Korg announces 26 new Kronos sound libraries

Track 7 · Post by **Track 7** » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:19 pm

Did anyone else get this email last night? I haven't had time to check out all the demos yet, but it's good to see the developers still supporting the Kronos. There are two new libraries from KARO, one from Kelfar, and 23 small ones from KApro.

https://www.korg.com/us/news/2021/0630/

Mike Conway · Post by **Mike Conway** » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:29 pm

Yep! I just bought Cinematic Percussion, Solo Strings, and Big Brass Ensemble. I already bought Fast Strings 1, Slow Strings 1, and Solo Violin. I'm loving them! Simple, but powerful.

At just $29 a pop, it's a no brainer. I'm kind of jealous, because I pitched out for full prices for Epic Composer, 5th Element, etc. Now, anyone can buy a few of these and sound great. At least they aren't total repeats, - that violin, wow! These small packs add a lot to what I already have.

Track 7 · Post by **Track 7** » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:33 pm

That's good to hear! I will check out the demos later. I'm already wondering how much more space I have for third-party sounds. Currently I have only EXs 51 (Unison Orchestra) and don't recall how large it is. I don't want to buy more than I have RAM for!

KK · Post by KK » Wed Jun 30, 2021 11:17 pm

That's good to see more new libraries being made for the Kronos. $\:D/$

Mike Conway · Post by **Mike Conway** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:05 am

Track 7 wrote: I'm already wondering how much more space I have for third-party sounds. Currently I have only EXs 51 (Unison Orchestra) and don't recall how large it is. I don't want to buy more than I have RAM for!

I have EXs 51, plus heaps more. If you use the "Virtual" stream setting, the Kronos RAM can stream around 20 gigs. OS and ROM are around 1 gig, so that leaves 2 gigs of RAM, which can stream up to 10 fold their size.

Note, I deselected the German and Japanese Grand pianos to make a ton of room. I'm just fine with the pianos in base ROM, EXs1, and EXs 4 (Internal B bank).

Right now, when I turn my Kronos on, I have available:

Samples from several Blue Zone libraries (Thin Blue Line, Metal, Heavy Metal, Scary, etc.), plus custom project sample sets.
EXs1
EXs3
EXs4
EXs5
EXs8
EXs16 Funk & Soul Brass
EXs24 Dimensional Cello
EXs50 KSL Symphonic Library
EXs51 KUO Unison Orchestra
EXs131
EXs132
EXs133
EXs134 Epic Composer
EXs220 Epic Monumental Choir
EXs222 The 5th Element
EXs289 Solo Violin
EXs292 Cinematic Brass
EXs296 Big Brass Ensemble
EXs298 Cinematic Percussion
EXs355 Solo Strings

Then some sounds from my E-MU and Yamaha sample libraries, which you can see in the pictures. Some boxes, like EXs193, are deselected until I need them for something.

My point for listing all this is to show how much you can actually load into the Kronos. I kind of chuckled when you said you didn't know how much more you could load, aside from EXs51!

SeedyLee · Post by **SeedyLee** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:48 am

I would be keen to buy them but:

a) My kronos is close to death and if I buy a replacement I lose access to all my libraries
B) the Kronos sounds website is so slow it doesn’t even load for me.

Mike Conway · Post by **Mike Conway** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:42 am

SeedyLee wrote: the Kronos sounds website is so slow it doesn’t even load for me.

I had to RIGHT CLICK on the download link and OPEN IN NEW TAB. I put my cursor in the address bar, to the right of the download address, then pressed ENTER. I was able to download and audition several libraries. It was a little slow. It took about 2 minutes to download.

KingKronos · Post by **KingKronos** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:00 pm

Smart move by Kurt to sell smaller, cheaper packs.
I noticed he also has packs for Korg's ipad app Module Pro.

wocongming · Post by **wocongming** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:58 pm

Mike Conway wrote:
Track 7 wrote: I'm already wondering how much more space I have for third-party sounds. Currently I have only EXs 51 (Unison Orchestra) and don't recall how large it is. I don't want to buy more than I have RAM for!
I have EXs 51, plus heaps more. If you use the "Virtual" stream setting, the Kronos RAM can stream around 20 gigs. OS and ROM are around 1 gig, so that leaves 2 gigs of RAM, which can stream up to 10 fold their size.

Note, I deselected the German and Japanese Grand pianos to make a ton of room. I'm just fine with the pianos in base ROM, EXs1, and EXs 4 (Internal B bank).

Right now, when I turn my Kronos on, I have available:

Samples from several Blue Zone libraries (Thin Blue Line, Metal, Heavy Metal, Scary, etc.), plus custom project sample sets.
EXs1
EXs3
EXs4
EXs5
EXs8
EXs16 Funk & Soul Brass
EXs24 Dimensional Cello
EXs50 KSL Symphonic Library
EXs51 KUO Unison Orchestra
EXs131
EXs132
EXs133
EXs134 Epic Composer
EXs220 Epic Monumental Choir
EXs222 The 5th Element
EXs289 Solo Violin
EXs292 Cinematic Brass
EXs296 Big Brass Ensemble
EXs298 Cinematic Percussion
EXs355 Solo Strings

Then some sounds from my E-MU and Yamaha sample libraries, which you can see in the pictures. Some boxes, like EXs193, are deselected until I need them for something.

My point for listing all this is to show how much you can actually load into the Kronos. I kind of chuckled when you said you didn't know how much more you could load, aside from EXs51!

How long does it take your Kronos to boot with all those KSC files? plus how do you fit all those KSC files into the Korg memory including the KSC files that comes with the keyboard? thanx

KingKronos · Post by **KingKronos** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:24 pm

Notice the far right side of his pictures.
There's Virtual Memory and KSC settings.

Virtual Memory doesn't load whole samples into RAM.
It only loads a small chunk of the beginning of each sample.

Mike Conway wrote: If you use the "Virtual" stream setting, the Kronos RAM can stream around 20 gigs.

Definition of "streaming":
Small parts are delivered in a constant flow.
Like when you stream Netflix movies.
You don't download the whole movie into your pc's RAM.

Wicket · Post by **Wicket** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 4:22 pm

Found both KK and Mike’s comments here very helpful as I’m still figuring out the Kronos. I think it’s worth saying that the help the people provide on this board is a real help, including stuff posted nearly 10 years ago! Barely a day goes by that I’m not flicking between here and the manual. I often find the manual has pretty much everything there but people here help connect the dots that those not in the know have no idea need connecting!

Do, by the by, Korg/KApro still do sales? I’ve got a not so short list (Douglas Morton of q up arts very kindly offered me a free download of the Voices of collection - I found Istanbul to be very impressive with the Keman being full of life - to use with Kontakt- which I don’t have and can’t afford at the moment!). Apologies for parentheses overload! I’ll leave it there…

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:01 pm

And still no updated Kronos EPs (Nautilus):
THAT would have been a much more relevant, constantly used new/updated libary to me, more regularly in use than all the other stuff on the list together, despite some nice and well payable libraries being on offer here...

But as long as essentails aren't updated on the Kronos any longer, I won't even consider buying additional stuff: that would feel like investing into a dead end to me...

KK · Post by KK » Thu Jul 01, 2021 10:33 pm

SeedyLee wrote:a) My kronos is close to death and if I buy a replacement I lose access to all my libraries

This should not be a problem, as many users transferred their third party libraries to their new Kronos. It is simply a matter of contacting Korg service.

Mike Conway · Post by **Mike Conway** » Fri Jul 02, 2021 4:00 am

wocongming wrote:How long does it take your Kronos to boot with all those KSC files? plus how do you fit all those KSC files into the Korg memory including the KSC files that comes with the keyboard? thanx

With that 18gig, 693mb sample load, it takes 2min, 48 sec. to boot. It's all relative, as I've gotten a 60 second bootup with just base ROM, as seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN1l0lbDuOw

As I said, above, I don't load the 4gig pianos.

I could get well over 20 gigs, if I didn't use EXs3 Brass Woodwinds. That one is very memory inefficient - 708mbs (disk size), but requires 306mbs to stream it. If I replaced that with EXs6 German D Piano (4.3gigs disk, 181mbs streaming), my sample load would be at 22gigs, 285mbs. I would still have 161 mbs of RAM left (including the 36mb from the top of the 1st pic) for streaming something of decent size. As you can see in the pic, there are several 1.8 and 1.9 gig libraries that can stream into that size. 24 gigs and more could be loaded with the right libraries.

The MEMORY USAGE section (top of 1st pic) shows the RAM availability, and is very helpful with deciding how much more can be loaded. It shows what is currently loaded or what you are selecting to be loaded.

Track 7 · Post by **Track 7** » Sat Jul 03, 2021 4:36 pm

Mike Conway wrote:My point for listing all this is to show how much you can actually load into the Kronos. I kind of chuckled when you said you didn't know how much more you could load, aside from EXs51!

Mike, thanks for this! Wow, that's a lot. I've got so much mileage out of EXs51 that I haven't felt the need to add much more. Might be time to add a few others.

KK wrote:
SeedyLee wrote:a) My kronos is close to death and if I buy a replacement I lose access to all my libraries
This should not be a problem, as many users transferred their third party libraries to their new Kronos. It is simply a matter of contacting Korg service.

Yes, I recently transferred my EXs51 license from an original K to a new K2. Quick and easy. Korg was very responsive.