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First play on Kronos (getting one soon!)
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RKfan
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Joined: 15 Feb 2011
Posts: 402
Location: Cambridge, England

PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:38 pm    Post subject: First play on Kronos (getting one soon!) Reply with quote

Had a play for an hour on a K61 yesterday (at last some demo machines less than 100 miles away) and a few things suprised me (and only one thing disapointed).

Best surprise of all was how good some of the Poly6 patches sound - I thought they woudl be pretty basic - but some patches (using 2 instances and X-Y mixing) sounded brilliant.

The Mod-7, STR-1, MS20 and AL-1 were all very good.

For me, some of the HD-1 patches (strings n' things) were pretty average - (but I can live with that, not my thing really).

Overall I thought the look of the thing was fabulous (could get used to the end-caps - bit shiny aren't they?). One thing that seemed odd is that the knobs seem a bit tall and narrow - this is not a problem but I had expected them to be somewhat chunkier. For those of you using the Kronos - how do you find using these knobs?

The screen is certainly packed, I think there is too much being shown, although it is legible (I am going to need glasses in a couple of years anyway) some pages suffer from too much information, a stylus is also called for (and I have dainty fingers) because things are really packed very close together.

The only thing that really should be changed is .... bet you couldn't guess.... the rotary encoder (it looks like a wheel off a toy car, and a cheap toy car too... its really crappy looking) - sat next to the Kronos was an M50 - why didn't they use the wheel from that?

Having said that I have cash waiting (till after my hols, and decorating) and am looking out for a deal (cash off, free equipment, other sweetners) - so I will soon (autumn) be posting about problems I am having buiding new patches (comming from Roland kit, so need a change of mindset)...

Looking forward to that!
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drchris
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Joined: 21 May 2011
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Location: Memphis, TN

PostPosted: Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find the knobs very usable both in the studio and live. When I'm home and working on tweaking programs and such I find I prefer to use onscreen controls more than knobs when that option is close at hand. As far as the data wheel, I've had no problem with mine, but i do agree that the one from the M50 would have been good to use on the Kronos. When I'm editing data fields, I really find that I use the data wheel, slider, the keypad, and even the up and down arrows all depending on the situation. It's nice to have all those options. Sometimes you want very small increments, other times you want to nudge just a bit one direction or another, and sometimes you want to move far from where you are currently.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I've had my Kronos for 2 1/2 weeks, so far. I play it in a worship band at church (it's made two appearances there so far). Today my wife said she thought it sounded even better there than at home (and she rarely comments on my playing)! If it weren't for the small scratch I managed to place on her car bumper with my case I'd be home free! (If you're wondering, a K88 in the Gator case will fit in a Nissan Altima, but goes much easier in my Nissan Armada.)

You're going to love having this board when you get yours!

Chris
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Vlad_77
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Joined: 08 Jun 2011
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Location: The Netherlands

PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RKfan,

The knobs and sliders feel very solid - except for the main data wheel as you and many others have noted. Mine hasn't fallen off but it does feel rather fragile when I compare it to the data wheels on my X8 and PC3x.

The screens DO have a lot of information but considering the staggerering amount of parameters per engine in Kronos, I think Korg did a good job with the visual organization of the engines. I love my Kurzweil, but Kurz could take a page from Roland and Korg for their next iteration in terms of display and UI). I DO wish Korg had angled the display up just a TAD though but, a little tilt of the board on the stand fixes that - easy to do with the 61 moel. How you guys with the 73 and especially the 88 versions deal with this must be an interesting exercise.

You wrote that the "Mod-7, STR-1, MS20 and AL-1 were all very good." I think that once you have your Kronos home and have time to get deep with it you are going to find that MOD-7 and AL-1 are far beyond very good if you are into creating some really distinct patches. STR-1 is new territory for me in terms of learning that I shouldn't think of it as a way to accurately model a Martin or Ovation but rather a way to create soundscapes that use virtual strings to open new vistas. MS-20 IS very cool but it is the engine I play around with least. I think however that is due to the fact that the MS-20 approximates the harsh characteristic of the original's filters so well and for most of the music I write and perform, MS-20 is just a tad too harsh - not a fault in the Kronos mind you - just not something I will find myself using on its own. Mixed with PolySix however and I find an exquisite balance between a purr and a roar.

I agree with you on the strings in HD-1. In fact, I feel that my Kurzweil runs circles around HD-1 strings and THAT is the synth I use for orchestral and strings -except for one specific patch on Kronos: the bowed violin. THAT is a BEAUTIFUL patch! When you get your Kronos home, find that patch and play it and use the ribbon controller; the patch feels very expressive. I am under no delusion that I am playing a Stradivarius of course, but, this violin patch is to my ears the best solo violin I have ever heard on a hardware workstation and for my music it has been the violin patch I have waited for!

I haven't messed at all with the sequencer or KARMA. Others here have noted that the sequencer is not as good as the M3 but I cannot comment on that since I have never owned an M3 so in a sense, I am guessing that for me, the sequencer will be fine because I have no M3 preconceptions about it.

The ONLY problem I am having with Kronos is a problem I posted elsewhere and it seems I am the only one who has this issue: in SGX-1, the pianos will sometimes get this "wah" effect. Sometime it happens it happens in the middle of a song. The quick fix is to hit something on setlist and then back to the piano but in the long run this is less than ideal especially in a song which is very piano centered. I suspect it may be an SSD issue in my particular unit as the other 8 engines do not do this "wah" thing. So I am going to get this diagnosed by a Korg dealer and let THEM figure it out - thanks for the two year warranty Korg!

One WISH that I have is that that there could be, in addition to the initialized HD-1 user bank, to also have an initialized EXi bank as well. Just one, PLEASE Korg?

GAH I wish I could nuke the GM patches!! I never have used GM nor do I plan on EVER using them. C'est la vie.

Anyway RKfan, I think you will love Kronos and AL-1 and MOD-7 are truly DEEP tools for synthesis geeks Wink

Ahimsa,
Vlad
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Current gear: Kronos, Jupiter 80, Kurzweil PC3,Roland Fantom X8, Roland XV-88 (yep, its old, but the ACTION is heaven and those XV-3080 sounds are still wonderful for me), Radias-R, Motif ES (yeah it's older but I love the guitars Wink )
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panrixx
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Joined: 13 May 2011
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Location: Tamar Valley, Cornwall, UK

PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vlad_77 wrote:

..........STR-1 is new territory for me in terms of learning that I shouldn't think of it as a way to accurately model a Martin or Ovation.............Ahimsa,
Vlad


Lucky I have these then Laughing

Martin D28 Marquis

Ovation Mill CB
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Rhodes 73 Mk1; Kronos 88; Synthex; Electribe EMX-1; Motif XS Rack; Yamaha DX7IIFD; Yamaha MM8; Roland Alpha Juno-2; Roland JV-2080; Tascam FW-1884.
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dtscape
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Location: KENT, UK

PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well... I am a very proud owner of a new Kronos 61. Got it delivered to me on Saturday morning.

Didn't play one before i purchased it (dodgy I know!!!!) but I am simply stunned by the quality of what is possible with this keyboard. I've been talking about buying a new piece of gear for the past 2 years and gone through a variety of tough decisions (purchased a Roland fantom x7, sold it, then purchased a brand new MacBook Pro to use Mainstage with. Sold it) Finally took the plunge to spend the most amount of money I've ever spent on an individual item....

I'm chuffed to bits with it. The keybed feels a bit strange to me but I'm getting used to it (I'm really used to a Triton Classic/ 01/W fd keybed... Old school stuff I know). The pianos are brilliant. The Organs are beautiful. The synth stuff is just classic... I was playing a few of the AL-1 synth leads earlier and I was almost crying with joy!!! The realtime controls on there are amazing... I'm still scratching the surface of this thing (had it 2 days!!!!) So much to learn and so little time....

Best decision I've ever made.... Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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jimknopf
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome in the club Smile
Couldn't agree more about the decision made.
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PinkFloydDudi
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Every time someone gets their kronos while I don't have mine...god kills a kitten.

Twisted Evil

haha. Glad to hear the good comments! Still anxiously awaiting! Feel free to post some audio/video/pics!

Might be just be, but folks who put some sounds, patches, combis, and songs out on youtube from the kronos are helping to keep what little sanity I have left while waiting!
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RonF
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PinkFloydDudi wrote:
Every time someone gets their kronos while I don't have mine...god kills a kitten.


LMAO! Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy
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Favorite Gear: Kronos 61, M3, Z1, Radias, KPro, KP3, Moog Voyager, Foogers, Virus TI, Jupiter 80, Integra7, GAIA, SPD-30, Kiwi 106, RE-201, MC808, RC505, MV8800, DSI P6 and OB6 and P12, Ensoniq SQ80, EMU MP-7, Eventide H7600, Eclipse, SPACE, Pitchfactor, Timefactor, Looperlative LP-1, Axe FX Ultra, Nord Modular, DSI Tetra, Tempest, PEK, JDXA, Eurorack Modular, Octatrack, MDUW, Monomachine, A4, RYTM, Waldorf Q Phoenix, MWXTk, Blofeld, TR8.
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Sina172
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

...

Last edited by Sina172 on Mon Feb 01, 2016 10:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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michelkeijzers
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have tried the Kronos (73) for two times at Lyana Music house in Stein, Netherlands. They have one of the few Kroni in the Netherlands and testing was really nice (good speaker and not busy). Also the owner is a Korg fan.

Most of the items already have been said tough.

- When normally used the dial does not fall off. However, if you press a few times alternately on the left and right you can take it off without a problem. It was according the store owner from the beginning, but the problem will be fixed by Korg so th is is not a real issue (i.e. it is only temporary).

- The font is very good readable but it's small; sometimes I noticed I bent forward just a bit but it also is because the UI is not 100% familiar of course.

- One thing that immediately was noticed by me, is the clearity/headroom of the sounds, especially the non HD1 ones. It sounds much more clear than my M50.

- Setlist works great.

- I only tested some of the sounds. CX3 was convincing (enough) for me. Piano is great (but the piano on my M50 suffices too). Especially in the new synth engines new sounds are available. The organs from HD1 were very different from CX3 and not as good (or I now it's problems too much).

Now I know why people like the sound and are mostly positive about the instrument.
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Lando
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also finally got to try the Kronos 88 for a few hours today.

Auditioned it first through a pair of Genelec monitiors and later with my molded Tunz in ear monitors which I use regulary and know how they sound.

Some thoughts (sorry for my swedish english Smile)

SGX1 - German and Japanese Grands are absolutely wonderful, best hardware grands I've tried.

EP-1 - sounds amazing, better than my Nord Stage 2. Loved the Mark I and V and the built in effects sounds great. Herbie's Butterfly Rhodes sounds just like the headhunters recording I've listened so much to.

STR-1 - a bit of a mystery to me, clavinets were great (Superstition in no time) and harpsichords as well, but the acoustic guitars sounded nothing like the real thing to me, despite a patch beeing named wonderful guitar or whatever Smile Didn't listen to the HD1 guitars, but I guess and hope they are better.

HD1 - A LOT of dated sounds in here, specially the winds, brass and strings, all of which are crucial to me. Have to hope for KARO here. The strings were ok, but at least I didn't find a single brass patch which would work for me in a pop context and the flutes were not to my liking either.

AL-1, MS-20, Polysix and MOD7 - totally mindblowing! So many great patches who inspired me to make music... I could sit for ages just trying out and tweaking lead sounds or making soundscapes with the insane amount of great pads and synth strings, amazing stuff. I guess learning how to edit these will take some serious time, since they are deeeeeeep.

CX-3 - Every single patch I tried had (what I feel is) a very digital sound to it. I am used to Nords hammond emulation and compared to that CX-3 felt almost unusable, but I guess everyone is different in what they want from an organ. To me this is as far from a vintage feel as you can come, it felt rompler from the 90s, even tho I know it's really not.

Drums, sequencer and KARMA - didn't have time to understand it or even try it unfortunatly.

Smooth sound transition - this is magic, love it!

Set list - looks great, will save A LOT of time.

Keys - felt very light at first, but I got used to it pretty soon. Would prefer a heavier action, like my S90ES for instance, but I know I can work with this given some time.

Build quality - well, the rotary encoder was loose "it fell off when we unpacked the board"?!? That thing felt like a toy, but apart from that things felt solid and looked good.

Screen - I had no issues with the small text, I could see everything easily! For me, having a big touch screen on a synth is pure luxury, beeing used to Yamaha's, and especially Nord's crappy screens. Touching the right way took some getting used to, but after a while it felt ok.

In summary: an absolutely amazing instrument that unfortunatly has some old, not so hot sounds in it. Lacks heavilly in the acoustic department (apart from the stellar pianos), but shines when it comes to EP and synths. With 4 gig ram and Karo orchestra, this is no doubt the one for me and will serve as a perfect companion to my Nord Stage 2!


EDIT: the price here in sweden for a Kronos 88 equals 5850$ and still it's not too bad compared to the other brands and what you actually get. Problem is the biggest store in sweden get one (1) Kronos in september, one in october and maybe one more in november (unclear what sizes, but that doesn't matter since they allready are booked)... What to do?
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BillW
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've had my K61 for over a month now and I'm finding that I'm not really into the CX-3 anymore. I have a recording of my old band playing Boston's Foreplay/Longtime where I'm using my real CX-3 and it sounds outrageously good. I can't seem to replicate that sound with the Kronos. Sad
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michelkeijzers
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BillW wrote:
I've had my K61 for over a month now and I'm finding that I'm not really into the CX-3 anymore. I have a recording of my old band playing Boston's Foreplay/Longtime where I'm using my real CX-3 and it sounds outrageously good. I can't seem to replicate that sound with the Kronos. Sad


That's really strange because according to some other posts it should match the real CX3 and even improve on quite some details.
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BillW
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

michelkeijzers wrote:
BillW wrote:
I've had my K61 for over a month now and I'm finding that I'm not really into the CX-3 anymore. I have a recording of my old band playing Boston's Foreplay/Longtime where I'm using my real CX-3 and it sounds outrageously good. I can't seem to replicate that sound with the Kronos. Sad


That's really strange because according to some other posts it should match the real CX3 and even improve on quite some details.


I'm probably one of the posters making that claim. I had a CX-3 for 6 years and was getting all kinds of cool sounds out of it. I cannot find the magic in the Kronos...it's probably just me. Laughing
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jimknopf
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After hearing some preview demos, I was just as sceptical about the CX3.
And then walking through factory patches, when I was finally able to test a Kronos for some hours, made it even worse:
- for my taste (!) all the factory patches from A039 up to A047 do the opposite of what you would normally expect from a factory patch: they don't showcase the CX3 as good as it can sound, but as bad as it can sound. To me they just sound dreadful: with harsh sounding, digital overdrive, artificial and plastic sounding full drawbars, whimpering Leslie settings and whatnot: reminding me of anything but a real B3. I would really like to know who is supposed to use one of these sounds in everyday rock, jazz and r&b playing.

But to my surprise the engine is MUCH better than that, and easily as good as the traditional CX3 or Roland's VK8, as soon as you leave those presets behind, and program more common rock and jazz patches, really using the great editing possibilities (from the meanhwile customizeable Chorus/Vibrato settings up to proper effects, like some great plate reverb in the Kronos). Some settings also need some EQing, because the CX-3 can sound quite "in the face" within the pristine overall Kronos sound engine character (certainly more than in an old CX3!). So you can't just take over things 1:1 from various sources, but have to edit a bit. But you have any chance to do it with pleasing results.

The only thing you won't get as good as from a Nord B3 clone sound is the overdrive. The inbuilt overdrive in the EXis still has to be improved a lot(!), both for the EPs amp/cabinet setings as for the CX3. But as long as you use only slight overdrive, or if you need more, just use the leslie/overdrive options from the IFX section, you get a really great sounding B3 clone IMHO.

I have completely revised my first critical CX3 view after two weeks of use, after getting an idea how to use this thing, and now really enjoy using it.
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