Korg Forums

The Kronos pianos sound fine in stereo and with in-ears. In fact, they might even sound incredibly nice for samples. But live, mono, through monitors, they lack presence and just don't sound that good. Keyscape sounds way better live, but you know what is perfectly serviceable, is Ivory with iPad. I have used it live and it sounds great. I tried the Kawai that everyone raves about and to me, it was just as disappointing as every stage piano - not realistic at all. Even the dealer agreed with me.

But, that's what happens when you play the Kawai after playing one of the best Steinway pianos probably in the world. I shouldn't have gone after playing that piano on a gig the night before. Oh well.

I gotta say, I went years without noticing the 2 Steinway grands from the M3 that were hiding in EXs4. They're high quality HD-1 samples, one is 4-layer and one is 3-layer, but they have such character which I really like. The SGX-1 German Grand is technically a Steinway also, and yes, the German Grand sample is higher-quality and more realistic, but the presence of both these EXs4 pianos are just so great sounding, I've started using these 2 over the EXi pianos. You'll have to load up the KSC and the PCG file in the Individual KSC folder - should have been installed on your SSD from the original install.

It's funny just how many outstanding piano samples come with the Kronos. There is:

1. German Grand (EXs6)
2. Japanese Grand (EXs7)
3. Berlin Grand (EXs17)
4. OASYS stock ROM sample (In Kronos ROM)
5. OASYS EXs2 Concert Grand sample
6. M3 Steinway samples #1 and #2 (EXs4)

So much to choose from. I will say the Parametric EQ is probably the effect you want to apply to your piano programs to tweak them to your liking.

Keep your eye out for the German Grand 2 that was on the Nautilus. It is a huge improvement over the Kronos's German Grand.

Gargamel314 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:37 pm ......
Keep your eye out for the German Grand 2 that was on the Nautilus. It is a huge improvement over the Kronos's German Grand.

Would be great if that worked on the Kronos. I gotta look if one can load it on the Kronos via the Korg shop, even if only in trial mode.

I agree. I am truly hoping they release some kind of Nautilus pack so we can have some of the Nautilus improvements on the Kronos. If they do, that's a good set of stuff to have! Or if they offer it by itself, that would be pretty sweet. They may not though - they've shown several times they want you to buy those instruments instead. Lots of good stuff on the Nautilus... but the Kronos is a better instrument for sure.

BlackForest wrote: ↑Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:45 am

Gargamel314 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 9:37 pm ......
Keep your eye out for the German Grand 2 that was on the Nautilus. It is a huge improvement over the Kronos's German Grand.

Would be great if that worked on the Kronos. I gotta look if one can load it on the Kronos via the Korg shop, even if only in trial mode.