turning on the wall socket and Trinity straight afterwards (the wall socket powers both synths and always-on active speakers).
I usually wait 3 seconds before turning on the Trinity, maybe I didn't wait this long that time. Maybe electricity spikes of some kind?

Also, during my attempt to replicate it (I was turning on the wall socket and Trinity straight away), I once managed to have static horizontal lines at regular intervals across the display, lines that took a few power ups to make them go away.
Turning off the Trinity and wall socket and waiting 30 seconds cured all symptoms and it's now back to her usual self. As if it took time for residual electricity to disappear. Maybe power spikes caused by turning on both active speakers and Trinity at the same time?
Scary indeed

I’ll keep an eye on it if that happens again.
Thanks

UPDATE:
Staggering by a second worked perfectly ever since. It was probably the active speakers firing up at the same time.

P.s.
I replaced the floppy with a top of the line gotek usbfloppy and it works beautifully.

[Timo]

Yep, always stagger the powering up of devices. Active speakers can generate a huge transient when switching them on.