Korg Forums

hey all, i'm sure the problems i'm experiencing with my board is nothing new here. so let me start by saying, please point me to the proper thread if one already exists. i'm guessing my best bet is getting it serviced, so my main question is, have any of u had your board serviced for any of these problems? if so please provide me with some helpful details like what u went thru, how much it cost, some good tips before doing so, etc. thanks in advance, here we go :

i have a korg zero8 firewire live control console, which i believe is a first gen model. it was delivered within the first month or 2 of it's release, and has a serial # of 000225, lot no F06. i have always used it with the same mac pro 1 1, thru firewire, and have kept my software up to date throughout. the current firmware is 1.6, and my current os is os x 10.6.8. the problems i describe below have been progressively getting worse since the mixer has been in my possession.

in the first problem i encountered, once in a while the mixer would start up and randomly choose which tracks to send the computer audio too. sometimes it would be correct and choose channel 1 as expected, while other times it chooses another stereo channel, others it would split the audio between 2 stereo channels. for instance the left would show up on left of channel 4, and right on right of channel 5. this has progressively started happening more often, no matter what startup sequence i've tried.

problem 2, recently i started experiencing ear piercing noise upon startup of the mixer, that i believe was independent of gain or volume settings on the mixer but can't remember. the only thing that appeared to make it stop was letting it warm up so to speak. this problem prompted me to get a furman power conditioner to see if that could fix the problem, but no change. i tried connecting it various ways, direct to wall, other power strips, no difference. this problem has since stopped in the wake of problem 3.

problem 3, now the sound from the mixer sounds like it is a low quality compression mp3 file. there is a sometimes faint, sometimes clearly audible digital distortion when playing sound thru it. it is most prevalent on bass sounds. this also appeared, at first, to go away once the mixer had been on for a little while. but now will not go away. i have isolated this distortion to be solely from this mixer, for as a back up i have a motu ultralite, and mackie 1202vlz which i have subsequently connected to my computer and tested sound, which was noise / distortion free. i also tried just using the board as a stand alone mixer, rather than connecting firewire to my computer, and the same result. i connected my iphone with mini jack to rca on the board, an input which i never use, and still the same problem.

problem 4, as the board started to make noise, i noticed the headphone jack is now blown out / distorted as well. i rarely use the headphones, and had plugged it in to see if it made a difference. it's different distortion, but still distorted. in reading a bit thru these forums i've noticed other people's problems with this, and how it may be related to overheating. could this be the overall cause? what is a good solution?

again, thanks in advance for any responses.

ill eagle

First look here, perhaps this will help you out:
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=29285
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=52583

Hello Ill E,

I have had problem #1 intermittently over the years, usually turning off and one remedies the situation (obviously not for you). Sometimes I also get 440hz test tone blasting through every channel on the mixer when I try a restart after the random sound channel bug.

Problem #3 I now have on a daily basis ... the low frequencies now sound like they are being run through a bit degrader or a ring-modulator ... If I let the mixer "warm-up" it eventually (almost) fades away, usually after 20 minutes to an hour. I was livid the other morning when this became "permanent" ...

I am under the impression (as many users here are as well) that the location of the power supply unit is the main culprit. I already have taken my board in for service (about a year ago) to have the Kaoss Pad replaced ... I am sure they are going to have to replace the DAC inside, and I am going to pick up an external DAC and run SPDIF out ... I had said I was going to do this last year after I had the mixer repaired, but I was lazy and am now kicking myself for it. Don't make the same mistake, buy an external DAC if you have this board and don't want it in the shop constantly!

I just bought a second hand Zero 8 on eBay off of someone who appears to be trying to rip me off.... They claimed it was in excellent working condition, but it has the exact same problem. The outputs are distorted with digital degrading, and the headphone output doesn't work. At fist the touchscreen wasn't working either so I wasn't sure if it was just some bad settings or if it was really just jacked up. After running the mixer all night, the touchscreen started working and I did a factory reset and it's still the same, so I know it's an actual problem and not just settings. My question is, did any of you get this issue fixed? If so was it expensive? What exactly caused it? and should I bother trying to get mine fixed, or just force eBay to give me a refund?[/quote]

My first zero8 repeatedly exhibited the "outputs to random channels" bug. I experienced it on two different Macs including my Mac Pro 1,1, so that largely rules out your computer. I returned the Zero 8 and got a different unit, which consistently gives me the correct channels to the correct outputs. No idea why.

I have definitely found that you need to use a good cable. Make sure you try a different cable if you're experiencing sketchy audio behavior. Seriously - you'd think that it just works or it doesn't, but ... I have resolved audio quality issues by simply swapping the FW cable.

Third, and most important ... (sigh) never use this unstable, unreliable piece of crap live. I loved it for its amazing features, but it has burned me far too many times in the middle of a performance (up to just one week ago). Korg rapidly abandoned the "Zero" line very suddenly without giving any real reason, but I think the users are starting to figure it out.