Running out of Program banks...

EnSoNiQuEs~ · Post by **EnSoNiQuEs~** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:11 pm

Being new to Kronos2, with huge SSD hard drive, and a dozen AKAI sample CDs I've collected over the years, I've started to load them into the machine.
The thought was to load all the CDs (pointers) and save them as User Samples and stream them from disk.

One of the MAIN reasons for getting Kronos2 was to consolidate my sounds into one location and have everything at the fingertips, with thinking being that since samples are streaming from disk, I could load a ton of pointers to those samples on disk (with excellent potential to get a second SSD if need be!)

Being a newbie to Kronos2, I quickly realized that the program banks filled up pretty quick! I barely loaded two AKAI CDs! There are no more free user banks (still plenty of RAM available for the pointers to those samples), unless I start deleting the delivered preset banks!

Looking for some workaround to this problem and some of the approaches that other's have used to bypass this program bank limitation.

(Korg if you reading this, can you update Kronos OS to have unlimited amount of Program banks?!...using number pad to enter a bank 1 through 9,999,999...etc, since there are only two rows of Program bank buttons.)

Seems I'd have to load one AKAI Cd and then save it's own cleaned up PCG file just with those banks? When I load back the PCG back into Kronos, can I just bring back that bank and overlay an existing bank? Will all the samples loaded for the PCG be present? (I've read in other post that some are having issues with samples missing, and to be sure, one must do a Save All as a safety precaution.)

Seems alot of work to maintain a small subset of my library and not possible to have all sounds (CDs) available? I'd have to constantly shuffle them in and out of Kronos Program banks? Am I missing something or is this how it is currently working? (...considering massive storage, fast SSDs streaming..only to be rained-on-parade with not enough Program slots?)

Any info/guidance would be greatly appreaciated.

Thanks.

amit · Post by **amit** » Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:56 pm

I also bought the Kronos few days back, still learning and already hit the program limit like you. (loading lots of sounds/soundfonts etc ). Am also looking for some good workflow.

atm, I am thinking of keeping two temporary banks (user g is one , maybe will use user F or user DD/EE) (one exi and one hd1) for reloading or overwriting. and then just keep saving these and then load on demand. while keeping locked with most used sounds.

btw I can preview the entire sound (especially the exi's) in disk mode without even loading, so I can selectively load some particular ones.
if I keep custom samples in a large ksf file and load that once, loading another bank of programs (pcg) should be quick.

Aziz1008 · Post by **Aziz1008** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 4:46 pm

Yes, in disk mode you have access to unlimited number of banks on your ssd.

Melomaniak · Post by **Melomaniak** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 5:01 pm

Read this for understanding why it's not so simply to add more Prog. Banks:
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=99774

I solved this problem for me, that I delete all sounds, that I definitly can not use. And reorganized all my sounds.

I wrote the free software TidyKronos to do e.g. this:
- I see which programs are used in combis and songs
- I can move and sort all sounds without loosing there links to combis, songs etc..
- I see with sample-set is used in a program
- I can multirename sounds. E.g. put a suffix like "*" to all programs used in your favorite combis.

Free download: http://www.diesemusik.de/tidykronos

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:22 pm

It's a bit of manual work, but with the Akai CDs sometimes you can consolidate multiple presets into one program and then split across ranges and velocity switching.

There is of often a LOT of repetition on Akai CDs of what is essentially the same sounds with minor tweaks IME.

Something worth looking into...

SeedyLee · Post by **SeedyLee** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:34 am

Whilst it would be nice to have unlimited program banks, I don't think it's strictly necessary.

I tend to think of the program banks as "working memory" - they contain the programs and sounds that I need for what I'm working on at the moment. In this respect, the number of program and combi banks is more than adequate.

On the other hand, the SSD day can essentially hold an unlimited number of combis and programs, which can be loaded at will. It's even possible to audition these sounds without needing to load them into memory. Therefore, you can create a PCG that just contains your Akai sounds and - as long as the samples are loaded - you can audition them from within disk mode without having to load them into a program bank.

amit · Post by **amit** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:22 am

SeedyLee wrote:Therefore, you can create a PCG that just contains your Akai sounds and - as long as the samples are loaded - you can audition them from within disk mode without having to load them into a program bank.

An Awesome TIP.

Tt could cause issues with combis though.

I for one want to follow some methodology and reserve banks for tasks then It's more fruitful.

Here is the approach I am thinking of following.
User G : Use as dumpster (temporary location, volatile, use for all kinds of tasks as need be)
User CC, DD, for HD-1, user FF and GG for Exi or change as need be.

If I need to use a program in a combi, then never to load a program from User G, rather copy it to one of CC/DD/EE/FF banks and then load it.
I am yet to convert my akai cd's but I have converted some soundfonts perfectly as well as sampled few sounds from my PA600.