New Kronos features for older Kronos?

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:28 pm

slowtrain wrote:The Korg site mentions DAW integration. I'm hoping for a 64 bit editor more than anything.

Full daw integration would be awesome, its the one thing where Kronos was still miles beyound Yamaha..

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:35 pm

I thought Yamaha only offered full integration with Cubase? It's been a while since I used a Motif (or Cubase).

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:39 pm

SanderXpander wrote:I thought Yamaha only offered full integration with Cubase? It's been a while since I used a Motif (or Cubase).

Thats true... Full daw integration with cubase only...

LivePsy · Post by **LivePsy** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:40 pm

SanderXpander wrote:Perhaps they just significantly expanded Tone Adjust mode.

That's a major, major change in the combi bit format. The Kronos is still stuck with the Triton legacy design. Korg build on top but have not yet redesigned their workstation fundamentals.

B

phattbuzz · Post by **phattbuzz** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:04 pm

You can also hook up a QWERTY USB Keyboard up to the Kronos via the new OS. There is a video that shows this being done to enter comments in set list mode, but I can't see why it wouldn't work for any text entry.

levioter · Post by **levioter** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 6:19 pm

Hi all,
anyone knows if the SGX2 will be offered to KRONOS 1/X owners and particularly do you think the Sympathetic String Resonance will be available on German and Japanese grand pianos ?

Any thoughts ?

Cheers

phattbuzz · Post by **phattbuzz** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:08 pm

levioter wrote:Hi all,
anyone knows if the SGX2 will be offered to KRONOS 1/X owners and particularly do you think the Sympathetic String Resonance will be available on German and Japanese grand pianos ?

Any thoughts ?

Cheers

Good question. Will SGX2 be included with OS3.0 or with purchase of the Berlin piano? I did see something about String Resonance being added to German and Japanese pianos in SGX2.

slowtrain · Post by **slowtrain** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:21 pm

It seems like SGX2 would be offered with OS3 since they upgraded the CX-3 engine during an OS upgrade.

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:39 pm

I enjoy my Kronos X 88 very much and look forward to the updated OS 3.0. I think it very nice of Korg to offer it. However, at the price I paid for my Kronos X 88 I am not taken aback. I think Korg should continue to support its flagship instrument. It is update offerings such as this that keeps them a loyal customer base and attracts new owners. I also think it would be nice for them to include the new piano for free. I am very happy with the current Korg pianos, but if I really want the concert grand effect I use Ivory. Many may not agree but I think Korg, for profit sake, just did a little repacking of the original Kronos and threw in a new piano and called it the Kronos 2. I have owned every workstation they have made going back to the Korg M1, which I still have and play. I am a Korg fan.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:36 pm

lonelagranger wrote: Many may not agree but I think Korg, for profit sake, just did a little repacking of the original Kronos and threw in a new piano and called it the Kronos 2.

it might look that way to you. I think the Kronos is quite awesome as it is.
I still think the Kronos is a great buy for the money.

I estimate there are at least 15-20 distinct improvements.
if we saw how many man hours it took to make those improvements that might change the perception of a little repacking for profit sake.

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:45 pm

if we saw how many man hours it took to make those improvements that might change the perception of a little repacking for profit sake.

You are making the assumption that many man hours were spent to make this new marvelous instrument. What proof do you have. Has Korg provided you with any. Korg is not stupid. They are not going to reinvent the wheel when they already have one. Believe me, they spent as little resources as possible to get the maximum return on their investment. That's how business is done today.

BobTheDog · Post by **BobTheDog** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:50 pm

lonelagranger wrote:
if we saw how many man hours it took to make those improvements that might change the perception of a little repacking for profit sake.
You are making the assumption that many man hours were spent to make this new marvelous instrument. What proof do you have. Has Korg provided you with any. Korg is not stupid. They are not going to reinvent the wheel when they already have one. Believe me, they spent as little resources as possible to get the maximum return on their investment. That's how business is done today.

It is a valid assumption though, small changes in large systems take a lot of effort.

The wheel is a small system.

GregC · Post by **GregC** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:11 pm

lonelagranger wrote:
if we saw how many man hours it took to make those improvements that might change the perception of a little repacking for profit sake.
You are making the assumption that many man hours were spent to make this new marvelous instrument. What proof do you have. Has Korg provided you with any. Korg is not stupid. They are not going to reinvent the wheel when they already have one. Believe me, they spent as little resources as possible to get the maximum return on their investment. That's how business is done today.

Korg is a private co. Maybe $150 million, $200 million in sales. Sure they have their number crunchers internally. every mfgr does.

They took a risk to develop the Oasys and springboard that knowledge to the Kronos. essentially the workstation marketplace stopped growing until the Kronos came out

No other company has tried that or taken that business risk. I have no problem with Korg making some profit because they took the business risk, and it was a calculated business risk.

With the profit they are making we are getting free OS, access to more libs. The list of 3rd party sample libs is growing.
We are getting a revitalized workstation that adds possibly 2 yrs on top of the original 3 yrs or initial ownership.

Look at Roland. are things going great for them operationally and financially ? Not that easy for them, correct ? I hope they turn their company around because musicians need more than a Yamaha or Korg as solid options.

With that, we need a successful Korg. When they succeed, I think we win in terms of sheer enjoyment, year after a year. I don't quibble over some things that are not perfect. I like the bigger picture. That looks pretty darn good to me.

lonelagranger · Post by **lonelagranger** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:18 pm

It is a valid assumption though, small changes in large systems take a lot of effort.

Maybe I am the uneducated one here. You say it is a valid assumption...... My question is are you a designer or engineer in the manufacture of musical instruments. I am not asking in a belittling way. If your are a person who knows these systems intimately then I would most certainly accept your assumption. I feel that we are at a time in the musical manufacturing business that requires much restraint on investment into new ventures, and it is more prudent to stay with what has worked in the past. I do not believe the main hardware components of any major consequence has changed from the Kronos, KronosX or this new iteration. If they were, I feel, they certainly would have been commented on by Korg. Why would you hide the addition of a new and more powerful motherboard. That would be advertising suicide. I feel if it were so, it would have been one of the first things mentioned.

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 11:42 pm

lonelagranger wrote:Many may not agree but I think Korg, for profit sake, just did a little repacking of the original Kronos and threw in a new piano and called it the Kronos 2.

The traditional approach to a new keyboard is to launch it with a nice array of new features, hopefully enough to grab peoples' attention. Maybe provide a bug fix or two, but really no significant updates. Those will be saved for the next version 3-4 years down the road. Korg opted not to go this route with the Kronos, rather the updates to the instrument that would normally be held off till the next version, were given to Kronos users free of charge as soon as they were available. Let me recap those improvements, many of which are very significant.

1.5
• 7 more User Banks each of Programs, Wave Sequences and Drum Kits, labeled USER‐AA through USER‐GG.
• The maximum number of RAM Multisamples has been increased from 1,000 to 4,000, and the maximum numbers of RAM Samples and Multisample Indexes have each been increased from 4,000 to 16,000.
• Support for connecting USB MIDI class‐compliant controllers directly to the KRONOS.
• Installation of an additional 1GB of RAM is now supported.

1.6
• Uninstall EXs
• PC/Mac Editor

2.0
• User Sample Banks (HUGE, IMO)
• Second SSD Installation supported
• USB Ethernet support
• Improved Akai and SF2 Support
• PC/Mac Editor ver. 2

2.1
• Improved CX-3 - many updates and improvements to the Amp, Rotary Speaker, and Vibrato Chorus.
• Updated CX-3 programs
• Rotary Status
• New Mute Mode
• Function assign for External MIDI in
• PC/Mac Editor ver. 2.1

So that brings us to the Kronos 2, which in addition to the hardware improvements (making it, IMO, one sexy keyboard) they added:
• Berlin Grand 9GB
• EXs18 (Funk/Soul Brass, Strings, Choir)

AND the software improvements in OS 3.0 (at least the ones I've come across)
• SGX-2 (12 velocity layers, string resonance, una corda sample support)
• Significant Set List improvements
• Touch and drag throughout
• Editing Programs from within a combi
• Search feature
• On-screen metering
• USB alpha-numeric keyboard support for input

Realistically, you need to add up all of the above improvements that get you from the original Kronos, less than four years ago, to the Kronos 2. If you can find another keyboard manufacturer that has improved any of their keyboards this significantly over the same period of time, I'd love to hear it.

Finally, original Kronos users are told they will get all of the OS updates of the new keyboard, with the implication (though never stated) that there will continue to have access to OS updates moving forward.

So no, I don't agree with your premise.

Busch.