My circle data knob keep falling off!

[rkuli]

there's one thing i don't understand in some of the comments. i realize we all have paid hard earned good money for these boards. they are not cheap in price.

at the same time, most here appear to be very seasoned live gigging musicians, studio or home studio users. before the boards were released, we were all pushing to get these units in our hands asap.

now, i point out above that most of us appear to be seasoned users because shouldn't we expect some hiccups based on our collective experience of buying hardware and software over the years? seriously - i'm not trying to excuse any decisions korg may have made. i'm purely talking about the tradeoff that we know and should expect for being first/early adopters. the balance for that tradeoff is of course personal and based on your needs but i surely did not think i would be buying a machine that would be bug free. i wasn't necessarily thinking there would be hardware issues but i was fully aware of the possibility. actually, i was more than fully aware as jahrome put everyone on notice early on after receiving his kronos....

again, not making excuses - but this is a reality. does MSFT issue patches and fixes for their software? does AAPL do the same for software and hardware (iPhone 4 antennae gate)?

RK

[GregC]

there's one thing i don't understand in some of the comments. i realize we all have paid hard earned good money for these boards. they are not cheap in price.

at the same time, most here appear to be very seasoned live gigging musicians, studio or home studio users. before the boards were released, we were all pushing to get these units in our hands asap.

now, i point out above that most of us appear to be seasoned users because shouldn't we expect some hiccups based on our collective experience of buying hardware and software over the years? seriously - i'm not trying to excuse any decisions korg may have made. i'm purely talking about the tradeoff that we know and should expect for being first/early adopters. the balance for that tradeoff is of course personal and based on your needs but i surely did not think i would be buying a machine that would be bug free. i wasn't necessarily thinking there would be hardware issues but i was fully aware of the possibility. actually, i was more than fully aware as jahrome put everyone on notice early on after receiving his kronos....

again, not making excuses - but this is a reality. does MSFT issue patches and fixes for their software? does AAPL do the same for software and hardware (iPhone 4 antennae gate)?

RK

thats a good point. I think we need actual data for about 30 days to determine how pervasive certain issues are.

Based on that, a customer can determine how tolerable ( highly objective)
the flaws are of 1st model run.

I don't like to quickly speculate on 2 or 3 reports. I don't believe in jumping
to more conclusions about the entire control surface, etc, etc. And I am not going to make any excuses for Korg. I appreciate the early adopters ( ( I am one, K88)).

[ScoobyDoo555]

I've already said this on other posts & forums...
Of all the Kronos sold so far, we've only heard of a few issues.....

And again, with MOST forums, you tend to hear the worst about machines rather than the best.

It STILL hasn't put me off getting one when they arrive on the UK.

[panrixx]

Of all the Kronos sold so far, we've only heard of a few issues.....

We must not forget that only a percentage of new Kronos owners are forum members, so what is relevant is how many of those have had some kind of problem. I'm still pro Kronos but am keen to hear the views of those few here that have actually got one.

[BillW]

I realize confidence can be fragile. I am in preorder wait mode for the K88.
Like several folks in wait mode, watching K61 customer experience the 1st
30 days is crucial for me.

BTW, do you sense, for the most part, the Kronos sounds are superior
to your XS Motif . And the G6 ?

Thanks for your posts

The G6 is currently my gig machine (I gig with one board). I know the Roland stuff so well that I can get it do just about anything by programming or sampling. I play in a 70s/80s rock band and I've been building up programs and samples on the G6 for the past 3 years (about 200 custom programs and 350MB worth of samples taken from softsynths and my XS6).

I was hoping the Kronos could take the G6's place as my gig machine, but I'm not sure yet. It might be months before I can get the Kronos ready and I still haven't solved the problem of needing 2 switch pedals plus a damper.

As for the Motif XS, I think the XS and XF are the best sounding synths ever made. The 8-element voices (each with it's own filter and envelopes) make it a programmer's dream. It can nail almost any 80s synth sound you can imagine...which is why I've spent so much time sampling it. It can also do great organ sounds (via the Organimation package). If I had one complaint, it's the interface. Setting it up is not as intuitive as my G6 and it's not possible to switch between complex setups on the fly without the sound cutting off. It can do seamless transitions if you use the buttons to switch internal MIDI channels in a single Performance or Master setup, but my needs are more complex and I sometimes can't take my hands off of the keyboard to switch sounds (which I do with a pedal on the G6).

Anyway....

[GregC]

I realize confidence can be fragile. I am in preorder wait mode for the K88.
Like several folks in wait mode, watching K61 customer experience the 1st
30 days is crucial for me.

BTW, do you sense, for the most part, the Kronos sounds are superior
to your XS Motif . And the G6 ?

Thanks for your posts

The G6 is currently my gig machine (I gig with one board). I know the Roland stuff so well that I can get it do just about anything by programming or sampling. I play in a 70s/80s rock band and I've been building up programs and samples on the G6 for the past 3 years (about 200 custom programs and 350MB worth of samples taken from softsynths and my XS6).

I was hoping the Kronos could take the G6's place as my gig machine, but I'm not sure yet. It might be months before I can get the Kronos ready and I still haven't solved the problem of needing 2 switch pedals plus a damper.

As for the Motif XS, I think the XS and XF are the best sounding synths ever made. The 8-element voices (each with it's own filter and envelopes) make it a programmer's dream. It can nail almost any 80s synth sound you can imagine...which is why I've spent so much time sampling it. It can also do great organ sounds (via the Organimation package). If I had one complaint, it's the interface. Setting it up is not as intuitive as my G6 and it's not possible to switch between complex setups on the fly without the sound cutting off. It can do seamless transitions if you use the buttons to switch internal MIDI channels in a single Performance or Master setup, but my needs are more complex and I sometimes can't take my hands off of the keyboard to switch sounds (which I do with a pedal on the G6).

Anyway....

this might be overkill for your gigs- I used the Behringer FCB1010 for the
multiple pedal/multiple board issue.

I agree with you that the XS is the best overall of the lot. I had the XS7.

From an in home studio perspective, I don't consider the XS or the Fantom
G sounds to be overall ' outstanding ' anymore.

They are obviously good or very good, but the superlative ' great' doesn't
apply, IMO. The basic soundset has been around for 5-7 years thus I have been playing them and hearing them quite a bit.

Applaud your programming skills as you are maximizing ownership of your boards.

[Kevin Nolan]

I'm sorry, but the data wheel is critical to the Kronos - it and the value fader and keypad are the only way to enter data into the Kronos - remember it's screen is for selection only. For any data wheel to break so easily suggests very cheap hardware that was not stress tested.

Given my experience on OASYS, where it has worked robustly and without fail for 5 .5 years, I still worry about it a times because of the very heavy use it gets. On heavy jobs its hardware interface gets used relentlessly. As said, the OASYS has held up admirably but I know at times its at its limit.

In my opinion, even a few failures like this in a selection of even a thousand keyboards is FAR too high. This suggests to me that Korg have cut gigantic corners to get the price down; and with the amount of use I'd contemplate putting a Kronos through, I am now extremely worried. I simply cannot see that data wheel lasting any length of time.

I would STRONGLY urge Korg to react to this very thread and all users with this issue; with a view to promising to fix their issues – immediately and pro actively - and then to monitor them very closely into the future. And if problems persist, to then make a design change for future runs.

I will now hold off for at least 6 - 9 months before buying a Kronos. I am not scare mongering - as said - this is the main way of entering data and it gets very heavy usage. It needs to work, firmly and robustly, for years.

Given the Kronos OS is built on the very stable OASYS OS, and given the sheer quality of that OS - I would expect the Kronos software and sound to be excellent; but the hardware chassis is totally new and looks cut-down; so this is unprecedented territory and to me, it is NOT looking good. I really hope Korg nip this in the bud or they may run into serious trouble and damage their reputation and trustworthiness.

Kevin.

[GregC]

I'm sorry, but the data wheel is critical to the Kronos - it and the value fader and keypad are the only way to enter data into the Kronos - remember it's screen is for selection only. For any data wheel to break so easily suggests very cheap hardware that was not stress tested.

Given my experience on OASYS, where it has worked robustly and without fail for 5 .5 years, I still worry about it a times because of the very heavy use it gets. On heavy jobs its hardware interface gets used relentlessly. As said, the OASYS has held up admirably but I know at times its at its limit.

In my opinion, even a few failures like this in a selection of even a thousand keyboards is FAR too high. This suggests to me that Korg have cut gigantic corners to get the price down; and with the amount of use I'd contemplate putting a Kronos through, I am now extremely worried. I simply cannot see that data wheel lasting any length of time.

I would STRONGLY urge Korg to react to this very thread and all users with this issue; with a view to promising to fix their issues – immediately and pro actively - and then to monitor them very closely into the future. And if problems persist, to then make a design change for future runs.

I will now hold off for at least 6 - 9 months before buying a Kronos. I am not scare mongering - as said - this is the main way of entering data and it gets very heavy usage. It needs to work, firmly and robustly, for years.

Given the Kronos OS is built on the very stable OASYS OS, and given the sheer quality of that OS - I would expect the Kronos software and sound to be excellent; but the hardware chassis is totally new and looks cut-down; so this is unprecedented territory and to me, it is NOT looking good. I really hope Korg nip this in the bud or they may run into serious trouble and damage their reputation and trustworthiness.

Kevin.

I agree with you about the data wheel useage.

I expect Korg to step up immediately to address the flaw.
There might be a reasonable and simple fix.

I think this is fair- lets give it a chance. I don't like to over speculate
immediately.

[BillW]

this might be overkill for your gigs- I used the Behringer FCB1010 for the
multiple pedal/multiple board issue.

I agree with you that the XS is the best overall of the lot. I had the XS7.

From an in home studio perspective, I don't consider the XS or the Fantom
G sounds to be overall ' outstanding ' anymore.

They are obviously good or very good, but the superlative ' great' doesn't
apply, IMO. The basic soundset has been around for 5-7 years thus I have been playing them and hearing them quite a bit.

Applaud your programming skills as you are maximizing ownership of your boards.

Yeah, I know other people use the FCB1010 and my lead singer has one (which he uses in another band). I also have a MIDI Solutions Footswitch controller sitting around from my VK-8M days that I could reprogram to do the job. It needs MIDI power though so I am not 100% sure whether I can use it. I might try powering it from the Kronos' THRU port...it might work as long as nothing else is coming out of there but power.

Some of the samples I used are from FM7. I was just able to load the SIX-STRING DX7 patch into the Kronos, put it in Unison mode w/3 voices to fatten it up, throw in a little delay & reverb and voila...Land of Confusion bass part! This is the kind of power that attracted me to the Kronos in the first place. I have a feeling I'll still be loading a lot of samples, but that particular DX7 sound won't need to take up space in my sample RAM anymore.

[EnjoyRC]

I agree with you about the data wheel useage.

I expect Korg to step up immediately to address the flaw.
There might be a reasonable and simple fix.

I think this is fair- lets give it a chance. I don't like to over speculate
immediately.

Korg is great about things like that. Remember the text coming off the M3 buttons? Korg was quick to replace those.

[Synthoid]

Of all the Kronos sold so far, we've only heard of a few issues.....

We must not forget that only a percentage of new Kronos owners are forum members, so what is relevant is how many of those have had some kind of problem.

This issue has been discussed on other forums as well, but yes... only a small percentage of Kronos owners frequent music forums.

Using double-faced tape to secure a crucial knob was a big mistake. I sincerely hope Korg will fix this before the next batch is packed up for shipment.

[Kontrol49]

I can already hear the laughter echoing around the Korg Technical support offices... especially given the way some people try to describe technical issues over the phone....

"I've just bought a Kronos and my Knob has fallen off"

"I was playing with the large knob and it came off in my hands"

[EXer]

In my opinion, even a few failures like this in a selection of even a thousand keyboards is FAR too high. This suggests to me that Korg have cut gigantic corners to get the price down;

In fairness to the manufacturers, I fully understand they have a tough job balancing additional features and quality level vs. costs.

But if it proves true that Korg have cut costs on the data wheel (and probably on other hidden components) to make a few bucks more profit on each keyboard, they have taken the risk to lose the good image they have been building for 20+ years with instruments like the Trinity and the Triton.

Bad miscalculation. It takes much less time to lose the customers' confidence than to build it.

I'm sorry, but the data wheel is critical to the Kronos - it and the value fader and keypad are the only way to enter data into the Kronos - remember it's screen is for selection only.

I'm also very concerned about that data fader.

When I hear that costs may have been cut on the data wheel, I doubt that Korg chose an industrial grade component for that fader; yet it's the input device of the board that will have to bear the more intensive use over years...
____

Some forum members have complained the Kronos is not available in Europe yet.

As far as I am concerned, even if it was available I would delay my decision to buy it until I have more user's feedback about its reliability...

[Devnor]

Could be as simple as an out of spec part. Replace the insert piece and we're all happy?

[Synthoid]

What happened to the pictures of that loose knob?