I would like Korg more if they updated Kronos OS

[GregC]

I don’t want to rain on your parade GregC, and I sincerely hope you’ll get some kind of response from the KORG management, but I think the chances of KORG updating the Kronos are nigh zero.
The instrument is almost ten years old and KORG already have updated it for a long time. I think the latest ‘new’ Kronos is filler material to bridge the period for KORG’s next big thing, and they probably have been working on it for quite some time now.
Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.

Hey brother. Its an experiment. Yes, most experiments ' fail '.

But when the experiment produces a good result, everyone can benefit.

I think I understand the history, the facts, the age, and yes the ' speculation '.

In my mind we have several thousand Kronos owners that will keep enjoying their Kronos for another + 5 years.

So why not support Kronos ?

Korg is still selling Kronos for $3000- $3800 , correct ?

Its still a very good keyboard, correct ?

So why not show tangible support to Kronos owners ?

Lets take care and work on today circumstances.

I have never met or spoke to anyone who can accurately predict the future.
Or I don't know anyone who can accurately predict the future over the next 6-10 months.

If anyone can predict the future like that, PM me.

Thank you.

[KK]

Doing nothing is not a goal.

Certainly not, that's why I enjoy to find tricks and design solutions myself for the Kronos (sig). OK, so that's it for me, best of luck.

[GregC]

Don't misunderstand me, I applaud the effort to see what Korg is up to for the Kronos, but...

Remember the COVID-19 pandemic ? It's far from over. Lots of businesses went under already or won't survive the year – some of them famous since decades. I'm happy Korg will stay alive...

Hello KK,

Of course we are all happy Korg stay alive, who wouldn't be ?

Just one observation : there was no COVID before december 2019, right ? Yet, the Korg Team would be ever the same : no communication nor attention, toward the consumers.
All turned toward selling little toys or little Kbs. Once they have sold their gear, the consumer doesn't exist anymore.
Most of the dealers do their best. But fondamental fixes and corrections are not their concerns.

1)So COVID has really nothing to do this KORG corporate culture.

1) I like that " bottom line ".

Plus everything you said sounds factual.

I like pertinent facts and what is the reality of today. vs "maybe this " or " what about Covid ".

I don't mind addressing Covid 19, but I knew quickly, it was a non issue with Korg Inc. its not pertinent to our goal of collective action by a good and growing group of interested Kronos owners.

[Jan1]

I don’t want to rain on your parade GregC, and I sincerely hope you’ll get some kind of response from the KORG management, but I think the chances of KORG updating the Kronos are nigh zero.
The instrument is almost ten years old and KORG already have updated it for a long time. I think the latest ‘new’ Kronos is filler material to bridge the period for KORG’s next big thing, and they probably have been working on it for quite some time now.
Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.

Hey brother. Its an experiment. Yes, most experiments ' fail '.

But when the experiment produces a good result, everyone can benefit.

I think I understand the history, the facts, the age, and yes the ' speculation '.

In my mind we have several thousand Kronos owners that will keep enjoying their Kronos for another + 5 years.

So why not support Kronos ?

Korg is still selling Kronos for $3000- $3800 , correct ?

Its still a very good keyboard, correct ?

So why not show tangible support to Kronos owners ?

Lets take care and work on today circumstances.

I have never met or spoke to anyone who can accurately predict the future.
Or I don't know anyone who can accurately predict the future over the next 6-10 months.

If anyone can predict the future like that, PM me.

Thank you.

What can I say, it’s worth a try.
And yes, it has great timeless sounds onboard, but even though I don’t know the future I got a feeling it won’t be too long before KORG will come up with the next episode in the continuing OASYS (Kronos) saga.
And if that’s correct they will consider the current Kronos to be a done deal.

I’ll give credit to KORG for this: when the Kronos first appeared it had a full fledged sampler and a versatile sequencer, something (among other things) Fantom owners are still waiting for to Roland’s shame.

[GregC]

[qu.

What can I say, it’s worth a try.
And yes, it has great timeless sounds onboard, but even though I don’t know the future I got a feeling it won’t be too long before KORG will come up with the next episode in the continuing OASYS (Kronos) saga.
And if that’s correct they will consider the current Kronos to be a done deal.

I’ll give credit to KORG for this: when the Kronos first appeared it had a full fledged sampler and a versatile sequencer, something (among other things) Fantom owners are still waiting for to Roland’s shame.[/quote]

I think Kronos sales are still going well.

If so, that trend should continue thru Dec 31

IOW, its " business as usual " for the rest of the year, minimum.

Thus, I don't get the itchy feeling that Korg will:

1) EOL Kronos for some time
2) Reduce the price of Kronos to ' clean ' up channel inventory
3) Preannounce some kind of speculative Kronos replacement which won't
ship until mid year 2021
4) Go thru a confusing and difficult product transition where 10,000/20,000
Kronos owners try to figure out WTH to do or plan on doing

This is a difficult speculative topic.

Product transitions are painful, expensive, can cause hard 'feelings'.

The conventional business wisdom is " if it isn't broke do not fix it "

My thinking about 'sales going well ' is a gut feel. I don't have hard data,
I don't work for Sweetwater.

[Jan1]

I think Kronos sales are still going well.

If so, that trend should continue thru Dec 31

IOW, its " business as usual " for the rest of the year, minimum.

Thus, I don't get the itchy feeling that Korg will:

1) EOL Kronos for some time
2) Reduce the price of Kronos to ' clean ' up channel inventory
3) Preannounce some kind of speculative Kronos replacement which won't
ship until mid year 2021
4) Go thru a confusing and difficult product transition where 10,000/20,000
Kronos owners try to figure out WTH to do or plan on doing

This is a difficult speculative topic.

Product transitions are painful, expensive, can cause hard 'feelings'.

The conventional business wisdom is " if it isn't broke do not fix it "

My thinking about 'sales going well ' is a gut feel. I don't have hard data,
I don't work for Sweetwater.

However, we do have pictures of empty shells of a future workstation even though it looks more like a Krome successor.
Product transitions can be painful, but given the software based platform character of the OASYS/Kronos and the quantity of library expansions available for the Kronos I think compatibility will high on KORG’s list.

But, it’s all conjecture.
Going by the comments I have read the Kronos still remains popular not in the least aided by the fact that the competition seems to be hell-bent on redefining the workstation concept by leaving out features.
And then adding features in a half baked fashion through software updates making me wonder why they couldn’t get it right from the start.
But that’s a different topic by itself.
Suffice to say that when it comes to workstations, based on my experience I trust KORG the most doing it right.

[GregC]

you make several good points, thanks

I try to look at 'whats going on' from a bigger picture. To include the overall business side of selling and maintaining a + $3000 keyboard.

While I am a student of history, I emphasize " what have you done lately " vs the history of a Korg or Roland going back 10-20 years.

Korg Inc changed substantially when the founder, Katoh died. Kronos is a continuation of Oasys and the incredible vision of Mr Katoh.

This event and subsequent Korg product decisioning is what I think has more weight. That has shaped my personal opinion.

I understand nostalgia, Triton, M1, etc etc, but I am more focused on current circumstances. As it effects Kronos.

[gminorcoles]

I would like Korg to keep supporting the Kronos. I have almost no complaints except it is hard to learn and the keybeds are maybe not as good as they could be, but i use other controllers ( but wish I didn’t need to).

I would like support for hardware upgrades.

I just hope that the Kronos is not discontinued. Even if the hardware becomes totally obsolete I don’t see any synth with the same profile of features, it just doesn’t exist.

[GregC]

I would like Korg to keep supporting the Kronos. I have almost no complaints except it is hard to learn and the keybeds are maybe not as good as they could be, but i use other controllers ( but wish I didn’t need to).

I would like support for hardware upgrades.

I just hope that the Kronos is not discontinued. Even if the hardware becomes totally obsolete I don’t see any synth with the same profile of features, it just doesn’t exist.

Thats one of my assertions.

Sure, at some point in the future, Korg will stop assembling Kronos for sale.

The term is " End of Life"

However. Kronos owners will continue enjoying their K's for a minimum of 5 years.

Thus, Korg " Should " support your purchase , your $3000-$4000 investment.

I disagree with folks that think " when Korg introduces a Kronos replacement, all Kronos OS support goes "Poof ".

That is not acceptable to me as a business person and as a 9 year Kronos owner.

And Korg Inc's last OS update was March 2019. 3.1.3 was 100% bug fix, no new features.

1 year and 4 months is a lot of quiet from Korg Inc on Kronos.

I want to hear clearly from Korg Inc whether or not we can expect OS updates, new features in the next 30 days.

Or exactly when can we can expect the same.

If they refuse to be clear, that tells me that the answer is NO.

I can handle NO. I will plan accordingly.

We, as a community deserve communication from Korg Inc on the future support of Kronos.

[BobTheDog]

I also answered yes but not holding out much hope.

What I would like though is spares available for the next 10 years, especially the cpu board. That's the bit that worries me.

[GregC]

I understand the skepticism. Its not easy to be optimistic.

We have to solve a basic issue- communication. Collectively, I think that gives a fair chance.

You have a solid concern. we have a total dependence on the motherboard, certain aged components. And I am a planner.

The country distributors own service as the service centers roll up to them.

One simple question is,,, do they carry stock or quantities of aging components.
And in what quantity ?

we might find out ' you are on your own ' . If thats the case, owners have to understand risk of component failure over time.

I don't have any answers for you. But I think we should work on developing the correct questions.

[billysynth]

The hardware must change to reflect 21st Century protocols.

Thunderbolt.
Midi 2
Bluetooth
OLED Screen 10 inch or more
Synthesizer Control Panel - not 1990’s control surface:9 sliders/buttons/knobs
Significant increase in POLYPHONY!!!! For live power house performance.

This hardware is primitive baby boomer ideology/design
Come on....move on old man.

Vasillios

[GregC]

billy, IMO, you should run Korg

[Liviou2004]

“They did not know it was impossible so they did it”

Mark Twain

[danmusician]

It's been a while since I've visited the forum. I apologize that I have not waded through this entire thread before commenting. Forgive me if this has been stated by others.

I don't think Korg will add any new features to the OS at this point. That means bug testing and support, which costs money. Just don't see it happening.

I would love to be wrong, but I believe the Kronos is the last of the flagship workstations. I see more and more performers using laptops on stage. I sincerely doubt that a viable market exists for a new W/S to be profitable in terms of R&D. Thus, Korg will continue to repackage the Kronos until sales eventually dry up.

I sincerely hope to be wrong. I did the laptop/gig thing back in the 2000's. I prefer the simplicity of a single piece of equipment to set up. In 1989, I used to set up two keyboards, a tone module, drum machine and MIDIverb. I love that one keyboard does it all - and so much better!

Until COVID, I was on the road 2 or 4 weekends a month. The weekend of the shut down in the US, I was on my way to a weekend gig. My van is showing it's age and I was going to buy a new vehicle. But who knows when or IF I'll ever get back out on the road again. I decided not to buy another vehicle because my smaller car meets my needs for now.

I don't need a gigging keyboard right now. But if I did, I'd be holding off that purchase as well. If I was Korg, I wouldn't be in a rush to bring out a new keyboard.