Kontrol MK3 Build Quality
I recently purchased a S49 MK3 and its much more noisy then I had expected. The whole housing creaks and makes crackling noises when I press buttons or keys. I play with a light touch with my velocity curve set to soft 3 and even with that I struggle to hit full velocity so I'm not pressing hard at all.
My Maschine MK3 doesn't seem to have any issues and seems solid. I have much less expensive keyboards that seem much more sturdy and much less noisy.
Is this normal? I'm currently waiting for support to assist with returning this keyboard but I'd like to know if other people had similar experiences and I got unlucky or maybe I should look elsewhere for a premium keyboard.
Comments
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my mod wheel rubs against the plastic housing.
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That sounds terrible. Does it bother you? I haven't experienced any issues with the mod or pitch wheel on this keyboard.
Are your keys relatively quiet of do they creak? What about the housing of your keyboard? If I graze my finger across the keys or housing my keyboard makes those noises almost like the chassis is warped.
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I don't notice any of these problems. Recommend contacting NI Support.
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Unfortunately I've already contacted them to request return authorization but they will not respond and I cannot start a new chat or open a new ticket.
Today is the 14th day since I've received the keyboard and my order history doesn't give me the option to process the return myself.
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Tagging a couple of folks in case they can help (or have additional info to provide)
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I did get return authorization from NI and got my S49 sent out.
Still not sure if the noises it made were normal or not.
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Doesn't sound normal to me, anyway then while I am sure that Jeremy_NI will come here then I also tagged your initial post 'customer care' since that ought to bring customer care around here in general.
Hope that you will get your problem solved to your satisfaction.
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Thank you @PoorFellow! The forum should probably buy you lunch one of these days! 😁
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So I ended up purchasing an S61 MK3 and can confirm that it doesn't make creaking/crackling noises like the S49 I mentioned in the original post.
The keybed on the S61 feels very different in that its not as soft as the S49. Velocity response is better on this one, I don't have to hit super hard to hit 127. Some keys have an audible click and the pitch wheel rubs against the housing if you use it every so slightly off axis.
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As time goes on the housing on my S61 gets more and more noisy. The plastic they used it pretty soft and it flexes alot. I've been playing with screws a bit and if I loosen them a bit then things get a bit better for a while until the housing flexes enough to tighten the screws on its own.
I ended up buying a keylab mk3 and the build quality is much better. No creaks, cracks, squeeks, or other weird noises.
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How were the 2 MK3 keyboards supported? Were they on an x frame type stand or placed on a solid surface like a desk?
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On a wooden desk. I tried placing the 61 on a large deskmat but it made no difference. Lifting the board seems to release tension and temporarily reduce noise from the housing but it isn't necessary for the keylab.
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Seems your not alone in your findings. I've read many other similar reports of poor build quality with the new mk3's. I'm still using my trusty S61 MK2 and that's proved to be as solid as a rock. It's certainly worrying that build quality would appear not to be a priority any longer.
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I haven't had a single problem noise or build quality or functionality with my S88MK3 since I received it in January. It sits on it's own two tier metal keyboard stand and gets used daily. But I did buy and receive it from Native Instruments so it didn't ever get shipped all around the country before I got it.
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It's more common that a small number of users who experience defects would talk about them online. A user expects a product to arrive and exist without defects, and for the huge majority for whom this is true, they tend less to come online and talk about it simply working as it should.
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