I gotta say the RH3 keyboard for me is far superior to my krome 88, so much so I'm thinking of selling my krome and getting the kronos instead.
The hammer action actually felt like there were hammers in there, the tactile feedback was superb.
I love my Krome but I think I may love the Kronos a lot more.
Decisions, decisions what should I do.
I just knew I shouldn't have gone and tried it.
I was very taken by Yamaha's CLP s408 as well, which has got a wooden Keyboard and felt just so real, I didn't like Rolands action so much on the V-Piano etc, I could probably get used to it but first impressions favored Korg RH3 and Yamaha's.
Just thought I'd share my findings, which of course are very personal anyway.
I find the pianos and electric pianos to be superb and I lose hours to playing them every time I sit down, often intending to do something else entirely!
If you want synth sounds then it really beats out everything else (digital) on the market still right now, with the PolySix, MS-20, and MOD-7 (AL-1 is nice too but pales in comparison to MS-20 and MOD-7).
Ultimately a lot of the sounds on the Krome and M3/M50 etc. are derived from the Kronos and OASYS and I think you will find at least a slightly improved quality in everything there.
I'm not sure though, I'm pretty sure the keybeds are supposed to be identical?
If size or cost is an issue, the 73 also has the same hammer action keybed. 61 is semi-weighted.
Current Gear: Kronos 61, RADIAS-R, Volca Bass, ESX-1, microKorg, MS2000B, R3, Kaossilator Pro +, MiniKP, AX3000B, nanoKontrol, nanoPad MK II,
Other Mfgrs: Moog Sub37, Roland Boutique JX03, Novation MiniNova, Akai APC40, MOTU MIDI TimePiece 2, ART Pro VLA, Focusrite Saffire Pro 40.
Past Gear: Korg Karma, TR61, Poly800, EA-1, ER-1, ES-1, Kawai K1, Novation ReMote37SL, Boss GT-6B
Software: NI Komplete 10 Ultimate, Arturia V Collection, Ableton Live 9. Apple OSX El Capitan on 15" MacBook Pro
Keybeds are not the same, the Kronos 88 is a RH3 keybed where as the Krome is the NH keybed which is more spongy and less piano like than the RH3, with the RH3 I could feel the hammer movement which made the whole thing more tactile and much nicer to play.
Don't get me wrong I like my Krome 88 but the Kronos is just beautiful.
I´m sure the Kronos is a wonderful instrument, but some people have to set priorities and decide to buy a Krome. That´s what I did, I bought the Krome 61 last week, after 22 years with a Roland E-keyboard. And I´m very very happy with it.
Sometimes you have to decide whether you want to buy a Mercedes or that a Volkswagen Golf is more than ok to you. I guess it also depends on what your goal is. Mine is to play on my own, to make little compositions, to toy around with sounds and record what I compose and play. My Krome, connected to my pc, will more than do.
heinski wrote:I´m sure the Kronos is a wonderful instrument, but some people have to set priorities and decide to buy a Krome. That´s what I did, I bought the Krome 61 last week, after 22 years with a Roland E-keyboard. And I´m very very happy with it.
Sometimes you have to decide whether you want to buy a Mercedes or that a Volkswagen Golf is more than ok to you. I guess it also depends on what your goal is. Mine is to play on my own, to make little compositions, to toy around with sounds and record what I compose and play. My Krome, connected to my pc, will more than do.
Totally agree with you, it was just that when I played the Kronos I immediately fell in love with the keyboard.
The krome is plenty for my needs but the keyboard just isn't the same, I doubt however that I will actually sell it and get the Kronos, mainly because I can't really afford the Kronos hence I purchased the krome.
A kronos is a professional Synth. I wish I could say the same about my Krome. Of course we can go professional with entertainment keyboards because now a days all digital machines sound good enough to make the job, but we cannot compare when we get close to the real thing.
If I could I will buy a Kronos, even the previous version and give my Krome to my child. I feel very frustrated. But that's life!
ruiky1964 wrote:A kronos is a professional Synth. I wish I could say the same about my Krome.
Soundwise, the Krome offers more than what you got with a M3 some years ago. And the M3 was Korgs flagship workstation. That's just before the Kronos.
If the M3 was intended to do "professional" stuff, then the Krome is certainly equally capable.
Of course,there are trade offs, but the lower price has to come from somewhere.
I do agree about the sound at some extend. Krome on headphones sounds just great. On line outs I cannot say the same. It looses a lot of definition IMO. Even some distortion can appear easily. That joined to the key-bed (in 61 and 73 version) and to the very fragile knobs makes the Krome a bit short for the Pro. It can make the job on small bands, but I do not imagine many Kromes at big stages or studios.
When material has to gig, it is better to have a synth built like a tank than a light one even if there are some less features in. Besides, 5 to 6 kg more of difference will not change very much the transport requirements, but very fragile material can end up with troubles.
Yes the price difference must go on something. I agree. I believe that if they make up a machine that sounds like Krome, built like Kronos and priced in between both, the Kronos sales will drop by perhaps the half. It is too expensive and many features are not so relevant for many. What keep really the distance is the difference on quality and including sound quality. On the other hand if they just put correct pre-amps, nice knobs and a little better key-bed, they can price it a bit higher and still keep the distance between both workstations. That will keep Korg name higher as well. Of course Krome would have been a bit more expensive but quite more worth the money too.
I consider myself as a pro or at least as semi pro. Being a pro doesn't necessarily mean that my keyboard have to be the most expensive flagship products.
I toured with a triton le twice and with a tr too. I never had a problem with the built quality. (The biggest problem was the terrible keybed. But it worked, it's just that it was absolutely no joy to play it).
On the other side, which keyboard is built like a tank these days? The ones from Korg are certainly not. Some Roland staf is. Like the Jupiter 80. But it's also not perfect. It's very bulky, hard to transport, weights definitely to much for a semi weighted board and it also has some cheap plastic on knobs and especially around the joystick.
Weight? Well, I'm 40 and I have to admit it makes more and more of a difference to me. After a littlebit more than 20 years on stage I really appreciate and feel the difference in 5-6 kilos. Don't forget to add a hard case and the weight of the keyboard doubles.
Can't comment on the sound on the output of a Krome since I don't own one.
My point is just, regardless whether somebody is a pro or not, if you play those low level keyboards in a normal manner and don't behave like a crazy idiot on it, it will certainly serve you well for years.
ruiky1964 wrote:I do agree about the sound at some extend. Krome on headphones sounds just great. On line outs I cannot say the same. It looses a lot of definition IMO. Even some distortion can appear easily. That joined to the key-bed (in 61 and 73 version) and to the very fragile knobs makes the Krome a bit short for the Pro. It can make the job on small bands, but I do not imagine many Kromes at big stages or studios.
When material has to gig, it is better to have a synth built like a tank than a light one even if there are some less features in. Besides, 5 to 6 kg more of difference will not change very much the transport requirements, but very fragile material can end up with troubles.
Yes the price difference must go on something. I agree. I believe that if they make up a machine that sounds like Krome, built like Kronos and priced in between both, the Kronos sales will drop by perhaps the half. It is too expensive and many features are not so relevant for many. What keep really the distance is the difference on quality and including sound quality. On the other hand if they just put correct pre-amps, nice knobs and a little better key-bed, they can price it a bit higher and still keep the distance between both workstations. That will keep Korg name higher as well. Of course Krome would have been a bit more expensive but quite more worth the money too.
Question: I dont have a krome but a Konos but a friend is about to buy a Krome so my question is is it better to use the headphone jack as an output to the desk then if the output out the mains is lower quality?
You won't get into trouble right away but it's not good for the headphone amp and you may get into trouble on the mixer end as well because the headphone amp outputs much louder than the main outs. They're physically linked and use the same DAC anyway so apart from loudness and possible (pleasant?) distortion by the headphone amp it's not really possible to get a significant difference. Except of course that listening from headphones is a lot more direct.
SanderXpander wrote:You won't get into trouble right away but it's not good for the headphone amp and you may get into trouble on the mixer end as well because the headphone amp outputs much louder than the main outs. They're physically linked and use the same DAC anyway so apart from loudness and possible (pleasant?) distortion by the headphone amp it's not really possible to get a significant difference. Except of course that listening from headphones is a lot more direct.
I'd get her to use a direct box to sort that out. Interesting that using a headphones output should cause it issues eventually do you mean the headphones socket is only meant for short usage , surely not.
cheers. She loves my Kronos but cant afford one I've been using the output of the heaphones socket on my Kronos for a single in ear and dont bother with any other monitoring as there is a stage monitor for the bass player next to me so I hear the band through them though I have digressed I hope it wont effect my Kronos headphones output. I use the main outputs for FOH of course.
ruiky1964 wrote:I do agree about the sound at some extend. Krome on headphones sounds just great. On line outs I cannot say the same. It looses a lot of definition IMO. Even some distortion can appear easily.
SanderXpander wrote:You won't get into trouble right away but it's not good for the headphone amp and you may get into trouble on the mixer end as well because the headphone amp outputs much louder than the main outs. They're physically linked and use the same DAC anyway so apart from loudness and possible (pleasant?) distortion by the headphone amp it's not really possible to get a significant difference. Except of course that listening from headphones is a lot more direct.
I'd get her to use a direct box to sort that out. Interesting that using a headphones output should cause it issues eventually do you mean the headphones socket is only meant for short usage , surely not.
cheers. She loves my Kronos but cant afford one I've been using the output of the heaphones socket on my Kronos for a single in ear and dont bother with any other monitoring as there is a stage monitor for the bass player next to me so I hear the band through them though I have digressed I hope it wont effect my Kronos headphones output. I use the main outputs for FOH of course.
No it's because the hp amp expects a certain Ohmage that a regular desk input or amp input doesn't supply. It's all a bit theoretical, I've never actually blown up a hp output. Still good to be aware of.
But that's life!
