Kronos demo by Akos Janca

[cello]

1. Back up all the factory settings to a USB hard drive (never, ever edit it!). Make sure you format the hard drive correctly. For the OASYS it has to be FAT 32 to recognise anything more than 4Gb.

Hey, a Kronos is not an Oasys.
You don't need an external drive.
You can backup data on the SSD.

OASYS has an internal hard drive (not an SSD) and yes, you can save to that.

And it would be monumentally stupid to only commit backups to an internal hard drive, SSD or otherwise.

[gjvti]

...OK, so how many good sound is needed in reality? 1,664 seems to be enough for many musicians, I guess.
...Seriously, how many user Programs you want to use? Please try Kronos first for yourself and answer only after that. (It means months of joyful playing... all OASYS users know it.) ....

I just can share my experience with M3 - building user combi may require changing some modulation routings since normally in combi mode you use different instruments together which are programmed to respond differently to modulation source input - ribbon, aftertouch etc. Building complex combi you likely need to unify their response. Thus you need to copy the program you are going to use in your custom combi to new location to edit it - since you never know how changing this program can influence other combis, which probably relay on it. This is obviously not a problem if you build combi with just drums bass+lead+some motion pad, but if combi becomes more complex there is a great chance that program needs editing which can't be done in combi mode (basically this covers modulation routings, filter modes and similar).

On M3 I have enough space, but if Kronos has only 128 locations for user programs - then I really have serious question to Korg engineers - there are lot of synth engines, which heavily relay on programming such as MS-20EX, MOD-7, STR-1 (ironically those are essential to my interest in Kronos) - how we are supposed to programm them and where we are supposed to store those edits? If their answer is PC - than why do I need Kronos at all when I have Omnisphere on PC? Looks like Kronos is built as complete rompler and Korg doesn't encourage creative editing at all. In other words it is not for sound design but for playing. Maybe I just took the concept of Kronos wrong.

I just think there are two solutions to correct this
1) Korg provides the way that user can identify which programs are used in combis - obviously most are not used and can be modified or erased (there is just no way how we can know that)
2) Korg changes architecture so that programs are completely stored in combis (obviously never goanna happen)
Ok, there is one more - user can buy 2 Kronoses (as I read here in forums) one with factory programs other wiped clean for user programs - I find it ridiculous

Anyway to me this 128 user program limitation is most disappointing news about Kronos. And don't get me wrong - this is not an issue that programs stuffed in Kronos could be bad - even great programs need adjustment and sometimes even editing when you put them together in a combi!

[theshinenz]

Can someone who can read german tell us more about the combi mode....maybe korg has made it possible to edit almost all parts of a program within a combi without changing the original program?

Even so i'm not complaining that korg has fully loaded the kronos..almost, i'll just save the factory setup and back it up in a number of places then delete what i don't like a make room if i need it.

[Apresmidi2010]

Akos: Thank you, you really encouraged me: 1) to go to a shop tomorrow, Saturday, May 21, to see if Kronos 88 is available on stock, 2) if so, to try it and 3) if I like it, just buy it and bring it home. I saw a Kurzweil PC3K8 at JPY400,000 at a shop yesterday. Buying both at once would cost me about JPY720,000, but it is just equal to my spending on
Yamaha upright piano last year - so why not?

[Akos Janca]

Just curious Akos, are all the EXs loaded from the factory?

No time to answer now, please check the documentation. AFAIK yes, except the EXs2 Concert Grand Pianos from the OASYS.

I just think there are two solutions to correct this
1) Korg provides the way that user can identify which programs are used in combis - obviously most are not used and can be modified or erased (there is just no way how we can know that)

I agree with this (I already sent a suggestion, the "In Combis" tab #4).

Akos: Thank you, you really encouraged me: ...

I'm glad to hear. I hope you and your family are well. (I believe there might be some ancient relationship between ancestors of Japanese and Hungarians - such theories exist - see our eastern name order, for example.)

[Jon Lord]

On the M3 everybody complained that there were not enought programs and combis w/e and now theres too many? when will this end...

I agree that it would be nice with more banks but I don't think they will change how the banks works since it probably requires rewriting the whole .PCG file "system" to get all combis working together with the linking to the actual programs etc etc. Maybe the next korg WS. As a workaround IMO they should add a function to see if a program is used in a combi and to filter programs that are not used in any combis for easier deletion perhaps.

[synthguy]

Maybe I just took the concept of Kronos wrong.

Well, you're definitely wrong somewhere in that stream of fretting.

I'm having trouble understanding people like you. HOW many patches and Combis do you want to have access to at once?? Tens of thousands? Okay, maybe you do. Maybe you're a prolific programmer and can make patches for all your synths in your sleep, and you really can use more than 1500 patches at once.

The rest of us are in a different league. Generally speaking, musicians use anywhere from a few dozen sounds to a couple of hundred sounds. And undoubtedly, the Kronos offers several hundred patches useful in any number of musical contexts. For those like me, the game then is to decide what I can live without after backing up everything. Homework will need to be done. For those who like Combis, you'll have to make note of which Combis use which patches and be sure to keep them safe. In my case, I'll go through a single bank, perhaps two, and make note of keepers I'm at least pretty sure I want on hand. Then I start juggling patch locations, copying stuff to slots so I can have a block of open patch numbers I can make my own sounds in. Combi users are going to have to work around "keeper" slots. And if you don't want to mess with that yet, you have at least 128 blank locations to play with.

On the M3 everybody complained that there were not enought programs and combis w/e and now theres too many? when will this end...

No kidding. Why do people have to unnecessarily complicate these things??

[Teh Mick]

Don't forget you can tweak the presets a lot in COMBI mode using Tone Adjust so you don't need to save variations of the patches.

Also by looking the patch list, most of the programs in USER-A[HD-1] are mostly useless so you can use USER-A for HD-1 and USER-G for your EXi programs.

[Lou]

On the M3 everybody complained that there were not enought programs and combis w/e and now theres too many? when will this end...

I agree that it would be nice with more banks but I don't think they will change how the banks works since it probably requires rewriting the whole .PCG file "system" to get all combis working together with the linking to the actual programs etc etc. Maybe the next korg WS. As a workaround IMO they should add a function to see if a program is used in a combi and to filter programs that are not used in any combis for easier deletion perhaps.

I think there is a lot of confusion here, let me explain..

As long as you don't move any Programs around (Out of the slot #) you can design from scratch or take any of the default combis and select what ever Voices you want, move Karma controls,
Tone adjust and then Save it to the an empty Combi Bank or the SSD under a "Name of Your Own".PCG file.

Now you can load that PCG file (Combi) from SSD in the blink of an eye, and here is the part that I believe a lot are misunderstanding...

You can now go ahead and create another 127 combis and save them to the same PCG file. Now on the SSD you have your very own PCG file with all of your own Combis in it,
which can be auditioned, loaded individually or the entire set of combis to a bank on the Kronos. No default Programs or default Combis have been overwritten..

When you want the default (Factory) Bank of combis back, just go to the SSD and reload the Factory bank A,B,C,D of choice.. (Wash, Rinse, Repeat)

[gjvti]

...I'm having trouble understanding people like you. HOW many patches and Combis do you want to have access to at once??

Sure, not that many - some three banks for my user programs would be absolutely fine. Even 128 would be fine probably if I forget about those alluring new synth engines The problem with me is that I never know which ones before I start building my own. It is not like I'm interested in pianos or organs or woodwinds or some other specific sounds, it may be every sound if I find that it fits in the mix. I judge them how they sound not how they originate. I don't have any company/band to play together with so I find combis very helpful. Every synth is programmed so that it has bunch of programs for each of us interested in different programs/styles. So most can be erased, but different ones for everyone. Also, since best thing about Korg is that many combis are very inspiring to play with, I really don't want to ruin them when programming my own. I would probably erase most of content if I new that it doesn't belong to some of factory combi I find inspiring. Problem is not about amount of programs, the problem is about organizing them.

.... For those who like Combis, you'll have to make note of which Combis use which patches and be sure to keep them safe. In my case, I'll go through a single bank, perhaps two, and make note of keepers I'm at least pretty sure I want on hand. Then I start juggling patch locations, copying stuff to slots so I can have a block of open patch numbers I can make my own sounds in.

This is what I started to do on X50 (very tedious going through every combi and making notes how it is built) before discovered potential of M3. ...

On the M3 everybody complained that there were not enought programs and combis w/e and now theres too many? when will this end...

Really everybody? Anyway have to live with that - people are so different most prefer playing, some odd ones programming. I remember long time ago my first digital synth was QY20. After I filled its 128 memory locations in few months, I just quit that and switched to PC based solutions for many years before picked virus TI few years ago. It was so inspiring that I started to think about hardware again. Probably I'm to much accustomed to the freedom of PC based approach and after that feel painful to reaccept principles of old analogue days - tune your synth patch, fix it to tape and forget it forever.

(I already sent a suggestion, the "In Combis" tab #4)

Thanks, I just missed that topic.
PS. Sorry to those finding me too emotional

[X-Trade]

On the remark about having to adjust what controllers do etc, this is mostly provided for by the per-timbre MIDI filters in combi mode. ever so useful when creating combis - don't want that program to respond to JS-Y? Disable it from receiving that message...

[Akos Janca]

Hi, this is still not that demo I mentioned but something else FYI.

I was just playing with Kronos before my demo and recorded it directly to the SSD - only for myself but later I decided to publish a shorter version (excerpts) on the forum. Sorry for the mistakes, I hope you will still find it useful.

I haven't set the internal bouncing to 24-bit, so this material has been recorded at 16-bit / 48 kHz (seems to be the default).

A simple video is on YouTube.
The uncompressed best quality audio is on SoundCloud.

[sparkie]

Hello AKOS, Are you making a Full-length movie of your demo or something?? Popcorn,soda pop and hotdogs I guess will be served also..

[MidnightPackage]

Thank you so much Akos! Lovely playing, and a wonderful demonstration of the Kronos

[Melodialworks Music]

Awesome! Thanks for posting.