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Technically speaking the Kronos X is what the world has been waiting for in a workstation; the Kronos has multiple synth engines, tonnes of rom and ram expansion, nice big touch-screen, full sampling capability, a useful amount of knobs and sliders, and a good array of inputs and outputs, so where did Kronos go wrong... THE SOUND!

I've never bought a Korg workstation because of that thin spacey signature Korg sound.

Going back a few years the Korg Trinity workstation actually sounded pretty reasonable, but then the next workstation after that, the Triton, took a step down in sound quality, and then any respect i might have had for Korg went out the window when they released the M3 workstation with it's plastic-sounding thin-as-crap synth-engine, filters, and samples.

Apparently Korg didn't learn from their mistake, and then they released the Kronos.
It appears that Korg, in an attempt to stave-off declining sales, tried to bomb the hell out of the Yamaha Motif by putting everything plus the kitchen sink inside the Kronos, but alas, they didn't seem to realize that the 'Sound' of Korg workstations is their weak-point, and it's all about the 'sound' for us buyers, right? Need i say any more?

The kronos after the M3, was just more of the same sound. But, it's the sound of the M3 that was responsible for its low sales relative to the Motif series.
Denial will always be the demise of any company that doesn't respect it's customers and refuses to rectify its mistakes or is too arrogant and stubborn to accept the truth, despite the fact that the competition continues to out-sell Korg. Attending only to the needs of these EP-playing rock-heads and Piano-loving boffins is a bad mistake. There are lots more sales to be had if Korg would attend to the needs of EDM producers.

The Motif XF does sound excellent for the most part, no argument to be had there, and it has 2gig ram expansion, so i don't think there is any issue with the Motif XF when it comes to the crucial areas of sound-quality and sound- expansion.

FWIW If someone were to put me in charge of Korg development, i would immediately fire the current sampling team and synth-engine designers and hire a whole new team to get the sound quality back-up to where it should be, especially in this day and age... in my way of thinking, to commit so much rom with squillions of ram for Pianos and EP's and Brass and strings and yet neglect synth sounds and EDM, is pure madness, insanity.

Korg is underestimating how many extra sales they could have if only they would address the EDM crowd. Korg needs to pull its head in and stop being so biased with their sounds, stop concentrating on making the Kronos a one thousand piece Jazz band or Orchetral band.

THUMPING Hard as f_ck dance-music Kick drums, 'phat' chunky claps, hi-hats, and other tones in the drumkits, pounding 'hard-hitting' basses, plus uber stylish big-beat phat synth sounds AND LOTS OF EACH. Then sales might increase.

Hey Korg, some advice from me... If you wanna keep playing second-fiddle to Yamaha, then simply ignore me.


For me to buy a Kronos, Korg would have to do the deed and start making sense with their sounds.
An expansion with 'useable' 'phat' synth sounds and brand-new 'phat-sounding' drumkits, the type of sounds that vibrate with attitude, pulsate with glee, and sound big and classy.
Then the Kronos might make sense for me. SOUND QUALITY is what counts first and foremost.
But, why don't you make a Radias expansion available for the Kronos, Korg? Like you did on the M3, that would be a huge bonus. And even a real analog tube (Like you did on the Triton workstation); stop holding back Korg, we need all guns firing combined with stellar sound, then you will get the sales!

I edited your post as it was far too long.

godparticle wrote:Technically speaking I might have had a crap.

didn't learn from mistake Need i say any more?


Denial will always be the demise of any, too arrogant and stubborn to accept the truth, .

THUMP me LOTS and continue.

runningman67, no wonder you never hit the charts

ed_f wrote:<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ll.svg.png">

Please don't feed the troll.

I think it is mutual feeding which kept this thread alive for 5 pages already.
Apparently the godparticle fills a need?

godparticle wrote:I extensively auditioned the Kronos the other day (I haven't bought one yet) I walked away after the audition with a sad countenance, it is no wonder that the Yamaha Motif XF continues to out-sell the Kronos by 2-1 despite the fact that the Motif XF has far fewer features and synth engines etc.
Superior sound will always win sales at the end of the day, the stats speak for themselves.
Clearly the public have good ears, most people know what's what, especially when it comes to big beat sound. I have noticed that Korg continues to retain that same ole spacey thin artificial tone for many years now. Just imagine if BMW or Mercedes or Porsche kept the same engine performance and same body design on their cars for a decade, they would probably lose sales.
IMO Korg need to go back to the drawing board and completely redesign their synth-engine and replace their current sampling team with a whole new team of experts, that's the only way to solve this problem.

My opinion on the large majority of sounds i hear from the Korg Kronos after many auditions, thin as crap synth sounds (Just like their old Triton, nothing's changed), airy and spacey tones everywhere, and unrealistic strings and orchestral - albeit quite nice-sounding in their own weirdish way.

Seriously guys, the Korg tones sound good in isolation when not comparing them to another workstation or real analog, but when someone like me knows what to listen for, well hey, immediately it is obvious, no way will i ever buy a Korg, the large majority of their samples in the rom and even their analog engines sound thin as crap, they just don't have that elusive phat real-life tone. Take it or leave it, but no way will i ever buy a Korg until they overhaul the synth-engine design and start to understand what PHAT means.

And for some reason Korg seems to be of the opinion that they can neglect EDM producers, because i see that their EDM drumkits are tacky and sparse, not many TR909 type hi-hats, not many phat claps, and not many inspiring drumkit tones to work with when it comes to EDM drumkits.
Where is the phat solid hard-hitting punchy bass sounds, not these Korg basses with that deepish type tone but somehow seems to be lacking solid thumping hard-hitting weight.

Why is Korg so inclined to use-up so many megabytes of rom and ram to give ten million Pianos and EP's etc, and yet what amount of ram and rom do they commit to EDM synth sounds and basses and drumkits, sweet fu_k all! That's what.
Here's my advice Korg, fire the current developers and engineers and start again, move onward and upward, leave the old guard, it's time to be thinking about the modern era and give us the real-deal.

LZ wrote:I happen to agree with godparticle, the Kronos sucks. They wasted all that memory and processing power on stupid things that nobody uses, like pianos, organs, strings, and virtual analog, instead of stuff that everybody needs, like the sound of monkeys jumping on a dead elephant. Not only don't they have a modeling engine (with parameters to adjust elephant size, skin tightness, decay amount, monkey type and falling force), but they don't even have any samples. Total disappointment.

I'm pretty sure it has those too, though. Check the SFX Banks, they're funny.

I think this has gone on far too long now. Thread closed.