Korg Forums

musicbygordongeorge · Joined: 02 Feb 2017 Posts: 26

Since I purchased the Krome a few years ago, I felt that the Korg Krome Grand Piano Program A000 sounded awful, weak, and lifeless. I worked with other piano sounds on the Krome until I created a piano sound I could live with, but it always bothered me that, while many people on the forum liked the Korg Grand Piano sound, there was something wrong with it on my Krome.

I decided to change the SD internal microdisk from a 4gb class 10 to a Sandisk 8gb class 10 with a speed of about 70 mbs. After it was successfully installed, I initialized the Krome (press page & exit together + power on). I then went to the global main page, then menu pull down, then selected Load Preload/Demo data. After I did this, it was like the skies opened up and the Grand Piano A000 program sounded beautiful, full, and rich.

I have to add that there are several procedures you have to go through to load the image file to the new microdisk, and the instructions for that can be found on the "Korg-Sound Problem thread" found on the first page of this Korg Krome forum. I truly believe that the 8gb with the faster speed of the microdisk made all the difference in the world.

musicbygordongeorge · Joined: 02 Feb 2017 Posts: 26

In fact, all of the pianos sound better on the Krome now. What a difference!

lucasmdoc · Joined: 05 Jul 2016 Posts: 13

Never noticed that, I find those KROME pianos ok, normal.
The German line of pianos (KRONOS based) are the ones worth playing, those are superb. By default I use Singer Grand Piano which is very standard when practicing playing single piano songs, and I edit it a little to my preference (usually more release and less velocity sense, cause all pianos of Krome lack those configurations by default).
What I gotta say is that Krome when playing with Amps really sucks in contrast between those pianos, but with direct headphones, they sound good for me.

musicbygordongeorge · Joined: 02 Feb 2017 Posts: 26

I noticed a big difference from before the new disk. I use a Traynor K4 keyboard amp which has an EQ selector knob. One of the settings on the knob is for "piano", but I set it to "live" because I use a lot of different sounds at a gig. The Traynor K4 is a great amp for keyboard although it weighs 57 lbs. For gigging, I find the Krome sounds are able to cut through a band, but everyone has their preferences when it comes to sound.

dfahrner · Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2017 10:22 pm Post subject:

I've never had any problem with the Krome Grand Piano programs and the tweaks I've made to it (which are my go-to Krome pianos)...but after reading musicbygordongeorge's posts, and remembering all the piano sound cutoff problems that have been reported on this forum, I decided to see what kind of internal MicroSD was installed in my (several year old) Krome 73...and maybe upgrade it to a Class 10 70ns part, to avoid any possible future problems, and to see if I could hear any difference...I didn't really see how a faster part could make a difference in sound quality (maybe occasional missed sample reads?), but a faster part does seem to solve (most of) the piano sound cutoff problem...retired computer engineers like to take things apart, too...

Mine had a no-name Class 10 MicroSD, without any read access time on the silkscreen, installed, so I updated it to a Sony Class 10 70ns, a name brand MicroSD from a major manufacturer...everything seemed to work fine, but I couldn't tell any difference in sound quality...then after a few minutes, I experienced the piano sound cutoff problem that many people have reported here: a reset fixed the problem, but it came back; turning off oscillator 2 with the piano damper resonance fixed the problem, etc....so I reinstalled the factory MicroSD and haven't had the problem again (and my Krome still sound as good as ever)...

It seems like the problem is with the internal MicroSD interface; it's not just read access time, so installation of a new faster SD may or may not fix the problem...maybe something related the Krome PWB layout, or the part that actually connects to the SD (it's probably not a standard SD support chip)...anybody have a .pdf copy of the Krome Service Manual they could send to me, or a link to an online source?

But the bottom line is, don't make changes (hardware or software) unless you have to fix a problem or add capability...if it ain't broke, don't fix it...

df

jameslol · Joined: 15 Mar 2013 Posts: 29

Hi there,
Pardon, I did not get your point. Did you mean The Grand Piano Sound will be improved very clearly if we change the Internal SD? Is that inside the Korg Krome or the SD slot back panel of the Korg Krome? I wonder that Krome has built a SD card inside the box.

jameslol · Joined: 15 Mar 2013 Posts: 29

Hi there,
Pardon, I did not get your point. Did you mean The Grand Piano Sound will be improved very clearly if we change the Internal SD? Is that inside the Korg Krome or the SD slot back panel of the Korg Krome? I wonder that Krome has built a SD card inside the box.

musicbygordongeorge · Joined: 02 Feb 2017 Posts: 26

I found that the Grand Piano Sound improved when I changed the internal microdisk that was factory installed as opposed to the SD slot back panel. I used a Sandisk 8 gb, class 10, 70 mbs microdisk. There is a set of procedures you have to follow to prepare the micro disk before installing it into the Krome which are outlined in the Korg Krome Forum thread, Krome-Sound Problem, which is on the first page of the Korg Krome forum. Others didn't notice a change, but I did. Maybe they used a different brand of micro disk, but I feel it worked for me.