Korg Forums

[JimH]

Last Fall, Keyboard magazine asked the question on Facebook: If you had to gig with just two keyboards for the foreseeable future, what would they be? I thought in light of the announcement of Kronos it would be a good idea to revisit the question. What would you choose, given that one of them would be a Kronos?

I originally had this as a much longer post because I have a lot of thoughts on it. But instead of being overly long-winded (at first ) I'll try to leave it short.

Is it Kronos 88 or 73 on the bottom and something else on top? Or is it Kronos 61 on top and something else on the bottom? Why? For me it's pretty much a given that one keyboard has to be weighted (for pianos) and the other unweighted (for organs, strings, synths). And I think the type of music you intend to play has a lot to do with your choice.

I bring this subject up because I originally intended to get a Kronos 88 for bottom. But since Kronos can probably cover all the needed sounds by itself, perhaps a better option is a Kronos 61 on top and a weighted controller on the bottom. I'm not sure now which Kronos to go with.
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Korg Kronos 61, DSS-1, EX-8000
VAX77; John Bowen Solaris; Yamaha S90ES, TX81Z; Hammond XK3c; Kurzweil K2000S, PC88mx; Minimoog (orig)

[GregC]

Kronos and


Kronos

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Kronos 88. MODX8
Achieve your musical dreams
https://soundcloud.com/user-898236994

[Bertotti]

Nord stage 2

[McHale]

88 and 61 key Kronos.
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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).

[BillW]

I think I'll end up with a Kronos 61 and a Motif XS6
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Korg Kronos 61 (2); Kurzweil PC4; Casio Privia PX-350m; Macbook Pro

[theshinenz]

I'm gunna go Kronos and kurzweil pc3 for a start then maybe Kronos and Jupiter-80 when I can afford it! The wait 4 the k is killin me!

[robinkle]

To compliment Kronos with something Kronos doesn't have, there won't be much choises for me then to build a Custom Analog Eurorack Modular synth.

[Sina172]

...

[Apresmidi2010]

It would be OASYS 88 below and Kronos 73 above.

No - too much and not realistic for me.

It would be Kronos 88 lower and V-Synth GT upper (most realistic for me).

Ideally, I would want PC3K8 at the bottom, Kronos 73 in the middle, and V-Synth GT on the top (extravagganza but still realistic for me).

Since this is Korg site, I would like to see Kronos 88 lower and Z1EX upper, cause Z1EX would cover what Kronos does not have.

[Scott]

Kronos 61 as the top tier board. The others are too heavy.

For a lighter-than-Kronos weighted board underneath, there are a few I'd look at.

First choice would probably ideally be a Stage 2, for the sample library and knobby synth and some great piano/EP sounds of its own and the cool pitch stick and a nice interface... but although lighter than the Korgs (the Stage 2 88 weighs less than the Kronos 76), I think they're still too heavy.

Next choice would probably be the Yamaha MOX-8. As much as I am anticipating a Kronos, I'm not convinced that its acoustic sounds (i.e. strings, winds, brass) will be as good as Yamaha's, as that has traditionally been something Yamaha has done better. So besides giving me the 88 controller for the Kronos' piano sounds, I think the Yamaha sounds are likely to be strongest where Korg may be weakest, so the two should complement each other very well. It's still a bit heavier than I'd like, but maybe okay. (No aftertouch, though... but of course I'd still have it on the Kronos.)

For very light weight, I'd look at the Casio PX3. I wish I liked it's action a bit more, but it's okay. And it still has enough MIDI control functions (as do the Stage 2 and MOX) that I can set it up so that its own controls will call up sounds for it to trigger on the Kronos. (But no aftertouch, no mod wheel, no expression pedal.)

Another one I'd consider would be a Yamaha P95. Small and light, but not as much so as the PX3. And it doesn't have the others' MIDI control functions, so all the MIDI assignment would have to exclusively be set up on the Kronos side, but that seems plenty workable. The advantages would be that I like the feel of the P95 action more than the PX3, and I like the built-in speakers... the vibrations can be felt in your fingers as you play, making it feel more like playing a real piano. Though to get that effect, it might be a little weird on stage to hear the Yamaha piano sounds coming out of its speakers, while hearing the Kronos piano sound you'd be triggering coming out of your monitors! But it might be fine, you might hardly hear the Yamaha's speakers, especially if you didn't crank them, but you might still get the physical effect. (Like the Casio, it has no aftertouch, no mod wheel, no expression pedal, but also no pitch bend.)

The other very lightweight possibility would be the Nord Electro 3 HP. Compared to the similar weight PX3, it only has 73 keys instead of 88, no pitch bend, and like the P95 option, you'd have to do all the selection of triggerable Kronos sounds on the Kronos itself. But it would provide access to the great Nord sample library and their nice piano/EP sounds. Plus it supports an expression pedal which the PX3 does not. But not having played it, the feel of the action is still a bit of a question mark. (It looks like the MOX has the same action as a P95, so that's probably not really an unknown, even though it hasn't shipped yet.) The E3-HP doesn't give you everything the Nord Stage 2 does by a long shot, but it does give you some of its nicest features in a much lighter package.

[EnjoyRC]

My primary pair are gonna be the Kronos 88 on the bottom, and the Virus TI on top. For certain songs and patches, I'll have the Virus TI be set to an empty patch and have it play a second patch on the Kronos. Since the Virus has one of the best feeling synth keybeds that exists. If you've ever felt one, you know what I mean.
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Korg (Kronos 88, RK-100S 2), Behringer DeepMind 12, Roland (GAIA, A-800-Pro)

[apex]

double post. sorry.
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[apex]

[EvilDragon]

Kurzweil PC3K8 bottom tier, master keyboard. Kronos top tier, slaved.

Waldorf Blofeld Keyboard to the right. V-Machine (solely for GSi VB3, controlled from Kronos) on the Kurzweil.

[jimknopf]