Korg Forums

Hi,
This is my first post on this forum, so bear with me. I wanted to share my experience with my Kronos 73. When I first got it everything was fine then after a while the keybed started acting up with the same thing that has been documented. I started missing notes when playing but only intermittently so I "lived," with that. By the time it got bad enough to force my hand the warranty was up. Time flies when you're having fun. So I went to you folks in the forum and surprise, surprise, I was not the only one having problems. What I didn't see were people trying to fix the problem themselves. So I tried it. First I ordered replacement contacts.

http://www.guitar-parts.com/catalog/kor ... ip-12-note

I placed some heavy craft paper between the keys and the front edge of the keyboard case then used masking tape to tape this paper to the case. I wished I could have found the original spacers but oh well. Then I placed the Kronos upside down with the ends supported by a big stuffed oversized chair in our den. Be careful not to damage the joystick. Then, because I didn't have any manual I removed all the screws on the bottom of the keyboard using a small drill driver. I was careful to place the screws in the exact pattern I removed them and placing them on a side table. Then I lifted off the bottom of the keyboard. I could see I had to remove 2 metal braces that run lengthwise and cover up the pink rubber contacts which I could see. I think there were 4 screws. There is a wire that runs through the metal braces which loosely joins them. I didn't want to unplug that wire so I had my wife hold the metal braces up slightly while I lifted out the old contacts and replaced them with the new "pink" contacts. Evidently, there were old bad pink contacts, then Korg issued new good blue contacts and now they are issuing good pink contacts. Whatever. Once done, I looked around the guts of the board and the build quality looked pretty good to me. At this moment I also have a Yamaha acoustic grand, Yamaha Motif XF8, and a Novation Ultranova. IMHO the Korg is below the XF8 in build and better than the plastiky Ultranova. Keybed wise it falls behind the Yamaha also. Soundwise it beats all of them until I can find a way to turn my Yamaha Grand into a portable workstation. Haha. And the Setlist function is HUGE for any gigging musician. Okay back to the repair. After I buttoned the bottom up by placing the screws back into the exact same holes they came out of, I found that one of the keys was sticking, so I placed it back upside down loosened only the larger screws. I figured out after taking it apart that only the large screws hold the keybed in place. Then I pushed the keybed back slightly by gently pushing on the front of the keys. Tightened the big screws and no more sticking. Another tip is tip hand tighten the screws on the bottom of the keyboard because the bottom is just thin MDF, so I don't think you want to overtighten any of those screws. Booted the Kronos up and I swear it plays better than new. I won't lie and tell you it now tops the XF8 but it is closer. The best description is a lighter feel without those damn cutoff notes. Bottom line is I spent less than $60 and about 1/2 hour for this fix. My thought is to buy another set of contacts as a spare. Thanks to everyone who help others here and I hope this helps someone else.

Didn't you get a 2 year warranty from Korg just by registering? Or did you get your board more than 2 years ago?

I think that is US only?

Oh, didn't know where Groveland was. I'm glad you were able do a good fix yourself. I had to have mine replaced too and then had no more problems ... so far. Good luck.

jprandkpr wrote: My thought is to buy another set of contacts as a spare.

Since rubber dries out over time, you might be better off, not storing it, but buying it fresh when you're ready to use it, hopefully, never. Just a thought.

Hm. This is interesting... Just a couple of days ago, I bought an already 15 years old Korg SGproX Stage Piano... After all these years, still the keybed is fine, no bad contacts etc... In opposite, the Kronos is on the market now for 2 years and already you have to change the contacts... To me, this is another proof of poor build quality on nowadays devices (Not only Kronos...) - seems in the older days, everything was better...

I service keyboards. In the mid 80's companies started to transition from metal contacts to rubber. This was strictly a cost saving move as the metal contacts were more expensive to manufacture. The best contacts ever made for keyboards were manufactured by Yamaha for the DX-7. Every product Yamaha made for many years used that system. Korg used Yamaha keyboards for years as well. My Triton for example had this superior contact system.

I have railed against rubber contacts for years. I don't care who makes them or uses them, they are bad. They cannot be restored as such since they simply wear our with use. They are prone to the slightest amount of dust particles causing missed notes or velocity problems.

Every manufacturer has had problems with rubber contacts. Since the field of keyboards is so competitive and buyers are so price driven manufacturers aren't likely to change coarse on this.

Personally, I would pay extra for the Yamaha style contact system and wish manufacturers would offer premium keyboard options. I'm sure a large segment of keyboard owners wouldn't know the difference but for "serious players", a quality keyboard should be an option.

I wonder what the cost difference between the older Yamaha DX-7 style keyboard is compared to the current crop?

Geo

jprandkpr...

Thanks for sharing your repair task and am pleased it was successful.
Could you tell me how many strips you bought and if you had to cut any to fit,please ?

Best Wishes.

MRedZac wrote:Hm. This is interesting... Just a couple of days ago, I bought an already 15 years old Korg SGproX Stage Piano... After all these years, still the keybed is fine, no bad contacts etc... In opposite, the Kronos is on the market now for 2 years and already you have to change the contacts... To me, this is another proof of poor build quality on nowadays devices (Not only Kronos...) - seems in the older days, everything was better...

Sad but true.

geoelectro wrote:I service keyboards. In the mid 80's companies started to transition from metal contacts to rubber. This was strictly a cost saving move as the metal contacts were more expensive to manufacture. The best contacts ever made for keyboards were manufactured by Yamaha for the DX-7. Every product Yamaha made for many years used that system. Korg used Yamaha keyboards for years as well. My Triton for example had this superior contact system.

I have railed against rubber contacts for years. I don't care who makes them or uses them, they are bad. They cannot be restored as such since they simply wear our with use. They are prone to the slightest amount of dust particles causing missed notes or velocity problems.

Every manufacturer has had problems with rubber contacts. Since the field of keyboards is so competitive and buyers are so price driven manufacturers aren't likely to change coarse on this.

Personally, I would pay extra for the Yamaha style contact system and wish manufacturers would offer premium keyboard options. I'm sure a large segment of keyboard owners wouldn't know the difference but for "serious players", a quality keyboard should be an option.

I wonder what the cost difference between the older Yamaha DX-7 style keyboard is compared to the current crop?

Geo

what kind of contacts did the OASYS have ?

To those interested, I bought 7 strips of 12 for my Kronos 73. You end up having to make a cut, but I cut the strips exactly like the factory ones that came out. Now I'm on a quest to get the keybed to feel more like my Motif, so I'm going to look at the velocity curves. I think they should be in the global setting but I couldn't find it last night. I'm on version 2.0.6 so I'll try again this morning. I agree with the other post on quality. I'm old enough and lucky enough to have owned a Fender Rhodes and a Rhodes Chroma. I wish I had those keyboards now to compare because I'm pretty sure the actions were better. But in all honesty they weighed a ton and weren't as versatile. So technology and cost cutting continues on.

Thanks for the info about the rubber contact strip quantity.

Although I have seen them in situ and realize that some need to be cut….I simply couldn't remember the total number of strips there were,but now I know.

The velocity settings are on the first page in global under Basic……. you've probably already found that out anyway.

If you play a lot of piano,I suggest you use velocity curve 9 which will provide the best response, it can also be left at that setting for all other voices as well,if desired.
There are several curve choices which will be down to personal preference and can be changed at any time for any voice and type of playing.
However,these are global settings and will probably not need regular changes in practice…….as I've found in my own set up,that is.

In addition,the SGX piano has other settings available which compliment the overall sound…velocity bias and intensity,plus other changes that can be made,which are found via its program pages.
All of which can provide many piano patches,each with their own tonal differences.

Enjoy the Kronos !!!

What is the parts number of the 12 note contact strip? I see two on that site, one is blue and the other is grey. Which one did you order?

mperezjr6 wrote:What is the parts number of the 12 note contact strip? I see two on that site, one is blue and the other is grey. Which one did you order?

Korg says that the correct key contact strips for the KRONOS are:

#500422008889: RH-3E RUBBER SW12KEY E20373
#500422008890: RH-3E RUBBER SW 4KEY E30636

...and they work, and solved my note cutoff problems...

df

geoelectro wrote:I service keyboards. In the mid 80's companies started to transition from metal contacts to rubber. This was strictly a cost saving move as the metal contacts were more expensive to manufacture. The best contacts ever made for keyboards were manufactured by Yamaha for the DX-7. Every product Yamaha made for many years used that system. Korg used Yamaha keyboards for years as well. My Triton for example had this superior contact system.

I have railed against rubber contacts for years. I don't care who makes them or uses them, they are bad. They cannot be restored as such since they simply wear our with use. They are prone to the slightest amount of dust particles causing missed notes or velocity problems.

Every manufacturer has had problems with rubber contacts. Since the field of keyboards is so competitive and buyers are so price driven manufacturers aren't likely to change coarse on this.

Personally, I would pay extra for the Yamaha style contact system and wish manufacturers would offer premium keyboard options. I'm sure a large segment of keyboard owners wouldn't know the difference but for "serious players", a quality keyboard should be an option.

I wonder what the cost difference between the older Yamaha DX-7 style keyboard is compared to the current crop?

Geo

My 28-year old Yamah KX88 controller is still going great. The silly memory backup battery still works, even. Hasn't needed replacement yet. I worked on some KX88's long ago, but haven't ever been inside mine. As best I recall, the contacts were long "small Radias of bend" thick stainless metal leaf contacts. (I spelled r.a.d.i.u.s but the web insists on displaying "Radias" go figger). Tough material that barely bends to make the contact. Very unlikely to have metal fatigue and I've never even had to clean the contacts.

Silly thing gets its weighted feel with a hunk of lead the size of yer thumb attached to every key. When I got it long ago it felt "a little too klunky" like rhodes actions always felt, but dunno if my tastes have changed or it loosened up, because it feels purt light and responsive for a weighted keyboard nowadays. Lots of the yammie keyboards of that era had the long-r.a.d.i.u.s-of-bend leaf contacts, but can't recall if that was the same in the DX-7 exactly. Some of the keybeds were pretty long inside. Some of the heavy-duty electronic classical organs back then had the same style of indestructible contact mechanism, such as the big Allen "computer organs". Maybe the "expensive organ" market is where Yamaha got accustomed to using such a design?

Similarly I have a 27 year old Ensoniq ESQ-1 that has a great-feeling light responsive 61 key synth action. Its more fun to play organ and synth on than for instance the Kronos 61 keyboard, but the stiffer Kronos action would probably make piano-playing a little more comfortable for the average person.

That old ensoniq probably used the rubber nipple contacts. Been so long since I was inside it, can't recall. But I've played the snot out of the ESQ-1 and the original contacts still work, and I've never had to disassemble and clean.

I had some rubber nipple keyboards that need routine rework if played on 6 night steady gigs. A roland piano needed cleaning about every 6 months and a new set of rubber about yearly, and after awhile the conductive plastic coating wore off the circuit boards, and developed some bad keys that new rubber nipples wouldn't fix. Shame because it was a nice feeling keyboard.