UPDATE: 12/10/2022 I have recorded a new video about this issue with updated information!

Over the weekend I discovered an issue with the Windows 10 May 2019 Update and the Korg USB MIDI drivers. The drivers enable Korg devices to talk to Windows over MIDI via a USB connect for products like the Korg Kronos, microKey and other devices. I have a Korg Minilogue synthesizer, which connects to a PC via USB. Once connected your music apps can communicate with the Korg device, it is also used by the Korg sound editor tool. There are many other Korg devices use the same driver and on the 1809 version of Windows 10 everything worked fine.

UPDATE: 30/05/2019 Korg say their driver is not compatible with the May 2019 Update.  If you have already updated you should follow my fix.

UPDATE: 11/06/2019 I have recorded a YouTube video showing how to do this.

After updated to the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903) my music and Korg apps would not communicate with the synths anymore. The drivers were all working fine and after a lot of searching and digging around in the registry I found the issue and have a fix. This fix will also work with previous version of Windows where you have the same problem.

The root of the problem is that Korg USB Midi driver will only work on the first 10 channels in Windows 10 (not to be confused with midi channels) so if Windows allocates the Korg device to a channel above 9 nothing will work with it.

To check your Korg midi setup run the Uninstall Korg USB Midi Device app (this will be installed as part of the Korg drivers and will not actually un-install the driver if you cancel it).

After updating, it looked like this: with the Korg devices on channel 12 and 13 with channel 1 to 9 not used.

So to get it working you have to do some changes in the registry to get the Korg devices below channel 9, and then the drivers will work.

The first part is to allocate an alias to the Korg driver. In the 1809 update of Windows 10 the alias values where already there but after the update they had been removed.

Open up Regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class

You need to find a class with a name of Media so search for a value of “MEDIA” (Control – F).

Update: 17/06 Search for KORGUM64.DRV 


Once you have found that expand the node and you will see a list of numbers starting with 0000. One of more of them will be the Korg setting.

Find the first one that has the DriverDesc matching your device, which in my case is KORG minilogue. Expand the node down to the bottom item, which will be KORGUM64.DRV (make a note of this value). Select the node and then you will need to create a new string value.

Right click on the node and select New/String value.

The name should be Alias with the data midi1 for the first device, midi2 for the second and so on. (thanks to Andy for the clarification)

Do this for all your Korg devices in the class. Note, even though I have just the one Korg Minilogue connected there were two device sections for it.

With that bit completed for all your Korg devices you need to go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

Then add a new string value with the name of midi1 and the value data of the driver you allocated to midi1, which in my case is KORGUM64.DRV. Repeat this for each device you added in the previous section.

UPDATE: 17/06

For 32bit systems 

To fix 32 bits applications like the Minilogue sound librarian, it is also necessary to duplicate midi stuff () in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 with “KORGUM64.DRV” value.


Now when you run the Uninstall Korg USB-MIDI Device app you should get something like the following:


As you can see, the Minilogue is running on channel 1 and 2. So now, I can use midi with the synth via my music apps.

I added midi3 for my Korg Radias and everything is working as it should be.


I do not know why the alias values are removed during the Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903), but this fixed my setup. As always when using regedit please take care!

Here is my YouTube video:

Here is a list of devices this solution should work with (taken from Korg’s website):

ARP ODYSSEY
ARP ODYSSEY Module
KingKORG
KROME
KRONOS
microKORG XL+
minilogue
monologue
MS-20 mini
Pa300
Pa300 Brazilian Edition
Pa300 Chinese Edition
Pa300 Indian Edition
Pa300 Indonesia Edition
Pa300 Iran Edition
Pa300 Peru Edition
Pa300 Romania Edition
Pa300 Serbia Edition
Pa300 Turkey Edition
Pa300 Vietnam Edition
Pa3X Le MUSIKANT
Pa3X MUSIKANT
Pa4X
Pa4X MUSIKANT
Pa4X ORIENTAL
Pa600
Pa600 MUSIKANT
Pa600QT
Pa900 MUSIKANT
SV-1 Black
KRONOS LS
Grandstage
KROSS
Pa1000
Pa700
Pa700 ORIENTAL
prologue
Pa300 Bulgarian Edition
EK-50
KROME EX
minilogue xd
KRONOS (2011)(sold out)
KRONOS Platinum(sold out)
KRONOS X(sold out)
KROSS 1(sold out)
M3(sold out)
M3 XPanded(sold out)
M50(sold out)
microKORG XL(sold out)
microSAMPLER(sold out)
microSTATION(sold out)
microX(sold out)
MP10Pro(sold out)
Pa1X(sold out)
Pa1X Pro(sold out)
Pa1X Pro Elite(sold out)
Pa2X Pro(sold out)
Pa3X(sold out)
Pa3X Le(sold out)
Pa500(sold out)
Pa500 MUSIKANT(sold out)
Pa500 ORIENTAL(sold out)
Pa588(sold out)
Pa800(sold out)
Pa900(sold out)
PS60(sold out)
R3(sold out)
RK-100S(sold out)
TR(sold out)
TRITON Extreme(sold out)
X50(sold out)

electribe
electribe sampler
KAOSS DJ
KAOSS PAD KP3+
KAOSSILATOR PRO+
SQ-1
KAOSS PAD KP3(sold out)
KAOSSILATOR PRO(sold out)
MS-20 Kit(sold out)
MS-20M Kit + SQ-1(sold out)

microKEY
microKEY Air
microKEY2
nanoKEY Studio
nanoKEY2
nanoKONTROL Studio
nanoKONTROL2
nanoPAD2
padKONTROL
taktile
K-Series(sold out)
KONTROL49(sold out)
microKONTROL(sold out)
nanoKEY(sold out)
nanoKONTROL(sold out)
nanoPAD(sold out)
TRITON taktile(sold out)

KORG Kontrol Editor

C-520(sold out)
C-720(sold out)
HAVIAN 30(sold out)

KORG Hybrid Pianos

KHP-2000
KHP-5000
KS-320(sold out)
KS-520(sold out)

D3200(sold out)
D888(sold out)

PANDORA mini
PANDORA stomp
PX5D(sold out)

 

52 thoughts on “Fixing Korg USB Midi driver issues in Windows 10 May 2019 / November 2019 Update”
  1. This has proven invaluable to me for my Korg Minilogue and MS-20 Mini. Thanks so much.

    For clarity you could change:
    “The name will should be midi1 for the first device, midi2 for the second and so on.”

    to:
    “The name should be Alias with the data midi1 for the first device, midi2 for the second and so on.”

      1. I do not understand how to add an entry for “midi2”. In folder KORGUM64.DRV, you can only add 1 entry with name “Alias” (having value “midi1”). How do you add a second entry for “midi2”?

        1. There will be a branch for each device, so for me there was 021 for the Radias and 022 for the Minilogue.
          So you add the alias part for each korg device you can in the control sub key
          If used Find to find any keys with the Driver of KORGUM64.DRV

          1. Thanks for the quick response. I only have 1 Korg device, the Korg Kronos. When I first ran the Korg MIDI driver Uninstall Utility, I found “Standard Driver [KRONOS] ” as “midi10” and “KORG KRONOS ” as “midi11”. After trying various registry changes, only the first one still shows up as “midi10” (the second is gone). I tried what you suggested and only found my original entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0014\Drivers\midi\KORGUM64.DRV (with Name “Alias” and Data “midi1”. Doing the search, I found another entry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Upgrade\PnP\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceMigration\Devices\USB\VID_0944&PID_0203&MI_03\7&377af7d&0&0003\Driver\Drivers\midi\KORGUM64.DRV which has an entry for “Alias” and “midi1”.This was the only other entry for KORGUM64.DRV, and the second one is not a Class as the first one is. Based on what I just found I do not see how to add the second (midi2) I have tried uninstalls and reinstalls but with no progress. Do you have any suggestions?

    1. Most recent KORG driver updated didn’t work. Forcing the registry strings and rebooting worked fine. A thousand thanks!

  2. To fix 32 bits applications like the Minilogue sound librarian, it is also necessary to duplicate midi stuff () in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 with “KORGUM64.DRV” value.

  3. Had the same problem, did the fix, KORG now on number 1 and 2 in the MIDI device list. But the two Korg devices still do not show up in Ableton Live or Midiox?! What did I miss?

  4. I dont understand this at all. When you say:

    “Open up Regedit and navigate to:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class

    You need to find a class with a name of Media so search for a value of “MEDIA” (Control – F).”

    Several items show up on the list but NONE OF THEM have anything to do with Korg. What you show on the screenshot looks nothing like what I see. This is with Windows 10, same exact setup as yours. Its like you skipped a few vital steps here because Im not seeing anything related to Korg on my end.

  5. Hi there,

    Great article!
    My solution was just totally uninstall KORG drivers, first from device manager, then program, reconnect hardware and use win generic drivers! (of course editor won’t work, but i don’t use it). Simple solution for people who are not familiar with registry and are willing to wait KORG fix!!

  6. I followed the procedure, but the alias now shows up in the Korg Uninstall utility as “Corrupted (KORGUM64.SYS”. It also still shows on midi13 as KORG nanoKONTROL2 as it did before.

    Any ideas ?

  7. hello there, ive did exactly what you tell but there is no results, my minilogue is now above 10, (placed in 2), i can use it on ableton but the librarian doesn’t recognise it.

  8. I got it to work. Much thanks for the instructions. Some modifications may be even more helpful. This line is confusing:

    You need to find a class with a name of Media so search for a value of “MEDIA” (Control – F).”

    A search for MEDIA was no help in my system but searching for KORGUM64.DRV was helpful. An update may be useful there.

    Also to get mine to work I needed to follow oco’s comment about adding a string key of midi1 with “KORGUM64.DRV” to

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

    It may be helpful to update the instructuions to add this line.

  9. Question… Does it matter if chs. 1-10 are already in use by other devices? Will Windows automatically shuffle things? Or will I also need to manually move out devices to make room for the Korg devices?

  10. The solution is successful. But I cannot connect the XD to the firmware System Updater. Says device not found.

  11. I did get System Updater working, by re-reading the section on 32 bit Applications. I would clarify the wording so it does not sound like 32 bit Windows. And say it’s needed for the System Updater to work. Thanks a million for this page, I worked on it a full day.

  12. Thank you for this post.
    My nanoKontrol wasn’t visible for any music software, but the Korg Unistall Utility did show it at number midi port 3.
    In the registry I found 3 midi ports listed for my 1 nanoKontrol. I did delete all of them at both locations:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class all folders 00xx with the KorgDriver.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 all midiX aliases
    then reconnected the nanoKontrol and it was working fine…

  13. thnx so much, my xd is working in ableton again, but still no drivers it says for the Minilogue xd software but the software can connect to the xd. f@#$%$#@ windows updates

  14. I have tested the driver in both win10 and win 8.1, but none of these attempts have produced any results! And that picture of the registry you show doesn’t match mine. I did exactly as described, but no info on Korg in any of the two registry I have tested!

    Today I understand less and less of the Korg people. No one wants to take responsibility for their own usb driver! I happen to be a throwing ball between the store I bought the keyboard, Korg in the usa and korg in sweden. So far no one can answer why their own usb driver does not work in win10 or win 8.1!

    Therefore, this is my last chance to seek help on this on the internet. I have a Korg PA300

  15. Hi
    Korg unistal shows my midi on position 12 and 13.
    I searched for Media and KORGUM64.DRV but
    I can’t find class with this names in folder and in whole register.

    please do You have any idea how to fix this
    (I have got Korg Kaoss DJ Controler)

      1. My nanokontrol shows up as 13. KORGUM64.DRV is not in my registry. I downloaded the latest drivers for Windows, DrvTools(115_r38e).exe, restarted, still no good.

        1. I ended up just uninstalling the Korg driver under ‘Programs and Features’ and then all was well using the default Windows driver.
          My original nanokontrol white usb cable with the mini-b connector was only working in USB 2.0 ports, but I wanted to use a usb 3 hub. I found another cable I had with the mini-b connector, and thankfully that worked with the 3.0 hub.

  16. I found that my Korg Radias was not listed at all in the KORG midi driver uninstall utility, yet it seems to be working fine at the moment with my Reaper DAW and Impact LX25 + midi controller (the LX25+ is listed funnily enough).

  17. SIMPLER SOLUTION found on the way without registry editing:
    First of all thx for the guidance! I happend to find a simpler solution on the way. You can simply use the “Uninstall KORG USB-MIDI Device” tool to delete the unused multiply entries and free up some space for your minilogue within the first 10 entries. For this you must disable the checkbox saying “Delete KORG MIDI Device only” which you will find in “option…”. I hope it works for other people as well.
    Cheers

  18. Hello, thanks for your effort, but nothing works for me. I have a minilogue and the drivers doesnt work. I made it all and nothing. Im starting to think that this shit is broken.

  19. Hi, I can just fill in with some information about what happend in my case. I discovered that my Kronos in the windows registry already had Alias = midi1 and the Kronos driver already linked to this entry, but since the midi1 position was already occupied of some generic driver in Windows 10 the connection still did not work because windows put the Kronos driver on midi13. I then changed the value in the registry to a “free slot” (midi2) and changed the name of the entry for the driver to midi2, restarted my computer and then it worked!

  20. Hi, already checked the setup.

    As Korg devices need to be within 1-10 midi port.

    I just run the Uninstall tool (from Korg Start Menu Group)
    selected and removed the midi devices without name taking places 3-7
    (You need to uncheck in option remove only KORG devices and have than Your Korg unchecked!).

    On next tool start my NanoPAD2 get the correct place and was working.

  21. The problem I’m running into is that when I install the MIDI USB driver (v 1.15 r45e), it shows up in the uninstall utility in slot 9, but it shows as

    midi9: Corrupted (KORK KRONOS

    Any ideas on how to fix this?

  22. I hope by now you have learned to speak a little more precisely especially when giving people directions for editing their registry ffs. I spent a few minutes trying to follow your muddy trail and eventually decided no good can come from following instructions so poorly put together.

  23. 2023 and it\’s still an issue unfortunately… thank goodness for your info that got me on the right track! I wasn\’t confident enough to mess with the registry, but pointing me towards the \”Uninstall Korg USB MIDI\” program allowed me to see I had a BassStationII driver in the #9 slot I wasn\’t using. I deleted that, restarted the program and saw that Minilogue had moved into that slot. Firmware updater found MIDI and we are good to go!

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