Had to break open the microKORG and thought I would share the process of cleaning / fixing the keyboard. Make sure all the parts are dry before installing
Dude, just plugged my Korg in after a year of not using it, loads of buttons not working, googled cleaning micro korg, number one hit = this video! hey presto, bonza-bonza, super-bananas, two screwdrivers, a bottle of whisky & wish me luck yo!
i would just like to report that my old girl now has all her buttons working & we enjoyed a good late-night fingering for old times sake! & I have to say, I'd forgotten just how much analogue fun it was twerking those whoop whoop nobs again, going to be jizzing out some shameless electro-synth chords to celebrate! thanks 4 the help mate.
@Robert Josue I don't if I already came back to y'all already, but for the record; even though i was completely "half cut"at the time..... I totally repaired that mother-trucking motherboard! even rapiared a fracture in that bitch via some copper innerd's, and a medievil soldering iron splint.... but the truth is, those keys are only still working because of this "tight video"...... So clean those tufts yo! lubricate those fragile nibs, treat that micro chord like you would your own micro peepee! and she'll keep on performing! :D and once you get her back working again.... it's all about the motion in that retro sound ocean! :) peace! p.s. make music.... & stay sexy.
Seriously, life-saving!!!! I was too scared to perform surgery on my precious microKORG, but seeing the innards made it much less intimidating, and watching your explanation was FANTASTIC! What - OK! Yeah!!!!!
Great vid; always helps seeing someone else do the dirty work of cracking a thing open to reassure you it's not gonna fuck anything up. I had a section of keys out, but surprisingly when I got it apart I didn't see much corrosion/dirt/etc in the contacts on that area. What I noticed instead was that the daughterboard was slightly bent, concave, and the rubber strips with the contacts weren't connecting with the conductive squares on the daughterboard -- guaranteed from years of getting pounded in a hot attic on a keyboard stand that didn't support the middle where it's bent. Still cleaned everything anyway, and reassembled by pulling some screws tighter than others (ends tighter than middle) in hopes that would level things out. Working so far, if that helps for anyone else... one more tip: you'll need to play all the keys soft to hard a few times after reassembly to get the suction back under the rubber strips. Thanks again OP!!
I could not get the major keys to work on my Korg. I found this video. I did exactly what the host told me to do. I also waited 4 hours for the contact cleaner to dry as the host mentioned. Worked perfect! Very thankful I crossed paths with his video.
Worlds needs more people like you, thank you so much! I used this method since you upload the video (4 years ago) there was not another video like this. Still working 💪🏻
"the work bench AKA my coffee table" classic! thanks for the video, I must have a slightly different/older version because the daughter board is a tan color on top instead of green. Same symptoms but I didn't have much visible corrosion like you did. Used some DeOxit cleaner and it works great now. I unplugged the battery cable so I could set the whole bottom part aside with the screws still resting in their places. Thanks again
Thanks excellent video. I had one key that kept sending a high velocity signal even when pressed gently. This did the trick and it plays perfectly now. I cleaned the pcb contacts and the rubber contacts with switch cleaner first, then Isopropyl alcohol afterwards to remove any residue whatsoever. Nice one!
Daddy fixed it! How cute! Thanks for the tip, will try this soon. In my case the outputs are busted too. So will try the same thing on those parts too, hope it gets fixed. God Bless!!
Hi, had a similar problem. A mass of keys not working. I did as you showed and fortunately it helped however I have a problem with presets that use a dynamic keyboard. Some keys then don't work or stutter. Is the dirt still to blame?
I'm not sure in that case. Pressure sensitive keys might behave strangely with a mircokorg as it doesn't have that built in. I know midi information can send velocity values to any synth, but how the synth reads and interprets those values might not give the intended result.
it's weird that i have a microkorg and one or two keys doesnt work, but i didnt search a tutorial to learn how to fix it, until today jajaj and u upload this video 5 days before jaja. cool, im on it.
Hey thanks so much - this is very helpful. I got a microkorg a few months back and have been meaning to clean it up underneath. Maybe im just not used to this, but i seem to be having a problem disconnecting the ribbon cable and cant seem to get them to unlock. any tips? cheers
a bit of elbow grease sorted it out :D gave the pcb a clean with the contact cleaner, but some of the contacts look like they have oxidised after some water damage and may need a heavier clean ... or another solution..
splonkydoo you could possibly use contact cleaner and a brass wire brush. this must be done with great care, do at your own risk. I've done it before with good results.
Contact deposition (the use of electroplating) is sometimes used to resolve this headache, if the erosion is really bad - but you have to depopulate the board (unsolder everything), so it's likely simpler to ask Korg to send you a new board.
just scored one of these badboys at my local thrift, price tag of 98 with all cables. a few keys not working, i did this step by step and everything works like new
Silvansun thank you! You could try taking out the upper board and checking the contacts but I've never done that. If you decide to try, make sure you pull off all of the knobs before you pull the board. also you could try pulling off the knobs and taking that plate off of the top of the keyboard (the one that tells you what all the buttons do). maybe you can access those buttons from the top to clean them, it would be less risky to try. Good luck and thanks for the comment.
Awesome, thanks for the quick reply. I've owned this synth for over a year and it never occurred to me to even try cleaning it. I thought the keys were just dead for good. But if I get all the keys working right that alone would be a great victory.
So I get to the board to remove the screws and the screws on on super tight to where I can’t remove them to get to those rubber strips. Don’t want to strip them. Any ideas how to get those off?
They shouldn't be super tight, but if you have a screwdriver that's the right size and maybe push the board down near the screw hole to loosen it up a little bit when you try to remove the screws. I don't think they'll strip out easily.
Do you think I could do this without unplugging the daughter board from the mother board, cleaning it by rubbing a cloth wet with contact cleaner? Or do you think it is eeally necessary to unplug it? Thanks!!
You could totally do it without unplugging it, just the method I used by spraying directly onto the board isn't ideal as the cleaner could potentially damage or discolor the plastic pieces underneath. If you don't drip and down onto the keys then it shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for watching!
Menaceri Samir I've never used a micronova. microkorgs are nice because they are battery powered and small, I don't know about rugged. Definitely versatile. Hope that helps.
thanks a lot , versatility is what i was looking for .i use to have various korg products and i just got a problem with the green push buttons on the m1 and it was not a big deal .i made up my mind and i go for the microkorg and i forget about the micronova. by rugged i was meaning if this synth is not made all in plastic.
I just pulled mine out after years of not playing it and found that several of the keys won't work (you have to really mash them). I'll give this cleaning a go because there was nothing wrong with it before and all its been doing is laying dorment in a box.
Hey, wondering if anyone has any tips. I've followed this process 3/4 times and now all my keys work, big improvement from 14 broken keys, but some are registering so softly that I can't hear them (I know they're registering though, as they're showing in my DAW, but at like 2 velocity). Is there anything else I can do at this point?
This might indicate that some of the sensors on the daughter board are shot, you can probably get a replacement board on ebay or from korg themselves. Possibly if you play it for a while the sensors might break back in (i had this happen with a korg wavestation) but that is not guaranteed. If you have another midi controller or keyboard, try running that into the midi in on the microkorg and see if the velocities all sounds correct.
osea nos ven la cara, en realidad es una tipoca placa electronica china que vale unos 2000 mil pesos mexicanos y plastico, en realidad a de vales unos 3000 pesos mexicanos y los venden entre los 10 mil y 18 mil pesos mexicanos
Having trouble getting those small screws keeping the daughter board in place. Bought a whole screwdriver set and theyre still not comjng out. Dont wanna accidentally strip the screws. Tips?
I'm not sure. Mine came out rather easily. I know that they're screwed into plastic that is likely to break if you tweak them too hard. Be careful and take your time. Maybe try warming them up with a blow dryer on low heat. Just be careful not to melt anything. (Do this at your own risk)
@@TrustsLiars oh patience is deffo key here. had to set it down for today and come back to it tomorrow so as not to get too aggressive trying to unscrew and make it worse! lol Recently got a few new synths but wanted to give my Microkorg a proper cleaning and found some dead key issues. Solid tutorial regardless, ya got a sub from me 👍
TheRubberStudiosASMR they are very stiff until you bust them loose. make sure you are using a good screwdriver that fits nicely into the head pattern (I might recommend electrician screwdrivers because they are such small screws that require so much torque to bust loose). just crank them until they come loose. mine were a little sung but with a little pressure they came out. DO NOT USE SOLVENTS! that could damage the board.
Very very carefully try to remove them with either a large flathead screwdriver of a pair of small pliers. I haven't heard of anyone else with this issue but it could be a quality control issue.
Ok ok, 6 hours of work later for a full ensamble again deep cleaning and in my case the same two keys that have no sound still have no sound at least I repair the arp button of my microkorg xl is quite annoying to put the gray pad that connect the keys to the electronic board. 😓 my girlfriend will definitely will learn to play with the keys that works 😂😂😂 Im on vacation now
After one attempt, I got most of the keys working again. Still missing a handful, going to go back in again and try again. I’m guess this works for a crackling volume knob as well!
