What's Next ?

[Bald Eagle]

Even though the Kronos 2 has just been released I am wondering what Korg might do for the next flagship workstation.

Where do they go from here? The Kronos may very well be the flagship for the next decade. They can certainly add new engines and other incremental upgrades, but will there be another game changer and what might it be?

Maybe real analog circuits built in? A different control surface? Limiting all OS upgrades to existing specs without taking advantage of any hardware technology advancements does not seem to be a long term solution.

The Korg workstation architecture is excellent and should continue its evolution. What are your thoughts?

[GregC]

Even though the Kronos 2 has just been released I am wondering what Korg might do for the next flagship workstation.

Where do they go from here?
1)The Kronos may very well be the flagship for the next decade.

2)They can certainly add new engines and other incremental upgrades, but will there be another game changer and what might it be?

Maybe real analog circuits built in? A different control surface? Limiting all OS upgrades to existing specs without taking advantage of any hardware technology advancements does not seem to be a long term solution.

The Korg workstation architecture is excellent and should continue its evolution. What are your thoughts?

Numbered some of your thoughts and would like to rephrase what might
Take place over the next 4 years. Trying to think ' like what is Korg planning' which is pure guess work.

1) no, I think the Kronos is close to being maxed out due to original software programming and use of somewhat dated components. It's my guess and hope that their is a separate team that develops the major OS upgrades. With that. I am hoping we can enjoy at least 1 more major upgrade. This year, in the fall.
Keep in mind the Kronos is now 4 yrs old.

2) I am guessing there is a separate team working on a brand new workstation concept, possible 2016 launch. Korg has shown there is a market for the $4000 workstation. If I were Korg , I would not restrict this team to the current Kronos software/hardware architecture. Let them think out of the box, with additional engines, which you thought about

[Rich Z]

Probably depends on what they think the competition is working on. Until they actually have something that takes their current crown away what's the incentive for investing in more hardware R&D to compete with their own product?

Speaking of which, how long has Yamaha been sticking with their flagship Motif? Have they just given up competing in the workstation arena, satisfied with their current offering as being "good enough" or do they have an ace up their sleeve to give Korg that incentive?

[Bald Eagle]

Probably depends on what they think the competition is working on. Until they actually have something that takes their current crown away what's the incentive for investing in more hardware R&D to compete with their own product?

Speaking of which, how long has Yamaha been sticking with their flagship Motif? Have they just given up competing in the workstation arena, satisfied with their current offering as being "good enough" or do they have an ace up their sleeve to give Korg that incentive?

I'm not sure it's giving up. It's the same as with Kronos. How much is enough? The Motif does not have all the engines, but it does sound nice, enough?

[geoelectro]

Probably depends on what they think the competition is working on. Until they actually have something that takes their current crown away what's the incentive for investing in more hardware R&D to compete with their own product?

Speaking of which, how long has Yamaha been sticking with their flagship Motif? Have they just given up competing in the workstation arena, satisfied with their current offering as being "good enough" or do they have an ace up their sleeve to give Korg that incentive?

Yamaha seems to own the church market. I've only come across 2 Kronos' in a church while the vast majority have Motifs. It's a solid well built keyboard. I personally can't program it very quickly like I can on my K61 and most players don't seem to get into programming that much. Coming back from a service seminar Yamaha said their biggest seller is actually a mid range model. I suspect this is true for most manufacturers. They build a flagship to develop their software/hardware, then that filters down into all the lower priced products. Many times it's the lower priced products that really sell in large numbers making the company money.

Geo

[GregC]

Probably depends on what they think the competition is working on. Until they actually have something that takes their current crown away what's the incentive for investing in more hardware R&D to compete with their own product?

?

Competition is always good to have. What was Korgs incentive from the competition to build the Oasys, then the Kronos ?

[techeverlasting]

My guess is the Kronos will be the KORG flagship for at least another two years. There really isn't anything else on the market like it.

There are a few improvements I would like to see in the successor to the Kronos. The first would be to add non-volatile Flash as found in the Motif XF and Kurzweil Forte so that the sample headers from large libraries could be in permanent memory and the instrument could boot up in 15 seconds. I do some work in musical theater and I'm unable to use the Kronos in that environment. There are all sorts of things that interrupt power in theater pits and a two-minute boot-up is an eternity there.

Beyond that it would be nice to make the analog engine fully compatible with the Radias, and to give the HD-1 the ability to have at least 16 layer deep programs with some scripting options.

[dfahrner]

...I do some work in musical theater and I'm unable to use the Kronos in that environment. There are all sorts of things that interrupt power in theater pits and a two-minute boot-up is an eternity there.

This is what an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is for, of course...I got one after the singer accidentally turned off my power block in the middle of a set a couple of year ago...

df

[techeverlasting]

I haven't yet found an uniterruptable power supply that can prevent a viola player from leaning back in their chair and pulling out an IEC cable.

UPS's are all well and good, but in 2015 I'm not putting anything in a theater pit that takes more than 15 seconds to power up and be ready to play.

[GregC]

I haven't yet found an uniterruptable power supply that can prevent a viola player from leaning back in their chair and pulling out an IEC cable.

UPS's are all well and good, but in 2015 I'm not putting anything in a theater pit that takes more than 15 seconds to power up and be ready to play.

Has been thoroughly discussed. Many keyboard players have a backup board ready to go.

[DanielD71]

My soon new Kronos 2 88 keys will be backup by my old S90ES

[Harpernet]

Next up the kronos 3 it'll be the same keyboard as the rest of the kronos except it'll have wooden knobs and the extra sound packages & motherboard replacements will cost 5x more than they cost today & the all new sequencer will have a 50 note limit unless you buy the upgrade for $1000 bucks more which will give you an extra 50 notes & it'll come with another all new piano sound which owners of the original kronos can buy for a mere $ 7000 bucks

[techeverlasting]

Has been thoroughly discussed. Many keyboard players have a backup board ready to go.

That's great for a lot of situations, but completely unworkable in a contemporary theater pit. You can't just go to a backup piano patch for a few minutes there. It would be lovely to see the Kronos being used more in musical theater, but it's not going to happen until the thing boots up as fast as a Motif XF or Kurzweil PC3K8.

[SanderXpander]

I've played theater pits and I've never had the power cut out. I have to wonder about the state of these theaters you mean?! Nevertheless, a UPS is a great investment. My Kronos can run like half an hour on mine. Reboots simply aren't happening.

[burningbusch]

Has been thoroughly discussed. Many keyboard players have a backup board ready to go.

It would be lovely to see the Kronos being used more in musical theater, but it's not going to happen until the thing boots up as fast as a Motif XF

I had a Motif XF and the boot time was 55 seconds as I recall. Not as bad as the Kronos but it still requires a UPS to be used in critical environments.

Busch.