Where can I road test a Kross 2?

[Merlekeys]

I am thinking of buying a Kross 2 to replace my old faithful Trinity V3 Pro. However, I would like to try one out first. Does anyone know any decent music shops that are Korg dealers or would have the Kross 2 on demo? I live in North Hertfordshire so anywhere Beds/Herts/Cambs area is good. Or London, of course.

Also, would a Kross 2 be a suitable replacement for the V3 Pro? I use it mainly for live performances in a band.

Thanks.

[voip]

An internet search throws up quite a few music shops in those three counties.

PMT Cambridge always has a reasonable range of keyboards from the main manufacturers on display, but it's worth phoning them first to see if they have a Kross 2 in store. They wanted a 10% deposit to get a Moog One Poly in, but probably wouldn't ask the same for a Kross 2.

.

[lidserter]

Also, would a Kross 2 be a suitable replacement for the V3 Pro? I use it mainly for live performances in a band.

You would gain on polyphony, modern sound and more sampling capacity. However you'll lose keyboard aftertouch and fxs. On Kross you only got 5 insert and 2 master fx, a total of 7 for use simultaneously. I could live with less fxs, but I strongly recommend you to try one unit because this synth is cheap for a reason: materials used and key action, I've no complaints, but I'm sure there is a substantial difference with the actual flagship old Kronos. Trinity was the flagship workstation of it's time, Kross is the cheaper with krome and Kronos on top. (I actually consider krome as a lower spec synth and prefer Kross over it, i only praise it's screen and overall build quality and materials, but soundwise consider it lower and read a lot of complaints about the keybed and some screen issues).
One thing missing on Kross is the ability to send midi CCs to control external gear, there is no included controller that transmit data in another channel than the global you set. Perhaps you can setup the expression pedal to another midi channel, I'm not sure.

So performance wise, the pads, favorites, dual arpegiators plus drumtrack plus step seq, ability to sample external sounds with 128mb of expansion memory, are all big plus for the kross (and it's size and weight!!!!!!), But not external control (besides external program recall and pitch bend) and surely the keybed is worst than trinity one.

Regards,
JJ

[Biggles]

I road tested a Juno DS and a Kross 2 at a PMT store so would agree with VOIP and also to telephone them first.

Wherever you go do look at the Kross 2 Video Manual series a few times prior to gettings hands on (1 watched each at least three times and still struggled with features).

The menu system for each Program or Combi is very, very extensive and goes on and on for pages, even after a year of ownership I am still trying to get to the bottom of some features.

Its well worth the effort.

BTW
Do have a look at the PMT website and as it lists where the stores are and there is a 3D walkaround image sequence that will give you and idea of what each store is like. When you have looked at the stores near you do look at the Manchester store, its huge, its like a medium sized Supermarket.