Kontrol MK3 Build Quality

Jonnybueno

I did as much research as I could reading through what I could find here and whatever else I could find through search results. I wasn't able to find much discussion aside from someone on VI Control that received their unit with the keybed barely attached to the chassis. Every youtube video I watched praised the build quality so I assumed either I was unlucky or youTube reviewers might be biased.

My sample size is small since I've only tried two mk3s and I live in a remote area of the US so it's not possible for me to buy locally and it's a long journey here. The first I bought directly from NI, they did a good job of packing it but the flaws were egregious. The second I bought from Amazon and it was just the product packaging thrown into larger box. Unit #2 was much better but in my opinion not even close to the keylab I just got.

I'm not a keyboard player, I'm a guitar player of 20+ years and this was my first "expensive" keyboard purchase. Were both my units defective or are these not instruments that can be used for live performances under stage conditions?

I tried to return the 61 but they had trouble coordinating things, so they told me to keep it and buy another with my refund. I opted to get the keylab instead as I wasn't able to determine if I was unlucky in receiving two defective keyboards or if build quality is just poor.

I'm probably going to put the 61 into storage in the event that midi 2.0 becomes useful. Should that happen I might disassemble and see if I can figure out why the housing is so temperamental. If that happens I'll try to update this post with a teardown and anything that I learn.

Jonnybueno

So I took it apart. Plastic is really thin. I believe the creaking noise I'm hearing is one part thin plastic allowing the keybed to shift and one part design. In the last picture you can see the bottom of the led diffuser assembly which I think maybe makes contact with the aftertouch sensors. This is two pieces that can rub against each other and the diffusers are held in place like a sandwich. You can see this in the last picture I uploaded. I didn't fully disassemble this component as I didn't want to bother with losing diffusers and I believe this assembly requires removing the daughterboard that the leds are atttached to.

You can hear the creaking noise I've been referring to here:

https://youtube.com/shorts/uabbcL_zZGc

I've attached some pictures in case any of you end up out of warranty and decide to disassemble. I do not recommend disassembling and take no responsibility for any damage you might incur should you decide to do so.

DISASSEMBLE AT YOU OWN RISK! IT SAYS NOT TO DISASSEMBLE ON THE BACK OF THE KEYBOARD SO DONT DO IT!

• There are no hidden screws
• It was easy to disassemble but there are way too many screws
• I had to unscrew all of the screws to separate the two halves of the housing
• There are very short ribbons connecting the I/O assembly to the keybed, I needed to unscrew the two screws from the I/O to avoid pulling out those out but only figured that out after pulling a ribbon lol
• Did I mention the plastic is really flimsy? The bottom housing is so pliable you couldn't use it as a makeshift fan. All the standoffs are plastic and none of them have threaded inserts.