Kronos X Build Quality?

[MarkF786]

I've been thinking of getting a Kronos X 61, but I keep coming across complaints about the Kronos' build quality in various forums. And even in this forum, there are two sticks about problems (the fan noise and keybed issues, though with the 61 I wouldn't have to worry about the later), which isn't a good sign. In my limited hands-on experience with the Kronos at music stores, I have come across several with broken controls on them.

So what's the real story on the Kronos X build quality? Are hardware problems common? I wouldn't be gigging with it, but I'd still want to to be built well enough to last for many years without problems.

Thanks for the feedback.

Mark

[GregC]

I've been thinking of getting a Kronos X 61, but I keep coming across complaints about the Kronos' build quality in various forums. And even in this forum, there are two sticks about problems (the fan noise and keybed issues, though with the 61 I wouldn't have to worry about the later), which isn't a good sign. In my limited hands-on experience with the Kronos at music stores, I have come across several with broken controls on them.

So what's the real story on the Kronos X build quality? Are hardware problems common? I wouldn't be gigging with it, but I'd still want to to be built well enough to last for many years without problems.

Thanks for the feedback.

Mark

music store, specifically Guitar Center are known for having keyboards with damaged controls. the GC staff lets young children have their way with
these expensive 'toys '.

as far as hardware questions, thats what the stickies on top of the forum are for.

about 2 years of information

[Diego5150]

Hey Mark,
I have had the Kronos 73X since September of last year and I have had no issues whatsoever. My biggest issue is learning the Kronos because it is so deep. If I run into something I am not sure of or have questions this forum is a great place with very knowledgable and personable people who are more than happy to help. But the Kronos & bought is quality all the way.

My advice is go to your nearest equipment dealer bring your headphones and put the Kronos to the test for hours if you have the time. That is what I did and I initially was going to buy the Yamaha Motif.

I got mine with 18 month 0% financing so I was satisfied knowing if I ever had an issue I still had some leverage.
Whatever you do good luck.

[lonelagranger]

Before purchasing my Kronos X I was also a little concerned about the negative posts on this forum. ie: problems with fan, keyboard etc. I talked to my Guitar Center Saleman, who I have used for over 15 years. He has turned into a good friend and has always been honest with me. When I mentioned buying a Kronos the first thing out of his mouth was, " make sure you get a Kronos X".

I followed his suggestion and had him order me a new Kronos X 88 note. I received it within 3 days and it was perfect out of the box. The build quality is a mixed bag as far as I am concerned. I feel that for normal use the keyboard would hold up very well. If is were to be moved a lot then I might be more concerned. It offers a tremendous amount of technology at a price that is expensive but within the margins of reason. They had to cut corners in order to do this. As a whole, however, I Have found it to be an inspiring instrument and a joy to play. If you get one get the Kronos X and be sure you have a warranty.

Best of luck with your musical adventure.

[Ojustaboo]

I have a kronosX 88 which I got after problems with two original ones.

You simply can't compare them keybed wise. Both my originals had uneven spacing, my X every single key is perfectly spaced.

I have zero problems with velocities on it and its a great synth.

With regards to the fan, most people have no problem, but its not a matter of what different people deem acceptable, some Kronos do have a louder fan.

I can hear my X one occasionally when I boot the Kronos, but it goes quiet after about 20 secs, I never heard my original ones at all.

I also have a PC running Cubase and Native Instruments nearby and the fan noise of that drowns out the Kronos completely. If I shut down the PC I can hear a quiet whirl of the fan, no louder than a quiet laptop fan, certainly not loud enough to bother me or get picked up by my cheap Shure PG58 mic, but my Kronos isn't in a studio situation, its in the corner of one of my downstairs rooms, it could well be that if I was in a soundproof studio it would sound a lot louder.

Its also automatically controlled by the Kronos like a CPU fan is in a PC so depending on what your Kronos is doing will depend on how fast the fan will spin.

If your using it at home, I personally wouldn't worry about it, my old Roland D70 LCD screen used to hum louder than my Kronos fan.

If your using it in a very quiet studio location I still wouldn't let that stop you buying what is the best synth by miles. You could be unlucky and get one with a loud fan (if so simply get it fixed by Korg) but the chances are yours will be perfect.

In fact on my original Kronos, I used it for a week, was browsing this forum, read a thread about the fan and panicked as I hadn't heard mine at all and was worried it wasn't working, putting my ear to the Kronos I could hear it so panic over.

Build quality, its fine. The front bar could be a bit better on the 88 version, the design not being what I would call perfect for such a span, but it does the job fine regardless of what I think.

You won't have that worry on the 61 version and most don't even think of it on the 88 either.

The rest is perfect, the buttons all feel great and press fine first time, sliders and knobs the same, all fine. No problems at all.

I'm a very very critical person when it comes to me spending money, I expect to get what I paid for. I did have problems with my two originals that I found unacceptable, virtually any other product I can think of I would have told the company to sod off and I would have bought a competitors product. The fact I have a Kronos X and I absolutely love it speaks volumes.

Get one, I'm sure you will think it to be the best decision you have made in years.

There have been a few of us ranting on here I have been one of the most vocal, and what we experienced, well we shouldn't have. But if you add up all the complaints about the Kronos in the last 6 months by different people, I suspect you will struggle to find 10 and that's from many different countries, so while those with problems have been justifiably vocal about them, they are still a very small number and usually when Kronos problems are discussed on other English forums, the cases people quote are the few on this forum.

So in short, go and buy it

[firstlovedan]

Let me say this, as far as the fan noise goes. I am a congestive heart patient, and last year I was implanted with an LVAD. An LVAD is basically an artificial heart. It uses a motor that runs on two 14 volt batteries. When I play in a quiet room, I can hear my pump OVER the Kronos fan. Only in seriously critical recording situations would MY Kronos 61 be audible. But then if you are THAT CRITICAL, your fingers hitting the keys would present a problem.

Of course, there might be others that have louder fans.

I do have a problem getting higher velocities to trigger. I find that when I control my Kronos with my Motif, or Fantom, the Kronos become much more expressive.

My only other complaint was that my Kronos fell off of a two wheeler while in it's case, and that fall destroyed the keybed, and broke 3 keys. I was extremely surprised by the damage, but then again, it could have just been a freak accident, and the Kronos could have hit a certain way.

That being said, If I had a chance to do it again, I would buy the Kronos. The pianos, the acoustic guitars, organs and synths 'IMHO' are the high point of this board.

If it tells you anything, I sent my Beloved K out for repair 2 weeks ago,mand although I have a Motif XS, ES, A Roland Fantom G, and an AX Synth, they fail to comfort me during this time of mourning!

I doubt very highly you would regret this investment!

Blessings,
dan

[cynkh]

I second that. I basically avoid making purchases at GC as they've repackaged returned merch and re-sold as new- missing documentation, discs, adapters, etc. </end><return>

I would say that the hardware problems you've heard about and experienced are far less common than you would imagine (based on a low sampling base including GC and a forum dedicated to helping users with their respective problems ). For example, I've had my Kronos 61 since they first became available and have had no issues with fan noise, controls or keybed (knocking on wood after saying that...).

I agree that the knobs are quite tall and the vector joystick a bit filament-esque but this just requires a bit more care with operating, stowing and transporting. In all actuality, I prefer the feel of the VJS on the Kronos and find it's more expressive than the original WS VJS. As for the knobs, if you just twist with your fingers and not with your wrist or elbow you'll find your Kronos will last virtually forever (and I've gone through my fair share of pots, encoders, dials, etc. with a less-than-graceful performance style).

Hope this helps inform your decision. Cheers!

I've been thinking of getting a Kronos X 61, but I keep coming across complaints about the Kronos' build quality in various forums. And even in this forum, there are two sticks about problems (the fan noise and keybed issues, though with the 61 I wouldn't have to worry about the later), which isn't a good sign. In my limited hands-on experience with the Kronos at music stores, I have come across several with broken controls on them.

So what's the real story on the Kronos X build quality? Are hardware problems common? I wouldn't be gigging with it, but I'd still want to to be built well enough to last for many years without problems.

Thanks for the feedback.

Mark

music store, specifically Guitar Center are known for having keyboards with damaged controls. the GC staff lets young children have their way with
these expensive 'toys '.

as far as hardware questions, thats what the stickies on top of the forum are for.

about 2 years of information

[carmol]

Kronos Kronos and X are essentially the same,
apart from the RH3 keybed and the data wheel on early models.
I have a kronos 73, the keybed and the data wheel were
changed under warranty, and now is pretty much like the model X.

my keybed current is absolutely identical to this one:
(apart numer of Keys)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... s_X_88.jpg

Unfortunately for us first buyers, and thanks to the
nefarious policy of Korg, you can make some great bargains
buying a plain Kronos still under warranty and
asking for free keybed replacement

[Ojustaboo]

Kronos Kronos and X are essentially the same,
apart from the RH3 keybed and the data wheel on early models.
I have a kronos 73, the keybed and the data wheel were
changed under warranty, and now is pretty much like the model X.

my keybed current is absolutely identical to this one:
(apart numer of Keys)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... s_X_88.jpg

Unfortunately for us first buyers, and thanks to the
nefarious policy of Korg, you can make some great bargains
buying a plain Kronos still under warranty and
asking for free keybed replacement

Don't forget though that while they started off replacing the keybed, they soon stopped and just replaced the contacts, hence a lot of peoples original Kronos are nothing like the X keybed.

So if you do get an original one and it has the note cutoff, you will not get a replacement keyvbed and you haven't for over a year (they started replacing just the contacts in March 2012)

I also had two original Kronos both with completely different keybeds, different textures on the black notes, completely different feel/action and neither of those are anything like my X keybed.

And all 3 of them had the RH3 made in Japan sticker on them

[carmol]

Don't forget though that while they started off replacing the keybed, they soon stopped and just replaced the contacts, hence a lot of peoples original Kronos are nothing like the X keybed.

So if you do get an original one and it has the note cutoff, you will not get a replacement keyvbed and you haven't for over a year (they started replacing just the contacts in March 2012)

I also had two original Kronos both with completely different keybeds, different textures on the black notes, completely different feel/action and neither of those are anything like my X keybed.

And all 3 of them had the RH3 made in Japan sticker on them

I can say with certainty that my keybed has been replaced,
not one, but TWO times,
because even the new RH3 keybed of Kronos X is not free of problems !
look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osf_zq3NKT0
My first new rh3 keybed suffered of this problem
related to Kronos X,
so I got a new replacement.

[Ojustaboo]

Don't forget though that while they started off replacing the keybed, they soon stopped and just replaced the contacts, hence a lot of peoples original Kronos are nothing like the X keybed.

So if you do get an original one and it has the note cutoff, you will not get a replacement keyvbed and you haven't for over a year (they started replacing just the contacts in March 2012)

I also had two original Kronos both with completely different keybeds, different textures on the black notes, completely different feel/action and neither of those are anything like my X keybed.

And all 3 of them had the RH3 made in Japan sticker on them

I can say with certainty that my keybed has been replaced,
not one, but TWO times,
because even the new RH3 keybed of Kronos X is not free of problems !
look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osf_zq3NKT0
My first new rh3 keybed suffered of this problem
related to Kronos X,
so I got a new replacement.

The problem shown in that YouTube thread is not the well known and well reported rh3 note cutoff problem, its something completely different and anyone buying any make keyboard could be unlucky enough to get a duff instrument.

If they replaced your original keybed for one with that problem of course they will replace it for one that works properly but again that YouTube clip is not the cutoff problem.

If you look at the RH3 sticky, you will see that what happened to you is not the norm (presuming your first keybed was replaced after March - May 2012 as it was the norm before that) Just because they replaced yours doesn't mean its the usual way they do things.

All I'm saying is that to tell people they can buy an original and request a replacement keybed, the chances are (as shown by the sticky) they won't get one.

You owned your Kronos in 2011, when did you first get the keybed replaced?

The keybed sticky, a few had their keybeds replaced in April/May 2012 but by the end of April, replacing just the contacts had become the norm.

[Bertotti]

I have an x61 and it works great, yes the fan is a it loud it not unbearable and I do have a replacement fan on hand if needed, the bigger issue which is very small is the plastic box the ribbon and stick sit in will rattle. A bit of something put between it and the metal stops that. No problems buy the X! I do however miss extra keys! I didn't realize how much until I only had 61.

[metallo]

I purchased a kronos 73 (not the X) last february.
After a couple of weeks the keybed problem started to show.

I sent the kronos to korg uk, they replaced the contacts and realigned the keybed and never had any other issue with it.

[lonelagranger]

Kronos Kronos and X are essentially the same,
apart from the RH3 keybed and the data wheel on early models.

The Kronos X also has a different motherboard, D525MW as I recall, with a slightly faster processor, 1.8 GHZ.

[carmol]

Kronos Kronos and X are essentially the same,
apart from the RH3 keybed and the data wheel on early models.

The Kronos X also has a different motherboard, D525MW as I recall, with a slightly faster processor, 1.8 GHZ.

Yes, and memory type is SODIMM,
these are the only differences.

My keybed was replaced before march 2012;
I know very well that the problem in the video
I posted is not the cutoff problem,
I am just saying that Kronos X keybed is far from perfection,
unfortunately, other users have reported
noises, clicks and rattles.
IMHO I had a much better feel with original
Kronos keybed, apart cutoff problems,
no noises and rattles, more solid construction.