Played a Krome 61: Initial impressions.

[Slovenec]

I finally got the chance to play a Krome 61 at my local music shop the other day. I went away with mixed feelings about this keyboard:

THE GOOD
a). A very wide variety of 'meat & potatoes' sounds for gigging including nice acoustic and electric pianos, great drums, strings, basses, pads, even some brass.......
b). Excellent GUI with that huge touch screen.
c). Nice hardware sequencer with features that Korg should also add to their Kronos flagship worksation. The sequencer is very easy to use and doesn't change much at all from the M1/T /O1W/Trinity/Triton/M3 etc.
d). Very lightweight for gigs at only about 7kg for the 61 and 14kg for the 88.
e). Excellent 120 note (1 osc) polyphony hands down beats the MOX and Kurz PCLE series with only 64 notes of polyphony.
f). Decent fx configuration and dedicated eq on each of the 16 multitimbral parts.
g). External plug in editor allowing (theoretically) direct control of the Krome from your DAW.

THE BAD.
a). Why dedicate so much memory to the pianos and skimp on other essential workstation staples such as decent organs and guitars? The organs really could be better and aren't any better than those in the 1995 Trinity. The rotary speaker is also lacking. Korg really should have included proper CX3 modelled organs in the Krome to make it an 'all round' keyboard instrument that would directly compete with the likes of Nord.
b). The build quality: I actually thought that the power switch was faulty up until the salesperson powered the instrument up for me. This keyboard wouldn't last too long with any rougher gigging (in the Krome's defence, this also applies to the 'budget' synths from all the other manufacturers such as the Yamaha MOX6 and Roland Juno series). Kurzweil is much better in this regard!
c) The keyboard action is quite 'plastic feeling'! Yep Krome is also not the only 'cheaper' synth that suffers from this.... and no aftertouch? Even Kurzweil provides aftertouch in it's 'budget LE workstations!
e). That damm external power supply and the ultra cheap, flimsy connector to the instrument itself. Very cheap and nasty and easy to dislodge. I'd gladly spend a bit extra on this instrument with an internal power supply! Come on Korg, Yamaha etc, Kurzweil can do it with their LE worksations. Why can't you????

Therefore, I've got mixed feelings about the Krome and just like it's big brother Kronos, I really want to like and own one (having owned a stack of older Korg gear in the past!).

I still have to try the 88 key Krome as that looks more solidly built than it's 61 and 73 note counterparts and weighs only 14kg. That sounds like something that's ideal to take out live.

[LowGuitar]

Hi Slovenec,

I agree with your comment about the number of piano patches.

I just got the Krome 88. I am really enjoying it, but sad to say, the power button and power cord connector are very cheap feeling just like the 61. Mine will just be sitting in a studio, so hopefully those things won't be a problem.

You shouldn't find the 88's keyboard too plasticky. I found the action a little heavy at first, but I have been playing only synths with plasticky keyboards for years. Some people don't like the 88's keyboard but I think it's fine.

LG

[michelkeijzers]

I have an M50 which is in the same league ... I also was always very careful about the adapter and plugs. I used them for gigging, but never had a problem with it ... I always put the adapter together with the synth into one case (including a MIDI pedal that fit in together easily).

[Synthoid]

b). The build quality: I actually thought that the power switch was faulty up until the salesperson powered the instrument up for me. This keyboard wouldn't last too long with any rougher gigging (in the Krome's defence, this also applies to the 'budget' synths from all the other manufacturers such as the Yamaha MOX6 and Roland Juno series). Kurzweil is much better in this regard!
c) The keyboard action is quite 'plastic feeling'! Yep Krome is also not the only 'cheaper' synth that suffers from this.... and no aftertouch? Even Kurzweil provides aftertouch in it's 'budget LE workstations!
e). That damm external power supply and the ultra cheap, flimsy connector to the instrument itself. Very cheap and nasty and easy to dislodge. I'd gladly spend a bit extra on this instrument with an internal power supply! Come on Korg, Yamaha etc, Kurzweil can do it with their LE worksations. Why can't you????

I had the chance to play the Krome yesterday. After all the thumbs-down reviews about build quality, I had to see for myself. Loved the soundset and I didn't think the keybed was that bad, but the lack of aftertouch was disappointing. I'd forgotten about the external power supply... thanks for reminding me. I wonder if the connector to the keyboard is as bad as the one on my MicroX? That was a huge disappointment. I don't gig with the MicroX for that reason. I had initially thought about taking it on the road, but now it's more of a "module" for studio use.

I'm afraid the Krome may not hold up well for long-term gigging, which is a pity. My 12 year-old Triton is still hanging in there though!