Korg Forums

[shock410]

I am a KORG user since the M1....never really had any polyphony problems like I'm having with the original KRONOS. I'm hoping a firmware fix can help this but I seriously doubt KORG will even take this serious. When stacking a few EXi synths(Stab Saw, Double Screamer or Unison Stab Saw, to name a few) or Electric Pianos split with 2 brass sounds layered, I'm getting MAJOR note dropouts. I've done everything that some posted in a recent forum post and still I'm getting dropouts. I've had to resort to sampling chords to one key in order to help out. And though it does help, I shouldn't have to do that. I have the latest firmware. I'm not taxing the RAM in any way. Just need help. I've turned off the level meters, as well. I'm sure Jordan Rudess isn't having polyphony issues....lol. Any help would be appreciated.

[NIO0850]

There is no fix... I even updated the ram, put in a SSD that had 2x the write and read speeds. Updated all the firmwares, fan update and OS updates. Like the sounds were great but the sensitivity and blending of the notes seemed very unrealistic. Note drop outs were most noticed on the big sampled pianos. Sold my Kronos and either I will buy a Nord 3 or very patiently wait for a Kronos successor. I have owned 5 flagship Korg workstations and want to keep my business with Korg.

[SanderXpander]

All you need to do is be aware of how CPU intensive the various engines and features are. That's no "fix", obviously there are limits and they're easy to reach if you ignore all that, but you can definitely get around without "major" note dropouts. E.g. I've never ever had them on the "big sampled pianos". I'm a professional pianist, it's not like I only play three notes at a time. I don't wantonly stack thick synths on top of each other to "fatten" a sound either though.

[tcornishmn]

Guys,

The Kronos has more polyphony capability than almost any keyboard on the planet. That said, the keyboard is flexible enough that you can burn it all up in just a note or two if you load too much up.

Every layer that simultaneously sounds eats up multiple notes of polyphony, depending on what's going on. Using the performance meters tab will show you just how much you are using. You can use this tool to see what sounds are killing you and probably pick other ones that sound 90% the same but are easier on polyphony. Usually the eXs ones are worse than the eXi ones in this way. There are some pads I've played with that take 8 voices per key press - that's going to take a bite out. If you are burning 12 notes per key which can happen with poorly chosen patches, that means you get about 12 keys pressed before you are stealing.

The Kronos note stealing engine is as good as any I've used as it tries to figure out what notes are contributing the least - i.e. if they are in decay, etc.

Resampling these really heavy things is a good way to manage this situation if you really need all that piled up, but for everything I've needed to do for my work I've been able to manage by slimming the patches down or doing less. Some patches have layers or nuances that are barely heard the can be turned off to save pretty major polyphony.

[MusicianSickness]

Sounds like your pushing the kronos to the extreme. Good luck going to another brand, kronos is king i can assure you.
If you have the need for such complex stacks of sounds you are better off sampling your creations and reload to a bank...an easy easy fix.
Kronos sampler is intoxicating.
Cheers

[NIO0850]

If Korg is King? Why do so many Real professionals play Nord Roland and Yamaha? Professional artists have all the money in the world and they dont own a Kronos. I think Korg has a way to go before they get it right. The Kronos pianos sound good but the sensitivity is all wrong and the pianos cut out and the pianos do not resonate properly together. Right now I like the Nord a lot better. It plays, feels and sounds like a real piano. Professionals play Nord.

[GregC]

[SanderXpander]

Let's not get bogged down in which brand is more professional. All the big players make quality stuff, a lot of it comes down to features and taste. I'm a professional and I sold my Nord partly because I didn't like the piano. The interface is great though. I needed more features and wanted a better piano so I went for a Kronos. Nobody in the store checked if I was a a pro or not.

The issue at hand is polyphony. The Kronos has lots but it also gives you lots and lots of options to stack sounds and even voices (unison mode in the EXis for instance). Adding another layer to your sound doesn't always (or even usually) make your sound better, just mushier. Learn to pick the right sound, apply judicious EQ and perhaps some chorus if you really really must have it sound thick/wide. Most of the time you won't have any polyphony issues at all.

[burningbusch]

According to Wiki here are the pros using the Nord Stage:

Derek Sherinian
Bill Payne
Scott Kinsey
The Ark's Jens Andersson (who played a Nord Stage 2 on the band's final tour)
Bryan Ferry
Elbow

Here are the pros using the Korg Kronos:

Jim Gilmour (Saga)
Derek Sherinian
Greg Phillinganes (Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour)
Herbie Hancock
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys)
Eloy Fritsch
Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish)
David Sancious (Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel)
Jem Godfrey
Omar Edwards (Jay-Z, Rihanna, The Weeknd)
Jon Shone (One Direction)
Mike Finnigan
Spike Edney
Larry Goldings
Jeff Babko (Jimmy Kimmel Live!)
David Tench & Steve Turner (The Voice UK)
Eldar Djangirov
Daniel Jones (Dr. Dre, Janet Jackson, Demi Lovato)
Tom Coster
Adam Blackstone
Cory Henry (Snarky Puppy)
Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote)
Jae Deal (Janet Jackson, Diane Warren)
Brett Tuggle (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac)
Frank McComb
Jeff Lorber
Richard Tee
Lyle Mays (Pat Metheny Group)
Russell Ferrante
Adam Wakeman
Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band)
Vangelis
Keith Emerson
George Duke
Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler)
Bob Katsionis (Firewind, OUTLOUD)
Thomas DeFelice (AJAR Project, Gambrinus)
Peter Gabriel

Busch.
_________________
Kronos 73, Nautilus 61, Vox Continental 73, Monologue, Yamaha Montage 8, Rhodes Suitcase, Yamaha VL-1, Roland V-Synth, Yamaha AvantGrand, Minimoog Model D, Studio Electronics Omega 8, CSS, Spitfire, VSL, LASS, Sample Modeling, Ivory, Komplete 12, Spectrasonics, Cubase, Pro Tools, etc.
http://www.purgatorycreek.com

[CEB]

[mikeyd]

Busch my man😎

[tcornishmn]

[tcornishmn]

Just for fun I looked up the specs of the Nord Piano 3. It has 40 stereo voices or 60 mono voices for the piano section, and a whopping 15 voices for the synth section.

The Kronos 2 has 100 dual-stereo voices, equivalent to 400 mono voices for the SGX-2 piano engine, 140 voices for the HD-1 sample playback engine (comparable to the "sample synth" thing on the Nord), 80 AL-1 voices, etc.

It's not even close. Anything the Kronos gets bogged down with can't even be attempted on the Nord, as the Nord's architecture is much more simplistic. Conversely, anything the Nord can do is a piece of cake for the Kronos.

I understand that there are differences in people's preferences related to sound quality and keyboard action and that's fine. Blaming what's essentially user error for not understanding how voice assignment works as a "bug" isn't reality.

[jeebustrain]

most of the times I've seen polyphony problems with layered patches, it's been due to 2 things

1. Riding the sustain pedal forever

2. Unison mode on too many of the timbres. Anytime you have unison mode turned on, you're utilizing up to 8x the expected polyphony for that single voice. If you have that layered behind 5 other synth patches, you're not even going to hear it anyway, so just turn it off.
_________________
::: Korg Kronos 88 ::: Alesis Fusion 8HD ::: Kurzweil PC361 ::: Roland V-Synth ::: DSI Prophet 12 ::: DSI OB-6 ::: Korg Prophecy ::: Moog Micromoog ::: Yamaha CP-30 ::: Alesis Andromeda ::: Moog Sub37 ::: Sequential Prophet 600 ::: Korg MS2000BR ::: GSI Burn :::

My Music

[NIO0850]

I sold my Kronos 61 and do not regret it. I sold it for $2100 so Im happy about 2years of use with very little loss. Im ready for whats next. Have you ever seen inside of a Kronos? It looks like $500 of production cost. The stock SSD is very cheap thin and looks like a prototype of the first SSd ever created. I mean if you are spending $3000 on a keyboard it should at least have the same quality screen of a $50 tablet. A Sony PS4 for $300 has 100x the processing power. Get my point of view? Its the year 2016 not 1999. We need a new flagship with current technology.


Im so happy I skipped the Oasys. I feel bad for those people.