Kronos pianos sound better when played on midi controller

[MartinC]

Hi, I've been trying to tweak the Piano sounds of my Kronos for a while but I don't get good results. I've tried to set the velocity bias and intensity as well as the EQ but I never get a good result. It sounds nosy in the mids. I have also tied to change the velocity curve in global settings.

Strangely, when I use a Komplete Kontrol s88 as a controller to trigger the Kronos piano sounds, they sound a lot better. I think it might have something to do with the keyboard reactivity.

I wonder if someone else has noticed something like that and if yes, is there's a fix. I'd like to heard your opinion about this.

[KK]

It depends on which piano program or sample set you are talking about. Each one has a different character, just like real acoustic pianos. The Komplete 88 keyboard might have a slightly better velocity dynamic range compared to the Kronos RH3 action, but it is not as reliable nor solidly built.

Another approach on the Kronos if you are OK without using the SGX-2 modelled string resonance and key noise is to create your own piano programs using the HD-1 engine, because there is more flexibility to adjust the velocity response vs the ppp to fff layers in each sample set.

[kday]

Some Midi controllers double trigger the sample to sound thicker and often play samples at full volume velocity. Often a sample triggered by a Midi controller would sound more fuller because you get double triggering from this controller. Often a sequencer may do double triggering because it's doing a loop trigger of the sound you're triggering.

This is what I experienced when I played a midi controller to trigger sounds with the Akai MPC hardware.

[Edcollante]

It's a well known issue: kronos's velocity is defective, apparently it's a hardware issue so there's no way to fix that. I became aware of that roughly a couple of years ago when I hooked up a yamaha motif to my kronos 2 and noticed, for the first time, that the EPs had some bite to them...which is literally impossible to get out of the kronos by itself.

[DeltaJockey]

I started playing the Kronos through my Kawai MP11SE a long time ago. I found that not only piano, but many other programs like the orchestral ones I have, all sounded better because I had better articulation on the nicely balanced triple sensor keybed. The only thing I missed was the aftertouch for the synth patches.

One reason I think the pianos work better on other weighted actions is the the release velocity on the RH3 is limited to 0-64. This took me by surprise a while back as the implementation supports release, so assumed it was 0-127. My MP11SE being piano specialiised certainly does. I woult imagine the K88 would also.

Having said that, I have a newer RH3 in a D1 I'm using as a portable controller, and I find it just superb for my VST pianos. Very individualistic experiences happening!

[timg11]

Interesting Thread!

I connected a 40 year old Chroma to to my Kronos "module" by MIDI, and I really felt the Kronos sounded better when played from the Chroma (compared to my standard K2-73 and its RH3 keybed)

I thought it was just subjective and a psychological effect of the different feel of the Chroma keybed, but maybe there is more to it....

[DeltaJockey]

An interesting module you have there! I was always going to consider doing the same with an old 61, but in the end decided not to, as I have a few alternatives to my Kronos these days.
I think it's a logical desire with many people to have a rack version of the Kronos. I'm sure it's a marketing decision rather than practical to not produce one.

Though the RH3 design and label is common over the years with various Korg keyboards, it seems to me that they are not all the same to the touch, and there has been a bit of improvement since the Kronos 1, as I find my Kronos has a much noisier and harder bottoming feel than the D1.
I know at least the D1's RH3 has reduced functionality, such as no aftertouch, and the release velocity is not implemented, but Korg must have improved the mechanical characteristics to get it to feel a bit nicer.