Korg Forums

To the OP, are you looking at the 88's or the 61's?

I'm in a very similar situation. I play prog rock, in my case vast amounts of Wakeman solo stuff, and I too was choosing between the Kross and Krome.

To me the big difference is the Krome has the big sized piano samples that are beautiful, but within the mix of a band I'm not sure you will get the full benefit, and the digital audio recording and favourites in the Kross.
Another difference is price. The Kross is about three quarters the price of the Krome.

For me I went with the Kross and I have no regrets.

As a kind of mini-review:
Pros:
I like the pianos a lot. e.pianos are great. Organ sounds are decent as are mellotron sounds, synth leads, and orchestral sounds. I am 100 % happy with the sound of the board.

The Favourites section makes it a super stage friendly board!!!

I find the sequencer quite easy to use.

You can create very complex combi's, and while working from the Kross display wading through menus would be pretty tedious, the free editing software it great. (In fact if they made an ipad/iphone version, you would basically get the Krome touch screen)

Polyphony has not been a problem at all thus far, and that is using the Kross for everything and triggering it both from it's own keyboard and a second one as well.

Run's on batteries. Now the promo video has people taking their Kross to the park to jam, but to me the real value of the batteries is that if for some reason you lose power even for a second onstage, you won't have to reboot. The Kross just seamlessly switches to battery if the power is cut. A great thing on stage but also when editing.

The Con's:
The synth action keybed is pretty awful. It's ok for basic playing mostly on white keys, but playing something like a Ab arpeggio is not going to turn out well.
I think the 88 key would be fine, but for the 61 (and I'm pretty sure it is exactly the same on the Krome) it is a weak point.
Once I get a midi merger so I can play the Kross from both my digital piano and my old m1, I'm not sure how often I would even use the Kross keyboard in performance because of this. I should maybe add I teach piano for a living and have been playing for over 40 years.

There are some odd limits in the fx section. Specifically delay is pretty much solely a master fx, and it cannot be combined with reverb.

My biggest beef outside the keybed is that there is no real way to mute tracks within a combi or sequence. If you could do that with the 16 favourite/step sequencer buttons....OMG it would open up a whole world of multi keyboard options in a one or 2 keyboard rig.

I guess the main thing is this....every night I cannot wait to sit down at my kross, and create combis and just play. I have a strong emotional connection to it already. I'm using it as a solo-ist, but if I were in a band, most of the limitations I mentioned become unimportant and it is a really great stage instrument.
It's also incredibly portable!

That is a GREAT review, Shutoku! Accurate and insightful.

Hey thanks Shutoku! That really is a fantastic review.

Well, there's been some developments on my side as well, but I'm a proud Korg owner now so woot woot

Well, as I'd said before, I was on a tight budget, but I had my mind set on a Korg(lets face it, nothing else compares). I went to the local music store, and tried out a KROME, cause I'd been receiving some incredibly positive feedback about it. I passed it through the Peavey amplifier at the store, and then through my headphones. Headphones all day, although the amp does do a good job.

I was tremendously impressed with the Pianos, they're world class, really. Organs, brilliant, the synth pad sounds are a bit of a let down, but the overall interface more than makes up for it.

There are 5 preset banks, and 1 user bank, and contrary to what many people think there IS a way for favourites on the KROME. You can edit and save your custom combis to the user banks, or overwrite existing sounds as well.
All in all they're available at a single touch.

Also @Shutoku, what you said can be done on the KROME. Muting certain tracks in the combis, and then editing/saving them as a preset or in the user banks. There are a total of 16 tracks programmable on each combi, each having a MUTE, PLAY and SOLO button to do the respective.

Then there's the totally awesome joystick, which the KROSS doesn't have.

The only major drawback IMHO is the Keybed. Its feels cheap, and isn't anywhere close to the NH keybeds in the 88 keyboards.
Also, the KROME is nowhere near as light or portable as the KROSS.
Doesn't run on batteries, so thats a bummer for gigging musicians.

All in all, after playing and hearing the KROME and the KROSS, I decided I must have the KROME. I stretched my budget and I'm a proud owner of a new Korg Krome-61

Guys, I didn't know where else to post this, I'm relatively new here, but I've hit a snag relating to file transfer from the Krome and as far as I know, its a problem with all other Workstations as well.

I'll be clear:

Is there any way to convert a .SNG file to .MP3?

Ricky_jcr wrote: Also @Shutoku, what you said can be done on the KROME. Muting certain tracks in the combis, and then editing/saving them as a preset or in the user banks. There are a total of 16 tracks programmable on each combi, each having a MUTE, PLAY and SOLO button to do the respective.

Are the mute play and solo buttons on the touch screen or assigned to one of the buttons on the panel?
I have to be honest, I didn't really think about this aspect when trying out the Kross (I tried out the Krome several months earlier) and only discovered it wasn't there after the fact.
For sure it is the biggest downer outside the bad keybed.
I'm working on a few ways to get around it though, and hoping Korg will do a software update to include it. I'm considering emailing them on it.

Ricky_jcr wrote: All in all, after playing and hearing the KROME and the KROSS, I decided I must have the KROME. I stretched my budget and I'm a proud owner of a new Korg Krome-61

Congratulations! I really think between the two it is impossible to make a bad choice. The pianos on the Krome really are something very special!


As far as mp3's, I can't help you. I know for me I would just record the .sng file into garageband and save it as an mp3 that way, but if you want to do it from the Krome itself I don't know. Maybe poke around in the Krome forum and see if it has been covered.

Shutoku wrote: Are the mute play and solo buttons on the touch screen or assigned to one of the buttons on the panel?
I have to be honest, I didn't really think about this aspect when trying out the Kross (I tried out the Krome several months earlier) and only discovered it wasn't there after the fact.

Nope, not the panel, its on the Touch Screen, in "combi" mode, right on the first page. Actually, to mute the track, you need to click the PLAY button, and then it shows MUTE. SOLO is a separate option altogether. All on the screen.

Shutoku wrote:Congratulations! I really think between the two it is impossible to make a bad choice. The pianos on the Krome really are something very special!

Exactly!
I had tested out the KROSS as well, and it really impressed me, I actually think the Synth Pads on it are better than the KROME, but thats just me. The other sounds are even b/w the two, but the KROME pianos compelled me to get it.

.SNG to MP3 "conversion" doesn't exist. You will need to record the song on your computer (or any external recorder) and then create an MP3 from it.

Ricky_jcr wrote:

Shutoku wrote: Are the mute play and solo buttons on the touch screen or assigned to one of the buttons on the panel?
I have to be honest, I didn't really think about this aspect when trying out the Kross (I tried out the Krome several months earlier) and only discovered it wasn't there after the fact.

Nope, not the panel, its on the Touch Screen, in "combi" mode, right on the first page. Actually, to mute the track, you need to click the PLAY button, and then it shows MUTE. SOLO is a separate option altogether. All on the screen.

Ah. The Kross has this as well, but no touch screen, so navigating to this requires menu diving and multiple button presses.
This is where either a version of the editor software for iOs devices, or preferably those 16 favourite buttons functioning in this way would really elevate the live functionality in combi mode.

However the sound and functionality we do get out of the Kross at it's price point is pretty phenomenal. I just wish that one more function was available.

Although there is no iOS version of the Kross editor, if you happen to have a Windows tablet that runs a full version of Windows 8 (not RT) you can run the editor on that and hook it via USB to the Kross and that essentially will give you touch screen capabilities on the Kross.

Good point! I'm mostly an apple guy, but that is an option to consider for sure!

I understand many musicians are, but you can find windows tablets very cheap. For example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-VivoTab-ME ... 2602wt_882

That one is $179. So you could get one for the primary purpose of using the editor with the Kross. And use your iPad for everything else.

Does anyone know where to get KROME settings for Programs and Combis?
Can the same settings be set in the KROSS (to get KROME Combis on the KROSS)?

razzaq1 wrote:Does anyone know where to get KROME settings for Programs and Combis?
Can the same settings be set in the KROSS (to get KROME Combis on the KROSS)?

What do you mean by "settings"? I'm assuming you mean the program edit options, EQs, FX etc.

On the KROME, they can be found by pressing the "PAGE" button on the panel, six or seven pages for each program, including arp settings, drum kits etc.

I'm assuming there's a similar button on the KROSS. So yes, it can be found on the KROSS quite easily too.

EDIT: whoops just read your question again, I'm guessing it may or may not be possible to replicate KROME combis on the KROSS, from what I hear the KROME has more FX slots. It can be done with some smart routing.

But if you're asking if you can transfer Combis from the KROME to the KROSS, it may not be possible, via PCG tools(it does say there that inter-keyboard conversion cannot be done). I'm not so sure about this part, can someone clear it up?

EDIT(2): Just edited it, to avoid the confusion, thanks Sander

I have a KROSS and not a KROME so I'd need some kind of chart unless the KROME default pcg is downloadable.
Yes PCG TOOLS may indicate settings that I could try and set on the KROSS.

I saw Master Luke (who def. has the Force about him) in this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgpaeitOoV4
and, say, at 4:50 there is a great Arp and Drum accompaniment to the bass sound. I'd like to use the same set on the KROSS if possible to cook it up!
See 6:55 and also 8:36.

Obviously the depth of the KROME sounds will differ, but the KROSS and KROME don't seem so very different from each other.

Let me know if you have any ideas about this.
What a GREAT forum

PCG Tools does NOT let you copy settings from one board to another.