anyone know of M1 voices/banks converted to Kronos format?

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:17 pm

No chance me straying onto your lawn from Wales!

Yeah, I hear where you are coming from.

I have done music where there is nothing other than humans playing live, and in the band I have just left (Welsh Floyd), we played to backing tracks to fill the sound out and to have all of the sound effects. I thought I would hate the latter when I first learnt about it, but whilst it takes some spontaneity out of it, it means the guitar player cannot go off on one!

And all the critical parts were still played live.

I'm currently setting up a new rig for new ventures, and on some gigs it will just be the Kronos and me (and I have my Nord G2 engine back in my mixer IEM gig rack

, on others it may be two boards, on others a laptop with VSTs will be added.

Horses for courses in my book.

midinut · Post by **midinut** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:25 am

Hey Joe, just now saw your post! I hope you're still enjoying my Kronos as much as I'm enjoying yours. lol

I understand where Joe is coming from and totally respect his desire to leave the VSTs alone. I, on the other hand, embraced them early on. I have recently got a MacBook Pro and with Mainstage. I can set up splits and layers to my heart's content and with the sample libraries available out there in VST-land, I've become quite unsatisfied with the sounds in my workstations. The Kronos is a beast and I love it, and the nine engines give you a lot to work with. But if you compare something like the Ravenscroft 275 piano to anything in the Kronos, or any other keyboards I've heard or played, they just pale by comparison. Same with things like the Scarbee Rhodes, or Lounge Lizard when it comes to replicating a Fender-Rhodes. VB3 still beats anything I've heard in the Hammond clone world. So I guess I have become spoiled and when I go to an audition, or a rehearsal, I like to bring my "A-Game" with me. This allows me to bring all my favorite VSTs and have them available to pull up for anything that may arise. I can even "sample" my favorite patches from other keyboards and use them as well. Gives me lots of flexibility. Not trying to sway anyone into using VSTs where it's not in your comfort zone.

I also use my MacBook Pro for a DAW as well. I've been a Cubase user for many years (mainly because a) they developed the VST format, and b) they maintained cross-platform support over the years when others jumped ship on one or the other). I recently added Logic Pro X and have began gravitating towards it and relying less on Cubase these days. The integration between my MacBook, my iPad, and iPhone are wonderful. So yeah, I jumped in hook, line, and sinker. But to each is own ...

Also, if I want to take a "mini-rig" on vacation with me (or if the wife allows it, I can throw my MBP and my MiniLab into a backpack with a set of phones and my iPad and have about anything I need with me at all times. There is something to be said for that I feel.

... and then there is the ability to sit in the head and play with your iM1, or ODYSSEi, or iWavestation. Priceless! lol

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:40 am

I agree. I have musical toys on an iPad, and a nano-key permanently sits in my luggae, so I can noodle when I feel like it.

I love the Kronos and the total integration of the 9 engines in a very portable form, but equally I have just started installing my VSTs on a laptop, and on a quick count, I have over 30 of them. From monsters like Omnisphere and the Artutria V collection, to small free VSTs like a Moog Taurus emulation. With a live host like Cantabile (PC equivalent to Mainstage) that is going to equate to a lot of fun and flexibility on stage (but yes, taking Joe's point, it will mean a lot of setting up and dipping into computer config - but how different is that to program/combi/setlist editing?).

One reason why I started posting on this thread was to comment on the issues that Montage seems hamstrung with MIDI, which is no use to me at all as I need good MIDI integration on stage. I then started thinking that no new board will probably handle MIDI in the way I need these days (e.g. even simple things like MIDI Echo which my EX5 has, which means it can act as a merger). Manufacturers seem to be forgetting that some of us still use MIDI in complex ways!

Then the penny dropped that in the rack that holds my USB audio/MIDI interface, Nord G2, line mixer, IEM transmitter and DMX interface, I also have a MIDI-SPORT 2x2 interface, which I put in so that the Welsh Floyd drummer could start song backing tracks with his drum pad and trigger sound effects. Now I have left the band, that 2 port interface is now "spare".

So that gives me three complete MIDI ports on the laptop. So one port (IN/OUT) for the Kronos, one port (IN/OUT) for EX5 or whatever replaces it, and the MIDI IN of the last port for my FC300 foot pedal and the MIDI out can then drive the G2 with its MIDI THRU going to other units like guitar/vocal boxes to change patches.

Then use Cantabile, in amongst all the other things it can do, as a MIDI matrix/processor, and all of my MIDI config needs are met irrespective of how good or bad a board's MIDI implementation is. Perfect! It does mean a laptop on stage, but I envisage that for most of my complex setups anyway. For smaller things, I can still probably get away with an FC300 and Kronos and a single MIDI lead. I bit of thought in planning my rig permutations will probably meet all of my needs!

Joe Gerardi · Post by **Joe Gerardi** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:47 pm

midinut wrote:Hey Joe, just now saw your post! I hope you're still enjoying my Kronos as much as I'm enjoying yours. lol

To clarify: A couple of years ago I had a Kronos 88, and Brad a 61. He wanted an 88, and SWMBO gave him the go-ahead to buy a new one. At the same time, I felt the 88 Kronos distanced itself a little from the synth, and some of the immediacy was lost when playing- the knobs and sliders were almost as if you were playing a controller, and reaching over to another instrument MIDI'ed to it to change parameters. And it's so versatile, I felt the 88 piano hindered grabbing and playing. So, a deal was struck, and swapped instruments.

Worked out great!

..Joe

midinut · Post by **midinut** » Sun Mar 05, 2017 1:05 am

Yes it did, and I couldn't be happier. Hope you are doing well!

Derek, before I got my MacBook Pro, I was running Cantabile on a Lenovo laptop and doing well with it live. I know Brad did an update a while back and I was using the version before that and never upgraded. Cantabile was an awesome program for the PC and since it was the closest thing to Mainstage for the PC that's where I jumped in at. I tried the demo of Forte and just couldn't wrap my head around it. Once I got the MBP it made no sense not to drink the Kool-Aid and I did. I didn't really need Logic Pro X (as Mainstage contains ALL the Logic instruments) since I do have Cubase, but as others have mentioned in other posts, Steinberg is notorious for charging for almost yearly upgrades. I'm running version 7.5 right now (which is great) but to upgrade to 9 would cost me over $500 (for both Cubase and the Absolute VST collection) and I just can't justify it. Logic was easy to learn from my background with Cubase and I haven't looked back since.

Derek Cook · Post by **Derek Cook** » Sun Mar 05, 2017 8:31 am

midinut wrote:Yes it did, and I couldn't be happier. Hope you are doing well!

Derek, before I got my MacBook Pro, I was running Cantabile on a Lenovo laptop and doing well with it live. I know Brad did an update a while back and I was using the version before that and never upgraded. Cantabile was an awesome program for the PC and since it was the closest thing to Mainstage for the PC that's where I jumped in at. I tried the demo of Forte and just couldn't wrap my head around it. Once I got the MBP it made no sense not to drink the Kool-Aid and I did. I didn't really need Logic Pro X (as Mainstage contains ALL the Logic instruments) since I do have Cubase, but as others have mentioned in other posts, Steinberg is notorious for charging for almost yearly upgrades. I'm running version 7.5 right now (which is great) but to upgrade to 9 would cost me over $500 (for both Cubase and the Absolute VST collection) and I just can't justify it. Logic was easy to learn from my background with Cubase and I haven't looked back since.

Hi,

If you used Cantabile 2 (as I did for many years), you will be amazed at Cantabile 3. It is a complete rebuild from the ground up and much more powerful and logical as a result. I believe that a Mac version is now in the works, which I am watching with interest because as I replace my computers in the next few years, I will be replacing them with Macs. Windows 10's nanny approach is the last straw for me! Have had a Mac as my main home computer for over 3 yars now, and it just runs with no issues.

I am a big Cubase user myself, having been with it since 2001, so I think I would prefer to stick with it, even if I went to Mac.

Sonic Bodhi · Post by **Sonic Bodhi** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 4:34 am

Wow, this thread sure got away from my original topic, which was about M1 voices.

Well, I found a more than passable solution by obtaining Extreme Sample Converter and following the tutorial to rip M1 and Wavestation sounds out of my Korg Legacy Collection VSTi.

When I can figure out how to free up some ram in the Kronos, I'm going to try making some sf2 files out of some of my other favorites, like Absynth 5.

So far, it's worked out pretty good, and I'm happy with the results I've gotten thus far. But loading just ONE extra ksc uses all my available memory with the patches I've got loaded. Can't load another one without getting memory overflow, and I don't yet know how to make banks that only include the samples of the voices I want in the bank, without duplicating all the stuff from the previous bank I created.