Kronos Problems - should I bother?

[RecreationalPlayer]

Ok. I've purchased TWO Kronos now in four days and both were bad. I went to the Korg USA site and tried to send the following email only to find (after it allowed me to type it all out) that they only accept 500 characters!! Talk about adding insult to injury... I had to severely edit my email just to send it. Anyways - I'm just venting and trying to decide if I bring the 73 back and try to get another one, or don't bother with it at all. I was really looking forward to learning how to program the thing and play with KARMA. Opinions welcome. The 73 I have has a serial number in the 1500 range.

Original email to KORG USA support:
I have been researching the Kronos for a few weeks trying to decide whether or not to buy one and saw a 61 key model for a good price Sat Mar 30 at Alto music. I bought it and got it home (1.5 hr drive) and found that it had a screw loose inside the unit rattling around. I brought the unit back to the store this evening (Tues Apr 2) to exchange it and found out that they had a 73 key model. I'm more of a piano player and decided to upgrade to that unit. I had heard of the issues with the keybed, but figured later serial numbers must have corrected the issue.
I got my unit home and found the low D key was frozen solid, the A below middle C had a rattle, and I picked up right away on the notes cutting out after repeated playing that I had read about in the Korg forums. Now I have to drive back another 1.5 hrs each way to return it (again). I'm pretty disgusted at this point now that I've driven a total of 6 hrs and had two bad boards in a row.
Are all these boards bad? Are customers expected to buy a brand new $2500-$3000 product and immediately have to bring it somewhere for service to replace the entire keybed?
I am so disappointed I had to write an email. I know companies need honest feedback (even if bad). I may return this and skip my purchase altogether. I certainly will not be leaving the store until I've opened your product on the spot and checked that it is ok. I've had a reliable Alesis QS8 88 key hammer action board that I bought back around 1996 that I still use every day. I'm worried with all these issues that there is no way your product is going to last near that long.

[GregC]

Ok. I've purchased TWO Kronos now in four days and both were bad. I went to the Korg USA site and tried to send the following email only to find (after it allowed me to type it all out) that they only accept 500 characters!! Talk about adding insult to injury... I had to severely edit my email just to send it. Anyways - I'm just venting and trying to decide if I bring the 73 back and try to get another one, or don't bother with it at all. I was really looking forward to learning how to program the thing and play with KARMA. Opinions welcome. The 73 I have has a serial number in the 1500 range.

Original email to KORG USA support:
I have been researching the Kronos for a few weeks trying to decide whether or not to buy one and saw a 61 key model for a good price Sat Mar 30 at Alto music. I bought it and got it home (1.5 hr drive) and found that it had a screw loose inside the unit rattling around. I brought the unit back to the store this evening (Tues Apr 2) to exchange it and found out that they had a 73 key model. I'm more of a piano player and decided to upgrade to that unit. I had heard of the issues with the keybed, but figured later serial numbers must have corrected the issue.
I got my unit home and found the low D key was frozen solid, the A below middle C had a rattle, and I picked up right away on the notes cutting out after repeated playing that I had read about in the Korg forums. Now I have to drive back another 1.5 hrs each way to return it (again). I'm pretty disgusted at this point now that I've driven a total of 6 hrs and had two bad boards in a row.
Are all these boards bad? Are customers expected to buy a brand new $2500-$3000 product and immediately have to bring it somewhere for service to replace the entire keybed?
I am so disappointed I had to write an email. I know companies need honest feedback (even if bad). I may return this and skip my purchase altogether. I certainly will not be leaving the store until I've opened your product on the spot and checked that it is ok. I've had a reliable Alesis QS8 88 key hammer action board that I bought back around 1996 that I still use every day. I'm worried with all these issues that there is no way your product is going to last near that long.

sounds like a dealer problem. ask for factory sealed A stock and accept nothing less.

have then reimburse you for gas

[RecreationalPlayer]

sounds like a dealer problem. ask for factory sealed A stock and accept nothing less.

have then reimburse you for gas

I thought I was getting a factory sealed new unit. How can you tell if its "A stock"? Is there some kind of marking on the box? The sealed box, packaging, and everything looked legit to me as did the dealer. Have you had issues in the past with other dealers? If something was misrepresented I would want Korg to know about it so they can fix the problem.

[JPWC]

dude, with that much luck, I recommend you play the lottery.

[Chriskk]

sounds like a dealer problem. ask for factory sealed A stock and accept nothing less.
have then reimburse you for gas

Why is it a dealer problem? They sold sealed Kronoses. Alto Music is a Korg dealer.

[GregC]

sounds like a dealer problem. ask for factory sealed A stock and accept nothing less.
have then reimburse you for gas

Why is it a dealer problem? They sold sealed Kronoses. Alto Music is a Korg dealer.

Read the o/p

[SanderXpander]

Go back and exchange it. Open the box in the store and take a couple of minutes to play and test the new one.

[BobTheDog]

I would get one of the new X versions if I were you, at least you know you probably are not getting B stock then.

[Ojustaboo]

And it's April 2013 and yet another customer has had two kronoses and is wondering whether to remain a korg customer.

They should have recalled the lot, the cost to their reputation alone is worth however much the recall would have cost. Instead two years later NEW purchasers are still thinking about giving up.

As most know, my two new Kronos, both with different keybed problems were factory sealed units direct from Korg UK, others have also had units direct from Korg.

I read in the Korg Synth General section of this forum about a Kronos owner that bought the new king Korg, in his words

And what I think was an unplayed, brand new one, in box. I connected it and hit the on switch and it lighted up nicely while it was (what I guess) loading the software. When that happened I noticed that the filter display didn't light up. It was as dark as if the instrument was off (but the "type" button does function, you can hear that it changes the filter types). That was a bit of a disappointment, so I had to return it and asked for a refund. I might want to wait to buy one again later in the year until Korg has done something about the quality control. It could be the only one, but after much troubles at the beginning with my Kronos, I hoped it would have been a bit better, this time. My Krome works flawlessly, but my Kronos and KingKorg didn't, at first.

As to the OP, the amount of flawed originals is getting less as time goes on, but I couldn't recommend you getting a 73 or 88 note and being free of the note cutoff problem unless you pay for the X version (and my X version, while it plays perfectly, it has a few keys that rattle if you touch them lightly in a certain way and I do think it shouldn't do that on a board costing this much).

The main reason being that its only if you play the piano in a certain way that the note cutoff problem is really obvious, to repeat what a music store member said to me recently, a customer managed to reproduce the note cutoff problem every time on it, the guy got hold of the manager after the customer had left and couldn't reproduce the problem, neither could any other staff member, hence its probably still on display in the shop (or been sold).

All that said, I do think the Kronos is a superb instrument and do think if you persevere, when you get a later model that works properly, you won't regret your purchase. But I also wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you decided that as a customer, you shouldn't have to go through all this and bought another companies product instead. I reached that point after my first two original Kronos (first one bought just 6 months ago) and if the retail shop hadn't offered me an X version at no extra cost, I wouldn't be a korg owner today.

As it is, I'm not buying the new ms20 mini purely based on my Kronos problems and how I don't trust the quality, I will do if when it's been out a year no quality problems arise, but my Kronos experiance has severely damaged my faith in Korgs quality overall.

[ronnfigg]

Ok. I've purchased TWO Kronos now in four days and both were bad. I went to the Korg USA site and tried to send the following email only to find (after it allowed me to type it all out) that they only accept 500 characters!! Talk about adding insult to injury... I had to severely edit my email just to send it. Anyways - I'm just venting and trying to decide if I bring the 73 back and try to get another one, or don't bother with it at all. I was really looking forward to learning how to program the thing and play with KARMA. Opinions welcome. The 73 I have has a serial number in the 1500 range.

Original email to KORG USA support:
I have been researching the Kronos for a few weeks trying to decide whether or not to buy one and saw a 61 key model for a good price Sat Mar 30 at Alto music. I bought it and got it home (1.5 hr drive) and found that it had a screw loose inside the unit rattling around. I brought the unit back to the store this evening (Tues Apr 2) to exchange it and found out that they had a 73 key model. I'm more of a piano player and decided to upgrade to that unit. I had heard of the issues with the keybed, but figured later serial numbers must have corrected the issue.
I got my unit home and found the low D key was frozen solid, the A below middle C had a rattle, and I picked up right away on the notes cutting out after repeated playing that I had read about in the Korg forums. Now I have to drive back another 1.5 hrs each way to return it (again). I'm pretty disgusted at this point now that I've driven a total of 6 hrs and had two bad boards in a row.
Are all these boards bad? Are customers expected to buy a brand new $2500-$3000 product and immediately have to bring it somewhere for service to replace the entire keybed?
I am so disappointed I had to write an email. I know companies need honest feedback (even if bad). I may return this and skip my purchase altogether. I certainly will not be leaving the store until I've opened your product on the spot and checked that it is ok. I've had a reliable Alesis QS8 88 key hammer action board that I bought back around 1996 that I still use every day. I'm worried with all these issues that there is no way your product is going to last near that long.

I would have had them open the box of the second one before I even handed them any cash. Especially if this was my second 1.5 trip to the store. Fool me once- shame on you. Fool me twice- shame on me.

[Ojustaboo]

Yep, it's the customers fault

[metallo]

And it's April 2013 and yet another customer has had two kronoses and is wondering whether to remain a korg customer.

They should have recalled the lot, the cost to their reputation alone is worth however much the recall would have cost. Instead two years later NEW purchasers are still thinking about giving up.

As most know, my two new Kronos, both with different keybed problems were factory sealed units direct from Korg UK, others have also had units direct from Korg.

I read in the Korg Synth General section of this forum about a Kronos owner that bought the new king Korg, in his words

And what I think was an unplayed, brand new one, in box. I connected it and hit the on switch and it lighted up nicely while it was (what I guess) loading the software. When that happened I noticed that the filter display didn't light up. It was as dark as if the instrument was off (but the "type" button does function, you can hear that it changes the filter types). That was a bit of a disappointment, so I had to return it and asked for a refund. I might want to wait to buy one again later in the year until Korg has done something about the quality control. It could be the only one, but after much troubles at the beginning with my Kronos, I hoped it would have been a bit better, this time. My Krome works flawlessly, but my Kronos and KingKorg didn't, at first.

As to the OP, the amount of flawed originals is getting less as time goes on, but I couldn't recommend you getting a 73 or 88 note and being free of the note cutoff problem unless you pay for the X version (and my X version, while it plays perfectly, it has a few keys that rattle if you touch them lightly in a certain way and I do think it shouldn't do that on a board costing this much).

The main reason being that its only if you play the piano in a certain way that the note cutoff problem is really obvious, to repeat what a music store member said to me recently, a customer managed to reproduce the note cutoff problem every time on it, the guy got hold of the manager after the customer had left and couldn't reproduce the problem, neither could any other staff member, hence its probably still on display in the shop (or been sold).

All that said, I do think the Kronos is a superb instrument and do think if you persevere, when you get a later model that works properly, you won't regret your purchase. But I also wouldn't blame you in the slightest if you decided that as a customer, you shouldn't have to go through all this and bought another companies product instead. I reached that point after my first two original Kronos (first one bought just 6 months ago) and if the retail shop hadn't offered me an X version at no extra cost, I wouldn't be a korg owner today.

As it is, I'm not buying the new ms20 mini purely based on my Kronos problems and how I don't trust the quality, I will do if when it's been out a year no quality problems arise, but my Kronos experiance has severely damaged my faith in Korgs quality overall.

I agree, I got mine last february, less than 2 months ago, and needed to send to service because of the well known cutoff sound problem....after more than 2 years since the kick off there are still faulty kronos in the stores.

[BobTheDog]

I just think that faulty ones get returned and the store then sells them again in the hope that the new owner wont return it.

[michelkeijzers]

I would also check it at the store itself if you had to drive that far.

Also, a bit strange you bought a 61 and within a day you decided to buy a 73. Isn't that part of the 'research'?

Hope you will be happy with a good one. Most are as can be read in the topics.

[BillW]

I bought one in December and there is something metal rattling around in it as well. I haven't opened it, but I'm sure it's a screw. Even though I'm very happy with the keyboard overall, this is probably Korg's worst moment. In 30 years of owning keyboards, this is by far the worst engineering job I've ever seen.