M50 Left/Right Volume Inbalance

osram · Post by **osram** » Sat Jul 03, 2010 12:40 pm

I'm not sure if this is a fault that has just developed or one I have just noticed, but the left and right channels output at different volumes.

I'd guess that the left is about 40% quieter than the right. This is across all the programs and sounds. This is repeated through the headphones and the L/R output.

Is there a master pan knob I've knocked or an internal setting to pan balance? Or is it fooked?

Thank you in advance.

Paul

osram · Post by **osram** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:12 pm

No one have any input on this?

outsider9 · Post by **outsider9** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:26 am

If is not the cables, maybe FX settings... nothing more I can think of at the moment.

mocando · Post by **mocando** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:52 am

Usually you don't get very fast responses to your queries. That can be many issues, but the usual is no one have a clue what might happen, so can't really say anything constructive.
I have not known of any global pan control or setting. You'll have to check your cables again, but since is happening on the headphones as well, it might be something wrong with your board.

Wait a few days until more people look at your post, and if there is still nothing you might have to give Korg a call.

arturo.garza · Post by **arturo.garza** » Fri Aug 06, 2010 8:11 pm

Im having the same problem. Left output is way much louder than the right one. But besides, that L Output is sometimes dirty (not too much on the left but considerable on the right). Anyone have something?

Korg M50 Red

iomodo · Post by **iomodo** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:31 am

hi guys
I have same problem
I brought Korg M50 a month ago at first it was great, but now it has inbalance. I guess its some kind of common issue.
I have Korg M50-61 Red one brought it from musiciansfriend.com.
So what to do any ideas?

iomodo · Post by **iomodo** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 11:36 am

may be update will fix this. Have you tried one?

DarkHedgehog · Post by **DarkHedgehog** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:59 am

Hello to all, I have had a Korg M50-61 (ltd. ed Yellow) for about 3 months now, (been Korg and some Roland

since M1 days) Love that board and what it becomes with a nice scaled hammer- action controller attached to it. (I know about the M50-88 with sweet RH3 keybed but I like a register of light keys too for organ and synth...

)

I too have been having volume issues as well and the right output (both thru L/R and phones exhibits same imbalance) is about roughly 40%
the signal strength of the left thru all prog/combis equally. This happened approx. 2 wks after I brought it home so I returned to the store and had the tech assess it, he said there were some 'sketchy' soldering on a few parts of the audio out circuitry and cleaned and resoldered them. It has improved the level of the right output a little but its still a little off and I was getting a hint of an "edgy digital buzzy distort-ish overtone" on most sounds (some bring it out more than others..) I have checked all FX settings to be sure there were no actual distortion/overdrive FX active, on the patches where it showed, unintended.

I also have all the updates since the beginning so I don't think it is necessarily an update issue, possibly a hardware assembly issue? I see another ltd ed. color in the same problem (Hey Iomodo...and Red) so is it a prob with the batch of Ltd. Ed. color models?

I am on the brink of returning it to the store for a more thorough repair by sending it to Korg to figure out, hoping I can bypass that route as I enjoy the EDS soundset and want to have a good working M50. I need this for work related things ASAP so I'm really not wanting to send it away anywhere if at all possible. Any info/news about this prob (or its' solution) anyone could send along would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
DH

Krog · Post by **Krog** » Sat Jan 08, 2011 8:47 pm

Just started to notice this issue on my M50

Mine is approx 14 months old so no chance of the store helping out.

Really disappointing and annoying

Does anyone know if there is a master balance setting to compensate for this issue ?

If not, looks like a dark hole (or loft !) awaits the thing.

*sigh* Wish I'd never bought the bloomin' thing

Krog · Post by **Krog** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:20 pm

Okay. Reading the manual always helps

You can manually set the panning parameters for the program sounds.
This way you can compensate for the issues we are having.

Not sure if its a cure-all for all the program sounds but its certainly helped me out.

Just as a guide I found that changing my pan setting to R105 seemed to give me back a 'balanced' stereo output although I'm sure we will all have different settings depending on our individual set-ups.

The page to look for in the manual to change the pan setting is page 40.

Hope that helps a little.

Cheers,

Krog.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:22 am

Well, my friend has a Roland XP-80 with pitch issues because the pitch bender has been used and abused. He can microtune it, but that's not the real thing.
So, how it looks like with M50 - is it software or hardware related?

Krog · Post by **Krog** » Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:41 pm

@Stargazer

I think it must be hardware related but thankfully it can be compensated by tweaking the software settings

pugface · Post by **pugface** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:47 am

I found this problem when i first had the M50. My problem was resolved by using the correct cable and input to the monitors/audio card/mixer.
The M50 requires unbalanced TS (mono) leads on both channels (Stereo/TRS will cause problems!). The receiving equipment must be set exactly the same to match this. The out signals are line level to max +16dBu. So any gain adjusts on your receiving equipment must match. The detection circuit in the Mono/left out must be balancing against the Right one when in stereo. If not set correctly, this will cause imbalanced behaviour if the receiving circuits are not truly adjusted to the same gain. This happens on many stereo synths including rolands. But some are more fussy than others. I found the M50 to be a fussy one.

dalen · Post by **dalen** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:11 pm

This is a hardware problem. Audio outputs have damaged contacts on the motherboard. I suggest you contact the warranty service.

stharp1234 · Post by **stharp1234** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:08 pm

I have the same problem on my M50-73 that I bought in Feb. I also have a 2nd M50-73 that I bought in March. When the problem occurred on the first one, I swapped the ports card with the 2nd one, thinking the problem would move to the 2nd M50- BUT IT DIDN'T; which means the problem is not with the ports card - it's somewhere before that like on the motherboard or the connections between the motherboard and the ports card. When I hooked everything back up, it worked fine for several gigs, but then yesterday it started again, but when I hooked it back up today it was fine. The symptom is that the Left output is at less than half volume and is "dirty" sounding; and this is true for the headphones Left also. But when I remove the Right cable to do Mono, it seems to work fine, sending a single (not dirty) signal to the mixer to send to both speakers. But I like to perform in stereo at my gigs, because I have floor monitors on each side of me facing me and stereo is awesome (because I also use the TC Helicon Voicelive 2 8-part vocal harmony). So I'm not sure what to do about this.

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