Kronos AL-1 graphical editor

Scatter · Post by **Scatter** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 2:34 pm

I had high hopes for the official editor, what with the huge delays. When it was released I fired it up, stared in horror at the screen then laughed and forgot the turkey ever existed.

This is much more like it, thanks for sharing. The colour scheme has a nice psychoacoustic affect on me; it seems to make AL-1 sound fatter.

.Jens · Post by **.Jens** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 2:53 pm

...and immediately, there are some wish list items popping up:

1) A few optical styles (or "skins") for the editor mimicking some notable synths like Minimoog, Prophet 5 etc - together with meaningful pre-selections for those parameters, which are not changeable within the original instrument - e.g. a multimode filter matching the characteristics of say a Moog filter as close as possible.

2) A second editor (page) for the DX7 (MOD-7), with all those nice greenish foil buttons

3) A third one for the CX3 - let's say in a style like the Native Instruments B4. Here also, together with a nice preselection of (community created?) EQ curves for the leslie cab...

4) Integrated oscillograph view of the actual sound output (using the audio interface).

5) A patch field. Even if it doesn't do anything, but optics - and it has to be HUGE

6) An Android version

... tbc

afr · Post by **afr** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:31 pm

+1 for points 1/2/3

.Jens wrote:...and immediately, there are some wish list items popping up:

1) A few optical styles (or "skins") for the editor mimicking some notable synths like Minimoog, Prophet 5 etc - together with meaningful pre-selections for those parameters, which are not changeable within the original instrument - e.g. a multimode filter matching the characteristics of say a Moog filter as close as possible.

2) A second editor (page) for the DX7 (MOD-7), with all those nice greenish foil buttons

3) A third one for the CX3 - let's say in a style like the Native Instruments B4. Here also, together with a nice preselection of (community created?) EQ curves for the leslie cab...

4) Integrated oscillograph view of the actual sound output (using the audio interface).

5) A patch field. Even if it doesn't do anything, but optics - and it has to be HUGE

6) An Android version

... tbc

KorgisKing · Post by **KorgisKing** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:37 pm

Please make a Mac version

Chrutil · Post by **Chrutil** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:01 pm

Thanks for the encouragement everybody!
Once the framework was done, most of the work was laying out the parameters in a reasonably logical way.
I kind of ran out of steam by the time I got to the envelopes - there are so many parameters that it felt impossible to lay them out nicely.
I might think of a layout editor where you can create your own layouts - with that, and skinnable buttons we can have community generated Kronos synt engine layouts... That'd be nice

Of course this won't happen right away, I'm also busy enjoying the California summer, working "for real" and playing with the Kronos!

For some of the questions - Yes the editor is written in straight up Win32 code using Visual C++.
Don't hold your breath for a Mac version... It might be possible, but I did this to get into AL-1 and porting to the mac won't help with that. Not impossible though.

>> The colour scheme has a nice psychoacoustic affect on me; it seems to make AL-1 sound fatter.
Haha, I love that!!

I find it interesting that people are asking for a Mod7 editor - That's an engine I have not touched at all.
Way back when, the DX7 never really appealed to me - I was more of a Prophet/MemoryMoog fan back then.
Since the DX7 was programmed using the buttons and the two row LCD display is there a more logical layout that would make sense that doesn't mimic the original synth?

Once I can proof up the code to separate out the engine from the app, I think other engines could be added too,
but since my main goal is to be able to enjoy the Kronos more it'll be a little bit on the back burner.

Thanks
C

RonF · Post by **RonF** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:44 pm

Color me impressed! But with no MAC version, I'm out of this one. Either way...I agree...THIS is what I might have expected the KORG editor to look like.....anything DIFFERENT than the hardware GUI itself!

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:27 pm

Having a MOD7 Editor would be tooooooooooo complex and complicated.
Imagine the AL-1 Editor that you have but x100 more pages of parameters.

Chrutil · Post by **Chrutil** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:48 pm

Yeah I took a look at the parameter definition for the different engines.
Mod7 does look beastish...

Here are the number of parameters for the various engines:
2:AL-1, Number Of Param. = 609
3:CX-3, Number Of Param. = 149
4:STR-1, Number Of Param. = 707
5:MS-20EX, Number Of Param. = 512
6:PolysixEX, Number Of Param. = 322
7:MOD-7, Number Of Param. = 1108
8:SGX-1, Number Of Param. = 19
9:EP-1, Number Of Param. = 183

Since I combined the AMS source and intensity parameters into one control there are a little bit less controls on screen, but the complexity speaks for itself - Mod7 is almost twice of AL-1.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:42 pm

Kudos for making this, and I'm somewhat shocked that you could do this "out of your attic" and Korg couldn't come up with anything better after so long.

It looks great and while I don't have my Kronos in the studio much, I got the editor for the rare occcasions I do.
As for the envelopes, I always thought the Korg layout wasn't so bad, but it would be great to physically grab a point on the curve and move it. I recall a few softsynths allowing that. It's probably harder to program than simple buttons, but I don't know how much harder. It seems a very intuitive way to shape the sound.

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:47 pm

KorgisKing wrote:Please make a Mac version

as mentioned in the first post, give it a shot:
http://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX

I'm going to give it a whirl at home to see if I can make it work in Linux using Wine. If it takes any extra effort, I'll be sure to post steps.

MarPabl · Post by **MarPabl** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:57 pm

Thank you so much

My laptop has a screen resolution of 1280x800 and I'm having issues to see the bottom part of the screen (even after maximizing the window)

One of the sections I don't see complete is the Level Mod. Source under the Filter tab. I only see half of the knobs (Start, Attack and Break)

levioter · Post by **levioter** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:00 pm

Waoo !
Excellent job Chrutil !
Really nice ! Cannot test it connected to the Kronos yet but the GUI is great !
And AL-1 will be easier to program because this Engine is really a beast !

I applaude with my 4 (?) legs !

Cheers.

Chrutil · Post by **Chrutil** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 10:10 pm

MarPabl wrote:My laptop has a screen resolution of 1280x800 and I'm having issues to see the bottom part of the screen (even after maximizing the window)

oh yeah, I can see you'll have issues on 800.
If it's any help you can scroll vertically using the mouse wheel, or in any direction by pressing and holding the middle mouse button(wheel), that could perhaps help a little.
I'm usually on 2560x1600 or 1920x1200, but tried to keep the layout of the editor so that it could be used with laptops that have 1440x900 resolution without vertical scrolling.

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:15 pm

Actually I have 2 monitors (2 different resolutions) and I can fit almost the complete width on both monitors ... it looks really cool to see all those knows on both monitors

I also notice that most people creating applications write it for Windows and not Mac. Either Mac users are not into programming or programming a Mac must be quite difficult.

Anyway, congratulations again with your app.
Would you mind if I put a link in PCG Tools to your application?

Also I noticed that a lot of programming / 3th party tools are available for the Kronos, more than ever (of course this editor, PCG Tools, Onksor, PCG Tools for Web, M1 converter from Sharp, the librarian from Yatrix, maybe I'm forgetting even a few).

NuSkoolTone · Post by **NuSkoolTone** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:30 pm

SanderXpander wrote:Kudos for making this, and I'm somewhat shocked that you could do this "out of your attic" and Korg couldn't come up with anything better after so long.

I have to agree. It's really something when you see what forum "Amateurs" are coming out with doing only a couple of weeks/months worth of work INCLUDING reverse engineering.

As much as I want to be fair to Korg, this and the custom OS tweaks that are being played around with speak VOLUMES.