Korg Forums

lonelagranger · Senior Member Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 291

I bought the MODX7 and love it. I have a Kronos X88. I don't think you can compare the two. My MODX7 was less than half the price of my Kronos X88. For that little money it is one hell of a synth. Just my opinion. And I can carry the MODX7 with one hand. Not so much with the Kronos X88.

lonelagranger · Senior Member Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 291

I bought the MODX7 and love it. I have a Kronos X88. I don't think you can compare the two. My MODX7 was less than half the price of my Kronos X88. For that little money it is one hell of a synth. Just my opinion. And I can carry the MODX7 with one hand. Not so much with the Kronos X88.

GregC · Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2018 10:55 pm Post subject:

benny ray · Platinum Member Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 628

dfahrner · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 2:40 am Post subject:

benny ray · Platinum Member Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 628

A true piano player would never prefer semi-weighted keys but you are right the MODX is light in weight.

You have to decide for yourself I personally know people will say anything as an endorsee. Experience should be your determining factor not someone says. I have a friend that is well respected and said the MODX was as good as the Montage. Later he bought a Montage. Just saying!
_________________
K2 Kronos 88, Mojo 61, Korg CX3, Roland FANTOM 7

Broadwave · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 7:44 am Post subject:

I bit the bullet and my MODX6 arrived yesterday - Although I've only had limited time with it so far, I have to say it's a major step up from the likes of the MOX and MOXF series (which it replaces).

The semi-weighted keybed isn't as bad as some reports I've read, sure it can sound a bit clunky, but it responds nicely to velocity.

I'm still getting used to not having "Patches" - I can understand why it's permamently in "Performance" mode, as you can see at a glance what's going on - But searching for appropriate Parts to put into a Performance still leaves me slightly scratching my head.

Banks... Where are the Banks? I'm so used to having Patches and Combis etc. logically put into Banks for recall. Having 2143 performances in the MODX is a bit daunting when you have to either search via a catagory or scroll through to find something of interest - I'm not sure how to organise and access all these Performances via Program Change in Logic - I'll have to read the MIDI Parameter manual and see what I can come up with.

The touch screen is nicely responsive, but it would be nice to change parameter values directly on-screen (something I've got used to with the Kronos) - But I wish they'd ditch the Part Edit Screen overlay effect (The Performance screen becomes an arty blurred effect underneath the Part Edit screen).... I keep looking at it and thinking something's wrong with the LCD.

Although the above seems like me being a bit picky, it's a great compliment to the Kronos, the sounds are first class and the programming is very, very deep.

You get an awful lot for your money.

EDIT:
Screen "Blur" effect can be turned off in system menu
Single Part prgrams can be chosen via the performance screen
Program changes via a DAW is the usual MSB/LSB bank change - It's fairly easy to access all Preset, User and Library Performances.
_________________
Synth DIY Projects

benny ray · Platinum Member Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 628

You are right I am picky but I played the MODX6 and it was not for me but I just couldn't adjust the keys are smaller than what I am used to. Great that you like the sounds but just didn't impress the fonts on the touchscreen were really small and the overall sound was just not impressive to me. But I respect your opinion and hope you enjoy the MODX. I am personally waiting on a new Kronos hopefully sooner rather than later.
_________________
K2 Kronos 88, Mojo 61, Korg CX3, Roland FANTOM 7

Broadwave · Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2018 9:54 am Post subject:

benny ray · Platinum Member Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 628

Gotcha! My Bad
_________________
K2 Kronos 88, Mojo 61, Korg CX3, Roland FANTOM 7

Pedja · Platinum Member Joined: 20 Sep 2013 Posts: 576

Thanks you guys for all your comments, I really appreciate time and energy you involve to help me. I wish you all best in life and music.
_________________
Pedja
______________________________________
Kronos X73, Kurzweil PC3LE8, ASM Hydrasynth, Arturia Keylab mk2 61, AKAI MPC Key 61
My music: https://soundcloud.com/pedjak-1
_______________________________________
My CG Galleries:
http://www.museumofcomputerart.com/autogallery2013/autogallery_kalajdzijevic/
http://moca.virtual.museum/autogallery2015/autogallery_kalajdzijevic/
http://moca.virtual.museum/autogallery2017/autogallery_kalajdzijevic/
http://moca.virtual.museum/dablog/dablog02.htm
http://moca.virtual.museum/autogallery2019/autogallery_kalajdzijevic/
https://www.saatchiart.com/PedjaK

Maxfpt · Joined: 13 Dec 2014 Posts: 6

I've bought a MODX8 a couple of month ago after listened to the youtube demo and a very quick test at the store ( a sort of love at first sight); in addition I own a Kronos1-61 and a Nord stage2 73 from almost 4 years also ( and a reface DX and a roland d05).

Why MODX88? it is an honest weighted keyboard to gig at the half of the Montage's price/weight; by absurd, the first MODX88 owner could be the Montage8 owner itself, IMO.
After these two months I could say that it's complementary to the Kronos.
Keep also in count that at the right side of the display you can put an iPad, a little laptop/macbook or a D05 Smile

, and, in the left side between keyboard and display, you can put a nanopad.....

Trying to answer to your questions:

1. General opinion about keyboard, feeling and quality: IMO the keyboard's feeling and quality are quite good; the MODX weighted keyboard leaves you play organ glissato and fast synth parts rather then expressive piano parts without particular problems also.

2. Acoustic piano sounds comparison, Kronos and MODX: let me say that MODX piano sounds are all very good ( Boesendorfer too), it doesn't not seems a scaled down keyboard at all; Kronos SGX-2 offers a great amount of parameter to be modified, but Yamaha characters is unique.

3. El. piano sounds comparison, Kronos and MODX: both good in a mix, but Kronos in my opinion it sounds a bit better, also because it's a dedicated engine and has many controls; MODX has a very good library for free, The HH's markV, downloadable from yamahamusicsoft, together with Boesendorfer and CS80, but unfortunately the user memory is not large enough to contain all.
CP70/80 in my opinion gives a good feeling on MODX, Wurlitzer is better on Kronos.

4. General impression about sounds in relation with Kronos sounds: IMO brass/strings sounds a bit better on MODX, FMX is better than Kronos' FM, for other categories there should be kept in count that Kronos has dedicated engines/interfaces for plucked, electric piano, organ, virtual analogue etc. while Yamaha is sampled based ( Montage too); Kronos hasn't a feature like Yamaha's Superknob that is very flexible but also a bit difficult to thoroughly understand, at least for me.

5. Comparison between Kronos combies and MODX live sets; Kronos Combies are the same principle of MODX's performances, but on MODX there're some limitation: less channels, effects, etc., while live sets are almost the same principle for both ( Live set was introduced by Roland Fantom workstations if I well remember Smile

)

6. Is it easy to connect Kronos and MODX that Kronos be controller to MODX? I'm not a skilled about midi and have not tried a connection with Kronos yet; my usual setting with NS2: OUT Kronos - IN NS2: "synchronize" a preset or user sound/s by a dedicated channel (16) with NS2's MSB/LSB settings into a Kronos' combi ( EXT2) and NS2 set to receive PC on channel 16; i think that could work on MODX also......

MODX architecture is completely different from Kronos, and also if the new OS it's less complicated than motif (mainly thanks to the big touchscreen), it is not yet so intuitive as Korg, ( but Korg is less intuitive than Nord also Smile

).

Korg presets can be overwritten, Yamaha presets not.

Time to be operative: Kronos: about two minutes; MODX: 20 seconds.

Yamahasynth is a good site to improve the MODX understanding.

Max

rickster1 · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:54 am Post subject:

I just bought a MODX7 about 3 wks ago.. adding to my 1st gen. Kronos 73. I have back problems that finally caught up to me in April when I herniated a disc after a gig. So I figured it's time to lighten up things... 17 lbs is a lot easier to carry than 45 lbs.
The MODX is a nice keyboard for the money but IMO it's not as intuititive as the K. A lot of the editing I have to do on screens on the Yamaha can be done with surface knobs on the K, example being the tempo. I do prefer the keybed on the K; it takes some getting used to, to play piano on synth action keys. They are velocity sensitive, tho.
Sounds are a little better overall on the K, esp the organs and the drum kits. I also love that brass & woodwind pkg I uploaded from 3rd party on the K.
But while I wish I could still play gigs with my Kronos, I remember why I bought the MODX .... 17 lbs! For a keyboard that is that light, it can do a lot.

Derek Cook · Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:52 pm Post subject:

Hi

I agree with the sentiments that Kronos and Montage/MODX complement each other quite nicely. I like both the Yamaha and Korg sound characters and find them quite different. I want access to both.

Regard the Q above about where the banks are. It is a different mind set/paradigm, and I think Yamaha decided it was time to move away from the old Bank, A-H, 1-16 selection model that has been on the EX5 and Motif Range. You can effectively create your own banks by building up Live Sets. You can have 8 live sets and each live set has 16 pages of 16 set slots.
_________________
Derek Cook - Java Developer

Follow kronos.factory development and submit ideas over at the kronos.factory Trello Board

My Echoes Music Website
My Carreg Ddu Music Website