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Today I start playing and I hear this awful noise coming from the A to the left of middle C, loud enough to be very off putting when I'm simply playing at a average volume in my house.

Here's a video I just quickly recorded although in reality the noise is MUCH louder than it's come out on this recording.

http://youtu.be/35VKR7Diats

EDIT: Removed loads of this post as on reflection it was unfair and could give new purchases the wrong opinion

I watched your video and I can tell you that my Yamaha Clavinova sounds way louder than that on almost every key with variations in the noise it makes.

I would expect no less from a Hammer Action keybed.

Give it time, as you play more every key will produce noises as the dampening materials end up having the impression of the hammer beaten into them.

There is nothing wrong with your KRONOS.

Regards
Sharp.

Many thanks Sharp, not being used to weighted key beds, I'm being a little paranoid.

Why don't you go to your local music shop to test other weighted keyboards and hear for yourself the sort of noise a weighted keyboard makes? That way, you'll know for sure whether you need to report a problem and have it serviced, or not.

Yea that would but me as well, untill all the keys made them noises. I think what makes it stand out is the other keys haven't caught up to it yet. Out of curiosity is that a common key for you to use, not just music but do you noodle a lot in that position?

Bottom line, you should be happy. If it continues to be a problem/distraction, I recommend you have it fixed. You can keep your keyboard until the part comes in if they say there's a wait. I would get it taken care of if it was my board. Why accept dissatisfaction? Good luck.

This solution never fails: A fix for sticky keys and clunky B's and C's

For some reason, the bolts used to keep the keybed in place will allow little movement of the keybed in some time. Specially if you moved the Kronos... When this happens, the keybed will make such noises and you can even find keys which are harder to play.

You can't fix what isn’t broken. No matter what steps are taken now, all Hammer Action keybeds will get louder as you play them more and more. Here's what my Yamaha sounds like after a few years of playing.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eDwrVVLRtiA" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Regards
Sharp

Sharp wrote:<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eDwrVVLRtiA" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Great! Now you've auto upgraded the Yamaha and it nows sports key-off natural samples

Thanks for all the responses.

If I grab the front metal bar add pull with my fingernail, the note does stop clunking so the link MarPabl posted, will indeed fix it by the looks of it (presume I can do that without invalidating warranty)

In another thread a few weeks ago I was talking to someone about the span of the Kronos and how mine has such a long span between the stand ends that I will get a sheet of timber to go across the stand to support the Kronos across its width just incase.

The span between each end is 41" so there's 41" with no support, then again, I purposely bought this stand as I had such a wide keyboard.

I imagine a piece of timber would have to be quite thick not to bend/sag in the middle. Which is what's stopped me trying this. My Kronos is at a perfect height for me and the stand also has a PC keyboard/mouse draw that just clears my legs. Putting a thick bit of wood on it would raise the kronos by a bit too much I think whereas lowering it would make the PC shelf too low.

The reason I'm telling you all this is that while pulling the front bar with my fingernail stops the noise, so does pushing up not that hard on the rubber foot support (that's currently not supported) that's approximately underneath middle C

Maybe I can reconfigure how my stand is assembled and have a metal bar going across the middle, will take a look in a few weeks.


I think I'm my own worst enemy here, due to the problems I've had before, I'm more concious of things than I was with my previous keyboard.

My 88 Triton Extreme also was weighted and had been gigged all over the place when I bought it, very well used, and none of the keys rattled that I noticed. But at the same time, I wasn't looking for any problems with it, maybe they were there, and I simply accepted them as part of the clonking noise all weighted keybeds make. Actually thinking about it, it was clonking all over the place when I played it, I think Sharp is right and its because with the Kronos they're still bedding in, that I'm noticing new noises that s causing me unnecessary concern,

Sharp wrote:You can't fix what isn’t broken. No matter what steps are taken now, all Hammer Action keybeds will get louder as you play them more and more. Here's what my Yamaha sounds like after a few years of playing.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eDwrVVLRtiA" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Regards
Sharp

Hey Sharp, what model is that? Specifically, is it the Graded Hammer Effect action? If so, there is a way to replace the key weight down stop to eliminate that noise.

Geo

Hi Geo.
They are graded, it's a CVP 103. To be totally honest, I wouldn't even bother trying to quieten the keys back towards what they were like when it was new. Oddly enough, I like the fact that its developed it's own wear noises. It's part of its charm when you sitting down, eyes are closes and your playing away. Makes me feel like I'm playing a real Piano and not a PCM driven computer.

The only time it causes a problem is at night if someone else is in the same room and your playing away on headphones.

Regards
Sharp.

Hi Mr Sharp.

I had something similar with my K88X. Take a look at the video and see if you think it is the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUw47DLsxPE

I noticed this the first week of receiving my K88 and had it sent back and replaced by Korg. I was told there is a bar that warps as the unit gets hot. Was also told this is quite rare and not had any problems with the new one.

GPattheharbour wrote:Hi Mr Sharp.

I had something similar with my K88X. Take a look at the video and see if you think it is the same thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUw47DLsxPE

I noticed this the first week of receiving my K88 and had it sent back and replaced by Korg. I was told there is a bar that warps as the unit gets hot. Was also told this is quite rare and not had any problems with the new one.

I think these problems are bearable if the keybed works for another 10 years without falling apart. But who knows? I got rid of my 73 because of this and other shortcomings I could not accept. I got a Viscount Physis Piano instead and a used M3 XP 61 with EXB-Radias and tons of software synth on my MacBook Pro (Arturia/Geforce/Logic). I think that is the near perfect solution to all problems. The Physis Piano H1 is built like a tank and has XLR out and real wooden keys. It plays like a real Grand! H2 and K4 are also worth a look. So if you don´t have bought to many sound libraries and don´t need the synth engines and iPad 3/4 via USB connection the H1/H2 is the way to go.

Ojustaboo wrote:Many thanks Sharp, not being used to weighted key beds, I'm being a little paranoid.

No, you are not. A keybed does not add up new noises and deformation every month. Mine did. Yours does.
The question is: How long will it work while getting ever clonkier? Or will it stop getting clonkier and when?
It´s just a very bad quality job Korg did with the Kronos caseing and RH3 integration.
Why I am still arguing? Because of the denial that´s going on here.
Just compare the Kronos build quality to the M3 88. The M3 is so much better and sturdier built. Korg should have built a Kronos-M that could be inserted into the M3 73 and 88 keybed. Would also have made the component system look much more like a good idea with a future.
Would have been nice to buy modules wich could be inserted side by side to your M3: Maybe three Volcas plus mini MS20 pure panel module for the analog freaks?