Korg EMX/ESX = JUNK

[supermel74]

These units are complete junk. I had to have 4 units replaced and now I'm stuck with a fifth unit(ESX) that is unfunctional.....all because of the knob jitter problem that Korg refuses to recognize. Seriously, do yourself a favor and buy something else. It doesn't even matter what else you get, because anything is better than broken unusable junk. This is not a rare problem. If you buy one, it will be useless within 6 months and Korg will not help you.

UPDATE! I have contacted Korg and they will be servicing my unit free of charge. :D

UPDATE2:Almost 2 years later and my repaired ESX is working perfectly!

UPDATE3: Over 4 years later 8/24/2011 and my repaired ESX is still functioning flawlessly.

[Reptil]

I have an ES-1 and it's still fine. are the newer generation machines different?
(except for the toob and the flashy metal case)

[basscakes]

I have had the ER-1 for over 5 years now, and it is still going strong. I bet the new design is not as good.

[cebec]

I don't like the look of the new units compared to the originals. The knobs felt more flimsy on the ones I've tried and the new color scheme and the addition of a tube is garish. If anyone is selling an original ES-1, I'm interested in buying one.

[misk]

bullshit. i have both these units, and other than the drive knob on the EMX, everything works FINE. as a matter of fact, the only reason the drive knob gets jittery when its been on for a while (3+hours) is because my girlfriends daughter knocked it off a table 3 ft off the ground and it landed on the knob.

these units are great, i've never had any problems with them, and their still going strong after 3-4 years of use.

[iggloo]

Originally Posted by misk

bullshit. i have both these units, and other than the drive knob on the EMX, everything works FINE. as a matter of fact, the only reason the drive knob gets jittery when its been on for a while (3+hours) is because my girlfriends daughter knocked it off a table 3 ft off the ground and it landed on the knob.

these units are great, i've never had any problems with them, and their still going strong after 3-4 years of use.

A/ Just because your ones do not suffer from knob jitter it does not mean that the Gent making the point is talking BULLSHIT (perhaps calling them junk is a bit harsh but he has paid good money after all and should be given a break for being dissapointed...mostly all musicians want to make music and not spend time on the phone to Tech Support haggling for some honesty and meaningful solutions!).
Your machine is your machine and not everyone elses...IS IT?
(how unthoughtful and impolite to think this way that everyone else can't have a problem just because you dont?).

B/ My RM1X is well dodgy (even after latest software upgrade)
but my brothers one (which was built later just before production stopped) works fine.
(Yamaha did eventually choose to help about 75% of the customers who bought an RM1X and still retained a Receipt of Purchase, with an EEPROM hardware fix if returned to their factory).
*And I have all the Electribes and all are fine (although mark1's have a tendency to get loose connections with the plastic casing being less sturdy, my EM1 being a victim of such).
*But my girlfriend has knob jitter in her EMX and my mate Jochem in Holland has job jitter in his ESX.


C/ I also explained elsewhere, my last encounter with Korg Tech Support USA, about my concerns about getting that jitter in the 10 units I currently want to buy and here is the very bad news=

I finally got the tech support guy at Korg USA to actually admit to me yesterday in an email that the 'knob jitter' problem is in fact now a recognised problem with 3/4 of the machines made and he said that the 2 bug fixes do not fix this. When I pushed further as to ask what would happen if I bought 10 more of these units (for my Art/Sound Collective) and they were dodgy, what could he do?...and all he could say was that he would be willing to work with me on the problem.
I already own all of the Electribe series made and my EMX is fine so far and the guy at Korg USA has at least 'sort of implied' that he will help if I get further problems but my girlfriends one carries the jitter bug and Korg UK (she lives in Edinburgh) have ignored all her emails and 'recorded delivery' posted Complaint letters.

Now, with all this in mind this could mean 1 of 2 things if you get a dodgy one.
A/ A new unit will be supplied (probably more so if based in the USA - even though many replacements have the same problem and getting another one is a very stressfull experience. Read the Korg forums!)
B/ or not supplied (tech support will sadly always usually make it an uneasy task, regardless)

I am so bummed out by all this lack of respect the groovebox market often get (especially from Roland and occ. Yamaha, it's not like Korg to be this way and very sad to see them surpassing all the rest for their crap knob/contact parts on recent kit - seemingly even the new Radias has defective parts)

Lastly, most people who debate this issue say that Electribe knob jitter is definately not fixable by a software version upgrade and that a new machine is needed and this is why Korg are ignoring most complaints...Well that is most likely true.

Although the Alesis Andromeda A6 had a knob jitter problem which was cured in a version upgrade (V1.40.09)
Search

[mathstatic]

I have an em1x here thats crap. It doesn't work, isn't mine, don't care. I use my ea1 for step sequencing my fatman... yep.. does that ok.

[Dj Pound]

Never had any problems with any of my electribes.

Ive been using my ES-1 going on about 8 years now. Ive used the hell out of it too, and it still works just as good as the day I bought it. Havent had any problems with my ESX or my EMX either. Than again I try my best to take care of my gear....Thus far my efforts have paid off.

[jsrockit]

Love my EMX-1... it works perfect and sounds great. Anyone who wants a Monomachine and can't afford one, should check out the EMX-1.

[AJ Reynolds]

Originally Posted by jsrockit

Love my EMX-1... it works perfect and sounds great. Anyone who wants a Monomachine and can't afford one, should check out the EMX-1.

i love the poor mans monomachine. it's been good to me for 4 years and i found mine in a secondhand shop.

[supermel74]

Originally Posted by Dj Pound

Never had any problems with any of my electribes.

Ive been using my ES-1 going on about 8 years now. Ive used the hell out of it too, and it still works just as good as the day I bought it. Havent had any problems with my ESX or my EMX either. Than again I try my best to take care of my gear....Thus far my efforts have paid off.

I have owned all the original Electribes as well and never had a problem. The problems were with the EMX and ESX. I also take extremely good care of my gear, that was not the issue. They had a really bad run of EMX/ESX and a lot of people had the knob jitter problems. All of mine that had it except one had it right out of the box. The one that didn't, my current ESX got it about a month after I purchased. Korg did repair it though and I still haven't had another problem. I think they were using inferior parts for a while but replaced them with better parts in the units that they repaired. The earliest EMX/ESX didn't seem to have the problem though. I'm guessing when they cut the price from $679 to $499 they made it possible by sourcing cheaper parts that were destined to fail. If you can avoid those problems though, they are awesome machines. The ESX is actually my favorite machine

[rockerbruce]

My ESX-1 is dandy so far...only thing it needs is a tube replacement

[supermel74]

Originally Posted by rockerbruce

My ESX-1 is dandy so far...only thing it needs is a tube replacement

I replaced mine with JJ Electronic ECC83 S Gold Pins. I can now turn the gain to 100% without getting that horrible distortion I used to get at anything over 25%

[Cosmic Being]

I hate to tell you this but all you had to do to fix the "knob Jitter" problem is clean the machine and lube all the potentiometers with fader lube, maybe use some compressed air and you would be back to electribing in no time, until it was time to clean again. At least thats what worked for me.

[laikenf]

Proud owner of an EMX-1 here, have had mine for 3 years and no problems. I would go as far as to say that the knobs are of pretty good quality. I've been twisting and turning those NON-STOP ever since I got it and their as good as the first day I bought it. I've gigged on dozens of shows with it, even went over seas last year... tough S.O.B., well built.