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Randelph · Last edited by Randelph on Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

Very nice people in this Northern California music store- not dickish at all! (sorry, the name of this store lends itself....)

Rich did a great job of presenting a 61 note K. They had a wonderful sound setup: 2- QSC K8's, and the new KW sub: big beautiful, clear sound. I was expecting it to sound good, but with the great sound system it was really room filling- a rockin' keyboard player could keep everyone hoppin' with this board and these speakers.

The pianos sounded just wonderful, and he demo'd several features I hadn't noticed before:
- a compressor that lessened the dynamics without having weird artifacts
- an intensity parameter that was like a continuously variable velocity curve

Both of these new parameters sounded very useful and musical. I loved the Pat Metheny space verb(overb) patch a lot.

The store owner made a good case for buying local, even said he'd match prices including no sales tax if thats what it took, and mentioned the money the store donates locally. Personally, I try to buy locally as much as possible, I love having someplace I can kick the tires and (possibly) talk to someone knowledgeable.

Another Korg guy there said the first batch of Kronii have sailed, saying it takes several weeks, but there's customs, etc. so it'll be more than that. The first batch of K will be 61's, with the weighted boards coming a month (?) later. Rich was quick to affirm that nothing was known at this time for sure.

The unit looks very substantial. The screen, on a 61, is huge, and while the type is small, I was still able to read it OK without my reading glasses. The side end caps look, to my eyes, like the Nord Stage end caps, except in this case they're a shiny, glossy black. An understated bit of flash there-

Being in front of a living representative of what often seems like a megalithic corporation, I felt an urgency to impress upon him my most pressing request:

A Kronos version of the Nord Stage Compact!

To me at least, this seems like a no-brainer.
Given that:
> The Kronos is going to be a runaway best seller (therefore having many offspring)
> That there's no 73/77 note semi-weighted version
> That the current 73 and 88 note version are 44 and 50 pounds respectively (and with your typical 25-30 pound roller bag, that's 70-80 pounds dead lift going up stairs- ugh!)

Based on that, it seems quite obvious (esp. to me) that a 77 note Kronos would sell like pancakes (or waffles, or ice cream on a hot day, or...) if

> It was under 30 pounds!!!! Yes!!!! Say its so!!!

> If the joystick was on top! Just say no to aircraft carriers disguised as keyboards; not so bad on the 61 note, but that's the reason I'll be getting the 73 and not the 88- just TOO DAMN LONG!

> If the note range went DOWN TO C- please, DOWN TO C! (I'd prefer even lower, but heh, C would be great!)

Now before you scolders out there start bawling me out for wishing for something different before the original has even arrived- well, go ahead I guess. We all do what we're gonna do, just like I'm writing this post.

But I do believe in this. I don't use soft synths, I want a "real" keyboard for live use that's gig friendly. Almost all the elements are in place now (another sweep pedal input would be nice, but that would be a different board).

What I'm suggesting is not that far fetched- they managed to get the 61 note down to 27 pounds!!! That's lighter than the M3, and this baby has a solid aluminum body.

Anyhoo- after obsessing on the Kronos for these last coupla months it was great to see it in person- can't wait for the Kronos to arrive!
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Keyboards: Kawai ES920 / Casio CT-X5000
Instruments: Keys / Alto Recorder and Melodica

Drake · Joined: 24 Apr 2011 Posts: 1 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Thanks for the report. Was it the San Rafael store you went to?

Melodialworks Music · Platinum Member Joined: 23 Feb 2003 Posts: 522

I was expecting a video! Anyway, good report, with a few new tidbits.

BillW · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:27 pm Post subject:

Zeroesque · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:45 pm Post subject:

Randelph, nice post. It's very agreeable to me because I can't wait to get my Kronos 61 w/ my existing QSC K8s. They are a great system for keys, if anyone cares. You're also right about boat-sized boards. I got sick of gigging five-foot long keyboards that weigh 80+ pounds in a case. I would love a great 'board like the Kronos in a 76-key, A-C configuration w/ the pitch stick above the keys. I guess I'll live w/ the K61 and my Numa Nano. Smile

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Kronos 61, Kronos2-88, Hammond B3, Baldwin SD-10

McHale · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 3:39 pm Post subject:

Do you know what the "special" pre-order prices were?
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Current Korg Gear: KRONOS 88 (4GB), M50-73 (PS mod), RADIAS-73, Electribe MX, Triton Pro (MOSS, SCSI, CF, 64MB RAM), SQ-64, DVP-1, MEX-8000, MR-1, KAOSSilator, nanoKey, nanoKontrol, 3x nanoPad 2, 3x DS1H, 7x PS1, FC7 (yes Korg, NOT Yamaha).

drama1 · Platinum Member Joined: 04 Apr 2007 Posts: 662

DaveBoulden · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:20 pm Post subject: Re: Bananas at Large! Kronos demo

Randelph · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:35 pm Post subject:

Drake wrote:

Randelph · Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2011 5:44 pm Post subject:

Ooops- forgot an important detail- Rich said he timed his bootup at 1 minute 43 seconds, and considerably shorter with fewer EXis. He mentioned that was pretty quick considering that over a gig was being loaded up!
_________________
Keyboards: Kawai ES920 / Casio CT-X5000
Instruments: Keys / Alto Recorder and Melodica

Megakazbek · Junior Member Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 92

BananAlan · Joined: 09 Jun 2011 Posts: 7 Location: San Rafael, CA

Hi Randelph
I am sorry for the slow reply to this thread. I just now saw it. I wanted to send a personal THANK YOU for the very kind words you wrote about my store, staff and me. We really do try our hardest to make customers happy not just with pricing but with honest hard work and service. We know people have a lot of choices of where to shop and that saving sales tax is a strong enticement. But we do believe in supporting local, and we dont mean just about buying with us. We back that up through our Community Action Program that gives back tens of thousands of dollars every year to our schools and non-profit programs in the Bay Area. I let people know, you wont spend more but your money will go further. I think in this day and age and the times we live in, people care now more then ever how their hard earned money is used. A few bucks here or there is less important then how its used. Maybe thats just me and my ideals? More fun to live that way I think. Makes coming to work feel better.
Anyway, thank you so much for coming down and spending your time here, and thank you again for the nice support on here.
-Alan