Korg Forums

I guess there must be variation amongst keybeds or playing style. I am a professional pianist (studied pop and jazz) with some classical training and never noticed a problem on my K88 velocity wise, though it did suffer from the dreaded note cut-off issue when I first got it. Reaching 127 on both my 88 and the 61 I have here most of the time requires a lot of force but is achievable. I really prefer it that way, myself, when I play an instrument it's good to feel there's no limit to the dynamics. My old RD170 maxes out half the notes when I go into the forte range and that's just useless. My Rhodes or the Yamaha C6 I play the rest of the week don't do that either. So I don't agree with the comment on wanting to hit a chord with all notes at 127 reliably. You'd never do that on a real piano or Rhodes or whatever either.

That's one side of the story. On the other hand, I completely agree that it would be great to have more adjustable velocity curves or even some kind of user calibration. Since the keyboard is physically capable of a very large dynamic range (in fact larger than many digitals I've played so far), it seems many people could be helped with a software update.

Had some more time experimenting with the velocity curves and found #5 to be the most useful for my playing style... It allows me to reach the max 127 and utilise upper velocities to trigger sounds, (such as the timpani sound on the timpani and strings combi preset), but still allows a smooth transition from lower velocity to medium velocity playing. I found #6 harder to transition through that medium velocity range...

In my brief experience, I'd say that the preset #4 curve is just a bad match to many of the preset sounds velocity settings. I can see that players coming from a piano background might find all of the velocity curves unsatisfactory!

It would be nice to see an option for a user-editable velocity curve in future software updates.

Daniel Kinnaird wrote:Had some more time experimenting with the velocity curves and found #5 to be the most useful for my playing style... It allows me to reach the max 127 and utilise upper velocities to trigger sounds, (such as the timpani sound on the timpani and strings combi preset), but still allows a smooth transition from lower velocity to medium velocity playing. I found #6 harder to transition through that medium velocity range...

In my brief experience, I'd say that the preset #4 curve is just a bad match to many of the preset sounds velocity settings. I can see that players coming from a piano background might find all of the velocity curves unsatisfactory!

It would be nice to see an option for a user-editable velocity curve in future software updates.

Exactly what I experienced.

Btw. my Viscount Physis Piano H1 has exactly that feature: User programmable velocity curve! Let's do it Korg! Give us an update and I may buy your gear again (and don't forget that M3/Krome features still missing).

Hi all,
Thanks for resurrecting this post.
Last night I thoroughly fiddle with the settings and still was hearing so many different nuances on all pianos including e.ps when hooked through roland f7.

I also recorded kronos midi signals straight to Cubase.
And to my surprise all the velocities could be reached when played on kronos.....so I though.... I must be going crazy here. But I repeat I still can't hear those velocity changes

So to my conclusion is must be a software problem as even though the higher and lower velocities are reached the sound doesn't really correspond accordingly.
As on A. german piano the higher the velocity (when played through midi) the brighter it gets and the softer you play it gets warmer. There is a change in tone which is somewhat limited or not achievable on the kronos due to the keybed or os.

For instance to get really to the lower dynamics on kronos at the moment I need barely touch the keys on velocity curve 9, which is just not real when it comes to performing on a gig.

And what I really like on the G. Duke Old&Funky preset is that through midi I can really get those hammers nuances out

Spent a few more hours experimenting with velocity curves last night and decided that somewhere between curve #4 and #5 would be ideal for me. I can reach upper velocities on curve #5 but find it A LOT harder to control softer dynamics, whereas curve #4 allows more control of softer dynamics but appears to limit higher velocities.

I didn't know I had a problem before I stumbled across this thread but now that I'm aware of it, I find it really annoying! haha

Hopefully future software updates introduce a more natural curve with even response all the way through the velocity range, (that the samples respond too), or perhaps a user-defined curve...

SanderXpander wrote:I guess there must be variation amongst keybeds or playing style. I am a professional pianist (studied pop and jazz) with some classical training and never noticed a problem on my K88 velocity wise, though it did suffer from the dreaded note cut-off issue when I first got it. Reaching 127 on both my 88 and the 61 I have here most of the time requires a lot of force but is achievable.

It's almost definitely variation in keybeds or calibration parameters.

With curve 4 I can hit a key so hard my fingers start to tingle and it still maxes out at 123. (I measure it by highlighting velocity in layer editing mode and holding enter while pressing the key.)

I just went to the local music store and they had the kronos X 61 on display.
Same old stories in there as well, although it registers higher and lower velocities being played the TONE (the 8 sample layers) are not responding accordingly. Seems like on 120velocity you are only getting the 6 sample layer tone, and when on lower (barely toughing the keys) it seems the curve is around 3-4. I didn't change anything on their global
Its a shame, this keyboard has been out for so long and this issue hasn't been fixed.

Although we all know that a software update would not put any money in Korg's bank. I believe that Korg should at least start selling and making it available for kronos users different types of keybeds . This way would be a win win situation, wouldn't it? . Ok I'm talking about Keybeds only . The possibility of swapping keybaed and further customize global velocity would make Kronos the perfect keyboard for many.

For me the idea of using Kronos with a controller is a no brainer and is just pathetic that anyone would need to do that in order to get the pianos sounding as it should've in the first place .

If you're talking specifically about SGX-1, try adjusting the velocity intensity and velocity bias.

SanderXpander wrote:If you're talking specifically about SGX-1, try adjusting the velocity intensity and velocity bias.

I remember that I got the same tip when it was my turn to have that problem. But also it works for some SGX-1 PROGs, it does not work on a global scale. You have to adjust every patch in the system to your needs.
I don´t get it that Korg does not acknowledge that this is a systematic problem with the Kronos and address it with a patch or pc-tool. If you play synthrock you may never come to recognize this, but a piano player should be informed about this deal breaking behavior esp. if the mchine you test does not show it, but the one you get delivered.

I don't mind disagreeing with you, it just irks me that according to you a "real pianist" must hate the Kronos keybed. I'm sitting at a Yamaha C6 right now. I do this for a living. I don't know when I qualify as a real pianist to you but most people call me one.

Playing the Kronos is nothing like playing a real grand, but neither is playing any digital piano when you really get down to it. My K88 feels very expressive however. If it doesn't to you, I'm sorry, and I do think it's a good idea to have more customizable velocity curves. But my Kronos isn't "broken", so I hope they don't "fix" it.

SanderXpander wrote:I don't mind disagreeing with you, it just irks me that according to you a "real pianist" must hate the Kronos keybed. I'm sitting at a Yamaha C6 right now. I do this for a living. I don't know when I qualify as a real pianist to you but most people call me one.

Playing the Kronos is nothing like playing a real grand, but neither is playing any digital piano when you really get down to it. My K88 feels very expressive however. If it doesn't to you, I'm sorry, and I do think it's a good idea to have more customizable velocity curves. But my Kronos isn't "broken", so I hope they don't "fix" it.

There does seem to be some variation in Kronos keyboards though, yours may not be broken but mine as far as i am concerned is awful, I do not play piano for a living but i would expect a keyboard to be able to give me a 1-127 velocity range, rather than the 25-110 range I get.

Agreed, that doesn't seem right, especially not if it's with all curves. I usually play on 9. I tested with 4 and 5 as most people did here. 9 feels best to me for piano and EP stuff, which is the only place a "realistic" response matters - though a full range response is of course required all over.

Reaching 127 on 4 or 9 takes some serious force but again, I prefer it that way. There's no question that the Kronos pianos (and many presets) will feel brighter with an external controller that reaches 127 more easily while retaining low level playability. I just don't think that's necessarily a good thing. I tried it with my RD170 and thought it was terrible, though I wasn't really expecting stellar results from that keybed. I also believe SGX1 may treat information from the internal keybed differently from incoming midi. Possibly this is affected by the before/after conversion position parameter in the global menu. This is hardly a bug though and even somewhat common in digital pianos, my Nord Stage did the same thing - it helps to provide a more specialized curve for piano playing while making a "flatter" curve for other engines. You can use velocity intensity and bias in SGX1 to adapt it to your needs further.

I don't get the obsession with reaching 127. It's the limit. You never actually physically hit 127, it means you maxed out the dynamic response of the thing. I'd much rather float around 120 when hitting hard. It means the machine is still capable of picking up variations in my playing, like an actual piano or Rhodes would. If you feel that the sounds haven't been properly adapted (velocity layers and brightness-wise) that's a fundamentally different discussion.

And, to invalidate everything I just said, yes I agree it's quite possible there is variation amongst keybeds. I have no way of seeing this apart from playing my 88 and about 3 61s I see at various times, all of which have seemed fine so far in this respect.

Hey SanderXpander,
That's great to hear that kronos velocity and keybed is working well for you.

I'm not a pianist either but yet a full time musician and will never expect any keyboard to feel the same as a real piano.

My view here is, there are feasible room for improvement that will mean a lot to other people.
For instance when I touch the keybed with the keyboard powered off, it feels wonderful..... but when I turn the power on ..............the sound just doesn't match that previews feel.....not that I am expecting miracles here.

Like...I don't really care if the velocity is hitting 127- or 64 or 300 (lol) all I want is to be able get some decent expression nuances and that BITE on A.pianos and E.ps. That's all

If we were talking about other things here like upgrading the sequencer, more synth engines and yada yada yada...I wouldn't even read a tread on that debate as I'm happy with the features....but then that is just me .

Simply put, if korg could start selling different types keybeds for users interested in changing the feel that would be great.
And also having an user open parameter for velocities curvesd rather than the current global presets (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) would be a win win for all as it would not take hours and hours of programing in order to provide just that.

Hey but Of coarse .....those that are already happy with Kronos won't need to change a thing , just keep gigging and making great music

Since the keybed feels great with the power off, and the keybed is physically capable of a very large dynamic range, it seems to me to be an issue of software (i.e. the velocity curves). I would like more and more customizable curves, for sure.

Agreed!! Korg help pleaseeee