Korg Forums

Took my beloved Kronos back to the shop today. 70 mile round trip. My headphone socket was crackling!
Only to find out, it was the headphone lead!!!!

Ha!

How many times has anyone taken a keyboard (or any equipment) apart, done whatever you needed to do, then put it back together only to hear a screw rolling around when you flipped it back over! Or not checked that it would power up before you put it back together.

I've done this more times than I care to admit.

Here's a story.

I've been using my Motif 7 Classic for 10 years straight. 80 shows a year - most of the time without a backup (yea I know REALLY STUPID). Only problem ever was the keyboard needed to be replaced from wear and tear. This thing has been the most reliable keyboard ever.

Late last year I decided to upgrade to the Kronos 73. The very first gig that I took the Kronos out along with the Motif, all the Motif faders and one entire octave on the Motif stopped working.

My girlfriend said my Motif got jealous. Cuz I had my hands all over another. Right in from of her. hahahahahaha

Laughed my A off!! hahaha

I had on my first Korg removed all screws but a bit too much removed ... I did manage to put everything back together but took me an hour extra.

Another story:
One time during rehearsal my Kronos was really noisy. I thought it would be due to the electricity (however I never got any problems with a synth there, sometimes a guitarist has). I tried everything (like exchanging cables, changing the monitor inputs, using different power plugs).

Then when I came home I had the same problem. I thought: oh no, something's wrong with the Kronos itself.

Turned out I (probably accidentally) turned the audio input volumes on the back resulting in a lot of noise.

Well, one that always comes to mind is when I was working over at Rogue music back around 1990.

This guy calls me up and wants to buy a sample of "electricity" for his EPS. He was going to play outdoors in Central Park and had no access to a power supply, so he figured that if he loaded in the sample it would work like a battery.

Yes, he was definitely serious.

kid_nepro_2002 wrote:Well, one that always comes to mind is when I was working over at Rogue music back around 1990.

This guy calls me up and wants to buy a sample of "electricity" for his EPS. He was going to play outdoors in Central Park and had no access to a power supply, so he figured that if he loaded in the sample it would work like a battery.

Yes, he was definitely serious.

LOL ... a bit unrelated to music, but I knew a guy who thought he could only create programs of 25 lines because then the first programmed line scrolled from the screen.

Well you know,don't knock some of these dumbass moments,because it could work in your favour....(providing your not the dumbass)

I bought a Korg 01W and Roland D50 many years ago from a gentleman who was a friend of a friend,he said they had suffered an electrical surge and they died on him and he hadn't got the funds or knowledge to repair them,so I bought both off him for £70(this was around 1996)as I used to repair synths and mainly bought them for spares...

When I got them home plugged them in,nothing,so first thought was to check the fuses in the kettle leads,Both of them had blown,so used another set of kettle leads and Voila they worked!!!Kept the 01W but sold the D50 and got my money back plus £500 profit!!!...

I also scored an M1 from a local paper ad about 15 years ago,because the guy said his son asked him to sell it as he was working overseas,unbeknown to his father,he thought it wasn't working correctly as he'd tested it but couldn't get no sound out of it,I bought it to do up,never tested it but when i got home it was fine I guess he wasn't aware it needed amplification and sold it as spares/repairs for £50...Bet his son wasn't too amused when he found out!

kid_nepro_2002 wrote:Well, one that always comes to mind is when I was working over at Rogue music back around 1990.

This guy calls me up and wants to buy a sample of "electricity" for his EPS. He was going to play outdoors in Central Park and had no access to a power supply, so he figured that if he loaded in the sample it would work like a battery.

Yes, he was definitely serious.

I have a story in a similar vein ...

I worked part-time at a hi-fi salon in Beverly Hills while going to college. A woman brought in a very expensive receiver for service. She said it hadn't worked since the maid had unplugged it while cleaning. The ac plug was plugged into the accessory outlet on the back of the receiver. I asked if that was where she had plugged in the ac and she said yes, it was a much more convenient outlet than the one on the wall.

A friend of mine picked up a real hammond organ that was put to the side of the street to be picked up as 'big garbage' and this friend sold it later for about 1000 euros.

(most organs are not worth anything, but probably the owner of the organ didn't knew this was not really the case for a real Hammond).

kid_nepro_2002 wrote:Well, one that always comes to mind is when I was working over at Rogue music back around 1990.

This guy calls me up and wants to buy a sample of "electricity" for his EPS. He was going to play outdoors in Central Park and had no access to a power supply, so he figured that if he loaded in the sample it would work like a battery.

Yes, he was definitely serious.

Priceless!

michelkeijzers wrote:A friend of mine picked up a real hammond organ that was put to the side of the street to be picked up as 'big garbage' and this friend sold it later for about 1000 euros.

(most organs are not worth anything, but probably the owner of the organ didn't knew this was not really the case for a real Hammond).

Probably didn't understand how to start it.

kid_nepro_2002 wrote:Well, one that always comes to mind is when I was working over at Rogue music back around 1990.

This guy calls me up and wants to buy a sample of "electricity" for his EPS. He was going to play outdoors in Central Park and had no access to a power supply, so he figured that if he loaded in the sample it would work like a battery.

Yes, he was definitely serious.

Part of music store lore (when I worked at a Sam Ash in the '90s) was of a guy who brought in his new sampler for exchange. It was completely dead, so the helpful salesman exchanges it for another new one. This routine happens two more times before they finally insist that he fully detail to them what he's been doing.
Supposedly while explaining himself, the guy whips out a custom cable that he made to go from an AC power outlet to a 1/4" jack! He was trying to sample the sound of electricity!

It was also during this time that I had been asked by uninformed customers for items such as "MIDIs", "M1D1", "Viscosity Sensible" keyboards, and even samplers that can "tourniquet".

I once forgot my accordion on the way to a studio where I was going specifically to record it.

Also, less spectacular but much more persistent and annoying; I make most of my own audio cables and I lost count how often I soldered the wire to the plug without threading the cable through the socket part first. It's ok when the other end is still plug-less, but really depressing if you then do the same thing on the other end. I once did it on 3 out of 4 ends (making two cables) before I gave up (and had a drink and a quiet cry).

phattbuzz wrote:

michelkeijzers wrote:A friend of mine picked up a real hammond organ that was put to the side of the street to be picked up as 'big garbage' and this friend sold it later for about 1000 euros.

(most organs are not worth anything, but probably the owner of the organ didn't knew this was not really the case for a real Hammond).

Probably didn't understand how to start it.

Or it was 'inherited' from someone and considered 'just' an organ. Most non musicians cannot tell the difference between a electronic organ and hammond (maybe if you point out the difference but not without any notice).

michelkeijzers wrote:

phattbuzz wrote:

michelkeijzers wrote:A friend of mine picked up a real hammond organ that was put to the side of the street to be picked up as 'big garbage' and this friend sold it later for about 1000 euros.

(most organs are not worth anything, but probably the owner of the organ didn't knew this was not really the case for a real Hammond).

Probably didn't understand how to start it.

Or it was 'inherited' from someone and considered 'just' an organ. Most non musicians cannot tell the difference between a electronic organ and hammond (maybe if you point out the difference but not without any notice).

Even with Hammonds, there are desirable models (Tonewheels) and worthless models (non-tonewheels).