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Korg Kaossilator Diagnostic Mode Hack

Not really a hack, but here’s how to boot the Korg Kaossilaor into diagnostic mode that runs through a series of tests to make sure the Kaossilator is working as it should.

  1. Press down the SCALE and the TAP/BPM buttons while holding in the GATE ARP button and switch the unit on. The Kaossilator is now in diagnostic mode and he display will show the firmware version (currently 1.00).
  2. Press SCALE. The display will change to read “int” followed by a sequence from t2.2 to t4.6 while the Kaossilator plays a test tone through the left channel, then the right channel and then both. The sequence ends with all LEDs illuminated.
  3. Press TAP/BPM to initiate the LCD display test. Each display element is illuminated in turn.
  4. Press TAP/BPM again and the display reads “TAP”.
  5. Press TAP/BPM one more time and the Loop Status LED lights up red while the display reads “S.on”.
  6. Press SCALE and the Loop Status LED turns green.
  7. Press LOOP REC/PLAY and the Loop Status LED turns off and the GATE ARP LED turns on.
  8. Press GATE ARP and the LED turns off, while the display changes to read “EnC”.
  9. Press TAP/BPM again and the display changes to a zero.
  10. Turn the rotary dial to scroll through a numerical readout from 0 to 999 or down to -99.

So there you go. It’s not the most exciting thing you can do with a Kaossilator, but if you’re a Kaossilator geek then it’s probably of interest. Go on, try it…

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 pm and is filed under Hacks & Undocumented Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Korg Kaossilator Diagnostic Mode Hack”

  1. Yo, there’s more to this diagnostic hack. first, you have to press down the Gate Arp first then the Tap/Bpm and Scale buttons or else it’ll just turn on normally. Second, if you press the Loop button after the first instruction(which displays 1.00?, press the Loop button and it says E=R, then lights up the whole display. After that, press the Gate Arp button and the Loop button together and you get the screen saying EnC as per what was said above. But if you press the Gate Arp button with the Loop button again, you get a screen saying Pd.1. I don’t know what that does because no matter what button you press (or if you turn the knob) it doesn’t do anything more that what was already figured out. But if you press the Gate Arp button and the Loop button again, you get Pd.2, which still does esentially nothing (at this point if you press the Scale button, it brings you back to Pd.1) as far as i know. Press the Gate Arp button and the Loop button again and you get a strange looking screen, which looks kinda like n/n ( but the first n has a line over it) After that press the Tap BPM button lots of time and you get these equally other weird screens as well. If someone knows what these are, email me ravenous11_1_18@hotmail.com

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