Kronos stock guitar sounds... unimpressive?

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 8:29 am

I'm sure they could but it's not as simple a step as you may think. The PA Series and the Oasys/Kronos (and M3/Triton etc) follow entirely different development paths ran by separate teams. The PA series is developed in Italy and the synth series in Japan (and US).

I'd love to have it though.

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 9:24 am

Slovenec wrote:The PA series arranger keyboards have excellent guitar programs that compare very nicely with what the Motifs have (both acoustic and electric). Why couldn't Korg incorporate this so called RX technology into the Kronos. No doubt, they're marketing the Kronos and PA lines to different players but still, I fail to see why Korg wouldn't want the Kronos to have access to all these wonderful technologies that only help to provide improved emulations and articulations. Just IMHO of course!

The answer is very simple. They want you to buy both a Kronos and a PA model.

PianoManChuck · Post by **PianoManChuck** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:52 pm

I'm a pianist (since age 5), so the pianos on any digital piano never sound like that of an acoustic piano to my ears. Nord's pianos, and even Kronos German grand sounds pretty damn good, but not like an acoustic piano to my ears.
Acoustic guitar is even harder to reproduce in a digital instrument as there's so many things going on... the type of strings, the type of body and what kind of wood, the movements of the fingers as strings are bent or slid up and down the neck, how the strings are played (ie: picked, plucked, strummed), etc.
As with any acoustic instrument (guitar, piano, etc) the room its played in also makes a difference (room acoustics will make the instrument sound different from room to room).
Since I'm not a guitarist, Kronos' guitars sound great to me! But as a pianist, I'm impressed that Kronos and Nord are better than most, but still not as convincing.
Bottom line, anyone who excels at any acoustic instrument, will never be happy with the digital reproduction of that instrument.

Ronl · Post by **Ronl** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:44 am

True that chuck. So far not blow away by the multi gig pianos. Maybe I will get on with them,the main piano in my cp5 plays better, better connection to the sound.

Know what the Kronos does better? Everything else. I am spending hours just. Tracing out w combis going tot have a goat the sequencer next.

PianoManChuck · Post by **PianoManChuck** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:59 am

Ronl wrote:I am spending hours just. Tracing out w combis going tot have a go at the sequencer next.

If you can spend hours w/ the combi's (I have too)... you can spend days with the sequencer

Grambambuli · Post by **Grambambuli** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:05 pm

I never liked (electric) guitars on any keyboard, they never come close to the real thing, mostly because for them to sound like a guitar they need to be played like a guitar, and it's impossible to fake that on a keybed. Same for brass patches. Even if they sound perfect (they mostly don't) they just don't sound right.

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:45 pm

From my view It's all very simple:

- guitar sounds are needed for limited but still important purposes (arrangements, casual limited live use in a mix and song writing), and of course not to try to replace guitar players.
- nowadays keyboard guitar sounds exist in various quality levels, concerning the sampled material, dynamics/patch programming and overdrive (eguitars)
- the Kronos acoustic guitars and, even more, the Kronos electric guitars IMHO neither provide first class sampling material nor convincing patch programming nor well useable overdrive. In one word: in my ears they nearly all just sound lame and subpar, even compared to some other hardware workstations and synths/samplers, not even talking of much better software sounds.

So the purpose of this thread should probably be a polite user petition to Korg, to perhaps update their overdrive (see other thread) and guitar sounds to the level of other great Kronos sounds: not more and not less. Korg has all options of course: to update or to ignore this matter. In the latter case I am quite sure the complaints won't stop and recur regularly from old and new users.

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:02 pm

Has anyone tried Strum Electric from Applied Accoustic Systems? It looks interesting. I believe it's all modeled and does not use any samples.

http://www.applied-acoustics.com/strume ... /overview/

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:49 am

Perhaps the acoustic guitar problem has just been successfully solved by Sharp:

https://www.korg.com/kronosSoundLibraries

The new Irish Acts library seems to play in another league than the onboard Kronos guitars, as far as a first video can tell.

rrricky rrrecordo · Post by **rrricky rrrecordo** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:35 am

Bald Eagle wrote:Has anyone tried Strum Electric from Applied Accoustic Systems? It looks interesting. I believe it's all modeled and does not use any samples.

http://www.applied-acoustics.com/strume ... /overview/

I have everything AAS has released except Strum Electric. The demos turned me off as soon as I heard them. MusicLab's RealStrat is sampled, not huge samples but well done and once you get over the learning curve, very customizable and fun to play. Still prefer the AXXE programs for Motif XS however for awesome electric guitar sounds:

http://shop.motifator.com/index.php/voi ... or-xs.html

...and Sharp's acoustic guitars for Kronos are fantastic! Great demo and probably a blast to play

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:40 am

jimknopf wrote:Perhaps the acoustic guitar problem has just been successfully solved by Sharp:

https://www.korg.com/kronosSoundLibraries

The new Irish Acts library seems to play in another league than the onboard Kronos guitars, as far as a first video can tell.

+1

Busch.

Post by **Sharp** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:37 am

lol... Wasn't easy staying quite about the new Acoustic Guitar library seeing this thread and knowing that I had already completed the work before the thread even started.

If you like what you hear on YouTube, then you are in for a real treat when you load up the EXs to demo it. YouTube's lossless impression is pretty heavy. You will hear far more sparkle to the sounds when you install and demo the EXs.

All the guitars where sampled in stereo with full natural decay, so for best and detailed listening, put in a pair of head phones because a lot of time was spend working in the stereo domain to get everything really nice and spacious.

Enjoy.

Regards
Sharp.

DennyC · Post by **DennyC** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:07 pm

Great sounds Sharp...absolutely gorgeous!

metallo · Post by **metallo** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:24 pm

Sharp wrote:lol... Wasn't easy staying quite about the new Acoustic Guitar library seeing this thread and knowing that I had already completed the work before the thread even started.

If you like what you hear on YouTube, then you are in for a real treat when you load up the EXs to demo it. YouTube's lossless impression is pretty heavy. You will hear far more sparkle to the sounds when you install and demo the EXs.

All the guitars where sampled in stereo with full natural decay, so for best and detailed listening, put in a pair of head phones because a lot of time was spend working in the stereo domain to get everything really nice and spacious.

Enjoy.

Regards
Sharp.

Hi Sharp,

Gorgeous sounds on this libray, really impressive.
I would definitively buy if it was not linked to the kronos instead of the buyer....can you confirm it still works in this way?
Otherwise I'm gonna buy right now

bugzoo · Post by **bugzoo** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:29 pm

With Karma, is it possible to make a patch that strums like the old Strummer product whereby you hold the chord in the right hand, and use the left hand to trigger up and down strum patterns (velocity controls strum speed) as well as fingerpick the 6 individual strings with 6 keys. Also Strummer voiced the chord accordingly as would be done on a real guitar. With all the high end features of the Kronos, why has not Korg put in a "Guitar Strum Mode" into it? It seems sort of essential to me in order to get usable guitar tracks. Come on, Korg! This seems like a no-brainer- especially considering the Kronos' physical modeled string synth.

PS, when the user lifts up on the right hand, there could be a release sound added some of the time as well. And when the chord is changed in the right hand, there could be a subtle fret slide sound played some of the time. Also, there should be an option to flip the hands around so the chord is on the left and the strum/fingerpicking is on the right like on a real guitar.

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Kronos stock guitar sounds... unimpressive?

Guitar Strum Mode on Kronos?