Korg Forums

Arp_ · Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Posts: 19

Today my Kronos 61 has finally arrived! And after playing it for few hours I can tell my first impressions about it.
First of all, sound quality in general is amazing. It has that "fullness" that last time Korg had in Trinity and which was lost since then in Triton and M3. Now I can hear it again in Kronos (probably was in OASYS too, but I didn't play OASYS), and it is great.
Pianos are wonderful. It's first time that I hear piano in keyboard that makes me really enjoy playing classical compositions. Dynamics, velocity response, all the noises make it feel like a real instrument instead of sample playback machine. Usually I use Galaxy II in Kontakt for my pianos, but now I can just use Kronos.
Electric pianos are great too, they can easily replace best software libraries like Scarbee IMHO. They are again best EPs I heard in a keyboard.
CX-3 organ... well, I expected something better to be honest. To me it sounds like just yet another ordinary organ emulation and I think I like KB3 mode in PC3 with latest programs a little more. It is not on par with Nord's emulation.
AL-1 is one of the best VA synths I've ever played, it has really clear sound and compares very good to my AN1X and even DSI Tetra.
Polysix & MS-20 are also good, but IMHO not as good as AL-1. They lack something to my ears, but I can't clearly describe what exactly.
STR-1 produces awesome clavinets and ethnic instruments, guitars sounds a bit fake. But for me it's an amazing sound design instrument and I will probably spend a lot of time with it.
I haven't played much with MOD-7 but it seems to produce absolutely amazing pads, also I haven't found many traditional FM sounds (apart from electric pianos) in factory programs, most of them seem to be FM/VA or FM/sample hybrids.
HD-1 is great for Trinity-like pads and atmospheres, also wave sequences are fun. There are IMHO too many HD-1 pianos/EPs that are not needed with SGX-1 and EP-1. Orchestral strings IMHO are disappointing, PC3X has much better strings. Other orchestral instruments are okay. I find guitars/basses pretty weak. Drums seem to be cool, but I haven't tested them in a mix yet.
I haven't played Combi mode a lot, but all Combis I tried were for some reason not very inspiring to me. I haven't found any combis yet that instantly made me "wow" feeling like many combis from Trinity, for example. I think I had more fun with combis in M3, but I have to play Kronos some more to form a final opinion.
Not tried Set List and Sequencer yet.
Now about some of the issues:
1. Data wheel feels weak. It didn't fall off so far, but I try not to use it much, because it feels like it will break sooner or later. Also, the vector joystick feels not very solid.
2. Screen is fine for me, but I wish it was angled more. My Kronos is on top tier and when I'm sitting, the screen is just below my eyes level, contrast in that position is not very good, though I am still able to see everything. Fonts are small, but it isn't an issue for me.
3. Fan noise is not an issue for me also. I can hear it when I am close to Kronos and want to hear it specifically, but generally it doesn't annoy me and I don't notice it if I don't want to.
4. I had a couple of strange issues right after unboxing. First of all, when I played keys for the first time, some of the keys on the right part of keyboard felt weird, like they were a bit loose. Then I hit those keys a little harder and they clicked like something inside "snapped" into place. Since then they seem to work fine and there is no loose feeling or any other strange things about keyboard. Also, before I placed Kronos in my home studio room, I just took it out of the box, put it on couch and just quickly tested with headphones (I was impatient!). During that testing it worked for about 5 minutes, then randomly rebooted itself with annoying "buzzing" sound. Then it worked again for about 2-3 minutes and rebooted second time. Maybe it was some issue with power, but anyway, now Kronos is in my studio room and it is on for about 6 hours already, and there doesn't seem to be any problems with it anymore. But it is still worrying me a bit.

jimknopf · Platinum Member Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 3374

I also thought the CX3 was weak, after listeing to some pre-release demos and checking some of the first factory programs.

I now think some of them are quite misleading and don't do justice to the CX3. Try to make your own programs, in part with help of this (not translating 1:1 but giving good basic presets info):
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=63046

After programming my first organ sounds myself, I think the CX3 is a great clone, and KB3 certainly doesn't even come remotely near. Kurzweil just is well in programming presets, even on a weak B3clone engine basis. It's the same with their weak old samples: they make the best of it by smart patch programming.

I also contradict concerning strings: dive a bit into combinations and you will probably find some very nice examples of strings that sound definitely better than Kurzweil's for my ears. But I leave that to your taste.

I agree about E-Guitars: if anything, they seem to be the by far weakest spot of the whole Kronos sound spectrum.

Basic bass sounds are ok (Precision, Jazz bass etc.), but there could be more alternatives, modern five-strings of various brands etc.

There are lots of kicking synth basses of all kinds, many of them first class, by the way.

michelkeijzers · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 12:34 pm Post subject:

I hope I like the organs, but I guess I will since I heard demos of the CX3 on youtube and sound very good (at least for me). Somehow, nordlead doesn't give me a wow factor for organs.

Going to try one myself next Saturday so I also will write a review.

Enjoy your Kronos.
_________________

Developer of the free PCG file managing application for most Korg workstations: PCG Tools, see https://www.kronoshaven.com/pcgtools/

LyonsT · Junior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2011 Posts: 70 Location: UK

Arjan · Joined: 02 Jul 2008 Posts: 39 Location: Netherlands

michelkeijzers · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:53 pm Post subject:

The problem I have with my Korg M50 (and earlier Korgs) is that the range is very limited, can't get it 'fat' like a Hammond on high and low notes except with too much compromise.

Also I like the real usage of drawbars.
_________________

Developer of the free PCG file managing application for most Korg workstations: PCG Tools, see https://www.kronoshaven.com/pcgtools/

jimknopf · Platinum Member Joined: 17 Jan 2011 Posts: 3374

For my ears the Suzuki SK3 (and Vase III in general) can sound nice in Jazz settings, but doesn't have enough bite to really rock. All in all I don't hear it ANY closer to a real B3 than the Kronos CX3 or a Roland VK8.

The Clavia clonewheel tops them all a bit with a more authentic Leslie-overdrive sound.

But as Aron said: each to their own.

EnjoyRC · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:22 pm Post subject:

EnjoyRC · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:26 pm Post subject:

PinkFloydDudi · Guest

Synthoid · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 3:30 pm Post subject: Re: My Kronos impressions

michelkeijzers · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 3:34 pm Post subject:

According to most people I can assume the CX3 is depending on personal taste but far better than the M3/M50 Korg and before.

I like the flexibility and allround sound character of Korg so that's why I like to stick with that. Also, I'm used to the interface so actually the only 'competitor' I would take into account is Yamaha but even tough they say Yamaha has better acoustic sounds I still like the expressiveness and 'bite' of Korg sounds mostly.
_________________

Developer of the free PCG file managing application for most Korg workstations: PCG Tools, see https://www.kronoshaven.com/pcgtools/

padking · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 6:38 pm Post subject:

As far as Karma is concern, in my opinion
it's much weaker then on the M3, often you
change scene and nothing happens,

The Combis of the Kronos are not very good
compare to the M3.

In fact I found more interesting things on the
program

Padking

Arp_ · Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Posts: 19

I tried programming my own CX3 presets, and yes, it's really possible to make it sound better than factory presets. Now I quite like it.
Also, I found out that "Vintage Keyboards" expansion is actually piano/EP/clav samples that were introduced in M3 XPanded upgrade. They are mostly redundant, but the clavinet sounds are really nice. I wonder if it's possible to load only clav samples from it while not loading pianos and EPs to save some memory?

McHale · Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 5:51 pm Post subject: