Korg Forums

[brian_johnstone]

hi guys and girls, total noob here and my first post so erm... hello

Ive recently bought a kaoss pad mini as the title suggests, i using it through the fx loop on a djm 700 in the club i play at, i have the selector set to snd/rtn and the level/depth knob all the way up, however when i push the button on the djm to activate fx i get a significant volume drop... is this normal?? or is there a way around it?

thanks in advance for any help/advice. brian.

[brian_johnstone]

edit: i meant to say im using traktor scratch pro with timecode cd, on cdj 1k mk3's but i dont think that would make a difference as it is running through the fx loop on the mixer.

[Yoa]

There may be several problems:
1. your fx send volume is down
2. your fx return volume is down
3. if you are using the headphone jack as your output, the volume on the miniKP may be down
4. some effects can lower the volume
5. your cables could totally suck
6. worst of all, your miniKP could be bad

Oh, and also make sure you are routing the sound correctly.
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Cheers! Yoa

Current electronic equipment: Korg Kaossilator, miniKP, microKORG, nanoKEY, nanoPAD, nanoKONTROL, monotron, Pandora PX5D, AX1000G, M-Audio Keystation 88es, Casio VL Tone, Soundcraft 102 mixer, laptop (which, among other things, has the KORG Legacy Collection and various NI stuffs), Acer Iconia a100 (has many music apps), Stylophone, Yamaha DX7

[AfxTwn]

I also have this problem with my Mini KP (which I bought used off eBay a while back). In my case I usually connect either my Monotribe or Nintendo DS-10 to the Mini KP and then out put that to the line-in on my Kaossilator Pro which in turn it outputted to a PA system.

I know the low volume isn't a fault with my cables as when I hook up the Monotribe/DS-10 direct to the Kaoss Pro (bypassing the Mini KP's FX altogether), then I get full volume as normal.

It's starting to look like it might be a fault with my Mini KP. A friend of mine had a similar issue with his Mini KP so it sounds like it might be a common fault that develops over time.

I'm saving up for a KP3 but in the meantime I'm going to get a Monotron Delay as that's the main type of effect I want to use. I've seen videos on You Tube of both the Monotribe and DS-10 hooked up to a Monotron Delay and it sounds great.

[Owundubbelyew]

i wanna say i got much better levels coming out the headphone jack. maybe (just a theory) since they used RCA jacks geared toward DJs, they may have dropped the levels to be more like a turntable's. i just know enough about the impedance issues with vinyls and phono inputs, etc. to know i don't know.

[AfxTwn]

Thanks, I'll try the headphone jack. I emailed Korg Repairs and they said it would cost £60 p/hour of labour and £15 for parts and return carriage and then vat would be added on top of that. Plus they will charge £30 + vat for any quote they give that I then decline.

So it could cost me £75 minimum to get it repaired. I've been looking on eBay and the cost of a new Mini KP is around £100 although a Mini KP 2 is about £130 so I may as well just get a new one if there is a problem.

I think for the time being I'll stick to my plan of getting a Monotron Delay and then save up for a KP3.

[X-Trade]

Have you set the mini-KP to Send ('Snd') mode?
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Current Gear: Kronos 61, RADIAS-R, Volca Bass, ESX-1, microKorg, MS2000B, R3, Kaossilator Pro +, MiniKP, AX3000B, nanoKontrol, nanoPad MK II,
Other Mfgrs: Moog Sub37, Roland Boutique JX03, Novation MiniNova, Akai APC40, MOTU MIDI TimePiece 2, ART Pro VLA, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40.
Past Gear: Korg Karma, TR61, Poly800, EA-1, ER-1, ES-1, Kawai K1, Novation ReMote37SL, Boss GT-6B
Software: NI Komplete 10 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, Ableton Live 9. Apple OSX El Capitan on 15" MacBook Pro

[AfxTwn]

I think I have it in Direct mode as I am connecting my Monotribe (from the Monotribe's output jack) directly to the Mini KP via a 1/4 inch jack-to-RCA cable.

I have tried using Send mode previously but then you only hear the sound of whatever's connected when you touch the Mini KP's X-Y pad.

This morning I tried hooking up the Mini KP and Monotribe via a Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer. I outputted the mixer to my small practice amp and connected the Monotribe to the Mini KP in the usual way and then outputted the Mini KP into the mixer via RCA-to-1/4 jacks.

This significantly improved the volume of the Mini KP as I was able to fine tune it via the mixer's knobs. I think the mixer is helping to boost whatever's plugged into it.

I think from now on I'll just have to incorporate the mixer whenever I want to use the Mini KP (which may be good practice anyway for when I want to do live music). I'm going to buy a couple of phono/RCA to 1/4 jack adapters as the majority of my equipment tends to use RCA cables and the mixer has primarily 1/4 jack inputs/outputs.

[robindj]

Also a noob on here... but it does say in the instructions for the mini KP2 that it includes an attenuation circuit in the KP2 which will reduce the output - to "make the use of batteries more efficient" (or something along those lines)

Would be nice to be able to deactivate it when you're using a power supply though...

[DJ_POE]

Ive got exactly the same problem with my minikp2 mini, after about a week of use the volume output very low, on my mixer its showing as -7db peak which is very low indeed, dont know why this has started happening.

I know the volume supposed to drop once the batteries run low but its now happening on mains power too, ive got a feeling the internal attentuation circuit is stuck on low output and the batteries have put it there permanently.

this is a very frustrating issue, i wish korg would look into this, i was planning on buying a second minikp2 to plug into my mixer for a portable dj setup, but unless this issue is fixed im not going to buy another.

[AfxTwn]

That is surprising to hear this issue is also happening on the new model of the mini KP. I thought perhaps the problem was occurring on mine because it is getting old now but it appears that it may be a common fault on these devices.

I also use mains power as well as batteries but it sounds like once you let your batteries go low it causes the fault to occur and there's no going back.

I also don't think that the mini KP is outputting in stereo as it doesn't make any difference which side of the RCA cable is plugged in and when both are plugged in, it just sounds mono to me.

I think rather than wasting my money on a repair or a buying a new mini KP 2, I'll just buy a KP3 instead which will do a lot more anyway and a used KP3 is only slightly more expensive than a new mini KP2.

[DJ_POE]

After playing around with it for hours i found a fix, i took the batteries out for a hour, plugged mains power in held the mp3 button down then switched on the power, the volume slider then let me adjust the mp3 playback level.