Korg Forums

[ChrisDuncan]

Apologies as I know there are threads on this, but the forum's search capabilities are, well, less than inspirational.

A friend of mine is a classically trained pianist but hasn't played for many years. She loves the feel of my 88 and the sound of the German piano (Steinway if I recall correctly). And of course she's impressed by all the other sound capabilities.

With the Kronos having been discontinued, I took a look at the Nautilus to see just how much she'd be missing versus buying a used Kronos. The latter gets you the real thing, but buying used gear is always rolling the dice whereas a new instrument is warrantied.

So far I've seen it described as a Kronos without Karma, aftertouch and with fewer control surfaces. Does this sound like an accurate summary, or is there more to it than this?

She's not going to be interested in sound design and will be more likely to just pick a preset and play, so I don't think the control surfaces will be an issue. In a similar fashion, she wouldn't be creating new sounds with Karma if she had a Kronos. About the only thing that might matter is the lack of aftertouch, and even then I'm not sure how big of a factor that would be.

I'm still poking around watching Nautilus videos, etc. but would love to hear your thoughts on this. Her point of reference is my Kronos, so I'm just wondering, given what she's likely to use it for, whether the Nautilus would feel like a downgrade or not. It doesn't matter what features are missing if you wouldn't have used them in the first place. That said, I don't know what else might be missing.
_________________
Studio: Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Yamaha TF5 | Mackie MCU | CMC AI, QC
Keyboard Station: Kronos 2 88 | Fantom 7 | JV 2080 | Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Focusrite 18i20 | CMC TP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Duncan
Atlanta, GA, USA, Earth

[KK]

Hi there,

Given the info you mention and that she is not so much interested with the thousands of Kronos parameters, I'm pretty sure your friend would enjoy a Nautilus 88 just as well as it is the same Korg RH3 action.

Just in case though, I would also recommend she tries other candidates, such as the Kawai digitals which are praised by many for having a realistic piano action closer to an acoustic grand. Having said that, the action is not everything and she might dislike the Kawai piano sounds, etc.

Just like when you are shopping for an acoustic grand, the most important is neither the number of features, the brand name, the action characteristics and so on. It is about enjoying the instrument while you play it, because it gives one the sound and playing response one is looking after. So after taking her time and testing around, a Nautilus might end up being the right choice for your friend.

[ChrisDuncan]

Thanks, man. Appreciate the insights.

I completely agree about enjoying the instrument you're playing, which is a separate thing from doing sound design. And she really likes how the Kronos feels. My understanding is the hammer action 88 of the Nautilus is on par with the Kronos.

That said, it's not just the desire to play piano again but all of the other cool sounds that the Kronos / Nautilus gives you that she's interested in. Once exposed to that, I don't think she'd ever be satisfied with a piano-only instrument.
_________________
Studio: Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Yamaha TF5 | Mackie MCU | CMC AI, QC
Keyboard Station: Kronos 2 88 | Fantom 7 | JV 2080 | Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Focusrite 18i20 | CMC TP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Duncan
Atlanta, GA, USA, Earth

[blazerunner]

Reading your description it truly doesn't seem that something like the Nautilus would be right for her. It's still a feature rich deep dive that would leave a majority of the keyboard mostly unused. It would be overkill as the reasons why she wouldn't use it are the reason why most of us buy it in the first place.

You may want to introduce her into checking out something like the Vox Continental or a Nord Electro.

She'll love them for the sounds and the simplicity.

[KK]

[voip]

There is no need to deep dive into any instrument, such as the Kronos or Nautilus, in order to enjoy it. Both will "work" for someone who needs no more than to be able to select and play the various excellent Timbres available on the instrument, and expandable from other sources. OK, so the control surfaces might, at first, seem to be largely redundant. However, they are there, should the user decide to experiment with the exploration of the wider sound permutations that they make available. At the very least, the ability to vary the amount of reverb with a single (mostly consistent across timbres) knob, adds a significant extra dimension, giving the ability to change, for example, the sound of the Delicato Strings Combi, from an intimate "strings in the kitchen" sound to that of a sizeable concert hall. Use of the sliders, to control organ overtones, is another. None of this requires deep diving into menus and parameters, but still allows the user significant control over the resultant audio output. To this end, from a user perpective, the Kronos remains the better equipped instrument of the two.

.

[ChrisDuncan]

[blazerunner]

[Johnf_tx]

hi Chris,

Given that you live in Atlanta, there should be stores that offer warranties on Kronos's that are gently used. But more interestingly, she could probably go and play both of them. I know that Sam Ash will write you a warranty. some credit cards have generous warranties (I think Apple is one.)

I think there are still some new Kronos units floating around out there at dealers.

I've never played a Nautilis and don't have an opinion. This is the sort of thing that we could chase our tails about.

The other thing I might say is that I know lots of classical players seem to like Yamaha.

So I guess I would just take her someplace where she could try both without influencing her decision. She's a musician, so would probably be making the decision subjectively based on her feelings, if I know musicians.

As far as after touch goes, I actually use it, believe it or not. I programmed some sounds that have strings and horns and the aftertouch determines which will be held longest. I may be one of the only ones in the world that actually uses it but I remembered it from my old M1.

regards,

John
_________________
Kronos 2 November, 2021

[wocongming]

[Mike Conway]

[Bachus]

Karma, aftertouch, better and more hardware controlls, better keybed..

I think its karma that makes the Kronos a classic allready, since korg is leaving Karma behind..
_________________
Korg Kronos 2/88 , Genos, Mainstage3 +VSTsu, ipad pro, GSi Gemini, Roland Integra 7, Jupiter Xm, Yamaha motif XS rack, Ketron SD90.
www.keyszone.boards.net

[ChrisDuncan]